Life's A Pitch

This could have been you, Gerard Mortier!Or any arts organization executive director or orchestra music director, for that matter. Keep us in the loop! We'll care more about what you're doing if you...tell us. … [Read more...]

In recent days, the following happened in the topsy turvy world of media*:Alex Ross quotes a press release on his blog. Anthony Tommasini directs New York Times print and online readers to Jeremy Denk's blog in a concert review. Ronald Blum references Opera Chic in an Associated Press article. Opera Chic blogs about the reference.Inspired by a New York Times profile, Gawker suggests Nico Muhly compose a "singfest" for Gossip Girl. Nico Muhly accepts their offer on his blog. *("  ") … [Read more...]

I went to...brace yourselves...Mary Poppins on Broadway yesterday, and it took all strength I had left on a windy Sunday night to stop my 20-something sister from buying a Mary Poppins bird-head umbrella. Granted, the umbrella was pretty cute (if not slightly creepy), but, come on now. The joint was filled with merchandise! It is, after all, a Walt Disney production, so the amount of merch was to be expected. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious t-shirts, Mary Poppins dolls, Mary Poppins mugs, a signed poster from the cast (those sales were going … [Read more...]

I hauled this woolly mammoth of a shopping bag (CD to show scale) to the post office yesterday, only to be informed by a knowing piece of paper on the door that it was Veteran's Day, and the post was closed. Cue sad Charlie Brown music. I proceeded to take my mailing to dinner, at which point my friend kindly didn't comment on our third party. Physical releases: The expense! The environment! My back! What's the over-under on physical CD production, do we think? Five (ten?) years, and we're all digital, with special-edition physical releases … [Read more...]

Well, every publicist or marketing director, anyway. Now, we all make mistakes. A few weeks back, I sent Steve Smith a potential Time Out NY listing without a date. He was kind enough to write back (errr...when is this??) rather than simply ignoring me, which would have been deserved. But I received two comments on this blog today that will certainly make me think about my pitching efforts and relationship with journalists going forward.The first was an e mail suggesting I write about a website that I already written about, not five days ago. … [Read more...]

Jerry Portwood is the editor of the New York Press, and he does a lot of theater reviews. Like lots of theater reviewers, he gets free tickets for plays from publicists. But last week, he was abruptly disinvited and taken off the list for the play "The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents," just before he was scheduled to attend. The reason: the play's publicist didn't like a NY Press story that pointed out that the play's publicists were marketing it by hyping up the fact that Meryl Streep's daughter is a cast member. Losing a pair of free tickets … [Read more...]

More thoughts for City Opera, should they decide to go into belated grassroots fundraising mode: Enlist top singers who love City Opera to create public service announcements, or an opera star-filled Obamaish video that can be easily forwarded and posted on opera blogs around the world.Have singers record phone messages, a la the crazy Snakes on a Plane marketing campaign with Samuel L. Jackson, that people can leave on their friend's voicemails. Idea courtesy of my sister.Does footage of Beverly Sills speaking about City Opera exist? That's … [Read more...]

"The irony of all this, I really believe, and many others do as well, is if we could simply have gotten the first season on the boards, it really would have galvanized fund-raising." - New York City Opera's Susan L. Baker to The New York Times 11/7/08, on losing Gerard Mortier due to a lack of funds.I hate to kick City Opera while it's down but...what first season? The homepage of their website, above, looks like the same old City Opera. I realize they need to promote the concerts they're presenting around town this season, but why is there … [Read more...]

I don't completely (heart) the fancy Celebrate Salonen season site that the LA Phil put together, but I do appreciate the alliteration potential and the gesture.Two cool things: 1. The fact that you can hover over any timeline point with an eighth note graphic and an interview will start without your having to click on it, and 2. the wall on which you can leave your tribute to Salonen.I've mentioned this before, but I'm big into the juxtaposition of, you know, Bill Viola's thoughts on Salonen with Lemon Lim from Hong Kong's thoughts on Salonen. … [Read more...]

Fill in the blank:It's ____________ that the first thing that comes up when you Google "Metropolitan Opera" is a search for movie showtimes. … [Read more...]

I was going to post this yesterday, but in a moment of total paranoia decided not to put forth any semblance of a gesture of support for McCain/Palin. But now that it's safe, an advertising suggestion for the Philadelphia Orchestra, from Wonkette:As Wonkette writes re: McCain/Palin, "'Oh, that's right, my favorite baseball team won the big game, and this gave me pleasure,' the average voter will say upon encountering this placard. 'I will now vote for these two nuts whose names are on the sign next to that of my favorite baseball team.'" I … [Read more...]

This just in: Opera singers DO DRUGS!! Stop the world, I want to get off.The fact that this "story" is getting so much "airplay" speaks to the presumed untouchable nature of classical musicians.  Now, if we could just get some sex tapes and lesbian post-rehab relationships, we'd be in business. … [Read more...]

The current issue of Symphony Magazine contains a comprehensive article on whether or not arts journalism can exist on the web. I would link to it, but the full article is not available online. What publication web edition in the WORLD asks readers to DOWNLOAD their articles? If Symphony dot com can include a two-sentence teaser in the body of a web page, why can't it include the entire article? I do not understand. And this particular article not-surprisingly cites over a dozen blogs and bloggers; wouldn't it be nice to actually link to those … [Read more...]

Through a series of unfortunate events (mostly involving my having to send more press releases than usual on account of Universal duties and finding out that my @#&$#@ing web server doesn't allow me to send over 250 e mails per day), I came across the very easy to use and generally life-saving iContact. iContact is lovely because you can actually see which journalists have received and opened your releases ((BIG BROTHER)), a feature that is useful for two reasons: 1. If certain journalists are never opening your e mails (perhaps because … [Read more...]