Elisberg Industries
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like
Decent Quality Since 1847

Civic Duty

3/31/2020

0 Comments

 
You may recall that last summer, I posted several videos I took from Chicago of a rehearsal of the Grant Park Orchestra, which puts on a series of classical music concerts during the summer.  As I wrote at the time, "​​The Grant Park Orchestra is no slapdash group.  Basically, it's the second major orchestra in the city, right behind the Chicago Symphony Orchestra -- but not very far behind.  It's largely made up of members of the Chicago Civic Orchestra that plays for the Lyric Opera of Chicago."  It's actually affiliated with the CSO as sort of an adjunct.

Well, as it happens, that Chicago Civic Orchestra celebrated their 100th anniversary this past Sunday, March 29.  Needless-to-say, they had a gala concert planned, and of course had to cancel it.  Instead, they put on a Virtual 100th Anniversary Gala, which they streamed online..

The orchestra itself didn't perform the full virtual concert itself -- I suspect that that would have been far too much of a challenge.  But they did perform the opening of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, which they had planned to perform at the intended gala at Orchestra Hall -- because it was played at their very first concert 100 years earlier.  It was done the same as these other orchestral videos, which members performing their parts to a click track, and then edited together -- and done so in a very creative, entertaining way.

The full virtual 100th anniversary concert lasts 35 minutes.  For the remainder, the organization commissioned seven short world premieres specifically for the virtual concert.  To be clear, these are not performed by the orchestra, but appear to be synthesizer performances or computerized by the composers themselves.  (Mixed in with an audience applause track after each...)  They are all very modern, and some some of them quite weird for my taste.  If you don't want to listen to all of them all the way through, the most accessible are two pieces that start around the 24:00 mark.  The first is
Civic 100 by Josh Fink, followed by Reverse Forward by Liza Sobel.  It's all introduced by the Chicago Civic Orchestra's music director Ken-David Masur.
0 Comments

Today's Tweet

3/31/2020

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

Analyzing Polls

3/31/2020

0 Comments

 
The other day, a friend called me in a panic about some polls showing Trump's approval going up a few points since his daily campaign-rally "press conferences" filled with false-good news misinformation that's dangerous.

I explained a few thoughts.  First, yes, I didn't hated seeing Trump's approval go up, it should be bordering on zero.  But I understood it.  He's on TV every day giving supposed "good news" (much that's untrue).  In crises, people want to look to their leader to help help.  At any time, people want to support the president.  And right now, the numbers of infections and deaths are awful, but manageable, especially compared to the horror numbers we're hearing that are possible.  Moreover, when he's on TV, all the news channels and networks cover him, that's all we see.  We hardly see his Democratic opponent Joe Biden (or even Bernie Sanders or Speaker Nancy Pelois) much at all.

But, as I told my friend, the numbers of infections and deaths are -- tragically -- going to get overwhelmingly, horrifyingly worse.  The "best" low estimates are 200,000 deaths, with infections in the millions.  In two months, people will be going stir-crazy isolated in him.  And their children out of school   And out of work, unemployment payments stressing them.  And the economy crashing around, diving into a clear recession, if not nearing a depression.

This is galling, ghastly news.  And it's the perspective to under the snapshot that are polls.

I say this because on Monday, there was an important piece in the New York Times from well-regarded analyst Dave Leonhard.  He says all this above, and more and far, far better. 
 
A few snippets from an overview in Raw Story about the article –
 
“According to longtime political observer David Leonhardt, Donald Trump’s chances of being re-elected are diminishing every day as the economy continues to crash and Americans are dying because of the COVID-19 pandemic despite ‘snapshot polls’ saying voters are still supportive of him.
 
“Writing for the New York Times, the columnist notes that the full horrors of what is now occurring won’t fully be revealed for months to come — and for Trump, the resulting damage may be too much to overcome in November when voters head to the polls.
 
“…By way of explanation, he suggested that Trump’s focus in his daily press conferences with trying to put an optimistic spin on efforts to stem the coronavirus health crisis will likely blow up in his face as the deaths mount, businesses stay shut down and voters realize things are a long way from regaining any semblance of normalcy.”
 
