I think the lessons here are:
…can be found here. Briefly, they’ve hired Paul Bogaev, who is described as “a veteran musical supervisor and conductor”, to “help improve the performance, vocal and orchestration arrangements, and sound quality of the songs and numbers”.
The NYT speculates that the opening, currently scheduled for March 15th, might be delayed again. The paper also reports rumors that the producers are talking to “script doctors”, and may be looking to hire a “co-director”.
Marian Elliott-Said is recovering from breast cancer. WCD extends our best wishes to her.
By the way, Marian Elliott-Said is perhaps better known as “Poly Styrene”, front woman for the X-Ray Spex. After the jump, we’ll embed some X-Ray Spex video.
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga claims her new perfume smells “like an expensive hooker”. If someone told her this was an effective advertising strategy, they were wrong.
And something a bit more pleasant to think about than Poly Styrene and Lady Gaga: the NYT has a longish piece about the Internet Music Score Library Project and some of the copyright issues experienced by the site.
We wonder if the growth of the iPad and other tablet devices is going to result in more groups replacing sheet music with electronic devices. Not that we’re music experts – we tend to rely on other people (ahem) for that – but we can see some possible advantages to going all tablet, all the time.
Interesting article in the NYT about the state of the Houston Grand Opera, focusing in particular on their recent productions of “Dead Man Walking” and “Lucia di Lammermoor”.
Good to know.
For some odd reason, I have this song stuck in my head. And I don’t even like it that much. So I’m going to make you guys suffer along with me.
Or “Nixon In China: The Dinner”:
I’d always thought that Nixon had rather crappy taste in food; his cottage cheese with catsup is notorious. However, at least according to this web site (which provides sources) the catsup thing is a base canard, and the Nixon family was quite fond of seafood. That puts the shrimp dishes in a new light.
I tried searching for maotai online, but couldn’t find any sources. However, I did turn up this Washingtonian article that goes into more detail about the banquet.
Is it possible to be a football atheist? Plus Easterbrookian ignorance about guns and stealing jokes from FARK. All in this week’s TMQ after the jump…
Don Van Vliet, aka “Captain Beefheart”, has passed away.
A long, long time ago, the actor we’ve hired to play my good friend Karl gave me a mixtape with parts of Trout Mask Replica on it. (I want to say this same mixtape had the legendary “Get That Screaming B—h Out of My Ear!” on it, but I’m not sure, and I don’t know where that tape is now.) I was always rather struck by “Well“.
Oddly, neither Amazon nor iTunes seem to have Trout Mask Replica, and what Beefheart they have is limited (mostly later works). I’ve also never been able to find the legendary “Lick My Decals Off, Baby” video; it doesn’t turn up on YouTube.
This little gem came across on a mailing list I subscribe to: a group of British musicians has gotten together as “Cage Against the Machine” and released their own recording of ” 4′ 33″ “ for charity.
(The recording does not appear to be available from iTunes, but you can go to Amazon and pick from the original or seven different remixes of ” 4’33”
What the article doesn’t mention, but the mailing list post does, is that “Cage Against the Machine” is also a deliberate attempt to keep the winner of “X Factor” in the UK from reaching #1 on the charts on Christmas weekend. (A similar attempt to do the same thing last year with an old “Rage Against the Machine” song actually worked.) When I mentioned this to Mike the Musicologist, he informed me that I was about 10 days late and a dollar short, and sent along a link to this thoughtful blog post.
Pretty much anything that sabotages one of Simon Cowell’s glorified karaoke competitions fills me with delight, and there have been times when I’ve wanted to walk up to musicians and slip them a few bucks to play ” 4’33” “. But I’ve got to give the blogger points; he’s right that there’s more to Cage than that one composition, and we run the risk of turning Cage into a joke by concentrating on that one piece.
Stuff from the NYT:
Longer, more detailed obit for John duPont.
What is the purpose of anthropology? Is it a science, or should it focus on “advancing public understanding”?
I would be remiss if I did not include this here. Sorry, but this is the best version I could find on YouTube:
“Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts” always makes me giggle.
Not from the NYT:
Lawrence was asking me yesterday if I knew anything about the Joel Rosenberg situation. I had to confess that I had not been keeping up with it, sadly. However, Popehat has decided to bring the noise in their usual inimitable way; I tip my hat to Patrick (and Ken, who Patrick says is responsible for “the good parts”).
Dear members of the Imperial Stars:
Here’s a link to the guitar tab for “Folsom Prison Blues”.
I think you might need that where you’re going.
So what has Gregg Easterbrook up in arms this week? Would you believe Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?
Friday’s XKCD started me thinking.
Here’s Randall Munroe, who’s established a pretty significant business providing content for free. He’s facing a tough family situation, so what does he do? He explains what’s going on to folks, providing as much detail as he’s comfortable with, thanks people for their support, and basically promises to keep on as best as he can.
Randall Munroe is a class act. Randall Munroe makes me want to buy stuff from his store. (And today’s XKCD is pretty funny. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for Wagner references.)
When Ryan North goes on vacation, or on his honeymoon, he recruits guest artists for his comic. And a lot of them are pretty darn good. Ryan North is a class act. Ryan North makes me want to buy stuff from his store.
The Penny Arcade guys would probably be embarrassed by someone describing them as a class act, but look at what they do when they need time, or are busy at a con; or heck, look at what they do during the holidays.
There’s another web comic I read. It used to run five days a week. Then it started drifting down to four days a week. Then the artist had some personal issues and posted reruns for a while. Then he came back. It started drifting down to three days a week. Then two. Then once a week while he worked on other projects. Right now, it was last updated over a week ago. Two weeks elapsed between that update and the previous one, and a little more than two weeks between updates before that.
“He does it for free! How dare you complain?” Well, maybe. But right now he’s running a fund drive. In addition, part of his business model is providing premium content as an adjunct to the free webcomic. When he goes radio silent for weeks on end, what motivation do I have to pay for premium content, or donate money? Or even to keep reading his webcomic?
I feel like I’m coming perilously close to crossing a line. I don’t think artists have an obligation to keep providing stuff for free, forever. I can understand people becoming overwhelmed. But there’s a good way to handle that; the Randall Munroe way.