Mark Likes Music

It's no surprise that the Detroit Symphony Orchestra today cancelled all concerts up to December 11 . The musicians have been on strike for months, and there's no end in sight; the two sides aren't even talking . Here's how startlingly bad things are financially for the Motor City band, as Jeff Bennett reminds us today in the Wall Street Journal : The DSO reported a $3.8 million deficit for its 2009 fiscal year compared with a $509,000 loss in fiscal year 2008. Corporate giving, driven largely by Detroit auto makers and parts suppliers, was cut in half, falling to $1.59 million from $3.29 million. The 2010 fiscal year results are due out in December. That's almost $4 million dollars on a $31.4 million operating budget, with a primary source of revenue drying up. There's no way the musicians can be ignorant of the realities here: their city simply can't support an 85-member orchestra with a base pay even at $82,000 (their base pay was $104, 650). What...

Speaking of Louisville: Louis Andriessen won the Grawemeyer Award today for his opera thing La Commedia . The award is one of five that industrialist and "astute investor" H. Charles Grawemeyer founded in 1984 at the University of Louisville.

The Louisville Orchestra are on the verge of bankruptcy and may not make payroll on Tuesday. At the same time, administration is negotiating with the musicians on a new contract. CEO Robert Birman says, "The musicians aren't a problem; they're an expense we always agreed we would have." You would assume, hearing this, that Birman and his crew know that they can't ask the musicians to sacrifice more than they have. But that's not the case. Management is asking for base pay to drop from an already measly $34,200 to just under $29,000. They also want to lay off 16 musicians. Birman also had this to say: This orchestra has to have the discipline and the honesty to live within its means and almost to a person the community is saying we will not continue to just simply bear out this orchestra. They've got to get serious about coming together and finding a sustainable platform. I'm not sure who the "they" are in this quotation, but it can...

I found a couple of people weighing in on the proposal to raise property taxes for the Detroit Symphony , which has been on strike for almost two months now. Bottom line for both: this would be a quick fix with little long-term benefit. The Detroit News  opined as such: Musicians rejected a sweetened offer last week, saying the pay reductions it still demanded would compromise the quality of the orchestra. That seems a specious claim, considering that work rules in their contract make it almost impossible to fire a musician whose skills have waned. This contract fight is about the long-term viability of the DSO; taxpayers would do the orchestra no favor by approving a bailout before the tough decisions are made.  After arguing why governments should support cultural institutions, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra conductor Bill Eddins makes a similar poin t: Cultural Heritage tax proposals tend to embolden the opposition who thinks that the Arts aren’t important to a hea...

Darth Vader has always scared the hell out of me. I find nothing cute about Chad Vader, and this is just plain horrifying: For years, I had a recurring nightmare where mechanical Anakin would relentlessly follow me everywhere. He'd never quite catch me, but I could never fully escape. Thanks to NTT DoComo's ad for the Samsung Galaxy S , I can relive the dream!

In an attempt to end the Detroit Symphony strike, a Michigan state representative wants to make it possible for people in three area counties to vote to help fund the orchestra with a small increase in their property taxes . It's worth considering: orchestras, privately run as non-profits, are nonetheless civic institutions, and there's no reason why property owners shouldn't pay a little bit for something that improves the cultural life of their city (and their property values). The tax increase would be small, only about $20 on an assessed $100,000 worth of real estate (by my calculations, so I could be way off). Assuming such an initiative goes before the public, here are some questions to ask before voting on it: 1. Is the orchestra an essential service? These are tough times for Detroit, and before voting to saddle neighbors with an added expense, it's worth asking if the orchestra is something that the area absolutely needs. 2. How much government money al...

Openculture.org loves free stuff, and today they pointed its readers to James Kibbie's website , where the University of Michigan organ prof is giving away Bach recordings he made on organs throughout Germany. I downloaded his version of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (the scary one in movies); sounded good to me.