The New Coke... But Then What? "Coca-Cola is perhaps the most successful American brand ever. Each day, about 1.2 billion servings of Coca-Cola products are consumed around the globe. Coca-Cola is remarkably well-established in the world's wealthiest consumer market. The company's 2002 annual report noted that the average consumer in North America 'enjoys at least one serving of our products every day.' But once you have the entire population of the world's richest nation using your product at least once a day, what do you do for an encore?" Slate 03/24/04
Posted: 03/24/2004 2:50 pm
Inside Zaha Hadid "The cult of obscurity that surrounded architect Zaha Hadid hardly distinguished her from her colleagues in the architectural avant-garde—or, for that matter, in the artistic or literary ones. For decades, architects like Hadid and their champions in the academy have discussed architecture in writing where jargon operates as a kind of code, keeping amateurs confused and thus, for the most part, comfortably out of the way. But Hadid took that disdain a step further: She walled off her work visually, too." Slate 03/24/04
Posted: 03/24/2004 2:47 pm
The Final Word (Yeah, Right) On Shostakovich "Deep in the silos of the American midwest, a Cold War missile is being readied for launch. From the University of Indiana Press at Bloomington, advance copies are being mailed out this week of what is academically warranted to be ‘the definitive statement on the Shostakovich controversy’." Norman Lebrecht is sick to death of this whole debate, and in particular, has had just about enough of the "counter-revisionist academics" who persist in their delusion that Shostakovich was nothing more than a cowed stooge for Stalin and the Communist Party. "Evidence of his moral courage and political disgust is so overwhelming that it is hard to imagine how even an ivory-towered musicologist could pretend otherwise." La Scena Musicale 03/24/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 5:53 am
Turning The Tide (Maybe) in Tampa The Tampa-based Florida Orchestra is battling the tide of red ink that has swamped so many American ensembles in recent years, and to hear orchestra officials tell it, the group is on the comeback trail, following a difficult season in which the musicians were forced to reopen their contract early and accept a pay cut. But with one of the orchestra's key wind principals set to leave for the more financially secure San Diego Symphony, and rumors constantly swirling that music director Stefan Sanderling is being wooed by other ensembles, it's proving difficult for the organization to shake the taint of its recent troubles. Still, Sanderling insists that he's in this fight for the long haul. St. Petersburg Times 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 5:39 am
Damage Control When the Long Island Philharmonic canceled the remainder of its 2003-04 season earlier this month for fiscal reasons, questions about the viability of a small-budget regional orchestra playing in the shadow of New York's juggernaut of a music scene were inevitable. But the orchestra's chairman insists that the arts are as valuable on Long Island as they are in Manhattan, and is calling on state and local government to increase their commitment to funding regional arts groups. Larry Austin also denies reports that the Philharmonic is in danger of permanent collapse, saying that the decision to cancel this season's last concerts will make the orchestra stronger overall. Newsday 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 5:30 am
Scottish Opera Union Propose Alternate Budget Unions at the Scottish Opera have done an unusual thing - they've drafted their own budget for the financially sick company. "The unions believe the current management's plans for the future of the company will lead to extensive job cuts and its eventual dismantling.
Instead, the union proposes a halt on the large scale operas that play at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow and the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, for the next two years." Glasgow Herald 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 12:44 am
Not All Instruments Are Created Equal... So what do musicians in other orchestras think of violinists in a German orchestra demanding more pay because they play more than other colleagues? "It's a completely fatuous argument - and I'm not just saying that because I'm a piccolo player. That line of reasoning doesn't apply in any other world. Certainly not in the sports world. In an American football team there's a guy who just comes on to kick goals, and he works for maybe a total of one minute in the whole game, but he gets paid just as much as the rest of the team. Maybe even more, if he's good." The Guardian (UK) 03/25/04
Posted: 03/24/2004 11:26 pm
- Previously: Musicians Demand: Equal Pay For Equal Play Violinists in the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn, Germany, are suing for a pay raise - on the grounds that they play many more notes per concert than their musical colleagues - the flutists, oboists, brass, etc... The Guardian (UK) 03/24/04
Opera - What About The Language? "Opera sung in the local language is becoming increasingly incomprehensible. Is it because in the age of the surtitle we've stopped listening for the words? Or are international casts to blame, for mumbling in every language?" Financial Times (UK) 03/24/04
Posted: 03/24/2004 11:18 pm
The Case For Music (And Musicians) Over The Music Business "As we listen these days to the cries of music-selling middlemen that those sweet songs of yesteryear will disappear in a world of unbridled file sharing, we need to remember that the interests of music professionals don’t necessarily coincide with the interests of music listeners. Sure, new technologies and ways of doing business have hurt many trades related to the music industry. There are many fewer people making a living as song pluggers, sheet music publishers, and the like. There are probably fewer professional live musicians than there would be if we had never enjoyed radios, jukeboxes, transistorized stereos, or computerized file sharing. Yet with every change, people’s access to better reproduced, more portable, more personalized music grows." Reason 03/04
Posted: 03/24/2004 3:18 pm
Martin's Arts Budget Doesn't Impress Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin may have thought he would get some accolades from the arts sector after his budget calling for the restoration of millions of dollars to the nation's Television Fund, but it isn't happening. In fact, outside of the TV industry, the Liberal government's budget is being called a disappointment by nearly every arts advocate within earshot of a reporter. The arts world has been wary of the Martin government ever since the PM appointed a sports specialist as his heritage minister, and while the new budget doesn't make any cuts to the cultural budget, the lack of any significant increases seems to have confirmed many artists' suspicion that the arts aren't a priority with Martin. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 6:49 am
