Last summer’s low concert attendance at American pop concerts caught the eyes of promoters. So ticket prices came down a bit this summer. “From May through July, the median ticket price at shows seating more than 5,000 was $25, according to an analysis of data from Billboard Boxscore. That price, based on the least expensive seats at each show, was $2.75 less than the same time last year. Prices for the most expensive tickets dropped by $3.50 (median $49.50).”
Tag: 08.19.05
LA – Is TV Replacing Movies?
LA’s movie business might be down, but TV production is booming. Some “132,000 workers riding the biggest boom ever in Los Angeles television production, one that is rapidly turning Tinseltown into a TV town. While Hollywood’s nomadic film business has gravitated toward cheaper U.S. and foreign locales, television production has become the bedrock of the Los Angeles entertainment economy. Producers are responding to a demand for original programs from broadcast networks and a mushrooming number of cable channels. Reruns are being shunned in favor of fresh shows that continue to earn money for years when shown again or sold on DVD.”
Will Movie Studios Pull TV Ads?
Movie studios are reassessing their TV advertising. “Network TV has been part of Hollywood’s sales formula for many years, as studios desperate to launch expensive blockbusters blitzed the national airwaves in an effort to reach the broadest possible audience. But many studio executives now are calling that formula into question, having watched this summer as it failed to pay off amid a string of box-office laggards. The diminishing effectiveness of such ads is to some symptomatic of a broader problem in Hollywood.”
Thorne Named To Head Pritzker
Martha Thorne, an associate curator at the Art Institute of Chicago has been named executive director of the Pritzker Prize for architecture. “Thorne’s ascent to the paid, part-time Pritzker post marks the first time since the award was established in 1979 that it will be administered from Chicago, the hometown of the prize’s sponsor, the billionaire Pritzker family. Previous executive directors — including the late Brendan Gill, the New Yorker magazine’s architecture critic, and the immediate past executive director, Bill Lacy, former president of Purchase College — have been from the New York area.”
Marin Alsop On Getting Past The Controversy Of Her Baltimore Appointment
”You know, when it started getting like this weird personal thing, I really tried to dissociate from it, because it did feel very, very personal. I insisted on having a private meeting with the musicians, and I said, ‘Look, I have some really hard feelings about this, but I’m willing to put them aside if you’re willing to meet me halfway.’ “
Art Out Of Doors
New York City’s Percent for Art program “has become the largest public art program in the city since the Great Depression. There have been more than 200 projects completed in schools, parks, police precincts and branch libraries. Incrementally, usually without much fuss, they have enlarged the city’s visual topography.”
Rare Violin Returned
A rare 18th Century violin has been returned to its owner a year after having been stolen. “The violin, which is dated to around 1740, was recovered when an unsuspecting dealer took it in to Bonhams auction house, which checked it against an insurance company list of stolen items.”
Here’s A Stunning Stupendous Headline To Match!
Julian Lloyd Webber wants to know why classical music performances are described with such breathless adjectives. “Pick up any brochure for the new concert season and you will soon discover that the entire classical world (and presumably its audience) are apparently staggering around in a perpetually stunned condition – which could, of course, account for the stunning predictability of these pre-concert blurbs. Next season, how about a moratorium on the following words: stunning, sensational, dynamic, young, exciting, amazing, breath-taking, magnificent, inspirational, brilliant, astounding and best loved?”
A Talk With Franz Worse-Than-Most
Conductor Franz Welser-Most has heard all the insults, and they don’t seem to bother him. “There’s an untouchability about Welser-Möst, which goes with the magical suddenness with which he appeared on the scene.”
So Who Needs To Read Books Anyway?
Why was everyone so apalled with Posh Spice confessed she’d never read a book? “Since when did a regular quota of suitably serious reading matter become obligatory? And who decides what’s worthy anyway? If Victoria Beckham swallowed a regular dose of sugary chick lit or violent slasher chillers, for example (well, they’re books too), would it somehow make her reading habits more acceptable than the fact that she happens to “love fashion magazines”?”