Life's A Pitch

I locked myself out of my apartment last night en route to the laundry room. Fortunately, my neighbor Kenny (also known as "Dog") works in the building, so he called his co-worker to say we had a "911" on the 23rd floor.  My sister Aliza - who was coming over for dinner at this exact moment - and I then waited in Dog's apartment, where he and his friend were watching the VH1 show For the Love of Ray J. "Who's Ray J?" I asked. "See!" Dog's friend said emphatically. "This is just what T.I. was talking about in that interview. Nobody knows … [Read more...]

The following occurred a few years back in the management comp seats at an orchestra performance that included a world premiere:Amanda, flipping through program, sees composer's headshot: He's hot. Friend: Good thing, because his music sucks. Amanda, squints and sees composer up in a box: Oh, not as hot in person. Friend: Too bad, because his music sucks. [first half of the concert begins, ends, intermission comes]Nice older gentleman, gesturing to the empty seat between him and his wife and Amanda and her friend: Excuse me, would you mind if … [Read more...]

I am that girl. Odds are, if I see a revival of a musical I will know most of - if not all of - the songs.Sitting at West Side Story last night, I not only knew every lyric, but could hum all the musical interludes as well. (My beatbox-esque execution of "Mambo" while waiting for a cab after the performance was especially inspiring.) And since the West Side Story choreography CAN NEVER BE CHANGED thus trapping us in the late-1950s until the end of the known universe, I generally know the dance numbers as well. Assuming Joe the Audience Member … [Read more...]

Skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles skittles There are few things I enjoy more than marketing initiatives that generate press. From Gawker, brought to my attention by James and Aliza:It would be hard to come up with a cheaper ad campaign: Mars' new fruit-candy promotion … [Read more...]

Apparently, copy editing does not = "recession-proof". Now, I'm more than happy to answer fact-checkers' or writers' follow-up questions, but a freelance writer e mailed yesterday, attached an album review for one of my artists and asked, "Please read it over, mostly for fact-checking, misspelling, dangling participles, comma faults, etc.  Anything egregious.  You needn't feel compelled to comment, but any help would be welcome."Sure, I'll help: you missed a star on the end there! … [Read more...]

From You've Cott Mail:New York Sun's arts section to rise againFrom Crains New York Business, 2/28/09The New York Sun may not be rising again, but its arts coverage is about to have a resurrection of sorts.  Manhattan Media, publisher of weekly freebies New York Press, West Side Spirit and Our Town, is launching monthly supplement City Arts, which will feature former arts critics and writers from the Sun. The alumni include Lance Esplund, Brice Brown, Jay Nordlinger, Joel Lobenthal and Marion Maneker.  The 24-page publication will … [Read more...]

I rarely go to the ballet. It lives in that silvery area between work and not-work, so I tend to just not think to buy tickets. On Saturday afternoon, though, my friend Rebecca had tickets to New York City Ballet's 21 Century Movement program, and I was more than happy to tag along. Impressions, in no particular order:"Different" is nice, but it sure isn't pretty.I cannot say enough positive things about New York City Ballet's logo and current ad campaign. The clean lines of both the fade-to-black block font and the provoking but elegant photos … [Read more...]

Hm, I wonder why Brooklyn Vegan didn't mention Hilary Hahn at SUNY Purchase and Hélène Grimaud a the 92 Street Y as possible competition for this weekend's "fancy seated shows". I'm sure both Hilary and Hélène's recitals will also include seven musicians, three dancers, choreography, and costumes, so David Byrne really shouldn't be surprised when no when shows up to see him at Radio City. … [Read more...]

I am working in the Amtrak waiting area for ticketed-passengers-only of Penn Station (without a ticket, but I convinced the guard he should let me stay because I'm expecting someone who does have a ticket), waiting for my friend Josh to come in from D.C.. There is classical music playing on every speaker, but I have no idea what it is. How lovely it would be if there was a nice screen somewhere, like they have in Starbucks-es, telling us all what the piece is and which orchestra/soloist is playing it. I suppose this isn't Penn Station's battle … [Read more...]

This week, veritable performing arts marketing *celebrity* Thomas Cott on what it's like to work for one of the few international dance brands, the when and where's of publicist self-promotion, and being a jack of all trades. Thomas Cott is the Director of Marketing for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, currently celebrating its 50th Anniversary. He has worked on approximately 120 plays and musicals for Broadway and Off-Broadway houses, as well as on 40 opera productions in New York. He is a founding staff member of Lincoln Center Theater, … [Read more...]

OneI only got DVR about a month ago (not unrelated to Lost's return), so it's still new and fascinating to me. Since I'm fast-forwarding all those commercials that advertisers paid lots of money for, I wonder if there will be a movement to produce television commercials in slow-motion with words on the screen so they are most effective while being fast-forwarded. Similarly, do commercial creators now film commercials using similar tones/filters/settings as the TV shows during which they will be played? Like in magazines, when often the ad … [Read more...]

You learn something new from other publicists every day. From here on out, I'm going to craft press releases with this in mind, from Gawker:Our totally unsolicited press release of the day has arrived! "Hello, as Julie Henderson's publicist, I've read some unflattering blogs calling her a 'high fallutin' call girl' and a 'golddigger,'" it begins. There's more! Julie Henderson comes from a good family. Her grandfather Samuel Henderson invented the Henderson grapefruit in the 1960's and built an empire in Texas . She has been modeling for the … [Read more...]

After discussing the recent Onion article entitled "If Itzhak Perlman Is Performing On TV Right Now, Who is Feeding My Cat?" (thanks, Denise) at lunch yesterday, my friend Maureen and I debated who was more famous: Itzhak Perlman or Yo-Yo Ma. I argued for IP, and she for Yo-Yo.Post King's Singers' concert in Princeton last night, I decided to obtain some hard evidence on the subject and polled three male Woodrow Wilson School students at the Dbar. "Name a classical musician" was my test. Two out of the three said Yo-Yo Ma. (The third proudly … [Read more...]

I was sitting in the last row of the orchestra at Alice Tully last night and, at one point during a performance, the woman to my left leaned back and loud-whispered to an usher, "There's someone taking pictures down there!", gesturing to her right dramatically. No sooner had the dutiful usher trotted off to investigate the situation did the woman to my left whip out her iPhone and take a photo herself.Bold, madam. [That would be seat Z104, if anyone from Lincoln Center is reading.] During the final bows, my tricky left-neighbor took another … [Read more...]