A look at (and listen to) a new oral history of the Lone Star version of the blues, a style that’s “lighter, more fluid, more eclectic than Delta blues. From the start, it contained bits of country, gospel, jazz, Tejano and zydeco.”
Tag: 01.14.09
Baltimore Symphony Lays Off Five Staffers
“The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra laid off five of its 67 administrative employees and changed one full-time position to part-time today in an effort to reduce expenditures. Those moves, along with a decision not to fill select staff positions, will save the BSO about $500,000.”
Atlanta Ballet Raises $10 Million
Good news at last for the troubled company: its board is two-thirds of the way to completing “a campaign to raise $14.8 million toward purchase and renovation of a new headquarters on Marietta Boulevard west of downtown.” Among the pledges is $3 million from the Carlos Foundation, the largest single gift in the company’s history.
Off-Off Broadway’s Zipper Factory Abruptly Shuts Down
“[T]he funky midtown Manhattan space that offered edgy plays, pop and rock musicals, concerts, comedy and more, has closed its doors, owner Lee Z. Davis announced on Jan. 14. No other explanation was given.”
Schulz Used Actual Beethoven In Peanuts Strips
“When Schroeder pounded on his piano, his eyes clenched in a trance, the notes floating above his head were no random ink spots dropped into the key of G. Schulz carefully chose each snatch of music he drew and transcribed the notes from the score.”
Television Stalwart Don Galloway, 71
The actor “played well-groomed, straight-arrow characters in myriad television shows and movies, most famously on the series Ironside, in which he was the sidekick of the wheelchair-bound detective played by Raymond Burr.” He was also a frequent guest star on more than 30 series over the years, “making him one of network television’s most familiar guest stars.”
Kansas City’s Kauffman Center Still Needs $60 Million
Even as architect Moshe Safdie’s performing arts center – the future home of the Kansas City Symphony, Ballet and Lyric Opera – rises atop a hill near downtown, ” the $405 million project is [only] 85 percent funded. Most the money that’s yet to be pledged is needed to build a $40 million endowment.”
Oliver Stone Chews Coca With Bolivian President
In a new take on cultural diplomacy, the ebullient noisy filmmaker “kicked a soccer ball and chewed coca leaves” with the Andean head of state yesterday. “Stone’s meeting with President Evo Morales is likely fodder for the director’s documentary on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close ally of Morales.”
What Yahoo Needs From Its New Boss (Besides ‘Adult Supervision’)
Robert D. Hof says that new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz should “nuke the current management structure once and for all” and focus on what the portal does best. “More than anything, Yahoo’s uniqueness lies in its unmatched collection of curated media properties, from Finance to Sports, that have large, loyal, and distinct audiences that advertisers still love.”
Orlando May Scale Back Performing Arts Center
“Mayor Buddy Dyer said today that city will look at both revamping the financing plan and scope of the performing-arts center and the Florida Citrus Bowl… The biggest challenge will be finding a new financing plan that doesn’t rely so heavily on the tourist tax, which is now in free fall.”