JIM FARBER'S PHOTO EXHIBIT
Get down to the Torrance Art Museum this week if you can to see the exhibit (through May 31) of Daily Breeze/Daily News writer Jim Farber's stunning and fascinating photos. It's worth the trip!
OC REGISTER ARTS BLOG Speaking of terrific writers, have you checked out Tim Mangan's OC Register arts blog (also contributed to by theatre critic Paul Hodgins and art writer Richard Chang)? Make it a bookmark, and visit it frequently, illustrating to the bean counters at the Register that there is interest in the arts.
ADD ONE MORE TERRIFIC WRITER
The Ojai Music Festival celebrates the launch of Alan Rich’s website, “www.soiveheard.com,” with its first “Bloggers’ Night” on Thursday, June 5, the opening night of the 2008 Festival.CITY BEAT LOSES MITTELSTAEDT City Beat News Editor Alan Mittelstaedt is let go. LA Observed has the details. FAMILIAR NAMES ON WASHINGTON POST BUYOUT LIST This story details info about the more than 100 Washington Post writers and editors who took the recent buyouts. Among the familiar names is Classical Music Critic Tim Page. He's been on leave this year anyway. Not sure if his replacement, Anne Midgette, will stay on. Anyone know? THIS AND THAT The LA Times Readers Rep blog announces that foreign correspondent Carol J. Williams is joining the Metro staff, taking over the legal affairs beat that had been held by Henry Weinstein. According to Cision's Navigator: Charlotte Boechler has replaced Mindy Spar as lifestyle editor.
Salma Abdelnour, previously travel editor at Food & Wine, has joined O, The Oprah Magazine as food editor.
New York Times LA Bureau music reporter Jeff Leeds "has been laid off amid recent cuts."
Media Bistro reports Nathan Cooper's promotion to editor of C Magazine, to "oversee and contribute to all of the title's editorial content… Cooper will report directly to Jennifer Smith Hale, Founder and Editorial Director." Also from Media Bistro, LA Times Scriptland columnist Jay Fernandez heads on over to the Hollywood Reporter “as a full-time senior film reporter, concentrating on breaking news.” From Susan Elliott at Musical America: Downsizing at The New York Times has hit the culture department. Among those taking the recently offered buyouts are Bernard Holland, music critic; Jennifer Dunning, dance critic; Diane Nottle, deputy editor for classical music and dance; Gwen Smith, assignments coordinator for dance and art; and Lawrence Van Gelder, senior editor.
That leaves Alastair Macaulay as the only full-time dance critic at the Times, although the newspaper uses free-lancers Gia Kourlas, Roslyn Sulcas and Claudia La Rocco as well. The two full-time music critics left are Anthony Tommasini and Allan Kozinn. James R. Oestreich, editor of classical music and dance, occasionally pitches in as well; Steve Smith and Vivien Schweitzer are Times free-lance classical critics.
Holland’s last day will be May 23. In an e-mail he writes that he has been with the newspaper for 27 years and that he “drifted” into music writing after teaching piano privately. Early training included studies at the Vienna Academy of Music and the Paris Conservatory. He writes that he’s not sure of his future plans, but adds, “We have a house on an island in Canada. No one ever heard of Mozart or The New York Times. [I'm] there until they deport me.”
Asked if Holland’s position would be filled, Oestreich responded, “Since the goal of the buyouts is to decrease the size of the newsroom, it’s not an automatic assumption that we can hire another staff critic.”
As of February, the Times newsroom had about 1330 employees; the goal has been to cut 100 of them, through attrition and buyouts. Last week, media reports indicated that there would have to be about 15 involuntary layoffs to reach 100. Like most newspapers, ad revenues at The New York Times Co., which also includes the Boston Globe and a number of other papers, have been slipping. Associated Press reports that Times Co. ad revenues dropped by 9.2 percent in the first quarter of the year.
A FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT!
Don't miss A Chorus Line at the Ahmanson!
AND FINALLY, DOESN'T VANESSA BRYANT HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS?
Bet you can't resist clicking on this headline: "I Got Cussed Out By Kobe Bryant's Wife"
KCSN FM CLASSICAL MUSIC FORMAT IN DANGER?
Alan Rich reports this to his email list:
So I hear: In an ominous move officials at Cal State Northridge have taken the unprecedented step of cancelling the Pledge Drive of KCSN-FM, the feisty little public radio station for which they hold the license. The station, which was awarded “Best of LA” by Los Angeles Magazine in 2006… offers the most exciting classical music programming in the city (and maybe the country) – often presenting music by living composers as well as an unusually generous amount of 20th century music (as well as ancient music, rare and ‘difficult’ music) and daily chats with a broad group of members of the Arts community (cutting-edge composers, musicians, writers, choreographers, filmmakers, playwrights, jazz players, etc.) by acclaimed interviewer Martin Perlich (author of The Art of the Interview).
