Singer Robert Merrill, who had a long career singing opera, but was more widely known for singing the national anthem at New York Yankee games, has died. “Clad in a pinstriped shirt and a tattered Yankees necktie, Merrill sang the national anthem at the Yankees’ season opener for three decades, beginning in 1969.”
Tag: 10.26.04
Hot Off The Ringer
Cell phone ring tones have become a big source of revenue for recording companies. Now Billboard Magazine says it will start publishing a weekly top ringtones chart. “The new chart, known as the Billboard Hot Ringtones Chart, will reflect the “Top 20″ polyphonic ringtone sales for each week, including song title, artist, previous week’s position and number of weeks on the chart.”
Book TV – Lit On A TV Drama?
Norman Mailer makes a guest appearance on the TV drama Gilmore Girls. A real live author on a TV series? But Dana Stevens writes that “literature has played a supporting role on the show since its inception. With its rapid-fire, hyper-caffeinated dialogue and who’s-got-a-crush-on-whom plotlines, Gilmore Girls could easily pass as another wholesome WB teen show à la Dawson’s Creek. But beneath its giggly female energy and family-friendly values lurks the most bookish series on network television.”
The Tate’s Giving Program
A number of well-known artists is promising artwork to the Tate to help fill in the museum’s gaps in contemporary work. “In all, 23 artists are committed to giving – and the gallery naturally hopes this will become a fashionable bandwagon which others will wish to scramble aboard. At the most conservative estimate the promised gifts are worth £2.5m. But if an auction house could assemble such a collection, it would certainly go for many times more.”
de Waart: Rebuilding Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Philharmonic has had a tumultuous few years. Now Edo de Waart has taken over the orchestra. “Although de Waart’s primary appeal is to the government, his comments seem equally pitched to the business community, from which he hopes to generate more private support. ‘The challenge for a symphony orchestra in Asia is figuring out what and for whom we play. On one hand we’re an inventor, trying to perfect our product. But we’re also the shopkeeper, keeping track of who’s buying’.”
Ode Of A Bibliophile
Thomas Benton is mad about books. “Anyone who collects old books knows that most of what we call “literature” is never read. Large collections of books are fetish objects rather than authentic scholarly resources. I’m like all those architecture students who feel compelled to buy a pair of expensive and uncomfortable Barcelona chairs. I have not yet given up on my professorial aspirations, and each new book is a small investment in that future, which, with any luck, could last another 40 years.”
Awe Of The New
Why is it that people pay so much attention to the new piece on a program rather than the tried and true classics? And yet, where is the quality?