Exec pay, Chicago discounts, etc.

January 20, 2009
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Occassionally, I like to devote a blog to connecting you to conversations on other blogs. It's that time again.

Of course, feel free to comment here on anything you find out there (Hint: right click and open any link in another tab. That way, it's easier to find your way back here).

--According to Playbill.com , Broadway in Chicago is celebrating hometowner Barack Obama with $44 tickets to its lineup of shows, including "Jersey Boys," "Mary Poppins," and "Xanadu." The catch? You've got to buy them today, January 20th. 

--Stuck for something to read? There are lots of critics' end-of-the-year lists over at NPR Books. Thanks to what I found at the site, I now have James Howard Kunstler's novel "World Made by Hand," P.F. Kluge's "Gone Tomorrow," Josh Whedon's graphic novel "Runaways: Dead End Kids," and Joseph O'Neill's "Netherland" on my already daunting reading pile. Anyone out there read any of these yet?

--I can be a sucker for acquisition stories. I'm fascinated with how artworks comes to be part of a museum collection. The IMA Blog offers an insightful look at the acquistition of John Wesley Hardrick's painting "Little Brown Girl," which served as the poster and catalogue cover image for the "Shared Heritage" exhibition back in the Bret Waller days. Apparently, the work was missing for years until it was offered to the IMA from a dealer. Only then did the IMA folks discover that it was actually owned by the museum. How do you buy a painting you already own? An interesting problem.

--Half the country, it seems, is in D.C. today. And, of course, they are hungry to see visual art. Okay, maybe not. But surely some will take advantage of what's offered in Washington galleries. You can see Tyler Green's thoughts on the the choices--including new galleries at the Hirshhorn and Gilbert Stuart portraits at the National Gallery--in his Modern Art Notes.

--Speaking of D.C., at the Arts Marketing blog, Chad Bauman, Director of Communications at Washington's Arena Stage, discusses executive compensation in the arts. He notes that the Director of Minneapolis' Guthrie Theatre earns over $682,000 a year. And that the conductor of the financially challenged Cleveland Orchestra makes $1.2 million--and he's only seventh on the list of top orchestra salaries in the country. The question, I don't think, is whether top talent should earn top dollars, but whether or not a not-for-profit can comfortably ask for public funds when higher ups are making such big bucks. Is a visionary leader like a top box-office actor--expensive but ultimately worth it to a company's bottom line? And do we need proposals like the piece of proposed legislation in San Francisco that would put a cap on compensation for a top exec at six times that of the lowest-level employee?

Your thoughts?
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  1. Well, we could blame ABC because they haven't advertised the INDY 500....not during the HUGE TV rating shows like Dancing with the Stars (of which IICS driver Helio Castroneves is a former champion). He never won a CART championship, did he?

    We could blame the new car...because it's ugly and has a V6 that has less horsepower than the pace car. CART (to my knowledge) never had that problem with cars they presented at the speedway years 1979 through 1995.

    We could blame the fencepost, but that would be crass. Or maybe Danica? Or maybe Jean Alesi....or boost increases from constant rules tampering. Maybe we could blame Penske who still is winning everything as usual.

    Maybe we can blame the world for not understanding the the great Indy gods who regularly twist things in such ways that we mere mortals must only accept, but never question.

    So, it does beg the question....who is responsible if the series and Indy continues to flounder? Are the responsibilities so diffuse and complicated that no one really is to blame for it's fall from grace?

    I urge the speedway to sign on for 7 more years of ABC coverage and 7 more years of NBC Sports Network coverage. It been win-win so far....*cough* *cough*

  2. "They're problem was thinking they were bigger than the institution that made their existence possible. That turned out to be a mistake."

    The above quote made by Disciple shows his continued inability to grasp a simple concept: CART is dead. Twice. It provided a brilliant stage for some of the best open wheel racing in all the past century of racing. It's gone DOOD, get over it.

    PLEASE explain, Mr. Disciple of INDYCAR, why you continually hammer home, even on the eve of the 2012 Indy 500, this same point...over and over? Seriously, why does the legacy of CART haunt you so much?

    The same problems that affected the sport for over a century of AOW racing STILL affect it now. Your answers (or lack thereof) belittle the very sport you claim to love. Indy rots in your hands yet you request status quo. You negate salient points with drivel...always.

    Indy is not going to die. But, it is dying...are you willing to accept that? "Indy is a hot mess"....it's true. Yet you want it that way? What is wrong with you?

  3. I just want to make sure I am reading this right - Wellpoint is eliminating 112 employees. Wellpoint is a customer of Repucare. Repucare is creating 82 jobs. I sure hope they are hiring Wellpoint employees. Does not make sense!

  4. Triscuts...love um!

  5. Of course the fair will go on. Don't you big city reporters understand county fairs? Get outside the beltway and see what life is really like!

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