While classical music is presented every weekday 6am – 6pm, weekends are occupied by unique “Roots” programming: “Bluegrass, classical country, singer-songwriter, world music, blues, a 2-hour program devoted to Bob Dylan and more.
Recently University Management, through KCSN’s GM Fred Johnson, fired Les Perry, the station’s best programmer and fundraiser… The subsequent outcry from listeners and members -- 90% of the station’s operating budget is provided by listener-members -- has caused new Dean Robert Bucker (backed up by CSUN president Jolene Kester and Provost Harry Hellenbrand) to cancel the Pledge Drive out of “sensitivity to ‘the community” which, responding negatively to the program changes, will negatively affect progress on CSUN’s new $125 million-dollar Valley Performing Arts Center whose groundbreaking was celebrated last week.
Observers believe that in cutting off funding through cancelling the Drive, the University higher-ups have signaled their long-expressed desire to change KCSN’s format – possibily handing off (as KPCC recently did) to large national pubcasting networks like Minnesota Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Radio or a similar entity, leaving Los Angeles with one classical station, whose classical programming is far less enterprising than KCSN’s.
To support the invaluable Martin Perlich and classical music at KCSN... write (all at csun.edu) or call: Jolene M Koester, CSUN President Jolene.koester@ 818. 677-2121 Wm Robert Bucker, Dean of Arts, Media, and Communication robert.bucker@ 818. 677.2426 Harry Hellenbrand, CSUN Provost & VP of Academic Affairs harry.hellenbrand@ Thanks to Larry Mayer, Program Director at WETS 89.5, for passing on some of this information. And thanks to Vanessa Butler for letting us know that Alan’s site, www.soiveheard.com, makes its debut in early June. Can’t wait! TITLE CORRECTION FOR OC REGISTER’S DEPARTED STEVE PLESA, PLUS THIS NOTE FROM LONG-TIME TRAVEL EDITOR GARY WARNER Sorry that I repeated an incorrect title for OC Register’s recently departed Steve Plesa. I appreciate this note -- subject line: Not Dead (yet) -- from Travel Editor Gary Warner with clarifications: Hi Laura.
Unfortunately, one erroneous listing in the OC Weekly has spread like kudzu.
The travel editor of the Orange County Register was not laid off. I am still here.
Unfortunately, my good friend and boss, Steve Plesa, the team leader for food, travel and new products, was laid off.
OC Weekly also misspelled the name of the designer who was laid off. It is Neil Pinchin.
Best,
Gary Warner
Travel Editor
The Orange County Register
May I add that I happen to know what kudzu is because my husband is an REM fan.
Jasmine. Not kudzu.
Photo by Hugh Stegman
CONTACT UPDATE FOR ARGONAUT’S WHAT’S ON EDITOR Thanks to the ever-alert Lucy Pollak for reporting that Melissa Masatani has returned her post as What’s On editor at the Argonaut. They ask that we send listing submissions, story ideas, photos, etc. to her at whatson@ (see rest below). 310.822.1629, x 118. Rest of address is argienews.com GRIPE OF THE WEEK In contrast to the welcoming Argonaut, here’s my rant on the topic of listings submissions. How annoying is it to have to fill out online forms in order to submit events to certain newspapers? Especially when, for many of them, it’s not like you just type in the event name and then paste in the press release. Got an email yesterday from a weekly newspaper that shall remain nameless, which now insists that it will only accept event listings via an online form, and the calendar editor asks that her address be taken off email lists. I checked out the form and it’s pretty cumbersome and time-consuming. Even the LA Times form for such listings is simple and takes about a minute or less to complete. I wonder if this policy will result in this “shall remain nameless” newspaper – and others like it – not getting press releases via email that they might actually want to know about? I doubt very much that the Jerusalem Symphony, for example, would know of, much less abide by, this policy. For example, of course. I am removing this contact from my email list to comply with her request, but I’m not going to deal with the form. I just don’t have the time. NEWS TO ME Not sure when this happened, but La Opinion's Alicia Morandi is now editor of the weekly Contigo section ("a practical how-to guide for the Latino family”), which includes “health advice, tips on jobs and education, advice on personal finance, a Women’s Page (beauty, health, recipes, children), a Men’s Page (gadgets, autos) and a community events calendar.” Morandi’s replacement as the newspaper's lifestyle editor is Virgina Gaglianone, overseeing features, religion, food and health and medicine. CATCHING UP
The Times' Readers Representative blog also announced that long-time staffer Connie Stewart has joined the National Desk as night editor. Media Bistro reports that OC Register home improvement columnist Jennifer Bush writes her first column for the OC Register under her new married name, Jennifer Meyer, only to announce that it's the last column she'll ever write for the paper.Cision's The Navagator announced this about a week ago: Ben Sisario has been named culture reporter at The New York Times. Most recently, he served as the music listings editor, a position now filled by Sunita Reddy. Also about a week ago (hey, I’m supposed to be on vacation!), LA Observed reported these moves and changes: The LA Times: is moving California political writer Phil Willon onto the Los Angeles City Hall beat.
