In August Atlanta Ballet decided to do away with its orchestra and live music. “The musicians have filed a charge of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board, saying the ballet proposed an 85 percent pay cut after announcing it wouldn’t renew their contract. The NLRB is investigating the complaint. The ballet has offered a severance package of $228 per musician, or the equivalent of two performances or rehearsals.”
Tag: 09.21.06
Networks Warn FCC That Live TV Might Be Out
Major American TV netowkrs have told the FCC that its new “indecency” policy could kill all live broadcasts. “In papers filed late Thursday at the FCC, Fox, CBS, NBC and Telemundo argued that the government policy already has forced TV writers and producers to alter scripts and has caused network affiliates to avoid airing controversial programs or broadcast them on late at night.”
Time Warner To Speed DVD Releases In China (To Combat Piracy)
“Time Warner is betting quicker releases and prices as low as 15 yuan ($1.89) for movies such as ‘The Aviator’ will lure Chinese consumers away from illegal copies. The company is trying to recoup some of the $1.2 billion the Motion Picture Association estimates the world’s six biggest studios, including Time Warner and Walt Disney Co., lose in Asia a year because of pirated DVDs.”
Scottish Orchestra Opens Its Own Internet Radio Station
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is opening its own music station on theinternet. There will be continuous streaming of classical music, enabling listeners to hear its productions round the clock. “Subscribers pay £8.80 a month for unlimited streaming of music to their computers and eight free downloaded tracks. ‘We are using the RSNO site as a way to bring the whole concept of online music to our audiences,’ the orchestra’s chief executive, Simon Woods, said. ‘You can pretty much use it as internet radio’.”
Truth Squad – Prove Your Pain
There are so many pain-and-suffering memoirs out there, and enough that are of questionable veracity to create a sub-section of their own. So what proof should we require from authors who spill their hard times?
Berlin Theatre Does Wagner Casting Backstage Workers As Singers
Berlin’s Volksbühne is the city’s most controversial theatre. Now it is producing Wagner with an odd cast. “Cleaners, stagehands and ticket-punchers all appeared on stage last night in the German premiere of Wagner’s three-act comedy The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. Around 45 staff took part in the chorus. Before last night most had sung only the odd Christmas carol. The staff, who could not read music, wore jeans and T-shirts and appeared for free.”
What Italy Wants From Boston’s MFA
Italy is pressing Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts to return artifacts whose ownership is in dispute, and a deal appears close. Here’s a list and discussion with the MFA’s former curator…
A Soaring New Denver Art Museum
James Russell reports that the Daniel Libeskind-designed building is “an extraordinary celebration of the city’s idealism and aspiration. The building has the peculiar magnetic power of a glowing geode produced by a crashed meteorite. Its folded planes in luminous matte titanium catch the sharp, high-altitude light, kaleidoscopically alternating deep shadows with shades of reflection.”
Artist Sues Over Copyright Of Wall Street’s Bull
The artists who created the famous charging bull on Wall Street is suing eight companies, including Wal-Mart for infringing on the copyright of his work. “Arturo Di Modica claimed the companies are selling knockoff copies of his sculpture or using images of the famous statue in ad campaigns without his permission, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court.”
Looking For A Right Click In A Left Click World
“Our brains work the way our computers work because we made the computers. If the interfaces were at least marginally intuitive, they’d be worthless. Our brains do not crash as often as our computers do; on the other hand, our brains cannot retrieve the primary exports of Albania in .033 seconds… We live in a left-click universe, and what we need is a right-click button. We could figure this whole thing out if we had a right-click button.”