Who is Music's Thomas Kinkade?

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On Facebook, Matt Whittall says it's Eric Whitacre: "pure commodity ... predictable, safe and bland."

And good looking too. Don't forget good looking, Matt.

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Ivy Lee and What Makes Public Relations So Stressful

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On Flack Me , Jeannine Wheeler profiles the man who started it all for PR people, Ivy Lee : "Tell the truth," he said, "because sooner or later the public will find out anyway. And if the public doesn’t like what you are doing, change your policies and bring them into line with what people want.” Apparently, this was groundbreaking advice back in the early decades of the 20th century, and Lee became very wealthy counseling some of the most famous industrialists of the time. Famously, he  came under fire from Upton Sinclair while representing the Rockefellers during  the Ludlow Massacre  of 1914-15 in Colorado. It's this contradiction--using the values your mother taught you to help people involved in dubious activities (to put it charitably) come away looking good to their constituents and the public--that makes public relations among the most stressful jobs around .
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She Plays Piano, Too

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From Mark Swed's review of Yuja Wang's performance at the Hollywood Bowl last Tuesday:  Dressed in a strapless, snug, sparkling gown with a black zipper down her back Tuesday night, Yuja Wang has clearly become the belle of the Bowl. Ever since her Hollywood Bowl debut four years ago wearing a short skirt that became a fashion statement, in classical music circles at any rate, audiences expect that the 28-year-old Chinese pianist will be a dazzling presence the moment she walks on stage. Hi-def Bowl monitors help. F rom his 2011 review of Yuja Wang with the Los Angeles Philharmonic : Her dress Tuesday was so short and tight that had there been any less of it, the Bowl might have been forced to restrict admission to any music lover under 18 not accompanied by an adult. Had her heels been any higher, walking, to say nothing of her sensitive pedaling, would have been unfeasible. The infernal helicopters that brazenly buzz the Bowl seemed, on this night, like long-necked p...
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