Year: 2008

Drunk Driver Convicted In Deaths Of Musicians Sentenced

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16 months after her car struck and killed Eugene Symphony musicians Kjersten Oquist and Angela Svendsen, convicted drunk driver Fivea Sharipoff was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison by Circuit Judge John McCormick. Earlier this month, Sharipoff was found guilty on two counts of manslaughter in the first degree for the deaths of Eugene Symphony principal second violinist Angela Svendsen and Eugene Symphony violist Kjersten Oquist, one count …

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Poll: Music Festival Conventions

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Before the NPAC stops rattling around in my head, I want to take a moment to mention the conference’s conspicuous absence of summer music festival managers and board members. It is no secret why they are represented in such low numbers as the timing for most annual conventions fall smack dab at the beginning of their crunch time and jetting away for several days is usually not a luxury they can …

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He Would Have Been One Hell Of A Blogger

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If he was born during the time of Generation-X he almost certainly would have been at the forefront of the blogging revolution. Instead, George Carlin preceded the age of unfiltered digital communication and had more than his share of experience dealing with the impact of words people didn’t want to hear and interpreting spin. One of the best examples of how Carlin chipped away at this phenomenon was his ever-evolving bit …

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Knowing When To Quit

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The 6/19/2008 edition of the Wall Street Journal published an article by Janelle Gelfand (the Cincinnati Enquirer music critic) that asks whether or not this is truly the end of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Currently, the CSO executive board continues to rebuff calls for mediation, has fired the staff (although executives continue to work with full pay and benefits), cancelled the summer season, and failed to pay the musician’s for …

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Grant Park Take A Friend Concert Review

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The second of the Grant Park Music Festival’s Take a Friend to the Orchestra concerts went over wonderfully. The weather simply couldn’t have been better and just like Wednesday evening’s concert, the park was filled to capacity (12,000) with a few thousand more spilling over to the walkways and adjacent grassy areas. This performance featured a pre-concert CoffeeTalk discussion that had close to 200 in attendance who listened to festival’s Artistic and General Director James Palermo (2007 TAFTO contributor), music director Carlos Kalamar (2008 TAFTO contributor), and me discuss the concert, the ideals behind the “Take a Friend” concept, and answer patron’s questions.

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