Malcolm Gladwell’s Impending Tipping Point

Nearly 20 years and millions of sales after his nonfiction debut, Mr. Gladwell is at something of a professional tipping point. He elicits from readers the kind of polarized reactions usually reserved for talk-radio hosts. To one camp, he is a master storyteller, pithily translating business concepts and behavioral science to a lay audience. To others, he is a faux intellectual, dressing up ordinary truths (such as an “Outliers” argument that success results from a combination of hard work and opportunity) as counterintuitive genius. How “Talking to Strangers” is received could cement Mr. Gladwell in one of those camps for good. – The New York Times

When Joshua Met Michael

Joshua Robison and Michael Tilson Thomas met in their junior high orchestra in North Hollywood when they were 11 and 12 years old (Robison is a year and a half younger). “I played cello, and across the room playing the oboe was this Jewish, nerdy looking guy,” says Robison of his first memory of Thomas. “I really remember him because at recess I’d hang around and he’d play piano. I never heard piano playing like that.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Staff At Science Museums Across England Declare One-Day Strike Over Low Pay

“The action comes after [Science Museum Group’s] directors refused to increase a below-inflation 1.5% pay rise offered to more than 75% of staff this year. … Prospect, the union representing striking Science Museum Group staff, said a series a of below-inflation pay rises had left workers with a 13% real-terms pay cut since 2010” and that SMG had a profit of more than £4 million last year. – The Guardian

National Museum Of Brazil, Destroyed By Fire Last Year, Sets Date For Partial Reopening (And There’s Good News About The Collection)

“Our intention is to inaugurate a part of the reconstructed palace in 2022 with expositions that let us celebrate the bicentennial of Brazil’s independence,” said an official. And while early reports last year said that 90% of the museum’s collection had been lost in the fire, that figure turns out to be only 46%. – Artnet

$8 Billion Was Spent On New Cultural Venues Worldwide In 2018: Report

That figure, high as it seems, is down from $9.9 billion in 2017, the year that saw the completion of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. There were 148 such buildings — museums, performing arts centers, and other cultural hubs — completed in 2018, with the largest number of projects in North America but the three most expensive all in China. – Hyperallergic

Chattanooga Symphony Sued By Its Concertmaster For Breach Of Contract

Holly Mulcahy, who has been the orchestra’s concertmaster since the fall of 2013 (and who takes up a second concertmaster position at the Wichita Symphony this month), is seeking damages “for breach of contract, misrepresentation, tortious interference with business relationship and intentional reckless acts related to the same … related to Plaintiff’s confirmed solo performance contract on October 6, 2019.” (The orchestra’s printed season brochure had listed the program for that date as music of Haydn and Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Mulcahy as soloist; the orchestra’s website now lists it as an all-Haydn program.) – WTVC NewsChannel 9 (Chattanooga, Tenn.)