Greetings from the suspiciously balmy Nutmeg State!On Christmas, my dad, sister and I were watching The Dark Knight. I was playing with my phone during this blessed event, and decided to do some research on who the next Batman movie villain(s) would be. According to various bloggers, Johnny Depp and Eddie Murphy are both being considered for The Riddler, and Philip Seymour Hoffman will be asked to play The Penguin. Someone also mentioned Angelina Jolie as Cat Woman, meow, and one very eager lad is pushing Guy Pierce as The Black Mask on account … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2008
Socks in the City
There's an episode of Sex and the City where Carrie Bradshaw can't come up with a column topic. Apparently, the previous week she had written about her search for the perfect french fry, and that current week she's considering examining "men as socks". One of her gal pals offers, "Socks in the City!"My biggest fear when starting this blog was not having enough talk about. It probably should have been "getting run out of the industry", but - no matter. Turns out, there is SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT. Too much, in fact. Here's what has struck my fancy … [Read more...]
When the working day is done
I went to see the band Letters to Cleo last week. My friend and I had no idea why they were coming to the city; he just saw them listed on a Bowery Presents e mail and bought tickets with-a-quickness. At the concert, the lead singer - no, not "Cleo", "Kay Hanley" - said something from the stage to the effect of, "Well, there's no real reason for these concerts, no new CD or tour. We're not getting back together as a band. We just thought it would be fun."Hmmm: now when have any of my classical musician friends or clients ever done a concert … [Read more...]
2008 Best-of Publicity and Marketing Very Official Nominations
THE NOMINATIONS ARE IN! Thanks to all for your submissions. I had to tweak some of the category labels slightly - forgive me, it being first year of the Life's a Pitch Best-of List and all. And here - we - go:Best Publicity MoveJeremy Denk interviews Sarah Palin. Hilary Hahn records something unplayable. Lang Lang performs at the Beijing Olympics. *Super special honorable mention: Alex Ross' 'The Rest Is Noise' multi-year buyer-base-building blog launches his book of the same name to great success. Best ReviewRon Rosenbaum walks out of The … [Read more...]
Talk to me about Violinist.com
Every week, I attempt to post an interview with a lass or lad far more knowledgeable than myself on specific marketing and publicity subjects. This week, Violinist.com editor Laurie Niles - whose interviews I'm convinced propelled both Hilary Hahn and Anne-Sophie Mutter's last albums to debut at number one on the Billboard classical chart - on blogging before there were blogs, playing hall monitor, and being a journalist slash teacher slash performer. Laurie Niles is the editor and owner of Violinist.com, an online community that she and … [Read more...]
Best of 2008
It's that special time of year: you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a "Best of" something. So let's add to it!E mail me with your nominations for the following in classical music and opera:Best Marketing Campaign (describe)Best Publicity Pitch (describe)Best Feature Story (please include link)Best Review (please include link)Best Artist Interview (link, if applicable, or describe if coming from a journalist) Best Album Art (link or jpeg)Best Advertisement (please include screenshot, scan or jpeg)Best New Music Blog (that would be "new" … [Read more...]
Power to the people. And to the federal government.
Gawker reports that Mark Pinsky from The New Republic wants Obama to bring back the Federal Writer's Project: The Federal Writers Project operated from 1935-1939 under the leadership of Henry Alsberg, a journalist and theater director. In addition to providing employment to more than 6,000 out-of-work reporters, photographers, editors, critics, writers, and creative craftsmen and -women, the FWP produced some lasting contributions to American history, culture, and literature. Their efforts ranged from comprehensive guides to 48 states and three … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday, Jean Sibelius!
The venerable Jean Sibelius would have turned 143 years-young on this cold day of 8 December. Birthday wishes - what I've been told is her "best reference to the final movement of the Sibelius concerto" - from Hilary Hahn can be found here. I can't say for sure, but I'm fairly to moderately certain that all Jean wants for his birthday is for the Violin Concertos of Schoenberg and Sibelius on performed by Hilary Hahn released on Deutsche Grammophon to win two (2) Grammy Awards. Don't quote me on that, though; he could very well want something … [Read more...]
Recession Special
First, let me express my sincere condolences for friends and colleagues who have lost their jobs, and artists who have lost performance contracts, in this financial mess. I joked when Lehmans closed shop that finally the economics of the arts and the rest of the world had evened out, but...it's all gotten progressively less funny. Though we never had much money to spend in the arts anyway, these months have been especially tough. I touched on some of these ideas back in July here, but, in honor of the recession, let's think about arts marketing … [Read more...]
Colon, lowercase o, open parenthesis
Oh, noooo:In an effort to reduce the numerous emails the League of American Orchestras sends its members, early in 2009 we will launch The Hub, the go-to source for orchestra news. Media View (formerly known as In the News) will cease as an e-newsletter and move to The Hub, a new page on the League's website, where it will be updated daily. The Hub will also contain everything you need to know about what is happening in our field, new appointments, and the essential information and services the League provides. As previously stated, … [Read more...]
I refuse to make a “how do you get to Carnegie Hall” joke [here]
I'm flattered/horrified that so many people e mailed and asked what I thought of the YouTube Symphony project. It doesn't exactly BLOW MY MIND, but it's not a bad thing.Some thoughts: The London Symphony Orchestra Master Classes are amazing. I am so impressed that all the musicians took the time to tape them. This is something I've been trying to get my artists to do for a while, but I could never figure out the format. Should the master classes be sold on iTunes, should they be subscription podcasts? Given away for free on an artist's site or … [Read more...]
(Martha) Graham (Cracker) -ies
The big news from my colleagues in Europe who wake up before me is that both The King's Singers and Hilary Hahn are nominated for GRAMMIES. We have Hahnda Accord in Best Classical Album and Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra), and All The King's Singers' Horses and All the King's Singers' Men in Best Classical Crossover Album. Now let's see...six Singers plus one Hahn times two tickets each minus four managers minus one mother minus wives and children...yeah, there's no way I'm getting to that ceremony. … [Read more...]
I’d like to buy a vowel
From The Boston Globe last week:In an extremely rare public flare-up in the outwardly genteel world of major symphony orchestras, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, the 77-year-old maestro who is one of the last living links to a golden era of Russian music, has pulled out of the entire run of four concerts he was scheduled to conduct with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which began on Thursday...The trouble began on Wednesday during a rehearsal break, when the conductor and his wife took a stroll around Symphony Hall. They came upon a promotional poster … [Read more...]
For Sale
Who wants to buy Time Out (New York AND Chicago, 2-for-1 recession special)?One clever commenter on Gawker writes, "and too late for inclusion in their cheap holiday gifts issue, too. what a shame." … [Read more...]