Conductor Jorge Mester Loses Another Gig, This Time in Florida

“Jorge Mester’s contract as music director with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra will end at the completion of the 2011-12 season.” Last May, Mester left the same job (under disputed circumstances) at the Pasadena Symphony, which nearly went bankrupt in 2009; he also holds the music directorship of the Louisville Orchestra, which declared bankruptcy earlier this month.

‘How Barry Hannah Changed the American Short Story Forever’

“Hannah blasted the form out of the Joycean model of epiphany – whereby a short story seeks to impart to its characters, or readers, a hard-earned kernel of revelation – toward a more ecstatic model of release: The men and women in Hannah’s fiction, often at great cost, stumble upon – or crowbar their way into – moments of escape, explosion, literal flight, even transcendence.”

Colorado City Removes Mysterious Sculpture That Suddenly Appeared On Museum Lawn

“Six city workers took just under 20 minutes Monday to lower, disassemble, strap down and drive away a sculpture that mysteriously appeared on the front lawn of the Boulder History Museum a week ago. The work of art was deposited overnight Dec. 13 by an unknown sculptor, inspiring people to come by the museum to take pictures and try to decipher its meaning.”