As the economics of publishing contemporary music have become tougher, more and more top composers are self-publishing. “The long-term viability of both self-published composers and publishers might be questioned from both sides of the fence. But in any event, the extraordinary advances in technology that have facilitated the trend towards self-publishing can only be a good thing.”
Tag: 03.28.07
Reinventing Omaha
” ‘Alternative’ and ‘independent’ aren’t just marketing catchwords in Omaha. The blossoming is real and multifarious. It didn’t happen overnight. And it certainly didn’t happen as a result of any grand master plan by the city establishment. Rather, it has been the improbable result of the hard work of a few local heroes.”
Rogers Wins Architecture’s Top Prize
British architect Richard Rogers wins the Pritzker. “The choice, announced today, brings overdue attention to a visionary who made a huge impact on the field more than two decades ago, with designs that seemed to turn architecture inside out, flamboyantly exposing what other builders usually hide — girders, pipes and ducts.”
Agent In Charge Of No-Shows Files Bankruptcy
“A theatrical booking agent that left thousands of theatergoers holding tickets to shows that were never staged has filed for liquidation under the federal bankruptcy code. The filing by Baci Management in a Maryland federal court could turn out to be good news for jilted patrons. The court-appointed trustee handling Baci’s Chapter 7 liquidation said yesterday that he will seek reimbursement out of Baci’s remaining assets for those who hold tickets.”
Smithsonian Starts Search For New Leader
“A day after Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small’s resignation, the names of possible successors began to circulate… Small’s departure provides more than an opportunity to find a new leader. It also gives the Smithsonian a chance to rethink the qualities needed to guide a 19th-century creation through the 21st century.”
Is Canada’s PM Using Culture Funds To Buy Votes?
Funding for major cultural projects has been harder to come by in Canada since Stephen Harper’s Conservative government took control. But lately, Martin Knelman has noticed that Harper’s budget people are looking more kindly on certain projects: specifically, those in the province of Quebec. Why Quebec? “There’s a simple reason: wooing votes in Quebec is seen as the magic road to a Harper majority in the federal election that hasn’t yet been called.”
Will Anyone Miss Ballet Pacifica?
“Ballet Pacifica has canceled so many projects and seasons in the last few years that the announcement Monday of the imminent closure of its school and the indefinite ‘hiatus’ of its performing company didn’t come as a shock but rather as just one more stage in its well-documented free fall… If an official notice of once-and-for-all termination arrives in a month or so, it will almost seem like deja vu, and any regret will be over the institution’s failure of vision as much as its funding.”
Piano’s Resilient LACMA Plan
Renzo Piano’s design for the newly expanded LA County Museum of Art are “resistant to quick analysis,” says Christopher Hawthorne, and that’s not a bad thing. The plans “are likely to make the experience of visiting LACMA richer even as they embrace a pop sensibility and veer close to some New York cliches about California culture. And in bringing art and corporate identity to the foreground, they dim the spotlight on pricey, name-brand architecture.”
Trying The Soft Sell
“A rare painting that until late 2001 hung in a dilapidated Ontario farmhouse is scheduled to be sold next month by Sotheby’s in New York where it could fetch as much as $3-million. The auction of Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May by British artist John William Waterhouse marks the second time in the last five years that the acknowledged masterpiece has been put on the block.” Last time, the sellers withdrew the painting from sale when bidding stalled short of expectations, and “the hype this time around is decidedly more subdued.”
Brown Acquitted Of ‘Idea Theft’
A British court has upheld a ruling that DaVinci Code author Dan Brown did not steal elements of his bestselling novel from a non-fiction work, as alleged by the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.