 There’s a lot more.  You can read it here.
0 Comments

Last Week Tonight Last Night

3/30/2020

0 Comments

 
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was on the air again, albeit from the host's home and in a low-key way.  But it was nonetheless terrific.  The topic was...oh, you know.  They called this one, "Coronavirus III."  And it was pointed, informative, and somehow often very funny.
0 Comments

Homemade Music

3/30/2020

0 Comments

 
Here's Joan Baez from her living room, not just performing but singing a tribute to the great singer-songwriter John Prine who is critically ill from the coronavirus, with one of Prine's own great songs, "Hello in There."
​

Joan Baez doing "Hello in There" for John Prine.

REALLY dusty in here.https://t.co/Nwemi41p8L

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) March 30, 2020

I'm going to add a bonus here.  Because as good and touching as this is, Prine's own raspy performance of the song just reaches levels of texture that I've never heard anyone else touch.
0 Comments

I'll See You in My Streams

3/30/2020

0 Comments

 
For the past few years, I've written here about the wonderful National Theatre Live.  The short version is that it's a program that streams live productions of the National Theatre in England to movie houses around the world.  (They're live in certain areas, but for the most part, because of time differences, the shows are time -- and often, date -- delayed.)

Well, because theaters are closed down these days, the National Theatre Live series announced that they will be streaming "family friendly" productions from their archives online for free every Thursday for the next month at least.  (It may continue.)  Shows will begin at 7 PM UK time, though they don't have to be streamed at home that particular Thursday, but each will be available from its starting date.

You can get access to it all and with more information here.

Better still, as readers of these pages know, one of the shows they did is something I've repeatedly raved about and admonished people to go see when National Theatre Live has repeated -- One Man, Two Guvnors. It's absolutely wonderful, a hilarious farce, and when it subsequently played on Broadway, the star James Corden won the Tony Award as Best Actor.  Well...here's the good news:  One Man, Two Guvnors is going to be the first production they stream for free, starting this coming Thursday.

If one doesn’t like farces, it’s not for you, but otherwise it’s a joy  The story centers on a total dimwit who gets hired to work for a thug – he then gets an even better offer to work for the thug’s rival.  He takes both jobs, but can’t tell either one of them.  And from there, the story spins out of total control.
 
Here's a one-minute clip from the show --


Here's how TimeOut in London describes the program.  It's largely the same information as I noted above, though with a bit more detail --

"As numerous theatrical institutions across the world have opened up their archives in response to increasing lockdown restrictions, all eyes have remained on one organisation: the National Theatre in London, which has the greatest archive of cinema-quality recordings of stage plays of any theatre on the planet, thanks to its formidable NT Live programme. It’s designed to beam productions from the NT into cinemas across the country, but there are of course no cinemas in operation at present. So the NT is switching to its YouTube channel. From April 2, under the banner of National Theatre at Home, every Thursday (7pm GMT/2pm EST) will see a new National Theatre play released – free to watch for one week – along with bonus content including cast and creative Q&As and post-stream talks.

"There’s a definite emphasis on family-friendly good cheer for the line-up so far, which kicks off with a big hitter: Richard Bean’s beloved farce ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’, starring a pre-chat-show-days James Corden. Over the next few weeks you can expect a string of family-friendly titles, though naturally there will be those hoping for some of the real NT Live blockbusters, notably ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Frankenstein’ starring Benedict Cumberbatch and ‘Coriolanus’ starring Tom Hiddleston."


0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture
    Picture
    Elisberg Industries gets a commission if you click here before shopping on Amazon.
    Picture
    Follow @relisberg

    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.



    Picture
           Feedspot Badge of Honor

    Archives

    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Audio
    Audio Land
    Books
    Business
    Chicago
    Consumer Product
    Education
    Email Interview
    Entertainment
    Environment
    Fine Art
    Food
    From The Management
    Health
    History
    Huffery
    Humor
    International
    Internet
    Journalism
    Law
    Los Angeles
    Media
    Morning News Round Up
    Movies
    Music
    Musical
    Personal
    Photograph
    Piano Puzzler
    Politics
    Popular Culture
    Profiles
    Quote Of The Day
    Radio
    Religion
    Restaurants
    Science
    Sports
    Tech
    Technology
    Tech Tip
    Theater
    The Writers Workbench
    Tidbits
    Travel
    Tv
    Twitter
    Video
    Videology
    Well Worth Reading
    Words-o-wisdom
    Writing

    RSS Feed

© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2023
Contact Us    About EI    Chicago Cubs
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like