Glimmer Of Hope For Dance In Oakland

“As Oakland arts lovers are still smarting from the Oakland Ballet’s closure, Ronn Guidi is back. ‘Ronn Guidi’s ‘Nutcracker’ will run four performances, Dec. 22-24, at the Paramount Theatre, with live music from the Oakland East Bay Symphony. The return of this 33-year tradition is also the first glimmer of possible regeneration for ballet in Oakland.”

Fox Moves Primetime Shows On Web

Fox airs baseball playoffs over the next month. So how to keep viewers hooked on the network’s regular programming? Put the shows on the web. “The move is an attempt to keep ratings momentum going in October and November, when many Fox prime-time shows are pre-empted by Major League Baseball playoff games and the World Series.”

Principally Haitink

Bernard Haitink is taking up duties as principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony. “Now he takes up his new duties in Chicago in what he calls the autumnal period of his life, and it is clear that he does not see this as a long-term proposition. ‘Every conductor, including myself, has a sell-by date’.”

Lit Nobel Announced Next Week

“There is no short list of possible winners, but buzz has centred on Syrian poet Adonis, whose real name is Ali Ahmad Said, and controversial Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. Other contenders, at least in the eyes of the media and on betting Web sites, include Americans Joyce Carol Oates and Philip Roth and Swedish poet Thomas Transtromer.”