Stories

“From the beginning, the Earth Room drew pilgrims, like the woman who visited a few decades ago and would stand silently for a bit and then start to laugh. Or the pre-med student who changed her major to soil studies after her first visit.” - The New York Times

“Everyone deserves to go to work and do their job without their boss trying to have sex with them. … My goal is to help ensure that the next generation of actors and creatives don’t have to choose between their dreams and their dignity.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

“Amid the streaming deluge, there are signs — small, tenuous and anecdotal, but real — of a rebellion.” - The New York Times

It’s not great: Subscriptions are down 36 percent. But “complicating things for a number of NSO supporters … is the energy surrounding the orchestra itself, which remains infectiously high, ascendant and alive with promise, especially following last season’s extension of music director Gianandrea Noseda’s contract.” - Washington Post (MSN)

Musicians dealing not only with tiny streaming payments but now software-created “musicians” that steal even that limited option say they need some legal support. - CBC

The tale is a wild, sad one, and what’s at fault? The California’s public employees’ retirement system. - San Francisco Chronicle

The issue with “turf toe” (a ligament stress, or tear) was ending careers - until a coach visited the New Zealand Ballet and asked pointed questions. - New Zealand Herald (Internet Archive)

One of the things Mary Jo Bang had to change: Rhyming. “I knew I could not maintain the rhyme scheme that he had invented for that poem. English is a rhyme poor language compared to the romance languages.” - NPR

"We knew that this was the issue of most existential importance. … This is a medium that is fundamentally digitized.” - Wired

A former winner of MasterChef says, ""I can't imagine what it would be like for people who've waited all this time, biting their nails, only to be told that no-one is going to see your achievements, your stresses, your growth. It would be awful.” - BBC

“Early in her career, she published five novels that were critically acclaimed but only moderately successful, while managing to avoid the industry pressure to concentrate on a single genre or series.” Then came Mexican Gothic. - The New York Times

The former Monty Python star: “I’ve had a green card for about 28 years. I’d be proud to be thrown out because I’d be in very select company. The last English comedian to be thrown out of America for political reasons was Charlie Chaplin.” - The Guardian (UK)

“Rising fees for performers, a punishing U.S. exchange rate, reduced consumer spending and higher insurance charges have combined to pose existential threats to Canadian non-profit music festivals.” But Winnipeg is hopping. - CBC

It’s not pretty. Yet organizers persist. Why? "When you’re in the same room as the artist, when you feel the music move through your body, when you see the emotion on their face and hear their story — that creates a bond. … It counters propaganda. It softens xenophobia.” - Seattle Times

Yes, it’s true: "That part of the industry, once dominated by amateurs making funny viral videos with smartphones has blossomed into a formidable entertainment force, where video creators are setting up real businesses with large studios in Southern California funded through advertising by major brands. - Los Angeles Times