Staff memo here. The Daily News: is losing LAUSD beat reporter Naush Boghossian, the type of aggressive reporter the DN needs to cultivate. She gave notice last week, the same day that Carolina Garcia reported in as the new editor. Boghossian is leaving the news business for PR, I'm told at Larson Communications, which has education clients.
and The Los Angeles Daily Journal [loses] Ryan Oliver… for public relations, taking on the Police Protective League and U.S. Army accounts for Weber Shandwick Worldwide's Los Angeles office. He used to cover City Hall and more recently was on the criminal courts beat.
THIS IS ONE LIST YOU DON’T WANT TO BE ON Media Bistro’s PR Newser reports on some good reasons to avoid mass media emails. It’s an interesting read. I’ll just add that my little blog actually gets some of that un-tailored kind of mail, apparently from PR folks who haven’t taken the time to read it. Not that I mind being offered free CDs!
AND FINALLY...
... a shout out to the cool folks at The Donahue Group. Nice to meet you all!!
photo by Hugh Stegman
BAD WEEK FOR SPORTS EDITORS AND OTHER NEWSPAPER FOLK SUDDENLY OUT OF JOBS
The OC Register laid off 80-90 people on Monday. According to this OC Weekly blog post, Sports Editor Greg Gibson and Travel Editor Steve Plesa are among those leaving. Up at the Santa Barbara News Press, Sports Editor Barry Punzal and Life section Editor Mindy Spar were canned along with around 15 others yesterday, according to this CraigSmithBlog post.LOOKING FOR SOMETHING REALLY GREAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND?
Check out the John Malkovich-Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra collaboration, described in this LA Times feature. NEW VENICE MAGAZINE CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS EMAIL ADDRESS Thanks so much to Lucy Pollak for letting us know the new Venice Magazine email for calendar submissions: venicemagcal at gmail, and of course, dot com JIM FARBER'S SECRET PAST. WHO KNEW? The long-ago photographs of Daily Breeze arts writer (and all around nice guy) Jim Farber are featured in a show at the Torrance Art Museum. Check out this story, with some excerpts here: Long ago, we're talking 1964 here, with another war raging and discontent boiling over, [Jim] left the home of his watercolorist mom in L.A. for the San Francisco Art Institute and a job as a still photographer for KQED, the PBS station. There, nearly everything that would happen during the next decade was just beginning to take shape, with the North Beach Beats giving way to the earliest of early hippies. With Farber right there snapping pictures and living a life that brought him into contact with era giants like Janis Joplin, Ken Kesey (novelist and Merry Prankster) and Peter Green, the phenomenal guitarist for the original Fleetwood Mac. Then there were the concerts at the Fillmore West (where a ticket to see Jefferson Airplane cost $2.50) and Farber, after hearing Joplin's first gig with Big Brother and the Holding Company, telling impresario Bill Graham, "I don't get it."
OK, so he wasn't always right. But you can actually see him in the movie documentary on the 1967 Monterey Pop Music Festival.
Later, he was present at the Altamont Music Festival, the disastrous anti-Woodstock featuring the Rolling Stones where the Hells Angels were brought in for security and murdered a concertgoer on film.
But to give you some idea of where he was in the genesis of a movement that would sweep the world, by the time the media descended on San Francisco in 1967 for the infamous Summer of Love, the cool people in Haight-Ashbury had already staged a mock funeral for "The Hippie." In fact, it was so crazy that summer, Farber took off for London where the movement was just then taking hold.
As it turned out, most of America and the world would have their 1960s' experience in the early 1970s. Which gave Farber a ground-floor view of the unfolding insanity versus sanity in San Francisco. So what else could a photographer do but photograph what he saw?
Some of those photos figure prominently in the TAM (www.torranceartmuseum.com) show, which is free, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Sunday and on display until May 31.
Sounds fascinating. Go! LA TIMES' BILL LOBDELL RETURNS TO RUN A NEW "PEOPLE" BEAT I seem to have had a brain fade, and I forgot where I got this information, so apologies to the source from which I quote: "Bill Lobdell has returned [to the LA Times] from a four-month book leave ("Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith While Covering Religion in America") to work a newly created "people" beat. Bill will produce profiles large and small of Southland residents. These people will be famous and obscure, and some will be once-familiar figures with whom we will be catching up. Bill will continue to be based in Orange County, but his profile subjects will be from throughout Southern California."
WHEW!
If Vin Scully is music to your ears as he is to mine, read this. And I'll just add that I'm already DVRing baseball games to watch/listen to after the dreadful day when he really does retire. At that point, we can also comfort ourselves with this web page.
