Monday April 30 GIANT RADIO: “Radio stations that once were proudly local are now being programmed from hundreds of miles away. Increasingly, the very DJs are in a different city as well.” And the biggest of these in America specializes in “dirty tricks and crappy programming.” Salon 04/30/01 HOLLYWOOD SLOWING DOWN: “From costume shops to caterers, grips to … Continue reading “Media: April 2001”
Friday March 30 THE FAKE POETRY BENEFACTOR? A year ago reputed dot-com whiz Ravi Desai lit up the poetry world with his pledge to give $2 million to the University of Washington to support the study of poetry. But now, after a number of discrepancies in Desai’s story, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the university will … Continue reading “Publishing: March 2001”
Friday March 30 BROADWAY’S RECORD YEAR: Broadway is having a record season, and could take in $700 million by the time the season closes. “That’s an impressive milestone when you consider that the take for the 1998-99 season was a measly $588 million, then a record. As of Sunday, the League of American Theaters and Producers … Continue reading “Theatre: March 2001”
Friday March 30 JAILED FOR LA FENICE ARSON: Two electricians have been convicted of setting Venice’s La Fenice opera house on fire in 1996. “Enrico Carella and his cousin, Massimiliano Marchetti, are believed to have set the building ablaze because their company was facing heavy fines over delays in repair work.” BBC 03/30/01 PAYING THE ARTISTS: Music stars … Continue reading “Music: March 2001”
Friday March 30 NO INSURANCE: Making movies is a huge financial risk. Nine out of ten Holywood movies lose money. So a few years ago someone came up with the idea of writing insurance policies against production costs. It worked great for producers, but was a disaster for insurers. The Economist 03/30/01 PAY TO READ? “A survey published … Continue reading “Media: March 2001”
Wednesday February 28 DURABLE BRASS: The Chicago Symphony’s brass section is thought by many to be the best around. One of the reasons for that is about to go away. Adolph Herseth, principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony for an amazing 53 years, will retire from the orchestra at the end of the CSO’s summer season. … Continue reading “Music: February 2001”
Wednesday February 28 MAD FOR MOVIES: The audience for movies in Korea grew by 12 percent last year. But that audience wasn’t wild about the home team. “The audience share of Korean films decreased 3.2 percent to 32.6 percent, with foreign films attracting 67.4 percent of the audience.” Korea Times 02/28/01 WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: One of the … Continue reading “Media: February 2001”
NOT A PRIORITY THIS TIME: New Canadian government budget cuts taxes but fails to deliver on expected increases for arts and culture. CBC 02/29/00 POST-MODERN IN AN “AFTER-MODERN” WORLD: “We’re living in a postmodern world. We don’t know what that means yet. All we know is that what we have now is not the same thing we had … Continue reading “Issues: January 2001”
At an international conference in Ottawa on arts issues, delegates slam “the Uncle Samming of the world, noting that movies and TV have now displaced aeronautics as America’s number-one export industry. America’s trade negotiators are less likely than ever to understand that culture, for most nations, is about identity, not dollars. Bill Ivey, head of … Continue reading “BEATING UP ON UNCLE SAM”
After reviewing Hollywood’s marketing and advertising practices, the Federal Trade Commission sent a letter to Congress stressing the Constitution’s protection of the entertainment industry and urging voluntary self-regulation by the studios, rather than federally enforced sanctions. “The letter elicited a collective I-told-you-so (and probably a sigh of relief) from Tinseltown types. “We always believed that … Continue reading “MUSIC TO THE STUDIO EXECS’ EARS”