- Previously: Martin Boosts Canadian TV Budget The Canadian government has pledged to increase its contribution to the Canadian Television Fund by $38 million a year, news which is being hailed by independent documentarians and producers nationwide. Cuts to the fund in recent years contributed to a dismal year for the industry in 2003, and new Prime Minister Paul Martin made a point of calling for the restoration of previous funding levels. But some other Canadian arts groups are none too pleased with the PM's priorities, as major arts organizations will see little in the way of similar funding increases. Toronto Star 03/24/04
Being Prepared, Or Just Being Bigoted? Miami's Community Relations Board is asking that the city's police department turn over all its records of a controversial program which monitors and investigates local rappers and other members of the hip-hop community. The department acknowledged earlier this month that it has been specifically keeping tabs on rappers, leading to charges of institutional racism. The police claim that it makes good sense to keep files on artists who make their living rapping about violence, crime, and hatred of law enforcement. Miami Herald 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 6:42 am
Fear Vs. Free Expression When college writing instructor Jan Richman first read the horrifying tale of sexual violence and murder that one of her students handed in last fall, she was taken aback by its gruesome detail and terrifyingly unsympathetic tone. But being a teacher, she chose to address the story in literary terms with her class, and to use it as a way to discuss the difference between gratuitous repulsiveness and violent imagery in the service of literature. But "before the week was out, the student was expelled and sent home, the instructor was fighting for her job, and many students and faculty were left wondering about issues of artistic and academic freedom in the post-Columbine era of heightened fear over student safety." San Francisco Chronicle 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 6:18 am
Virtually Yours - A Broadway Battle Musicians are protesting the use of virtual orchestras on Broadway. Producers say the VO is a new instrument. Musicians disagree. "We think this machine is designed for the sole purpose of eliminating live music for the purpose of reaping profits. Their attempt to turn this machine, and I tell you that this is a machine, into an instrument is just another ploy. The synthesizer is a musical instrument played by a musician. A virtual orchestra machine is just that. I would not equate those two, ever." The New York Times 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 12:50 am
Bombay Dreams On Hiatus For A Year After a two-year run in London's West End, the musical Bombay Dreams is closing... for a year. Producer Andrew Lloyd Webber wants to retool the show to bring it into line with the updating a new New York production is getting. "By the time the UK production closes, it will have been seen by more than 1.5 million theatregoers. It is due to embark on a national tour early next year, before returning to the West End some months later." BBC 03/24/04
Posted: 03/24/2004 3:23 pm
Poet Wanted. For What, We're Not Sure. Canada needs a new national poet laureate. Yawn. So who doesn't? These days, it seems like every city, county, province, state, and regional confederation of boroughs has its own poet tasked with... well, what exactly are poet laureates supposed to do, anyway? The requirement that an official poet spend her/his time composing odes to the glory/beauty/strength of whatever geographical area is providing the employment are long gone, but the old restrictions have never really been replaced with new ones. Consequently, Canada's next poet laureate can more or less write her/his own rule book - that is, if anyone wants the job. Toronto Star 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 6:08 am
Cohen: Can Anyone Tell Me Why Edwards Had To Go? National Public Radio's decision to bump Morning Edition host Bob Edwards from the chair he has occupied for the show's entire 25-year run is meeting with astonishment and anger from NPR listeners. Richard Cohen, for one, is incredulous that NPR would lower itself to the ratings-obsessed, buzzword-intensive level of TV news. "The telling sign was not just that he was axed as the program's host but that no one can tell you why. At NPR, clearly the most erudite of the networks, various officials descended into the juvenile babble of TV executives, empty words spilling out of their mouths, as if they were determined to fill airtime yet say nothing." Washington Post 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 7:02 am
- Previously: NPR Replaces Edwards On Morning Edition After 25 years hosting National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Bob Edwards is being edged out of the job. "Mr. Edwards said he found out early this month that he was being reassigned. 'I was called into an office, and they said, `We're making a change,' You get a line like that, and I guess you should come back with some snappy rejoinder. But of course I did not. I was very surprised." The New York Times 03/24/04
When In Doubt, Blame The Bureaucrats "The Toronto film and television industry yesterday assailed the Toronto Transit Commission for making it so difficult to get approval to film in the city's subway system that the city loses business to more film-friendly competitors... The basic complaint from the industry is that the TTC takes much longer than other transit agencies to approve and organize filming in the subway, most of which takes place at an unused TTC station below the Bay-Bloor station." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 6:56 am
Industry See, Industry Do The British Phonographic Industry apparently likes what it has seen of the techniques employed by its American counterpart in combating online music piracy. File-swapping is down in the U.S. since the industry began publicly suing individual offenders, and now, the BPI is warning UK swappers that a similar fate could befall them if they don't curb their habit of acquiring copyrighted music without paying. BBC 03/25/04
Posted: 03/25/2004 5:11 am
Average Hollywood Movie Now Costs $100 Million "The average cost to produce and promote a film in 2003 rose above $100 million for the first time ever with the average cost up 8.6 percent to $63.8 million and advertising and other expenses up a whopping 28 percent to about $39 million, according to the Motion Picture Association of America." Backstage 03/24/04
Posted: 03/24/2004 2:59 pm
Sadler's Wells Chief Quits Jean-Luc Choplin has suddenly left his controversial reign heading Sadler's Wells. "One might have felt that Choplin had an unrealistic sense of what could be achieved at Sadler's, but he was nothing if not ambitious, a man of big ideas. It would be a shame to lose his continental sensibility altogether." The Guardian (UK) 03/25/04
Posted: 03/24/2004 11:30 pm
