Not all frivolous or violent or shallow. “The ‘pop’ in pop culture is its universality, its mass appeal, its accessibility. In its form — its all-encompassing vastness, now magnified by the Internet — as well as in its content, pop culture is mostly a force for good.” – MSNBC
Tag: 01.25.00
SELF-TICKETING
- Ticketmaster announces plan for customers to print their own tickets at home on their own printers. Barcodes would ensure tickets are real. – New York Times
NEW BATON FOR CINCINNATI
After a year-long search, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra hires Estonian-born American conductor Paavo Jarvi, 37, as its new music director. The CSO’s $28 million budget is the seventh-largest in the country. – Cincinnati Enquirer
- Jarvi was rumored to have been considered by two other orchestras. – Cincinnati Enquirer 01/25/00
OVERHAULING CLIBURN
After years of criticism charging that the world’s most prestigious piano competition has failed to find the world’s most interesting pianists, the Cliburn International changes its rules, reinventing itself. – Dallas Morning News
KEYS TO THE CASTLE
After 27 years at the banking giant Citicorp/Citibank, ending up as vice chairman and chairman of the executive committee and nine years as the second-in-charge at Fannie Mae, America’s largest investor in home mortgages Laurence Small took over the top job at the Smithsonian this week. For the Smithsonian’s 6,000 employees, a “hard-knuckled business type is a shift from the long line of scientists and scholars.” – Washington Post
PENT-UP PIPES
Nobel-winner Heaney and bagpiper Liam O’Flynn are performing together in a “unique partnership of bardic voice and eloquent pipe.” Heaney reads his poetry and O’Flynn follows him on the pipes, exploring turn of line, enjambments, rhymes, and cadences in a medium of euphonious conversation. “Declaim the verse, strike up the pipe, and generally vent the pent!” – The Scotsman
BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS —
— nominees chosen. – New York Times
OOPS
- British publisher, expecting spectacular demand for its line of “Star Wars” books following last summer’s “Phantom Menace,” prints 13 million copies. But only 3 million sell and firm has to eat an even more spectacular £25 million loss in the last six months of 1999. – BBC
WE’RE GONNA MAKE IT
In an age when high-cost mega-musicals dominate Broadway and success depends on luring in the tourists for high-price seats, shows are increasingly turning to familiar TV stars to bring in the crowds. Elbowed aside is the traditional Broadway acting pool. – New York Times
DOT-COMS INVADE PARK CITY
Maybe it’s the legacy of “Blair Witch” – internet companies have commanded much of the attention at this year’s Sundance Festival. – Los Angeles Times 01/25/00