“In smaller towns, newspapers have rarely paid much attention to reviewing books or much else, for that matter, using national press services when needed. That’s not likely to change. Suddenly, however, a white knight has emerged on the scene to fill that void of reviews at the hometown paper. I’m just not sure he’s riding the right horse.”
Tag: 05.04.08
First: China Philharmonic To Perform For Pope
“A priest told Reuters that a Chinese diplomatic envoy approached a Vatican official outside Italy to broach the idea of a concert, and the offer was repeated several months ago.”
Why Our Brains Work Against Our Best Interests
“Why are we as a species so often so desperately poor at achieving our goals? If we are, as the selfish-gene theory would have it, organisms that exist only to serve the interests of our genes, why do we waste so much of our time doing things that are not, in any obvious way, remotely in the interest of our genes?”
The Writers Famous For Anything But Writing
“A new breed of female authors are, shall we say, predominantly famous for other things. Now, Coleen and Geri have joined Madonna and Katie Price on the bookshelves with their first offerings as children’s authors.”
Phantom Closes In London For Better Sound
The show has been running 22 years and the theatre’s sound system needs an overhaul. “Phantom had ground-breaking sound when it opened in 1986 and Andrew and I have wanted for some time to give our sound system a complete update so that our audiences could enjoy the most exciting theatrical sound in London.”
Newspapers Try To Lure Back Newspaper Ads
“Though studio ad spending in newspapers has stabilized recently, it’s still way lower than it was just two years ago. According to the Newspaper National Network, studios spent $880 million on newspaper ads last year, down from $1.5 billion in 2005. While that huge drop has hit some papers hard, the fact that the bleeding has slowed of late is encouraging.”
National Gallery Names New Chief Curator
Franklin Kelly, who is 54 and holds a PhD in art history from the University of Delaware, has been a curator at the National Gallery for 21 years.
Cleveland Institute Of Music Appoints A Star President
It’s Juilliard String Quartet first violinist Joel Smirnoff. In addition to the quartet, the 58-year-old Smirnoff is chair of the Juilliard School’s violin department.”
Censor To The World: China
“Conventional wisdom has it that the Internet can withstand anything. Attempts to censor it are about as futile as trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. Experts have claimed that if blocked, the flow of information will simply reroute to reach its target. Too bad China isn’t listening to the experts.”
Enough With Bashing Von Karajan
“So Herbert von Karajan glorified tradition with his Salzburg Festival, promoted favorite musicians (violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and clarinetist Sabine Meyer come to mind) and amassed extraordinary wealth (not just millions, but hundreds of millions of dollars). He had his flaws, plenty of them. Listen to either of those Bruckner Eighths, though, and you’ll forgive the shortcomings in favor of astonishing art, undiminished by time.”