This is turning into a record sales summer for the book business. “The impressive sales totals partly reflect the growing power of big discounters like Wal-Mart and price clubs like Costco. In a sea change for the publishing business, those outlets accounted for as much as half of the early sales of the three books and can claim as large a share as traditional bookstores and online outlets, according to the publishers and an analysis of sales of figures. The power of the price clubs and discounters to move huge numbers of certain books is giddily unnerving for book publishers. The good news is that millions of consumers bought books last month. The bad news is that a lot of them skipped a trip to the bookstore, where they may have bought even more books. For a growing number of consumers, however, the nontraditional outlets simply mean cheaper books.”
Tag: 06.30.03
A Season-Long Celebration Of Balanchine
To celebrate George Balanchine’s 100th birthday, New York City Ballet is planning a season-long retrospective of his work, presenting 81 of his ballets. “Among those who will participate are Valery Gergiev, the conductor and director of the Kirov Theater in St. Petersburg, Balanchine’s birthplace in Russia, and the Georgian State Dance company, the professional folk dance company from Tbilisi. Balanchine, who died in 1983, was of Georgian descent.”
Neighbors Save Bookstore
When a small neighborhood bookstore in San Francisco announced it was closing, neighbors banded together, pledging to buy a book a month and raising money to keep the store open. “This is probably not the sort of investment your accountant would suggest as a sure thing or, for that matter, even a longshot. Even if the store gets back on its feet, the investors won’t make money. Instead of interest, they get a 25 percent discount on all books they buy there. The loans will be repaid over six years.”
Will NY City Opera Really Relocate?
For some months it’s been assumed in many quarters that New York City Opera would be leaving Lincoln Center to anchor a new cultural complex in the World Trade Center project. But directors of the project are putting out a general call for cultural groups who might be interested in locating downtown, leading to speculation that City Opera’s relocation is not a done deal. “Today’s expected invitation from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation seems intended to send the message that decisions about a cultural element at ground zero will not be based on personal, political or professional connections. ‘We want to cast a broad net to see what’s out there’.”
Jazz Reopens For Business In San Francisco
Amazingly, San Francisco’s last jazz club closed down at the end of April. But the jazz scene won’t stay dark for long in a city at one time known for its jazz; new clubs are opening up. “It’s nearly impossible for musicians in San Francisco to play in a nice venue. We decided we had to open our own place,”
Defiant Downloaders
The recording industry says it will begin prosecuting music downloaders who violate copyright. But some users are defiant. “I don’t think they’ll get much money from us. I don’t see it being enforceable. They threaten us, but we just find a different program, and other computer savvy kids will find new programs. It’s an empty threat. I don’t consider it a big deal. Sometimes I only like one or two songs and I’m not going to buy an entire CD for that song.”
Understanding Beethoven Nine
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is one of the most famous pieces of music in history. But “what can be said about the Ninth with reasonable certainty? One is that its position in the world is probably about what Beethoven wanted it to be. Figuratively speaking, everybody knows the Ninth. But has anybody really understood it? The harder you look, the odder it gets. In a singular way, the Ninth enfolds the apparently contradictory qualities of the epic and the slippery.”
In Search Of LA
Why has it been so difficult for writers to capture the identity of Los Angeles? “Although it is the second-largest city in America, in the literary imagination it is still a colony. Instead of speaking for itself, the city is spoken about. Our classic descriptions of Los Angeles were written by visitors who spent only a few weeks or months in the city; or by imported slaves of Hollywood, who act out their rebellion against the city at large; or even by natives writing mainly for an audience somewhere else. What is missing, with a few notable exceptions, is a Los Angeles literature unconcerned with the outside world, intent on explaining the city to itself—as Dickens did with London, or Balzac with Paris.”
Ask Me If I’m An Idiot
Why do so many interviews with authors seem so stupid? “Part of the problem,” writes Gene Weingarten, “is caused by the publishing industry itself, which caters to the laziness of the media. Here at The Washington Post, we constantly get promotional packets for new books in which the publicity departments declare that their authors are available for interviews, and then actually suggest questions to ask. As you might guess, these are not Mike Wallace-type questions…”
Book City Opens With Throngs
An experiment in bookselling is a stunning success in Blaenavon as nine new bookstores open and crowds throng to this formerly blighted industrial town. “The new shopkeepers, many standing behind counters for the first time in their lives, struggled to cope. Visitors were rattling the doors of the new bookshops while they were still closed for the official opening. Once the doors opened change ran out within half an hour, paper bags within an hour, the piles of maps showing the new bookshops by mid-afternoon. By evening yawning gaps were opening up on the brand new shelves.”