John Work had an exceptional ear and could transcribe into musical notation tunes he heard whistled on the street. Once, while waiting at a train station in Macon, Ga., he heard a man singing on the platform and captured an original lyrical blues called “Ain’t Gonna Drink No Mo’.”
Tag: 03.03.08
LA Times Drops Dance Critic
The Los Angeles Times has told dance critic Lewis Segal that his position is being eliminated. “I have followed my supervisors’ advice and applied for the Times buyout, which means I’ll be off the staff as of the end of this month. However, there is some talk about my freelancing for the paper in the future.”
A Writers Group Bullish On The Future
Not too many years ago, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs was a marginal group with a few hundred members and lots of financial problems. Now 9,000 poets, fiction writers and literary wannabes of every description throng the annual meeting, the group has a $2 million budget, and a list of accomplishments…
An Election Where The Arts Matter?
“This presidential primary season, people who work at the crossroads of politics and culture say the arts have attained a higher profile than usual — and the push for an arts agenda has established a foothold in the campaign landscape.”
Survey: Americans Sleep Less, Working More
The survey of 1,000 people “found participants average six hours and 40 minutes of sleep a night on weeknights, even though they estimated they’d need roughly another 40 minutes of sleep to be at their best.”
Hip-Hop 2.0
“There’s a new school of hip-hop dance that is evolving beyond ’80s-style break dancing or the moves you see on MTV. It’s new enough that it has yet to form a solid identity. Another difference is diversity. What used to be a primarily an urban art form has jumped to places like Orange County, particularly among Asian Americans.”
How DVRs Are Killing TV Commercials
People who own digital video recorders skip commercials. According to a new study, 79% fast-forward all or most of the time. An additional 15% of those polled said that they fast-forward advertisements ‘some of the time,’ while 4% said they rarely skip past ads and just 2% never hit the fast-forward button.”
Musician Finances CD By Turning To Fans
Jill Sobule, whose witty and poignant writing first attracted attention with the song “I Kissed a Girl,” has set up a Web site asking fans to donate money so she can make a new CD. She set a goal of $75,000 and, in a month, she’s made about $54,000.
Tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano, 86
“Di Stefano, to whom Luciano Pavarotti owed his launch to stardom, died in Milan on Monday. Di Stefano died after a long coma caused by an attack during a robbery at his Kenyan holiday home in late 2004.”
Is Wrigley Field’s History In Its Bricks?
The new owner of the Tribune Co, wants to sell the Cubs and Wrigley Field. But part of the deal might involve changing the historic stadium’s landmark status. This could be a blow to other city landmarks…