Category: issues

Michael Agger: “If a bunch of illiterate people like to stay at a certain hotel, well, that’s information that would be useful to have. (No one likes to walk into a Jersey Shore situation without an adequate supply of tequila.) And, if someone can’t spell the word awsum, we may be inclined to devalue their opinion of trailrunning shoes.”

“Dubbed GrouponLive, the service, expected to launch in June, is aimed at easing both the perennial problem of filling empty seats at concerts and sporting events, including last year’s big drop in attendance that prompted numerous cancellations and left promoters with a hefty number of unsold tickets toward the end of summer.”

Historian Glenn W. LaFantasie: “Why would anyone want to replicate one of the worst episodes in American history? Why would anyone want to pretend to be fighting a battle that resulted in lost and smashed lives on the field and utter grief among the soldiers’ loved ones back home? Is there any uplifting message to be derived from such playacting?”

“This month’s Which? magazine features an investigation into the “almost overwhelming” assortment of fees charged by agencies and venues. Its own survey of almost 3,500 members showed that only 9% think these fees are a fair representation of the cost of the service.”

“A group of deep-pocketed board members has tentatively agreed to personally guarantee loans to cover the $16 million funding gap that has stalled construction of the Dr. P. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.”

“The City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday to suspend about $630,000 in public arts funding at the behest of Mayor Jerry Sanders, who says the spending can’t be justified when the city needs to close a $56.7 million deficit in its $1.1 billion operating budget.”

“Graduates of arts programs are likely to find jobs and satisfaction, even if they won’t necessarily get wealthy in the process — according to a new national survey of more than 13,000 alumni of 154 different arts programs. The survey results also painted a picture of artists as highly entrepreneurial: more than 6 in 10 were self-employed, and 14 percent had founded their own company.”

“In the era of pop-up restaurants and speakeasies, flash mobs and social stunts, it was perhaps inevitable that a formal luncheon for a dozen people would be staged aboard the Brooklyn-bound L train.” The second car “was transformed into a traveling bistro, complete with tables, linens, fine silverware and a bow-tied maitre d’hotel.”

“After New York’s Lincoln Center, PlayhouseSquare is the second-largest performing arts center in the country by audience capacity. Home to 10 performance spaces with a total of more than 9,000 seats, it attracts more than a million visitors to its approximately 1,000 performing-arts events annually.”

“A spate of graffiti appearing across Hong Kong in recent weeks in support of detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has sparked a warning by the Chinese army garrison in the city.”