Let out your breath: it's time for the Second Annual Pitchies! Kindly submit your nominations for the categories below. There will be three nominees in each category, and (Very Official) voting will begin next week. I feel that because I have to pitch my clients to so many Best-Of lists, I should get one of my very own. We've very meta, here, so the winners get free advertising on this blog. Plus the GREAT HONOR of winning. Nominate yourself, your clients, your friends...I won't tell!  Best Publicity Move?Last year's winner: Jeremy Denk … [Read more...]

This post is going to appeal to circa five readers, but I couldn't help but share my shock/awe/glee. Bear with me for a moment.  As I was buying tickets to Roundabout Theatre's production of Bye Bye Birdie on BroadwayOffers.com just now, I noticed that the site is protected by McAfee Secure! MCAFEE. Didn't Harry MacAfee have a food and grain business or some such thing? What happened to that? Did the trauma of Conrad Birdie's visit lead him to launch a security company?? Is that the sure-fire way to the respect he so desperately coveted … [Read more...]

Last week, I was told I was not allowed to plug in my MacBook Pro at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall cafe. Read the whole sordid tale here, and about Nico Muhly's similar indignity here. And both of us have bought SO MUCH CAMPARI there. The waitress could not give me an explanation, though I received several e mails (none from Lincoln Center) suggesting that Alice Tully is a union house and those rules probably extend into the cafe area, so while they wouldn't technically mind if I used their electricity (click here for some hilarious … [Read more...]

We're going to start a slightly off-topic new segment here on Life's a Pitch called "Things Amanda Cannot Even a Little Bit Handle." Feel free to pitch content you don't think I will be able to handle. Let's begin:The logic here appears to be that if there had been a relationship column in The New York Post for Ashley Dupre to read when she was growing up, she would not have become a prostitute. It follows, then, that Dupre should be the one dispensing advice to other would-be escorts so they can learn from her mistakes. Excuse me: from her … [Read more...]

Here we have Nicolas Cage, Mr. Darcy, Stanley Tucci, Morgan Freeman, Peter Sarsgaard and Christoph Waltz Talking About Art. You know, that old thing. The question of, "If we as actors don't actually create anything--books, paintings, poetry, music, scripts--can we call ourselves artists?" comes up; that is, are screenplay writers (/composers) artists while their mere interpreters actors (/musicians) are not? If this is boring to you, just skip to minute 1:46 when Nicolas Cage says, "When I see a great violinist like HIlary Hahn..." and … [Read more...]

Dear Alice Tully Hall, I hope this blog post finds you well. I often work at the cafe in your beautifully redesigned space, as blogged about here. I enjoy the glass walls, the proximity to that BCBG that always has good sales, and having Campari at my disposal at all hours of the day. This is all why I was saddened a few months back when I realized that the only outlets in the cafe area had been mysteriously turned off. Too bad, I thought: I look so hip and awesome with my MacBook Pro; don't you want me working in your window?  Let me be … [Read more...]

First, an apology: I have four fantastic people lined up for Friday "Talk to Me About" interviews, and just haven't gotten my act together to write the questions. This is one of the many hazards of having a day-job. It's also time for the second annual PITCHY (c.f. La Cieca) Awards! If I have to worry about Best-Of 2009 lists for my clients, I get to have a Best-Of list of my own. Here are last year's results. And now for some marketing things I liked this week. Alias! Prostitutes! Video blogs! Tiger Woods! Physics! I've posted these things on … [Read more...]

I have either really excellent or really horrifying news for everyone: the New York Philharmonic would like you to live-blog and/or live-Tweet their first CONTACT! concert at Symphony Space on December 17th. You can buy tickets here or, if you're press (you, yes - you, bloggers), e mail pr (at) nyphil (dot) org. Here is the program:Arlene Sierra - Game of Attrition  (World Premiere: New York Philharmonic Commission)Lei Liang - Verge  (World Premiere: New York Philharmonic Commission)Marc-Andrew Dalbavie - Melodia  (World … [Read more...]

Two exciting things happened this morning, and it's only 9:10am. First, last night, my friend Jaime Green over at Surplus e mailed a group of us that there was a "rumor on the internet" that tickets would be going on sale this morning for the ONE NIGHT ONLY revival of Jollyship the Whizbang at The Public Theater. Here is the Times review from Jollyship's run at Ars Nova two springs ago. It begins, "Pay no attention to this review, because nothing in it will adequately convey the demented brilliance of 'Jollyship the Whiz-Bang,' a puppet show … [Read more...]

The New York Philharmonic is hosting a "Bloggers' Night" for their CONTACT! new music series on December 17th at Symphony Space. The evening promises free booze, specifically Finlandia Vodka in honor of composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg (one hopes we would have gotten PBRs or "Natty Light" if it was an American composer-in-residence), and the opportunity to hang with the artists after the concert. Blog posts about CONTACT! will be aggregated on WNYC/WQXR's new Q2 website. I have an e mail in to the Philharmonic's press office asking whether … [Read more...]

I figured you'd all want my expert publicist opinion on Cameron Poole and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Here goes: one of your employees stealing £560,000 from your publicly-funded organization makes for Bad Publicity. And that's why they pay me the medium-sized bucks. But who couldn't love this headline?Orchestra boss 'on the fiddle to the tune of £560,000 to fund luxury lifestyle' Or this chipmunk-cheek probably-from-Facebook photo?I mean, really? The Daily Mail couldn't find a more official image? If any of my clients started stealing … [Read more...]

Though I have previously complained about people e mailing me personally with items that they should really post as comments, I have to admit that my afternoon was made when I received a personal phone call comment from Leila Getz at the Vancouver Recital Society. She said she had read yesterday's post on concerts being promoted as special events, and noticed that she actually uses the word "special" in her marketing materials. "And why am I telling my audience that one concert is more special than another??" she asked. She also pointed out … [Read more...]

It was cold, wet and windy in Manhattan on Friday night. I probably should have gone to see the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, but what I really wanted to do was dust on the minimum mineral make-up required to be viewed in public, garb myself in some kind of fashionably bulky wool and go to dinner with a friend I've known since we were 12. As usual, my old stand by Dinosaur BBQ was booked solid on a Friday night, so with an amazing quickness, seeing one of, if not the, best orchestras in the world at one of, if not the, best halls in the … [Read more...]

I'll be stepping in for someone on an OPERA America "Making Connections" panel tomorrow night, Shock of the Day being that the panel is on social media. My co-panelists are Brian Dickie, General Director of Chicago Opera Theater, and Erik Gensler, president of Capacity Interactive, both of whom are Famous on the Interweb. Here's the information:When: 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., followed by a reception that I won't be at because I'll be at **DREAMGIRLS** at the Apollo. Where: 330 Seventh Avenue, 16th floor (at 29th Street) Fees: $5 for members/$10 … [Read more...]