WHAT WOULD REP. GIFFORDS DO?

posted to Political Buzz by Michael Chihak

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' staff is taking on the federal deficit and spending argument in her absence. Her staff announced in a Friday press release that in conjunction with the Concord Coalition, it will host a town hall next Thursday to discuss deficit reduction methods.

The Concord Coalition's Website describes it as a non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to educating the public about the causes and consequences of federal budget deficits, the long-term challenges facing America's unsustainable entitlement programs, and how to build a sound foundation for economic growth."

Among the speakers will be David Walker, described by the Washington Post as a "deficit hawk", and others who specialize in trying to figure out how to fix the federal financial problem.

The goal of the two-hour is laudatory: "to cut through partisan rhetoric and ideological divides to engage in a realistic dialogue about our nation’s financial future," according to a press release from Giffords' office.

Cutting through partisan rhetoric is a terrific goal and perhaps even achievable at this forum. Achievable in political reality? Don't hold your breath.

REDISTRICTING COMMISSION HEADS TO TUCSON

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission interviewed four firms today, hoping to find one to serve as a mapping consultant. The mapping consultants help the commission redraw the congressional and legislative district lines.

The commission heads to Tucson next for a meeting Wednesday. Since they didn't select a firm at today's meeting, that's likely to be on the agenda. When the agenda for that meeting is ready, you'll be able to find it at this link.

AZ'S PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES GO PRIVATE

posted to AZ Week Notebook by Michael Chihak

Total assets for the three foundations that support the state's three universities have seen increases in the last year, as the economy moves farther from the recession.

At the same time, they haven't come back to the contributions levels they were seeing before the recession hit.

At Northern Arizona University, foundation President Mason Gerety said fund-raising totaled $10 million in the last year and should hit $16 million in the coming year.

Similar increases, but on a bigger scale, were seen by both the Arizona State University Foundation and the University of Arizona Foundation.

All are working to shore up support for the universities as state funding continues to decline.

To assess the full picture, we will talk with Gerety and the heads of the ASU and UA foundations for Friday's Arizona Week.

PINAL COUNTY FOLLOWS PIMA, BANS FIREWORKS

posted to Political Buzz by Andrea Kelly

Pinal County is following in the footsteps of Pima County. Both have banned fireworks in the unincorporated areas due to extreme fire danger this summer.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved the ban yesterday, and Pinal followed with a vote today.

Both votes come not only because of high fire danger, but because the state legalized use of fireworks this year. While summer revelers can still purchase the fireworks, they can't set them off in these areas, including in the city of Tucson. Some professional shows are still planned for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, however.

According to a news release from Pinal County, similar bans are in effect in Maricopa, Coconino and Cochise counties, plus on State Trust Lands and property owned by the Bureau of Land Management.

SACD REVIEWS: RACHMININOV 3/BRUCKNER 7

posted to Cue Sheet by James Reel

I've gotten about a year behind in posting the reviews I write for Fanfare. I'll try to catch up in the next few weeks, and here's a start: Rachmaninov and Bruckner on SACD.

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini • Denis Matsuev (pn); Valery Gergiev, cond; Mariinsky O • MARIINSKY MAR0505 (SACD: 63:15)

In these two of Rachmaninoff’s most popular works, Denis Matsuev is a more nuanced interpreter than I’d expected from his past work, now taking more care with the phrase-to-phrase tension and release; only one or two passages in the concerto’s third movement are as glib as I’d feared. Still, what most defines Matsuev’s approach is the remarkably accurate rendering of the fastest, most glittering material (in the concerto, by the way, he uses the shorter first-movement cadenza). If your taste runs to virtuosic showmanship in this music, Matsuev’s performance might be satisfactory if it weren’t for the bland orchestral contribution, which suffers from poor recording balance and inattentive work from the podium. Valery Gergiev, as so often these days, is functioning on autopilot; despite Matsuev’s attempts to goad Gergiev into the proper sprit, the early pages of the Paganini Rhapsody lack any trace of the whimsy so evident in, for example, the old Reiner version with Rubinstein. In the concerto, the lower strings are almost inaudible when they take over the melody about a minute into the first movement, leaving the keyboard passagework to dominate in a balance that turns to aural clutter and remains that way through much of the disc. For the concerto, on SACD alone, you’d be better sticking with the classic Cliburn/Kondrashin account on RCA, or, among more recent versions, Volodos/Levine on Sony or, for personality galore, Lang Lang/Temirkanov on Telarc. James Reel

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 • Mariss Jansons, cond; Bavarian RSO • BR KLASSIK 403571900100 (SACD: 65:08)

