Live And Online

“In recent months there’s been an explosion on the Internet of what used to be called tape trading. This is not the illegal copying of commercially available music that is being fought by the major record companies. This is the free, generally legal exchange of fan-made concert tapes, radio broadcasts and material that was never officially released — by the Dead and just about anybody else. It’s a world that is growing daily at an exponential rate — and has its foundation in the community of tapers and traders that initially coalesced around and was nurtured by Garcia and the Grateful Dead.”

Mel Gibson Asked To Recreate Passion Live

Mel Gibson has been asked to stage the Stations of the Cross live in Sydney. “Gibson’s staging the Stations of the Cross is part of Sydney’s pitch for Catholicism’s World Youth Day, which a leading Vatican observer claims has already been secretly awarded to the city. According to bid documents sent to the Vatican and obtained by the Herald, Gibson would be asked to create the Stations of the Cross as he did in his film The Passion of the Christ.”

New Vivaldi Discovered

A Melbourne musicologist has found a piece by Vivaldi written in 1754. The find is being described as the biggest Vivaldi find in 75 years. “The work is an 11-movement Dixit Dominus based on Psalm 109 for choir and orchestra, intended to be played in church. But Dr Janice Stockigt suspects that because of a lack of additional notation on the score, this might be its first performance ever.”

When Giants Ruled The Movie Studios (And Now They’re Gone)

Many thought a decade ago that the big movie moguls of the day would be running the world by now. “They shipped billions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of millions in profit to their parent companies, but, with the notable exception of Michael Eisner, they did not have much to show for it in return. Instead of using the leverage of cash flow and profit to take over their owners, they were leaned on year after year to come up with still more. They created a new version of Hollywood, but failed to master the corporate intrigues that would let them rule not just the studio lot, but also the business world beyond.”