Tag: 06.29.00

MINNESOTA TAKES ON L.A.

  • Minnesota Public Radio has been moving into Southern California, taking over the public station in Pasadena, with plans to remake it into a dynamo news operation.  “What we’re interested in is content. And here you have a city where there’s no L.A.-based radio being produced for [a nationwide] public radio [audience], and we see that as a huge opportunity for us.” – New Times LA 06/29/00

AND IT STARTED SO PROMISINGLY

This summer’s movie season began so well – the “Mission Impossible” sequel raked in the bucks, and the schedule was full of promise. Then: “the horizon darkened. The engine began to make a funny pinging sound. Slowly, silently, the air went out of the tires. And the summer movie season of 2000 began to sink into the doldrums — at least compared with last year’s.” – New York Times 06/29/00 

WHO WANTS TO BE A MOVIE STAR

Some movie producers in Los Angeles had an idea – they would set up a website and auction off roles in their next movie project. But California authorities have ordered the site shut down because it violates state laws forbidding job applicants to pay for positions. – BBC 06/29/00

  • BIDDING FOR WORK: “The project, called ‘Who Wants to Be a Movie Star?’ was designed to sell off speaking roles and behind-the-scenes jobs for a specific, yet-unnamed film project to the highest online bidders.” – Backstage 06/29/00

ART OF THE CON

Michael Douglas has signed on for “Art Con of the Century,” a movie based on an investigative article written last year about John Drewe, “a charismatic con who in 1986 found painter-songwriter John Myatt, who had a knack for producing copies of paintings by master artists that regularly fooled art experts. Drewe paid Myatt to crank out purported originals that were sold all over the world for large sums, a nine-year escapade that put 200 forgeries into circulation.” – Variety 06/29/00

ALL HANDS ON DECK

The Boston Academy of Music is producing Gilbert & Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore” in collaboration with the Boston National Historic Park and the U.S. Navy in front of the USS Constitution. “The ship is being incorporated wherever possible into the action. There will be some entrances and exits involving the ship, and we’ll be incorporating the evening colors ceremony, which involves the firing of the ship’s cannon.” – Boston Herald

UP THE AMAZON

Is Amazon.com in trouble? Some analysts think so. “Can you really imagine a world without Amazon? No purchase circles, an Amazon invention where you can learn that folks in Shepherdstown are reading ‘Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds’ and readers in Upper Marlboro prefer ‘A Setback Is a Setup for a Comeback’? What would life be like for obsessive authors without hourly updates on bestseller lists? And collaborative filtering software telling us that customers who ordered ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ are also clamoring for Seamus Heaney’s translation of ‘Beowulf’?” – Washington Post

DOWN IN FRONT

Now, at least, there are some female conductors working. But they’re often not treated well, and they’re held to different standards than their male counterparts. “There is no shortage of male conductors who turn up with a half-read score and get away with a self-deprecating grin and a round of drinks. But with a female conductor, orchestras are less tolerant.” – The Telegraph (UK)

SIZE DOES MATTER

It’s the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death, and performances abound. But how to perform the music? “Choirs, even the compact 12-to-16 voice ensembles accepted as ‘authentic’ in period-instrument circles, are anachronisms and inventions – modern-day hybrids that have nothing to do with J. S. Bach’s actual practice, and are as much a misrepresentation of the composer’s intentions as performing Beethoven’s string quartets with a string orchestra would be.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE POP MUSIC BIZ?

The greed? The commercialization? The changing economics of Napster et al? Nope –  it’s “this idea that you have to be young to be valuable, that’s the downfall of music. There’s very little appreciation for growth. You think about crafts where elders are respected, and people are dedicated to the idea of getting better. Seems like that’s no longer what being involved with music is about.” – Philadelphia Inquirer