If you believe Bruckner needs to be tamed, this is the disc for you. To his credit, Mariss Jansons does not lose interest in the Seventh Symphony’s small-scale passages, like the quasi-minuet turned quasi-nocturne beginning about six minutes into the first movement. Still, he can’t quite overcome Bruckner’s typical start-and-stop structural problems or his tendency to squander too much time obsessing over the least interesting material, and consequently Jansons doesn’t really succeed in shaping a long-term argument. What Jansons produces instead is a highly professional but neutral delivery of the score in a neutral recording space, with just enough reverb to help bring the music to life without then drowning it in cathedral echo. There are many appealing passages in this performance, such as the dark nobility with an undercurrent of grief in the opening of the second movement, and the firm, extroverted string work in the Scherzo. On the other hand, there’s just not enough swing through the second half of the symphony, and there are times when the brass lines are barely projected. (By the way, Jansons uses the Nowak edition, with the cymbal crash in the Adagio.) Overall, this Jansons account reminds me of Bernard Haitink’s old Bruckner recordings for Philips. Not incidentally, Haitink’s recent remake of the Seventh with the Chicago Symphony is available in surround sound on CSO Resound, and if you like this way of performing Bruckner, Haitink’s performance is more consistently managed and balanced. James Reel

THE SUMMER OF INTRIGUE HAS BEGUN!

posted to Inside TV by Susie Hernandez

It's officially the Summer of Intrigue on PBS-HD CH. 6. Marple. Poirot. Lewis. Lynley. Foyle. Zen? Sherlock. Tennison!

I often get excited about my work and then have to step back and think about my viewers. Is this something the community would want, is a question I must ask myself when I look at my finished schedule and can't decide what to set my DVR to. My problem is I love too much and try very hard not to favor certain programs over another.

Admittedly, I wasn't a big fan of the entire Masterpiece franchise until I moved to Tucson to be the TV Program Director. I am a huge documentary geek and also love classic Hollywood films. Masterpiece just didn't grab my attention.

Could be my age, the heat, this job, or the fans, but I'm a lover of Masterpiece now! Expecially this Summer of Intrigue--it has gotten a hold of me. So much so that not only are we airing the new season of Mystery! on Sundays at 8 PM, but I've added in another night for our dear viewers to enjoy! Thursdays at 9 PM will feature Mystery! episodes from years past! We will continue to air Prime Suspect on Fridays through August.

I'm dying to find out what our loyal Masterpiece Mystery! fans think of the new detective on the block: Zen. I have seen trailers for the new detective series but haven't seen an entire show yet. Rufus Sewell (Middlemarch) stars as Zen, a Roman police detective from Venice, where "Zen" is a local shortening of the name Zeno. He's separated from his wife and living with his mother, and of course, engrossed with work. It is a modern-day detective story, which to me automatically means there will be romance.

I'm bringing you names you love and new ones to enjoy all summer. Last summer many of you asked for lighter programming, cooler shows (in temperature and vibe) and I think you'll love what we have in store.

I found this excerpt on detectives that tributes Sherlock and thought you'd appreciate it:

"At the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, a plaque commemorates an event that never took place, yet lives in the memories of millions. The inscription reads: 'Across this dreadful cauldron occurred the culminating event in the career of Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective, when on May 4, 1891, he vanquished Moriarty, the Napoleon of crime.'

Each year, thousands of visitors to that spectacularly scenic spot pause to read the plaque and remember Sherlock Holmes, the most famous detective who never lived.

The overwhelming influence of Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, on all the detectives who followed him is immeasurable. Agatha Christie often acknowledged her debt to Holmes for the creation of her equally brilliant and eccentric detective Hercule Poirot. Every keenly observant modern detective, from Inspector Roderick Alleyn to DCI Jane Tennison, works in Holmes' long shadow. Any loner with a loyal partner, like Morse with his Sergeant Lewis, is treading the turf of Holmes and Watson. When the introspective Adam Dalgliesh publishes a volume of poetry, he's taking after the even more introspective Holmes, whose many monographs on arcane topics helped build his formidable reputation.

In other words, by the time his creator had finished with him in 1927, some four novels, 56 stories, and 40 years after readers first met him, Holmes had pretty much done everything a detective could do. More than a century later, new investigators still pay their unspoken tribute the the great 'consulting detective' of 221B Baker Street." -- excerpt from MYSTERY!: A Celebration, by Ron Miller (published by KQED Books).

Sherlock is the mainstay of our schedule. Mysteries may come and go, but Sherlock always airs on Sundays immediately following Masterpiece Theater.

Stay tuned!

Susie the TV Programmer