YouTube is currently serving 100 million downloads a day. So what’s the great attraction? “YouTube, Google Video and related sites have revived vaudeville, then stabbed it in the neck with the razor-sharp shards of a torn can of energy drink, kicked it in the ribs, and left it onstage to writhe for the amusement of millions. And you can be part of it!”
Tag: 07.19.06
Mission Critical – What For The Public University?
America’s public universities are in a bind. What is their greatest calling? “Public purpose is the defining characteristic of all public universities, but what does it entail? A review of the external demands on state universities reveals a long and daunting list. They must become more…”
Forget That $100 Million, I Play Classical
In 1958, Saul Levine built his own classical music station in Los Angeles. Now 80, he still owns and runs the station and programs classical music even though he could probably sell for $100 million. “Whenever I get an offer I call my wife and she tells me to tell them to go away. She doesn’t want me hanging around the house, and I would go nuts.”
SF Star Steps Into Choreographer’s Role
Yuri Possokhov was a star dancer with San Francisco Ballet. But as he retires from dancing, he’s named the company’s resident choreographer. A brilliant second career awaits…
The New Pynchon? (Or A Hoax)
“Last week, Amazon.com put up a page that listed Untitled Thomas Pynchon at a svelte 992 pages and bore a description purportedly written by the master himself. In fact, it purported quite well indeed and also rather charmingly, promising an archetypal Pynchonian buffet of settings, characters, and old tricks (“Characters stop what they’re doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs. Strange sexual practices take place. Obscure languages are spoken, not always idiomatically.”) Then the description just vanished from the page. Was this a hoax?”
Alternative Reading – A City Makes itself Over As Arts Hub
Reading, Pennsylvania is getting a makeover. “This once-gritty city is morphing into an arts hub, where a Keith Haring exhibit is drawing thousands at the local museum, blues and jazz acts tour through and a downtown coffeehouse features poetry readings and acoustic music. Not bad for a city better known for factories than high art.”
Wanted: A Billionaire Who Loves Orchestras
Peter Dobrin wants to know: “So where is the billionaire so in love with orchestral music that he or she wants to make all the difference in the life of an orchestra? Where is that hybrid philanthropist-music lover who wants to add $100 million or $200 million to the endowment of the Philadelphia Orchestra so it can stop fearing deficits; activate a range of education programs that can really inculcate children with classical music; and take a chance once in a while on edgy repertoire or the cultivation of a young unknown guest artist without fear of box-office repercussions?”
Will New Borders Chief Reinvent Bookseller’s Brand?
George L. Jones has been appointed new head of Borders. Jones helped turn Target develop its “bargain upscale aesthetic” and revived the Scooby-Doo character for Warner Brothers. And for Borders? Jones isn’t saying yet, except to say he wants to better distinguish the chain from cmpetitor Barnes & Noble…
Canadian Portrait Gallery Stalls
Work on the Portrait Gallery of Canada has been suspended and the government is reviewing the project. Said review will take until November. “Sources say the gallery is in limbo partly because of competing priorities within Library and Archives Canada (created in 2004 out of the former National Library of Canada and National Archives of Canada, it’s the institution responsible for the Portrait Gallery), and partly because the Stephen Harper government wants to fulfill its promise to increase accountability.”
Disney Makes Big Cuts
Disney is cutting 650 jobs, reducing the jumber of movies it makes, and putting a new production team in place. “The restructuring will cut Disney’s output from about 18 films a year to about a dozen. Of those, about 10 will be released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, a proven family-friendly brand that includes the successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.”