Where’s Billy? Poet Laureate Speaks

As poets have weighed in against or for an American war in Iraq, one voice has been conspicuously quiet – current poet laureate Billy Collins. So LA Times reporter Tim Rutten emailed Collins and asked. Collins replied: “I have tried to keep the West Wing and the East Wing of the White House as separate as possible because I support what Mrs. Bush has done for the causes of literacy and reading. But as this country is being pushed into a violent confrontation, I find it increasingly difficult to maintain that separation.”

Grant Denied Because Of “Unpatriotic” Comment

An arts group in Whitesburg, Kentucky has been turned down for a $300,000 grant to create an exhibition hall for film documentaries and old radio programs because county officials objected to a remark they said one of the group’s members made on his radio program. County officials called the remark – that “America has killed more innocent people than any other country in the world” “unpatriotic,” but the disk jockey says he doesn’t remember saying it.

Sagging Ratings For Those Who Compile The Ratings

Radio industry execs are challenging Arbitron, the ratings company to improve its sampling rates. It seems fewer listeners are cooperating by filling out listening diaries. “As radio researchers, we have all been troubled for a long while over the impact that sagging response rates have had on Arbitron’s nationwide and local market products. These surveys are our currency for pricing our commercials and inventories industrywide.”

NY Warns Venues To Drop Added Ticket “Fees”

New York State is going after venues that add on fees to ticket prices. “When the consumer sees a ticket price advertised for $100, that should be the price you pay. We don’t want the consumer exposed to a situation where they are led to believe that the ticket price is $100 and then you get to the box office only to be told that there’s a $1 restoration or a $2.50 convenience charge or whatever the venue calls their added-on fee. If the theatre feels it needs a dollar to go to a restoration fund, that’s their business, but they should advertise that the ticket costs $100 or $101, whatever the total is. The rest is accounting.”

NY City Council Overturns Mayor’s Veto Of Cell Phone Ban

Last year New York’s City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting use of cell phones in theatres and concert halls. The mayor vetoed it. Wednesday, the council voted 38-5 to override the veto. Henceforth, in New York City, “talking on a cell phone, dialing, listening or even having one ring during a performance will constitute a violation punishable by a $50 fine.”

Arts Council To Give Arts Funding Big Boost

The Arts Council of England says it will “nearly double” the amount it gives to individual artists, increasing spending to £25 million per year. The council also said it “would increase funding of the groups it already supports by a further £70 million, to £300 million by 2006. The Arts Council says the drive is designed to place ‘the arts at the heart of national life’.”

Miramax Dominates Oscars Like No Studio In 50 Years

After grabbing three of the five Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Miramax Studio has dominated the Academy Awards like no studio has in 50 years. “That achievement is all the more significant because Miramax is not one of the major studios, like Warner Brothers or Columbia Pictures, but an indie start-up begun in 1979 by a pair of hustling, film-loving brothers from Queens, Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Their company grew steadily through the 80’s, became an independent division of Disney in 1993 and after today has to be considered the equal of any of the major studios in Hollywood.”

At Least He Won’t Have To Talk To Joan Rivers

The last time Roman Polanski was nominated for an Oscar, Jimmy Carter was in the White House and disco wasn’t quite dead yet. But just because Polanski’s film, The Pianist was given a Best Director nod, don’t expect to see the reclusive filmmaker on the red carpet. Polanski is officially still a fugitive from American justice, having fled the country in 1978 after having pled guilty to having sex with a minor, and the Los Angeles D.A. says that he would not hesitate to make an arrest, should Polanski choose to attend the Oscar ceremony.

Welcoming Back One Of The Greats

Ben Heppner is back at The Met, after more than a year of recuperation from health problems that stole his famous voice. Heppner looks great (he’s lost 60 pounds,) feels better, and this week at New York’s famous opera house he gave “a performance greeted by roars of approval from the Met audience and applause from James Levine himself, who put down his baton at one point to join in the ovation.”

Who Knows Who Listens?

With all the money in the commercial world hanging on the results, TV ratings folks are constantly reinventing the way they measure ratings, and updating the demographics numbers for various networks, stations, and individual shows. And yet, radio, which relies at least as much on advertising revenue as television, has a laughably ineffective method of measuring audience share and ratings. The Arbitron company, which collects radio listenership data, “has long been under siege from its clients — radio stations — for this extraordinarily funky system, which is often blamed for wild spikes up and down in a station’s ratings.”