Chicago is still a Blues kind of town. “But as the marketplace changes and the fan base becomes more suburban than inner-city, it’s not your father’s or granddaddy’s blues that they’re playing. The blues is more than a museum piece in sweet home Chicago, but many purists believe the music is being sanitized to appeal to tourists.”
Tag: 04.06.04
The Royal Opera House’s Premium £10 Tickets
London’s Royal Opera House is slashing the prices on 100 top price tickets for opera and ballet on Mondays, cutting their price to £10 each, thanks to a corporate sponsor. “It follows a similar scheme – also funded by the same company – at the National Theatre last year.”
Playwright Cancels Because Of Winnipeg Smoking Laws
English playwright Ronald Harwood has pulled out of a planned production of his “The Dresser” in Winnipeg because of the city’s smoking laws. “The reason for going back on my word is that I am a cigarette smoker. I have recently visited Canada and had to suffer the most draconian anti-smoking regulations in restaurants and public buildings. I had no intention of allowing myself to be forced out into the street in winter to partake of one of my great pleasures.”
Voigt Says Weighty Publicity Has Been Good For Career
It might have been embarrassing that the Royal Opera House fired Deborah Voigt from its production of Ariadne for being too large. But Voigt says it’s brought her a lot of positive publicity. “The timing of this couldn’t be much better, quite frankly. You can’t really buy this kind of publicity, and good, bad or indifferent. There’s the old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. I’ve sort of been asking myself, would you have admitted this or brought attention to it had you realised that you would become international news? And I’m not really sure what the answer to that is yet.”
Band Download Fans Donate To Charity
The band Wilco’s new recording won’t be officially released until June 22. But last month copies of the new album hit the internet. Rather than get mad, “the band responded in a novel way. Instead of filing lawsuits or issuing cease-and-desist letters – a common practice in the piracy-crazed music industry – Wilco cooperated in setting up a Web site where downloaders could cleanse their consciences.” Since Friday, fans have donated $4000 to Wilco’s favorite charity.
In Search Of The Next Great Play
Where are the next great plays coming from? “There always seems to be a stratum of plays just below the surface, waiting their turn in an environment that can economically accommodate a limited number of new works. Ask the question one way — Are there a lot of good plays out there that are not being produced? — and the answer from many people is a vigorous yes. But the situation is a bit more complicated.”
Where Did The Movie Audience Go?
Jack Valenti is getting a send off as he retires after 38 years heading the Motion Picture Association of America. But Michael Medved says Valenti has some answering to do. “Despite his unquestioned eloquence, elegance and charm, Mr. Valenti presided over history’s most disastrous decline in the audience for feature films. In 1965, the year before he left the Johnson administration to assume his plush position as chief mouthpiece for the entertainment industry, 44 million Americans went out to the movies every week. A mere four years later, that number had collapsed to 17.5 million. In other words, some potent, puzzling force drove more than half of the nation’s film fans to break the habit of movie going.”
Webber: Musicians Paid By The Note? Yeah, Right!
Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber has “no sympathy for the shrill squeaks emanating from the Beethoven Orchestra of Bonn’s violin section, whose players are demanding more euros than the rest of the orchestra because they play more notes… An undoubted compensation of orchestral playing is the companionship among the musicians, who have a camaraderie that soloists rarely experience. Ours is a world where ships often pass in the night but seldom dock in the same port.”
Prominent Southern African Musician Killed By Robbers
Gito Baloi, 39, one of southern Africa’s most celebrated musicians, was shot and killed in central Johannesburg in an apparent robbery. Baloi was a bass guitarist and one-time member of the jazz group Tananas.”
Was A Prominent London Nightclub Pushed Out Of Business?
London’s Impreial Gardens nightclub was a breeding grounds for young black musicians, writers and producers. But then the club suddenly had to close when they land it was on was marked for redevlopment. “We were going to be the Motown of south London. All money raised by the club went to support artists, black record labels, writers and producers. We were part of a cluster of black business here and we were all pushed out. It seemed a bit like ethnic cleansing. They have found premises for the others but nothing suitable for us.”