“The 74-year-old Cincinnati Pops conductor was diagnosed on Wednesday with pancreatic, liver and colon cancer and will be undergoing chemotherapy treatment in Cincinnati. ‘It was totally unexpected, out of the deep blue sea. We got it early, but it’s still there,’ he said.”
Tag: 05.01.09
Ill Health Eats Away At Composer John Tavener
“[I]n the past 14 months he has retreated into almost total absence from the music world as performances of his work have come and gone… [H]e still hasn’t heard [his latest] disc, unable to focus his mind or summon the energy. And, lying on a sofa with his long, thin legs crooked like a pietà (he has always looked like Jesus, on or off the Cross), he is barely able to string words together, still less write.”
Past Rears Up, And Black Watch Playwright Declines Honor
“Playwright Gregory Burke has turned down an honorary degree from his old university after a row over an attack he carried out as a student. The award-winning writer of Black Watch said he decided to refuse the offer from Stirling University to prevent any embarrassment to the establishment. He was banned from the campus about 20 years ago after violently assaulting a 17-year-old student.”
Charting The Collapse Of The Auction Pool
“You could say a faint whiff of desperation is in the air: the catalogs are a shadow of what they were six months ago, as are the values and — for the most part — quality of the paintings, drawings and sculptures on offer.”
Getty Execs Take Pay Cuts
“Nine top executives of the J. Paul Getty Trust will give up about $250,000 in pay in conjunction with other budgetary cuts during the coming fiscal year, a museum spokeswoman said Thursday.”
Why Old People Love The Kindle
“So many users said they like Kindle because they suffer from some form of arthritis that multiple posters indicate that they do or do not have arthritis as a matter of course. A variety of other impairments, from weakening eyes and carpal-tunnel-like syndromes to more exotic disabilities dominate the purchase rationales of these posters.”
Report: Panel Backs Brandeis Leadership On Rose Museum
“The committee charged with examining Brandeis University’s controversial decision to change the Rose Art Museum’s mission and sell some of its art issued a vote of confidence for the beleaguered administration and made no push to save director Michael Rush’s job.”
Making Money From Music On The Internet? Of Course!
“From the recorded music side, the reality of the past 50 or 70 years is that a few percent of the people involved in recording ever made any real money off the records. Just a few percent!”
An Arts Fundraising Staple Breaks Down
“The time-honored system of black-tie charity tributes is breaking down, another casualty of the worst economic climate in decades. With honorees in short supply, the entire fund-raising ecosystem on which many nonprofit institutions depend — especially those reliant on the financial sector — is endangered.”
LA – Home To Drive-By Art
“Although downtown Los Angeles still boasts the city’s densest concentration of traditional public art — the sort of sculpture that dresses up corporate lobbies and courtyards — less likely spots in the greater metropolitan area have become home to what one could call drive-by art.”