BUT DOESN'T EVERY DONUT HAVE A HOLE?

posted by James Reel

    Speaking of the Tucson Weekly (see below), my contribution this week is a surprisingly uncynical look at the upcoming Tucson Symphony season, placed in the national context.

    At the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the situation is not so dismal, although it's sufficiently tense that music director George Hanson told me a couple of months ago that his intention when programming the 2006-2007 season was to concoct something that's "economically responsible and draws an audience." That formula usually leads to a stinkbomb of moldy oldies, but Hanson has tried to put together a fairly diverse season, even though it relies heavily on audience pleasers that don't require a lot of extra musicians, rental fees or increased rehearsal.
    "This is probably as tight and efficient a season as any we've produced," Hanson said. "Dollars to donuts, we're getting a lot of donuts."

PAYING FOR REVIEWS?

posted by James Reel

    The blogosphere is beginning to rumble over allegations that Fanfare, to which I contribute, gives preferential treatment to the recordings of advertisers. Not that it sells positive reviews, but a disc is more likely to get reviewed if the label buys an ad. It’s not my place to comment—I’ll leave that to the editor and publisher, Joel Flegler, if anybody asks him—but I do marvel at the innocence of the American reading public. If you want to restrict your subscriptions to magazines whose editorial content is wholly untouched by advertising, paid junkets and other “special considerations,” I hope you’ll get much pleasure from Consumer Reports, which will be the only item left in your rack.
    That’s not the case for newspapers and alternative weeklies, much as people distrust them. As an editor at the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Weekly, I loved it when someone would call me to complain about some article and declare, “I’m going to stop advertising.” My response: “I really don’t care.” The sales directors were probably happy to see me go.