“During this year’s four-day BookExpo America, which ended Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the hunt was on for the next ‘The Lovely Bones,’ the debut novel and publishing sensation by Long Beach writer Alice Sebold, who was a breakout star at last year’s BookExpo in New York. In Los Angeles, the gathering drew more than 25,000 booksellers, librarians, publishers and others who traded the latest industry news (John Grisham’s next novel, about a high school football team in Texas, is due in September) and gathered up the giveaways. (Only supremely disciplined book lovers kept walking past the stacks of free books cluttering the aisles.) Part of the fun was to pluck a jewel from the 20,000 titles being unveiled.”
Tag: 06.02.03
In The Middle East – War Destroying Valuable History
War in the Middle East is destroying some of the region’s most historic buildings. In Israel, “the damage to Nablus was awesome. The town was founded by the Romans in about 70AD – it’s about the same age as London – and it became an important Crusader town and, later, a trading centre for the Ottoman Empire. Buildings from these eras survive – or did, until a few months ago. Over 100 important historical buildings just aren’t there any more. Nablus was the most important historic town in the Middle East, and it has been devastated.”
NY Philharmonic To Move To Carnegie Hall
Forty years after it left for Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic plans on moving back to Carnegie Hall. “The move would give Carnegie Hall the oldest orchestra in the country and deprive Lincoln Center of the first cultural institution established there. For the Philharmonic, going to Carnegie Hall means it can exchange the flawed acoustics of Avery Fisher Hall for a stage of undisputed sound quality, without having to foot the bill for a costly renovation. It would also turn the orchestra, now led by Lorin Maazel, from a rent-paying tenant into a managing partner.”
NY Philharmonic Move – What Will Happen To Lincoln Center?
“The Philharmonic’s decision to leave comes on the heels of New York City Opera’s proposal to leave Lincoln Center, too, for a new site at ground zero. Simultaneously, the weak economy has forced Lincoln Center’s new management team to scale back plans drastically for the institution’s redevelopment — a project now expected to cost less than a third of the $1.5 billion originally projected.”
Musically, NY Phil Move Makes Sense
“Musically, the issues are straightforward: the Philharmonic has always had complaints about the acoustics at Avery Fisher Hall. The principal criticism is that sound onstage does not allow the sections of the orchestra to hear one another adequately. That, in turn, affects the performance heard by the audience. Visiting orchestras have supported the Philharmonic’s criticisms.”