Archives for July 2010

This post contains no spoilers from last night's Mad Men premiere, namely because I'm waiting to watch it until Thursday. This is what happens when you host Mad Men parties with artists with careers. I may even buy a red wig for the occasion. If I do, I will only post photos if Hilary's upcoming Higdon/Tchaikovsky album sells 5,000 copies the first week. Deal? Deal. It's funny: I've seen every episode of Mad Men at least once (the one where Peggy does The Twist about 17 times), and have never found relevant material for this blog despite the … [Read more...]

Simply teach inmates at a maximum security prison in The Philippines choreography to "I Will Follow Him" from Sister Act. And if you want 42 million views, have those same inmates do Thriller: … [Read more...]

Via Advertising is Good for You, via Adam Sherk dot com, we have the most frequently used press release buzzwords. There are some real winners in there. I'm working on an Orpheus press release, and am now feeling the need to find a way to incorporate "bleeding edge" and "low hanging fruit". Also, if this list was classical music-specific, I'm sure "generation" would be on the list somewhere prominent.Buzzword / Marketing Speak / Overused TermMentions in Press … [Read more...]

I'm often asked why artists and presenters should trendy-verb-form of name-your-social-media-outlet. Artists say they don't have time ("when do I practice?"), while presenters say there's no way to track results of blog, Twitter and Facebook efforts in ticket sales. Perhaps going forward, I'll tell people that they should trendy-verb-form of name-your-social-media-outlet because there's a movie with Justin Timberlake about it.I could also tell them that, as of today, Facebook has reached 500 million users. Just as no one who tries really hard … [Read more...]

..from a good colleague, Marc van Bree:We all know that Nashville got hit with a terrible flood a few months ago. This terrible flood didn't spare the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (NSO). The orchestra's damages were approximately $42 million and after insurance and support from FEMA, the remaining financial gap could be as much as $10 million.Let's all contribute our own little bit as a classical music community online. Here's my idea: leverage this online network with #floodofsupportYou can read about the specifics I posted today on my blog at … [Read more...]

Chamber Music America hosted a live chat on social media at lunch today, and here's what went down. Conversation topics included the personal and professional divide when using Facebook and Twitter, how publicists, artists and journalists interact online, Twitter success stories (more on that later tonight), how to plan a social media campaign, Shaquille O'Neal, and Twilight. The latter two points were my contributions to the conversation, which is why I get paid the big bucks. 75 people participated, with the average person staying in the … [Read more...]

Despite the weather looking like The End of Time circa 2pm today, the New York Philharmonic's first Central Park concert of the summer season went off without a hitch. My sister's friend Meg was disappointed that the fireworks portion of the evening was canceled (but what of the MUSICAL fireworks, I asked her??), but I believe she was appeased by a free t-shirt with fireworks on it. Thousands of people turned out despite the earlier downpour, proving yet again that audiences like free, outdoorsy events at which they can eat, drink, and text. … [Read more...]

My client David Lang has two dance projects coming up this fall, one with New York City Ballet and the other with Works & Process at the Guggenheim. This means I've been doing a lot of reaching out to dance writers I've never met or worked with before, so far with absolutely no (0) success, but I persevere!You should know that I think the New York Times website is basically The Most Impressive Thing (as it should be); minutes after we learned that George Steinbrenner passed away this morning, the Times had a slideshow of archival photos of … [Read more...]

From yesterday's New York Times article, "Loophole May Have Aided Theft of Classified Data":The soldier accused of downloading a huge trove of secret data from military computers in Iraq appears to have exploited a loophole in Defense Department security to copy thousands of files onto compact discs over a six-month period. In at least one instance, according to those familiar with the inquiry, the soldier smuggled highly classified data out of his intelligence unit on a disc disguised as a music CD by Lady Gaga. Criminal charges were filed … [Read more...]

Friend, choreographer, vegan, Gabriel Kahane collaborator, and Most Importantly, Life's a Pitch interview subject and reader, Chase Brock is the model for a new Wii game, "Dance on Broadway"! This excellent news comes via Broadway World dot com:"Whoa, Nellie!" and "Mirror Mirror," highlight the Chase Brock Experience season at the Connelly Theater, July 8 - 11. "Whoa, Nellie!," set to Nellie McKay's album "Obligatory  Villagers," and "Mirror Mirror," set to a commissioned piano score by award-winning Broadway and opera composer Michael … [Read more...]

Two Saturday afternoons ago, I was attempting to give myself a home-facial and read my new book. Often-fortunately though not so in this case, "home" now means "the floor above a bar," so the US games of the 2010 World Cup were...an adventure. During the first round, my friends came over for brunch, and were leaving just as the boys in red, white and blue scored their first (last?) goal. The simultaneous shouting was so loud that we slammed the door shut and stood in my, let's say "foyer," panting like cartoon versions of ourselves. The UK and … [Read more...]

A week from today, I'll be participating in a live chat on behalf of my client, Chamber Music America, focusing on an article about artists using social media that appears in the July/August issue of Chamber Music magazine. Since the thesis of the piece is that we need to continue the conversation off the stage and the page (zing!), Chamber Music America wants to do just that with this chat (see, I rhyme on Wednesdays). Click here to download a PDF if you don't receive the publication. I sound terribly un-smart, but I'll/you'll/we'll survive. … [Read more...]

And then this happened:Or at least is going to happen. Via my summer intern via The Guardian, I bring you the "OMG" moment of the week: The "Queen of Soul" is to team up with the former queen of the US state department at a concert in Philadelphia next month. Aretha Franklin will duet with former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, performing songs such as Natural Woman and Say a Little Prayer.The concert, a fundraising event for inner city children, takes place on 27 July, at the Mann Centre for the Performing Arts. Franklin and Rice will … [Read more...]

Warning: this blog post may be even more lowbrow than that one with the mice playing instruments. Consider yourselves emotionally prepared. I was just watching some pre-fireworks True Blood, and noticed that Pam Ravenscroft, hench-woman vampire with a propensity toward pink, bears an uncanny resemblance to Life's a Pitch's second favorite soprano, Renée Fleming. Look, they even have THE SAME FINGERLESS GLOVES! I'm fairly to moderately pleased with myself for making this connection. I never could have done it without Renée's recent Dark Hope … [Read more...]