We've all fallen prey to the old "who would play me in the movie of my life" game. Let us not forget that when Life's a Pitch becomes a trashy-summer-beach-novel-turned-HBO-series, I will be played by Megan Fox. The Queensland Symphony Orchestra has collected a truly exquisite group of composer doppelgängers, which they are calling the "Composer Lookalike Wall of Fame." This is precisely something we would have done in the marketing department at McCarter Theatre some lazy summer Friday afternoon, and I love that the orchestra actually … [Read more...]
At any moment, a Great Blog Post
It's always worst when your heroes disappoint. I'm usually 100% Team Met Opera (their Time Out New York ads in the listing section, for example, say, "...or you could go to The Met," which I love). But when I was walking down 9th Avenue last night, this confused me: Maybe it was the two margaritas I'd sucked down at El Centro, but "At any moment, a Great Moment" with a photo of Anna Netrebko in Manon just does not make sense. First of all, you can't see her face; it's all corseted torso. I guess that's...sexy? Sure, let's say "sexy". … [Read more...]
Help me help you help everyone
I want everyone in the world to cover the arts. I want people who don't love the arts to write about the arts, I want people who do love the arts to write about the arts. I want the New York Times critic to write about the arts, I want the blogger who started her blog in the morning and wants to review that evening to write about the arts. Art art art, all around us, can't swing a dead cat without hitting the arts. That is what I want, so let's be clear about that before we get going. I'm working on a new Michael Gordon release called … [Read more...]
How the other 99.9% live
Let the record show that the last press release I sent out was about Orpheus' composer-in-residence and the one before that was about an Ives sonatas album. Y-a-w-n. WHAT AM I WASTING MY LIFE AWAY. This is what I should be dealing with: ABERCROMBIE & FITCH PROPOSES A WIN-WIN SITUATION New Albany, Ohio, August 12, 2011: Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) today reported that it has offered compensation to Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino, a character in MTV's TV show The Jersey Shore to cease wearing A&F products. A … [Read more...]
Does your mother know that you’re out?
When I interviewed for my first job out of college, I wore these big, silver, clip-on earrings that my glam Iranian grandmother gave me. I thought sporting them would help me stand out, which I would need because I obviously considered the marketing internship at McCarter Theatre--like I do most things--as a Chorus Line howmanypeopledoesheneedhowmanyboyshowmanygirlshowmanypeopledoeshe---I really need, this job, please God I need, this job--situation. I got the job, and my boss later asked, "What was up with those earrings you wore to your … [Read more...]
The Nyan Cat and Alec Baldwin explain it all
I love this article, which I've been meaning to post since May. It's from Business Insider, and it's called, "Why I Will Never, Ever Hire a 'Social Media Expert'": Being an expert in social media is like being an expert at taking the bread out of the refrigerator. You might be the best bread-taker-outer in the world, but you know what? The goal is to make an amazing sandwich, and you can’t do that if all you’ve done in your life is taken the bread out of the fridge. Social media is just another facet of marketing and customer service. Say … [Read more...]
Talk to me about marketing Shakespeare
Oh gosh: let's see if I even remember how do to do this. Back in the day, when I didn't have clients playing everything Ravel wrote for the piano etc., I did interviews with Industry Professionals. The reasons were two-fold: first, I'm a curious soul, and second, I'm sure you all get tired of me. The interviews are all archived on a right side column. Scroll down a bit and they're there. So here is Andrew Shuttleworth, Marketing Communications Manager at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. I was curious about his Shakespeare … [Read more...]
Some PR is bad PR
It's a dark, dark day when even Sesame Street is making fun of you: … [Read more...]
The time has come
Twice before I have called on you, Life's a Pitches, to get out there and rock the vote. The first to make Hilary Gramophone's Artist of the Year, and we did it, Pitches, we did it. Well "we" and a really good Schoenberg album. The second was to get Hilary named Playboy's Sexiest Babe of Classical Music. We even nabbed the Opera Chic endorsement for that one. Sadly, our efforts were thwarted by Julia Fischer and one suggestively placed violin. Everyone loves a prop. Now the time has come for our greatest challenge of all: there's a … [Read more...]
I have often walked down that street before
My second-ever blog post, "How do you get (people) (in)to Carnegie Hall?", was about how I walked by an Abercrombie & Fitch and could feel the air-conditioning on the street. Consequently, I wanted to go inside. Here's what I wrote, lo those three years ago: ...after narrowly avoiding Abercrombie I thought, when have I ever passed a performance venue and had a desire to go inside? I walked by Carnegie Hall every day on the way to work at IMG, and never once did I see, hear or feel anything that made me want to go into that lobby. I walked … [Read more...]
You’re young. You’re broke.
It took a while for me to sort out that things only went on sale when people didn't buy them. I don't know what I thought when I was younger: that The Gap just had days when they were feeling generous? There's a lot of debate out there about discounting tickets. Should it be done at all, and if so, when, and by how much? One wonders why theater and classical music tickets aren't simply cheaper, but there are people who analyze such things for a living and I am not one of them, so I won't go into it here. I would, however, like to publicly … [Read more...]
PBR: Patron of the Arts
From today's NPR classical music letter: Quite possibly the strangest place to see a Pabst ad, but we appreciate the support, wherever it may come from. … [Read more...]
Can I teach you how to dance real slow
I happily admit that I hope, every moment of every day, that my life will turn into a musical. I've been watching Ally McBeal on Netflix streaming (My Name is Amanda Ameer and I'm Addicted to Netflix Streaming), and they have what I want: an office that breaks into choreography but not in that cloying Glee way. Imagine my surprise and delight, then, when a friend showed me this video from Grand Rapids. Here's the NPR story. After being included on Newsweek's list of "America's Dying Cities" , Grand Rapids--specifically, two directors … [Read more...]
Bon Iverywhere
Bon Iver's upcoming eponymous release is being streamed on the equally-prestigious-in-their-own-rights NPR Music, The New York Times, and Pitchfork. All three streams were posted the same day: Thursday, June 9. Did all three of these sites forgo their usual desire/demand for exclusive rights to the complete album because they anticipated such huge numbers of listens and hits? I mean, he's famous, but it's still pretty niche music. This kind of blanket exposure is great for him and his publicists, but what's in it for the competing media … [Read more...]