Poking fun at typos isn't quite fair since we all make them. I recently got sassy with an auto spellcheck feature on my html mailer program, for example, and sent out a press release with "Trovatore" spelled "Travatore" about five times. Nothing like sending out that first release for a new client and falling flat on one's face. That's how it's done, folks! That is how it's done.I would be neglecting my blogger duties, however, if I did not share this pearl of marketing prowess with you. Here's what APAP, the Association of Performing Arts … [Read more...]
“People will see me and cry.” -the remake of ‘Fame’
Apologies in advance if this post is idiotic. The remake of Fame is to be held accountable, you see, because I am convinced that in the one hundred and seven minutes I sat watching it in the Ziegfeld theater tonight, I actually became less intelligent. I asked my sister if we could leave halfway through, and she insisted, "I'm not leaving before The Song." The most amazing part, though, is that after we suffered through the thing in all its plotless, driveling, anesthetized glory, THEY DIDN'T EVEN SING THE SONG. THERE WAS NO DANCING ON THE CAR. … [Read more...]
Hey, look me over
ArtsJournal editor Douglas McLennan has been working overtime on the National Summit on Arts Journalism. The presentations are today and they are cleverly being live-streamed on the interweb. There are few things funnier than Summits on the Future of Anything after which press clippings are mailed out, so I'm glad the carpet matches the drapes, as it were, of this enterprise. Speakers include Doug, natch, Executive Producer of NPR Music Anya Grundmann, Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (and more importantly, Dartmouth … [Read more...]
First-name basis
You may have heard somewhere that Gustavo Dudamel takes over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic next week. There have been a couple small news items on the subject. It seems like only yesterday that he and Hilary were performing Mozart for The Pope's 80th birthday. They grow up so fast, don't they?Much as it kills me softly to give the man more press, there was an interesting post over at Sequenza21 earlier this week about how Gustavo Dudamel is talked about in LA Philharmonic press releases. Here is the release excerpt from … [Read more...]
There goes my retirement
No sooner do I tell the world (and by "the world" I mean "you three readers, hi there - xoxo") about my millions-making idea for Wii Conductor does my client Eric send me this from today's Boston Globe:When Paul Henry Smith and the Fauxharmonic Orchestra set up to perform, the sounds made are like no other symphony orchestra. There is no chorus of string instruments tuning, no scooting of chairs, no fluttering of the pages of musical scores. Rather there are just two imperceptible clicks as Smith turns on two computers - a MacPro for the … [Read more...]
Go Bulldogs
I've mentioned how amused I get by Google Alerts in this zone before, but this is an especially good one:Such a multi-tasker, that David Lang. … [Read more...]
Twitter, Twitter, Twitter
What's that you say? You got carpal tunnel from playing the Dudamel game all afternoon on Friday? Well then, there's no point in doing any work today now is there? You should really let yourself mend. If you're in New York, you can spend this afternoon chasing down two tickets to Carnegie Hall's opening night concert, which is this Thursday, October 1 and has a major harp component, woot. Carnegie has been Tweeting clues here all day, and if you can find their people from 5-7pm tonight, you can enter your name into a raffle for a pair of … [Read more...]
iDude
Well, this really throws a wrench in my idea for Wii Conductor, during which one's friends would have to wait an hour and a half in silence while someone conducted Mahler 7 at a party, but regardless: well done, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Deutsche Grammophon, on the new Gustavo Dudamel iPhone app. iPhone or iPod Touch owners can download the app (for free), set their own tempo, and condut "March to the Scaffold" or "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath" from Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique with their device. Wii Conductor really was going to be … [Read more...]
Thinking inside the box
If you've ever e mailed with me, you'll know how much I love putting things in quotes. "Quotes"-quotes, air quotes (" "), quotes where they in no way should be. There's a deli on 125th and Amsterdam called "Harlem" Deli with the "Harlem" in quotes. This is especially funny because it's next to a Citarella, "the ultimate gourmet market," and just down the road from a slew of cute Columbia University brunch spots. "Harlem" indeed.Fellow ArtsJournal blogger Greg Sandow sent this over yesterday and kindly said I could post it. It's a blurb … [Read more...]
Cheap Sheep Part II
As predicted, I did end up spending $40 at Fiorello's last night along with six other people who probably doled out as much or more. Since no one would share the chocolate mousse with me, I was forced to journey over to the Empire Hotel roof bar and blow some more money on this white espresso Godiva chocolate martini concoction. THIS NEARLY WAS YOURS, Lincoln Center! My intern Nate was watching the Tosca simulcast from the plaza, and he reported today that he didn't see any food or drinks for sale. 800-1000 captive people and nothing to sell … [Read more...]
Sticking around
I've said it before: Wendy at Ling Spa on the Upper West Side is a font of marketing ideas. There are few things I like more than hearing her stories about the fabulously wealthy women who come in all the time; my two favorites to date are the 1. the woman who claims her husband has never seen her without make-up (she sleeps with it on and only washes her face once a week, SO GROSS) and 2. the 15-year-old whose mother suggested she get a Brazilian bikini wax "for her boyfriend," which is even more gross. Last week, Wendy told me that the … [Read more...]
FREE COOKIES
A writer friend forwarded this along and asked if I'd ever tried the time-honored PR tactic of inflating a green couch, giving out free cookies, and making friends in Union Square. The short answer is no - no, I have not. I do appreciate his total commitment to the free cookies theme; he's created a Twitter feed and a Facebook page for the promotion. The odd thing - well, the oddest thing - is that he doesn't provide a link to listen to his music in this e mail. He's "not pushing music on anyone with [his] free cookies." Does he want to sell … [Read more...]
Seriously: Why/how is Michael Jackson e mailing me?
It seems the production company AEG Live is e mailing potential ticket buyers as Michael Jackson--"MJ", to a few hundred thousand of his closest friends, actually--to promote the upcoming movie This is It, which features Jackson's last rehearsals. Obviously this is beyond absurd because the man passed away. That said, it did make me think about faux personalized e mails. For the past two years, for example, I've been getting e mails "from" Barack Obama, and I have to say I like seeing his name in my Inbox. I wonder, then, if a presenter was … [Read more...]
People of New York City
Both the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic will offer open dress rehearsals for their opening nights this year. Here are the details from their websites:Free Tosca Open House Announced!September 2, 2009Don't miss the season-opening new production of Tosca--four days before Opening Night. On Thursday, September 17, the Met will launch its fourth season of free Open Houses, with the final dress rehearsal of Luc Bondy's new staging of Puccini's opera, starring Karita Mattila and conducted by Music Director James … [Read more...]