“The library says the manuscript — sold at auction for $2 million US in 1990 to a book dealer acting on behalf of the German government — should be returned to Israel in accordance with the wishes of the late Max Brod, the executor of Kafka’s will.”
Tag: 10.15.09
Chicago’s Lyric Opera Orchestra In Contract Struggle
“As the union tells it, Lyric management ‘walked out of negotiations July 7’ and didn’t return until September 4. On September 25, with the season set to open the next night, Lyric made an abrupt ‘final’ offer: a one-year contract with salaries frozen at current rates. … The musicians voted it down” and are “now working without a contract.”
Scientists Confirm: ‘Your Bullying Boss Really Is An Idiot’
“Got a bullying boss? Take solace in new research showing that leaders who feel incompetent really do lash out at others to temper their own inferiority.”
Runway Ballet: Dancing About Coco Chanel’s Little Black Dress
“Coco is the work of [Nevada Ballet Theatre’s] artistic director James Canfield. The ’40s-set program came to fruition as part of a three-piece series he put together several years ago that told the stories of strong women who were just as influential dead as they were alive. Anaïs Nin, Edie Sedgwick and Coco Chanel.”
New Sacramento Phil Contract Reduces Wages, Season
“Managers of the Sacramento Philharmonic and musicians have agreed to a new contract for the next two seasons that includes a one-year wage freeze and a reduced number of performances for the 2009-10 season.”
From The Dregs Of A Price-Fixing Fund, Free Concerts
In California, $549,000 has “been allocated for free and discounted live-music performances up and down the state,” draining “what’s left of a $6-million cash kitty that five big CD distributors and three retail chains anted up in 2004 to settle the Golden State’s share of nationwide price-fixing allegations.”
Gates Foundation Gives African American Museum $10M
“The foundation, the largest private charitable fund in the world, is donating the money for the [National Museum of African American History and Culture’s] capital campaign and to support the design and construction of the museum, which is scheduled to open on the Mall in late 2015.” The museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Public Radio Pledge Drives: Annoying, But Kind Of Brilliant
“Pledge drive is last-nerve-frayingly exasperating–but it’s also sheer genius. One recent weekend, I fast-forwarded through the actual programming and listened only to the sales patter…. What I found was a band of ace pitchmen who know their audience better than we know ourselves.”
Radio Royalty Bill OK’d By Senate Judiciary Committee
The “effort to pass a bill requiring broadcasters to pay performers when their music is played over the air … extends back generations, and the victory in the Judiciary Committee is a significant step forward as previous efforts have stalled.”
Designs Revealed For Three Halls Of Orlando’s Planned PAC
“The largest theater … will recall the tented outdoor spaces of early amphitheaters, with upper walls the blue of the sky. … [The smallest auditorium] has been designed in a horseshoe shape with a thrust stage. The balconies will be warm aluminum with bits of embedded back-lit glass that will cause them to sparkle.”