After the first presidential debate–in which Obama apparently bit it–who can save the Democrats? Of course he can.

“Have you ever watched the cheerleading championships? I’m serious. Guess what? … The cheerleaders in college are the best athletes in college.”

That was Joe Biden, weighing in on the big issues of the day at a campaign stop in New Hampshire. Summing up: “Cheerleading, yeah! None of it works without you guys!”

Jill Biden warmed up the crowd with a little humor:

Clara Schumann got her own Google doodle on her 193rd birthday Thursday; here are a couple of deserving others:

Neil Peart (turned 60 on September 12):

Damn right he was the finale of Drum Week on Letterman.

Amy Beach (born on September 5 in 1867)

I know September 5 wasn’t last week, but close enough. (Thanks to Liane Curtis for the reminder.) Can’t let John Cage get all the 9/5 attention.

Sure, he’s our “crazy uncle“–unwittingly offensive to Greeks, hyperbolically insensitive toward African-Americans, seemingly drunk at every turn–but he’s also the guy who can stand up and do this: http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1
Days after posing for this:

Yesterday, Norman Lebrecht leaked that The New York Times has taken Allan Kozinn off the music-criticism beat. The news spread fast, and it did not go over well.

Robert Schwimmer started a petition almost immediately on change.org to reinstate Kozinn, and now has 899 signatories.  Fellow critics chimed in: Alex Ross expressed his disappointment; Tim Smith smelled a rat; Tim Page rambled on in the comments section of Lebrecht’s blog post.

As complimentary as people have been of Kozinn, the outcry is really as much about a general dissatisfaction with the Times‘s classical-music coverage as it is about this particular “reassignment.”
The comments section accompanying Lebrecht’s original post is loaded with Times-related animus. Pianist and From the Top host Christopher O’Riley, calling Kozinn a “level headed, agenda-free music critic,” took a clear shot at the Grey Lady: “the (sic) same cannot be said for the posers and pretenders who’ve come and gone (and now appear to be taking up residence) at The Times.”

The person taking up residence is, apparently, Zachary Woolfe. Lebrecht claims that the situation is “rooted entirely in the poison of internal politics” at the Times, and claims that it is a not-so-subtle attempt to install Woolfe as Anthony Tommasini’s heir apparent at the expense of Kozinn. Commenters piled on, criticizing Woolfe’s writing for being petty, overly critical, and just plain mean.

Kozinn’s own statement on Facebook confirming the change was entirely classy, yet telling in what it omitted. While making a point of mentioning fellow Times critic Steve Smith as one of his colleagues whose work he will follow, Kozinn made no mention of Tommasini, Woolfe, or any of the other classical-music writers.

When I was a publicist, Kozinn was always incredibly professional and collegial, and treated me with respect. That good naturedness is reflected in his writing: like Steve Smith, I always get the sense that he genuinely loves music, loves his job, and wants to share that love–free of condescension–with all of us. Give his recent piece on John Cage a read–with hope that Kozinn will do more like this as the Times‘s new culture reporter.

The recently approved “millage” that would provide $23 million a year over the next 10 years to the Detroit Institue of Arts was met with praise by Terry Teachout, who sees the small property tax as a creative and responsible way for an arts organization to raise funds:

To begin with, the DIA showed it was serious about money by slashing every thimbleful of fat out of its budget. It simultaneously showed itself to be responsive to the wishes of its patrons by undertaking an imaginative resinstallation of the museum’s permanent collection that was both user-friendly and artistically responsible. Then, when the DIA asked for public funding, it sweetened the pill with an equally imaginative free-admission plan that targeted not just Detroiters but local suburbanites. 

Not so fast, says Mark Stryker of the Detroit Press.

He points out that the resulting givebacks to the community–free admission for Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland county residents, and extended museum hours for school trips–would not only result in $4 million in lost revenue, but would also grow the overall budget from $25 million to $30 million.

The World Socialist Web Site is against the millage.

Diane Ragsdale gives a good round-up of responses to the Detroit Institute of Arts tax, and raises her own questions here.

What’s a millage? I’ll punt to Wikipedia.