Category: music

“The last few months have proved one thing beyond doubt: that British teens and twentysomethings are far from apolitical. Some questions do, however, linger: as students go on the march and hostility to the cuts spreads, where are the musical voices channelling this new mood?”

“Now with record companies pinched for cash and doing fewer re-issues (boxed sets are a natural home for enhanced liner notes), and more music being bought digitally, liner notes are in danger of being considered a frill.”

“Most New York nightclubs will shell out between $50 and $125 per hour for an up-and-coming deejay — and the more established spinners are averaging from $3,000 to $5,000 an hour. And then, well, it gets truly ridiculous…”

“Separate from the Honolulu Symphony Society is the Honolulu Symphony Foundation, which has its own board of directors and oversees an endowment estimated at $8 million to $10 million. Its mission is to ‘provide funding and support for live professional symphonic music in Honolulu’.”

“Known as the murder capital of Mexico, Juarez is plagued by drug-related violence and organized crime. A quarter of the population is estimated to have fled, and thousands of businesses have closed. … But the Juarez Symphony Orchestra plays on to grateful audiences that choose violins as a refuge from violence.”

“As the profile of music as a tool for social transformation grows ever higher, more organisations appear to be latching on to the idea that music can bring peace. The sorry truth is that, much as we’d like it to, it can’t.”

“In a dismal year for concerts, Jon Bon Jovi out-toured everybody to clinch the top spot as Billboard magazine’s biggest-earning rock road show of 2010. Bon Jovi’s 69 sell-out shows grossed $146.5 million and were seen by 1.6 million people.”

“It’s a slooow news day today, which may explain why Associated Press felt it necessary to report the most-hated holiday song in Bulgaria.”

“People here play The Nutcracker every Christmas. It’s like the Messiah in England or Beethoven’s Ninth in Japan … [there’s] almost the curse of being too well known. But the minute you go in to the score, you realize it’s an absolute gold mine of new ideas, new sounds, charm, wit and strange, erotic little gurglings.”

“As of December, “Glee” now has 102 songs on the chart — and with at least a season-and-a-half to go that has already been guaranteed by Fox, it’s a safe bet that the cast recordings will give Elvis Presley a run for the top spot in the record books with 108 singles. The show has become a single-selling machine the likes of which Ed Sullivan could only dream about.”