Neal Pollack says writers have little if any voice in America these days. “Do you have any clue as to the monumental public indifference that awaits the average author on the American road? Writers get less respect in this country than people who eat live bugs on television for money! I just got off three-plus weeks on tour, and I was lucky to get an audience of 15 people–in blue states. It took everything I had just to get someone to buy a copy of my stupid book, much less bring about a permanent transformation of American politics.”
Tag: 11.23.04
Coming To A Phone Near You – Beethoven
Boosey & Hawkes, the world’s largest classical music publisher has signed a deal to license classical music to mobile phone networks and ringtone retailers. “Several hundred classical hits will be available as ringtones, including Stravinsky’s Petrushka and, at the more popular endof the classical spectrum, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite or Danny Boy. Ringtone sales account for about 10% of the $32bn (£17bn) global record market and are forecast to grow to $5.2bn by 2006.”
Christo Gates To Begin Central Park Installation
Installation of artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 7,500 gates in New York’s Central Park will begin next week. “The Gates,” as they are called, will be festooned with saffron-colored fabric panels and will line 23 miles of pedestrian paths from Feb. 12 to 27. They are being made in Queens and are nearly finished. The artists say they have been working on the project for 20 years.”
America’s Orchestras And Their New Deals
With ratification of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s new contract with its musicians, four of America’s top orchestras have signed new deals. So who won and who lost? “Negotiations this time around were generally more bitter than in the recent past. Attendance and endowments were down, and costs and deficits were up. Strikes loomed, angry rhetoric flew and mediators were called in.”