“Yes, traditional media are in the red, in large part because no one’s buying advertising. Except the companies that are. So who’s taking out print ads and making commercials, even now? Who’s left in lean times to sponsor what’s left of television, magazines and newspapers?”
Tag: 12.20.08
Nobel Secretary Who Dissed American Lit To Step Down
Horace Engdahl, who made headlines in the fall for saying that the US “is too isolated, too insular” to compete for the Nobel Prize for literature, will step down as the prize committee’s permanent secretary next June. He says that his decision predates the controversy.
A Way To Make Holiday Travel Even More Unpleasant: Airport Karaoke
“Ho-ho-ho, hold that flight. There’s a holiday surprise for travelers – and aspiring performers – passing through Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport this month. There it is, just past the security checkpoint, set atop a small stage: a karaoke machine adorned with Christmas lights and stockings shaped like cowboy boots.”
U Penn Museum Wants To Reinvent As “Tourist Magnet”
As an initial step, the director has laid off 18 researchers, though some may stay if grant money can be found to cover their salaries. “We were living beyond our means,” said Director Richard Hodges. He said the museum’s finances are unsustainable, and that the museum must refurbish its exhibits and “get its income up.”
The View From LA: 2008’s Best And Worst in Classical Music
Mark Swed agrees with Steve Smith that Elliott Carter’s 100th and Satyagraha at the Met were highlights of the year. But Swed also cites Gustavo Dudamel, Andriessen’s opera La Commedia, Woody Allen’s staging of Gianni Schicchi and Terry Riley’s piece for the Disney Hall organ. (The Fly joins l’affaire Mortier on the fiasco list.)
Uncovering the Reichorchester (The Berlin Phil To You And Me)
Under the Nazi regime, Goebbels renamed the Berlin Philharmonic the Reichsorchester and turned it into the government’s flagship band. For years after the war ended, no one involved would speak about that period, and the orchestra’s archives from the time were destroyed. Now a historian and a filmmaker have produced in-depth looks at that hidden phase in the orchestra’s history.