Tag: 08.25.09

End Of A Tap-Dance Era: The Last Member Of The Original Copasetics Passes On

“The Original Copasetics was a fraternity of vividly individual tap dancers, each with his own casually authoritative style and specialty. … Formed [in 1949] on the death of Bill Bojangles Robinson, the international tap star, the group took its name from Robinson’s familiar observation that ‘everything is copasetic,’ or perfect.” Ernest Brown, the troupe’s last surviving member, died last week in Chicago at age 93

‘Human Pixels’: TV Ads Update The Communist-Style Mass Spectacle

Dan Neil: “[A new spot for the Palm Pre] is the latest ad to deliberately evoke the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, which used thousands of people as pointillist elements to create dreamy, large-scale pictographs. … This is the ultimate feel-good advertising. The very texture of the frame is made of shiny, happy people.”

Boston U. Lecture Is A McDonald’s Ad Shoot In Disguise

“This summer, some Boston University students thought they were attending a morning lecture by a renowned cultural anthropologist in an advertising class.” It was actually a shoot for a McDonald’s ad, in which “the students appear tired, dazed, and yawning until a crush of chipper uniformed McDonald’s workers, some actors and some real employees, swarmed into the lecture hall. They served everyone cups of iced and hot coffees. On camera, the students perked up and sipped their drinks.”

Bolshoi Academy Admits Its Fourth British Dancer Ever

“It is one of the most elite ballet schools in the world and has an impressive track record for producing some of the industry’s greatest stars. Now, a teenager from Watford is set to become only the fourth British youngster in 230 years to train at the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy.” If she makes it beyond the first year, the 16-year-old will have gotten farther than any of her British predecessors.

Subscribers Down, Single Tickets Up For Dudamel’s Debut

“Gustavo Dudamel, the new music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, may be the hottest conductor on the classical scene, but box-office figures from Walt Disney Concert Hall show that even the young Venezuelan isn’t entirely recession-proof. Subscription tickets, which went on sale in February and account for a majority of total sales, have fallen 7% from last year, the final year of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s tenure with the orchestra. That was at least partly offset by an uptick in the sale of single tickets.”

Web Matchmaker Gives Micropatronage A Personal Touch

Brooklyn-based start-up Kickstarter “uses the Web to match aspiring da Vincis and Spielbergs with mini-Medicis who are willing to chip in a few dollars toward their projects. Unlike similar sites that simply solicit donations, patrons on Kickstarter get an insider’s access to the projects they finance, and in most cases, some tangible memento of their contribution. The artists and inventors, meanwhile, are able to gauge in real time the commercial appeal of their ideas before they invest a lot of effort — and cash.”

Christie’s Goes To Red Hook

The auction house has signed a 30-year lease on a Brooklyn warehouse that currently houses “piles of dust and detritus as it looms over the weeds and gritty businesses of Imlay Street. But come January, Christie’s executives say, the building will boast infrared video cameras, biometric readers and motion-activated monitors, as well as smoke-, heat- and water-detection systems. Inside, the warehouse will hold the likes of van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and Brancusi, with each collection potentially worth more than the building itself.”