Mark Likes Music

"Have you ever watched the cheerleading championships? I'm serious. Guess what? ... The cheerleaders in college are the best athletes in college." That was Joe Biden , weighing in on the big issues of the day at a campaign stop in New Hampshire . Summing up: "Cheerleading, yeah! None of it works without you guys!" Jill Biden warmed up the crowd with a little humor:

Clara Schumann got her own Google doodle on her 193rd birthday Thursday ; here are a couple of deserving others: Neil Peart (turned 60 on September 12): Damn right he was the finale of Drum Week on Letterman. Amy Beach (born on September 5 in 1867) I know September 5 wasn't last week, but close enough. (Thanks to Liane Curtis for the reminder.) Can't let John Cage get all the 9/5 attention.

The Baltimore Symphony announced last week that its music director, Marin Alsop, is funding a project to have  students from Parsons The New School for Design to come up with new duds for the orchestra  that will "erase any pre-conceived notions of what a concert should look like." Meanwhile, in Florida (or course), a well-meaning group of business owners in Delray Beach donated uniforms designed by Futuristic Woo (who?)  to a local high-school football team, resulting in this : Tread lightly, Baltimore.

Sure, he's our "crazy uncle "-- unwittingly offensive to Greeks , hyperbolically insensitive toward African-Americans , seemingly drunk at every turn --but he's also the guy who can stand up and do this : Days after posing for this :

A round-up of posts about orchestras' labor-and-management problems , from the bloggers who've been following the situation: Adaptistration  (Drew McManus): Someone at the National Symphony has been bragging about its nice new contract;  Indiana Symphony management has defended itself with a lengthy press statement , and the San Antonio musicians have filed a lawsuit claiming that their orchestra's management refuses to talk . Slipped Disc (Norman LeBrecht) : LeBrecht calls for new blood in orchestral leadership ; lists the orchestras that we know won't be starting their seasons on time . One of the orchestras LeBrecht targets is Minnesota; Pioneer Press reports on both the proposed cuts to that band's salaries and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's as well.  Buffalo News's Mary Kunz Goldman responds , is thankful for her hometown orchestra. Deceptive Cadence (Tom Huizenga) : Huizenga highlights recordings he likes from the Atlanta Symphony , to ho...

More here . Also, here's a life-size Stormtrooper cake: Amanda Oakleaf in Massachusetts also made a Darth Vader cake , which is horrifying .

There had been no news on the status of negotiations  since the administration-imposed deadline of August 25 had passed , but now Drew McManus reports that the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has stopped providing benefits to its musicians-- it's a lockout.

Yesterday, Norman Lebrecht leaked that The New York Times has taken Allan Kozinn off the music-criticism beat. The news spread fast, and it did not go over well. Robert Schwimmer started a petition almost immediately on change.org to reinstate Kozinn, and now has 899 signatories.  Fellow critics chimed in:  Alex Ross expressed his disappointment ;  Tim Smith smelled a rat ; Tim Page rambled on in the comments section of Lebrecht's blog post. As complimentary as people have been of Kozinn, the outcry is really as much about a general dissatisfaction with the Times 's   classical-music coverage as it is about this particular "reassignment." The comments section accompanying Lebrecht's original post is loaded with Times- related animus. Pianist and From the Top host Christopher O'Riley, calling Kozinn a "level headed, agenda-free music critic," took a clear shot at the Grey Lady: "the (sic) same cannot be said for the posers and pretenders wh...