Record companies have been known to become apoplectic when advance copies of new releases given to critics wind up in the hands (and computers and MP3 players) of the public. Many companies have resorted to handing out self-destructing CDs and threatening critics with legal action if they distribute the music early. But the V2 label has come up with a unique way to prevent advance copies of the highly anticipated new White Stripes album from being converted to tradable computer files: they put it on vinyl.
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That’s Why They’re Called “Non-Profit,” Isn’t It?
Everyone knows that the American economy is in the tank, and that such times call for belt-tightening all around, particularly at non-profits. But John van Rhein is frustrated by the recent slew of defeatist cost-cutting measures at arts institutions across the country. “Arts groups get into trouble once they allow their marketing departments to shape their artistic programs. To pull back and stop taking calculated risks can only be counterproductive in the long run.”
Wild-Man Critic
Leslie Fiedler [who died last week at 85] “made his name, in the late ’40s, as a lit-crit prodigy in the grim-faced Cold War literary establishment known today as the New York Intellectuals or “the family.” He could easily have set himself up simply as an Upper West Side sage. He was charismatic and leonine and had the credentials — an outsized oeuvre, ease with languages (Japanese, Italian), lecture gigs all over the world. Crowing was his natural idiom. He was a master of hectoring overstatement…”
The Promoter Who Couldn’t Pay
“For 75 years, Community Concerts has brought the arts and such luminaries as Beverly Sills and Isaac Stern to small-town America… But now the whole enterprise is in jeopardy, with Community Concerts dismissing employees and leaving a trail of bounced checks, unpaid performers and dissatisfied presenters in its wake.” Fingers are pointing, and most of them are aiming squarely at the company’s owner and chief executive, Brenda Trawick.
Calgary Phil To Get City Money, After All
The Calgary city council has overwhelmingly defeated a proposal to force the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra to repay a $250,000 bailout once the orchestra emerges from bankruptcy. The proposal was brought to the floor by two aldermen who have consistently sought ways to scuttle the bailout, and who conceived of the plan to attach conditions to the money after it was learned that the Alberta provincial government’s matching contribution to the CPO was more of a loan than a gift.
Mayhew To Run Covent Garden
“[London’s] Royal Opera House has appointed a woman to its top post for the first time, announcing Tuesday that Dame Judith Mayhew will succeed Sir Colin Southgate when he retires as chairman in August. New Zealand-born Mayhew, currently chairwoman of the University of London’s Birkbeck College, will join the Opera House board next month.” The Opera House is coming off a financially successful run of the Nicholas Maw’s much-discussed operatic adaption of Sophie’s Choice.
As Slow As It Gets – The World’s Slowest Piece Of Music
The first three notes of the slowest/longest piece ever written was being played on a German organ this week. It’s written to last 639 years. “The three notes, which will last for a year-and-a-half, are just the start of the piece, called As Slow As Possible. Composed by late avant-garde composer John Cage, the performance has already been going for 17 months – although all that has been heard so far is the sound of the organ’s bellows being inflated.”
The Woman Who Was Already There
A flurry of media interest greeted the news in January that the notoriously exclusive Vienna Philharmonic had finally hired its first female musician, a violist named Ursula Plaichinger. The strange thing is, Plaichinger has actually been a member of the orchestra for nearly two years, a fact which no English-language publication known to ArtsJournal bothered to mention. The media blitz came after the worldwide broadcast of the Vienna Phil’s famous New Year’s concert showed a brief glimpse of Plaichinger as she played with her section, the first time the orchestra had ever allowed a woman to be shown on its television broadcasts.
Readying For Battle On Broadway
“In what is shaping up to be one of the most bitter showdowns in Broadway history, theater producers and musicians have begun negotiations on a new contract that will hinge on the size of orchestras. Producers say union rules on the minimum number of musicians squeeze the producers at a time when Broadway rents, salaries and production costs have made mounting a musical almost prohibitively expensive. Union leaders say they are fighting for musicians’ jobs and the tradition of live music in the Broadway theater. Both sides are making preparations for a strike.”
And Then There Were Two
Two finalists have been named in the competition to determine what will be done with the space known as Ground Zero. Architect Daniel Libeskind, whose proposal includes much use of concrete and preservation of the Ground Zero site as a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, is one finalist. The other final slot goes to the THINK Team, headed by Rafael Viñoly, which proposes to construct an elaborate complex of glass and steel, dominated by two transparent latticework towers where the original Twin Towers once stood. The winning design will be announced by the end of the month.