— reopens its front doors, redefines its mission and invites in the community. – New York Times
Blog
AL GORE’S MUSICAL DEBUT
Don’t quit your day job. – MSNBC (AP)
ATLANTA SYMPHONY chooses –
– Brooklyn Philharmonic’s well-regarded Robert Spano as its new music director. Atlanta’s budget is $21 million and has an endowment nearing $70 million, making it the largest performing arts organization in the Southeastern US. It is ranked 13th in budget size by the American Symphony Orchestra League. Spano is considered among the most important young American conductors. – New York Times
- San Francisco Opera music director Donald Runnicles appointed Atlanta’s principle guest conductor. – San Francisco Chronicle 02/09/00
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC –
– records a $2.7 million deficit for last season, its largest ever. – Los Angeles Times
FROM OBSCURITY TO OPRAH
No one’s complaining, mind you. After all, when you’ve planned only a 10,000-copy run of a new book, and getting picked by Oprah ups it to half-a-million, you’ve hit the jackpot. But for a smallish literary press used to lower stakes, the logistical hassles of just getting the book out on this scale are enormous. – Salon
BOOK-BUSTING
A tide of vandalism has swept most of the UK’s libraries clean of musical texts and scores, writes Norman Lebrecht. “Glasgow, Liverpool and most London boroughs have lost their music libraries. The BBC has wantonly trashed thousands of scores. British library managers are burning more books than any group since Hitler’s stormtroopers.” Now comes the Manchester City Council. – The Telegraph (UK)
POETRY ON DEMAND
Three Seattle women sit at typewriters in public places, turning out instant poetry for anyone who stops by. “In a city built on industrial cyberspace, these three performers are putting ink-stained paper in the hands of people and getting them to prattle over it. And they earn just enough money – $1 a poem (they’ll write 50 this night) – to keep themselves in typing ribbon.” – USA Today
THE FIRST E-BOOKS —
— begin showing up in traditional bookstores, available alongside the latest hardback Grisham. – Wired
POST-SOVIET CULTURE
As the Soviet Union’s much-vaunted culture machine began to break down after the country’s breakup, many Soviet artists fled to the West. Vladimir Spivakov, one of Russia’s top violinists and conductors and founder of the Moscow Virtuosi, chose to continue working in his homeland. Now he may take on the ambitious new Moscow Cultural Center. – The Telegraph (UK)
CBS DISTRESS
The TV network has for several months been inserting “digital billboards” – promotional ads into the backgrounds of some of the stories it has covered on news programs, most famously on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Now CBS is threatening legal action against a team of Ohio sampler-jockeys for using digital snips of CBS broadcasts – including Dan Rather’s voice – in their digital montages. – Wired 02/09/00