The News Review:
- SXSW Music festival big draw despite economic woes
- Muskegon festival canceled due to economic slump
- Chamber music festival to shine on composer Stephen Hartke
- Ashland Rogue Valley bank on Shakespeare Festival
- Epcot Flower & Garden Festival: It’s all about the princesses
- Miami Film Festival winners announced as festival closes
- Cheltenham shows true colours in testing times
SXSW Music festival big draw despite economic woes
Houston Chronicle
Fans are snapping up four-day passes to the famed South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival that starts this week when thousands are expected to hit the town’s storied nightclubs to catch the hottest new acts. It’s too soon to say how the 23rd annual SXSW will compare to last year but hotel room bookings are up jazz legend and 27-time Grammy Award winner Quincy Jones is opening the show and nearly 2000 bands from 52 countries will be playing promoters say. “There is really nothing bigger” said Rose Reyes music marketing director for the city convention bureau. “It is Christmas for cab drivers restaurant owners for hotels for businesses all around the city. While Austin has been hit by the same economic woes that are spreading across the globe the hip college town remains an incubator for sizzling new bands and a thriving music scene that brought SXSW here nearly a quarter century ago.
Muskegon festival canceled due to economic slump
Chicago Tribune
The Muskegon Chronicle reports the. rganizerssay a shortage of business sponsors contributed to the decision. It’s unclear whether the festival will return next year. The four-day Shoreline Spectacular has been one of Muskegon’sprominent festivals for more than 20 years.
Chamber music festival to shine on composer Stephen Hartke
Detroit Free Press
While his fame has been rising swiftly in recent years with high-profile premieres and recordings he remains regrettably unfamiliar to much of the concertgoing public. The Great Lakes festival which runs June 6-21 includes 17 concerts spread throughout the region. The festival has become one of metro Detroit’s most vital cultural events with a roster of A-list musicians and artistic direction by pianist and Detroit native James Tocco whose programming juxtaposes contemporary music repertory staples and overlooked treasures. Based in southern California Hartke is an eclectic as likely to reference medieval sources as a bluesy night on the Delta. But he resolves a number of opposite impulses.
Ashland Rogue Valley bank on Shakespeare Festival
The regonian – regonLive.com
But the life of a theater company is never a fairy tale. And the world’s financial distress has hit Ashland too. In ctober festival executive director Paul Nicholson announced a $750000 shortfall for 2008 and $1 million in cuts from an “already austere” 2009 budget. In December after advance ticket sales dipped 7 percent $641000 more got squeezed out.
Epcot Flower & Garden Festival: It’s all about the princesses
Los Angeles Times
That sure would make things simpler than the current system a months-long process that involves metal frames specialized irrigation meticulous trimming thousands of hair pins and mounds of moss. The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival which begins March 18 will gather more than 50 of the statues of greenery. They’re so plentiful Disney established an official scavenger hunt for them. Front and center of the festival will be the “Cinderellabration” area featuring topiaries of Cinderella Prince Charming Belle Beast Snow White seven dwarfs and making their debut Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip. They’ll be standing where the giant surfing Goofy did last year. “We wanted a whole different feel — the elegant flowing dresses” says Eric Darden horticulture manager for the festival.
Miami Film Festival winners announced as festival closes
MiamiHerald.com
comp –> The Past is a Foreign Land an Italian-language drama about a law student who succumbs to the world of card hustling was the Knight Jury Grand Prize in the World Cinema Competition at the 26th Miami International Film Festival which ended Sunday. The four-hour epic Historias extraordinarias (Extraordinary Stories) from Argentina won the Ibero-American Competition. The Mexican documentary Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies snagged the grand prize in the festival’s Dox Competition. All three films were awarded a $25000 cash prize. ther festival winners:• First Love Hungary (Best Short Film)• n War France (Cutting the Edge Cinema); Sebastian Silva• The Maid Mexico (Best Screenwriter and Best Up-and-Coming Ibero-American filmmaker)• Electric Revolution (Florida Focus)• Involuntary Sweden (FIPRESCI Jury prize). For a complete list of winners visit.
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Cheltenham shows true colours in testing times
Times nline
Kauto Star made certain of it for any whofailed to savour that sublime spectacle have no sense of sporting magic. There was more much more from the invasion of red-and-white scarves that roared Forpadydeplasterer into the winner’s enclosure on Tuesday rightthrough to the graphic relief of Alan King as h Crick at Friday teatimegave him the equivalent of an injury-time goal after peppering the woodworkall game. But this was a Festival apart a meeting that confronted issues and challengeson many fronts and generally emerged triumphant. If racing is in the frontline an economic and political target then Cheltenham gave a spirited andcompelling response while also offering much to ponder on developing racingthemes. Biting back at the recession.