“The distress sale of its building to Johns Hopkins University … has become a cautionary tale of bloated budgets and unrealized ambition. The museum has been weighted down by crushing debt and beset by management upheaval, and its downfall has long been foretold, but it is still a gut punch to an industry labeled the ‘enemy of the people’ by President Trump and struggling with digital-era financial troubles galore.” — The Washington Post
Tag: 02.01.19
Peter Oundjian’s Next Job: Director Of Colorado Music Festival
The violinist-turned-conductor, who stepped down as music director of the Toronto Symphony last summer after 14 seasons, will be “the fourth conductor to lead the six-week long annual summer festival which takes place in Colorado Chautauqua, a National Historic Landmark near in Boulder, Colorado.” — Ludwig van Toronto
Ratings For “Mrs. Maisel” Are In (Sorta – And Who Can Trust Them?)
So “Mrs. Maisel” is a hit, according to Nielsen, averaging 1.9 million views in its second season. But the difficulties in coming up with an estimate of audience points to the chaotic state of ratings measurement these days. What, exactly, constitutes a hit in the era of streaming? – The New York Times
London Police Arrest Rappers For Performing A Song In Concert
Police say the duo’s song is incitement to violence. They’ve been cracking down. Police interference has undoubtedly had an impact on the scene’s lyrics. “A lot of rappers are censoring their music now. Even down to what they name their video, or what hashtag they use to promote it. They want to go under the radar. You put all that hard work into it, you gas everyone up – ‘Listen to my song!’ – and it gets taken down in 10 minutes. This is our livelihood, and it’s a serious financial loss to have a tune banned.” – The Guardian
A Grammar Guide For The Age Of Tweeting
This is an excellent time for someone to tell us how to think about these things. Social media has spawned a generation of un-Strunk-and-White-ified people who appear to believe that punctuation is optional, that grammar is for the elderly and that ending a sentence with a period is a deliberate act of aggression. – The New York Times
Buzzfeed’s Master Quizmaker Was a 19-Year-Old Who Did It For Free (Then Came Last Week’s Staff Layoffs)
“We were working too hard, making these elaborate things, and all of her stuff was really stripped down. She’d do five quizzes in a day, and I’d maybe do that many in a week. People were, like, ‘If this girl stops, that’s a problem.'” – CBC
Theatre Has A Problem Dealing With Older Women, And They’re Sick Of It
Director Marianne Elliott, whose Company just won a best musical award, says that older women in every area of the theatre world are sidelined “because they are perceived as ‘not valuable and something to laugh at.'” – The Stage (UK)
Opening The Door For Darker-Skinned Men In Hollywood
William Jackson Harper wants dark-skinned actors to have a lot more choices – and for himself, personally, aside from playing a nerdy, dead ethics professor on The Good Place, he wants more: “Stories of the black community in the U.S. Like right after the civil rights movement, I’m really interested in that because I feel like there’s a shift that — I’ve asked my mom about it because I remember her saying that growing up in our neighborhood was very idyllic in a lot of ways. And it was a black neighborhood, and it was the ’60s, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow, OK.’ So at what point did the neighborhood become less idyllic?” – HuffPost
The Bozeman Symphony Is Investigating Allegations Against Its Conductor
The board is investigating a series of allegations against its music director and conductor, Matthew Savery, while he remains in his job. A letter accusing him of serious bullying “was signed by 14 people, including former and present musicians, staff members and donors.” – Bozeman (Montana) Daily Chronicle
Assessing Toni Morrison’s Presence In American, And World, Literature
She’s almost always writing about such horror that it’s incomprehensible. But “Morrison has constructed a language adapted to the needs of a people who of necessity live at once in the present and the past. The animating spirit of her novels — that forked lightning present all at once across time — lights from within the areas of black experience she explores.” – Los Angeles Review of Books