Trivia books have become a publishing phenomenon. “Each tidbit or bound collection of factoids may be so insignificant that calling it trivia is almost an honorific. However, this growing genre signals a profound trend in America: The rise of Jolt Culture, which combines our quest for information — this is, after all, the Age of Information — with our lust for immediate gratification.”
Tag: 08.13.06
How Much Will Commercial Success Alter NY Fringe?
“As its 10th season runs from Aug. 11-27, the New York Intl. Fringe Festival is straddling the line between a grassroots cheerleader for offbeat legit and a seductive draw for commercial hopes. While few in the theater community imagine that all of this year’s 217 shows are suited for the big time, even fewer forget 1999. That’s the year ‘Urinetown’ dominated the fest, beginning its march to three Tonys and a two-year Broadway run. That and other transfers — including ‘Matt and Ben’ and tuner ‘Debbie Does Dallas’ — helped push the festival to a new level of relevance.”
San Diego Opera Buys A Home
Lyric Opera San Diego has bought its own home. “Of the country’s approximately 125 professional opera companies, only 13 (including Lyric) own their own venues. In California, the Lyric is one of just two companies in that category, the other being the Jarvis Conservatory, a Napa-based organization whose performances include opera and zarzuela (a popular Spanish form of operetta).”
Claim: Late Hermitage Curator Stole Art To Buy Insulin
The curator who died as a theft scandal was coming to light at the Hermitage Museum sold art to buy insulin, says her husband. “The husband admitted he and his wife had taken 53 objects since the early 1990s. Another person was arrested a few days later. Zavadskaya’s husband said they needed the cash to buy insulin for his wife, whose meager salary of $125 a month could not cover her medical needs. The family lived in a dilapidated apartment in the historic centre of the city.”
Is Satellite Radio Selling Out?
When satellite radio was launched several years back, providers XM and Sirius crowed that they would fill the void left by increasingly consolidated corporate radio, featuring formats and genres virtually ignored on the terrestrial dial. And for a while, that’s exactly what they did. But lately, Sirius and XM have begun to sound suspiciously alike. More alarming is the fact that each service has been quietly dropping music formats that fail to garner a large audience – exactly the sort of pandering to the masses that satellite was supposed to alleviate.
The Fine Line Between Sharing And Stealing
What constitutes music theft? As it turns out, the legal reality of copyright enforcement is miles away from what most younger consumers believe to be stealing. Many consumers who would never think of downloading music without paying for it believe that there’s nothing wrong with copying a few songs for a friend. But the law says otherwise, and that disconnect worries the recording industry.
People Don’t Want 3″ Movies? You’re Kidding!
What do the kids want? Answer that question, and a world of marketing consultants and entertainment execs will beat a path to your door. In fact, it can be so difficult to judge the preferences of the young that those manufacturing the cutting edge entertainment devices of today frequently discover tomorrow that no one cares. Case in point: the rush to release all manner of TV shows, movies, and other viewable media in a form viewable on cell phones and iPods. As it turns out, young people just aren’t interested.
One Artistic Retreat, Hold The Solitude
Deep in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, a little-known group called the Orchard Project is offering a unique opportunity to theatre troupes that create their work collaboratively. The idea is to provide companies the same kind of retreat that writers and directors have enjoyed for decades. “Eventually [the Orchard Project’s campus] will include four rehearsal spaces, costume and prop storage, and housing for 70 participants.”
Rumors Abound On The Fringes Of Chicago MD Search
It’s coming up on three years since the Chicago Symphony announced that Daniel Barenboim would step down as music director in 2006, and the ensemble has made no discernible progress in the search for a successor. “The appointment of the dream team of Bernard Haitink as principal conductor and Pierre Boulez as conductor in interim leadership roles, beginning this coming season, has bought the CSO time to conduct the search process as thoroughly as possible… In any case, the search is being carried out under such tight security that the Bush administration would do well to study its methods of forestalling information leaks. That official silence has fanned the flames of outside speculation.”
The End Of The Vegas Showgirl?
Las Vegas shows have gone completely over the top in recent years, with dazzling special effects, copious nudity, and massive set pieces all serving as expensive marketing gimmicks designed to lure the maximum number of tourists in the door. So where does all this leave the traditional Vegas showgirl? Nowhere good, unfortunately.