November 17, 2007
This time a not-so-shameless plug. My brother’s group, Woods Tea Co., is playing tonight at the Alden Theatre at the McLean Community Center here in northern Virginia. The Washington Post called Howard (second from the left in the photo) for an interview and ran the linked piece in the Fairfax edition last Thursday. Soon I shall head out to see the show.
Check out the band’s website for sound clips and schedule.
Blogged with Flock
Tags: music, band, performance, VA, VT, Woods-Tea-Co
November 11, 2007
As Stagehands Strike, Broadway Shows Don’t Go On – New York Times
Is there something in the air? First the Writer’s Guild strike and now this one. This is probably a popular (and potent) time to strike since the holidays are beginning and we are nearing the end of the calendar year.
The dispute has largely been over the rules in the contract that govern how many stagehands must be called for work, how long they work, and what kind of tasks they can perform. League members say the current rules invariably result in groups of stagehands on the clock with nothing to do.
This year the league, an organization typically weakened by its natural divisions between producers and the theater owners to whom they pay rent, has been determined to gain more flexibility in those rules.
Union officials have said they are open to changes as long as the new rules come with benefits of equal value in return. The league has proposed a package of raises, but James J. Claffey Jr., the Local One president, has said there is no way to determine the amount of stagehand work that will be lost under the looser rules that the producers are proposing. About a quarter of the 2,200 active members of Local One, who build scenery, maintain props and install and operate lighting and sound equipment, work on Broadway.
Stagehands fall into four wage categories. The highest-paid, like head carpenters and electricians, currently earn a minimum of $1,600 a week on a running show; stagehands in the lowest-paid category make a minimum of around $1,225. With overtime, additional work assignments and certain premium payments, wages can end up being quite a bit higher.
$1,225 per week is over $63,000 yearly and that’s not bad – at least not in DC. Perhaps in NYC that’s poverty level considering rents and all.
OK – so I don’t know all the details but I feel bad for all the people who are visiting NYC and may not get another chance to see a show.
Oh yeah – Happy Veterans Day.
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Tags: strike, Broadway, union, wage, life, stage, theatre, stagehands
November 5, 2007
Screenwriters Picket as Strike Begins – New York Times
More than 12,000 movie and television writers represented by the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East walked out today, after three months of acrimonious negotiations proved fruitless. It is the first industrywide strike by writers since 1988; that strike lasted five months and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million.The sides have been at odds over, among other things, writers’ demands for a large increase in pay for movies and television shows released on DVD, and for a bigger share of the revenue from such work delivered over the Internet.
A federal mediator, who joined the talks last week, asked the sides to continue talking in a Sunday session, but neither a deal nor an agreement to keep talking was reached.
Writers in Los Angeles have also begun picketing more than a dozen studios and production sites in four-hour shifts, one beginning at 9 a.m. Pacific time, the other at 1 p.m.
Yes, I think the creative types (writers) should get more dough. The internet issue should be addressed even though I expect it will mean that YouTube and other sites will be devastated of their content.
I will miss you, Jon Stewart!
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Tags: writers, strike, entertainment, TV, movies, internet
Musings from Sumigirl 
June 23, 2008
Comedian George Carlin Dies at 71 | The Underwire from Wired.com
Posted by sumigirl under comedy, death, entertainment, Funny, life, Obit, television, TV comedy | Tags: George Carlin, laughter, social commentary |Leave a Comment
Comedian George Carlin Dies at 71 | The Underwire from Wired.com
Just after I hit the publish button, I saw this page and I nearly cried. And then I laughed. Please click the link for the quick bio and a YouTube performance clip of “Seven Words” which holds up to this day (except that fart and turd are now OK to say on TV).
My parents gave me the FM/AM and Class Clown LPs when I was 16. I was going through a profanity phase at the time and they listened to these albums with me and said that if I wanted to use this language, I have to be as creative and interesting as George Carlin. I wasn’t up to it.
George, I love you and I hope you get to say everything you want to the big guy (if he exists and we know he probably doesn’t).
Tags: GeorgeCarlin, comedy, culture, TV, comic, life, death, obituary, laughter, funny