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Locals save Zeitgeist Gallery, the Nutcracker dilemma continued and more
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Zeitgeist buys itself Six weeks ago, Zeitgeist Gallery was forced to make a big decision quickly. John Flaherty, who runs the adjacent Druid Pub, owns both the Druid building and the Zeitgeist space next door. But recently, due to a complicated ownership arrangement and a dissolving business partnership, the mortgage on the Zeitgeist was foreclosed on, thereby putting the gallery up for sale. Bankers started wandering in, scoping out the property, and "one group came in looking to open a pizza-delivery place," says Alan Nidle, the Zeitgeist’s manager. Rumors flew that the gallery would find itself homeless, ousted from its space, another victim of Boston’s floundering underground arts scene. In a quick decision, Gill Aharon, who lives above the Zeitgeist and houses his piano in the gallery, and Alan Carrier, a Cambridge real-estate agent, teamed up and made an offer to buy the building from Flaherty for $625,000. "The pressure was on," says Carrier, "and we had to make a tough decision." All along, he adds, the Druid "was strongly encouraging us to buy the space." "It’s a bit like the first month of pregnancy," says Aharon. "You don’t want to talk about it too much in case something falls through." But as of right now, things seem to be going according to plan. "Our offer has been accepted, and now we just have to wait," he adds, like a nervous father-to-be. Wait, and deal with the bank to get a mortgage. "We have about six weeks to put it all together," says Carrier. And if they can pull it together, Aharon points out, "it would never go away, and that would be a wonderful situation." Owning the space would make it easier to collaborate with the Druid and with the Inman Square neighborhood. "With really creative things, sincerity is what it’s all about. And when things are equal, people will feel confident about the spot. People will perform and create sincerely." The Zeitgeist, which hosts almost nightly concerts and performances as well as rotating exhibitions by some of Boston and Cambridge’s most experimental sets of artists, performers, and musicians, fits right in to the spunky Inman Square neighborhood. "There’s definitely a community around here," Aharon says. "It seems so rare to have a real community spirit, but we have that here. And that’s what the Zeitgeist is all about — improving the feeling you get when you hang out in Inman Square." The block doesn’t need a new store or a new restaurant, he argues. "The priority is to be a place that’s wonderful to be in, to be a place to take risks." The deal’s not closed, though, and Carrier admits that "it’s going to be tough for us to pull this off. But we’re confident we can do it." "People seem happy with us here," says Nidle. "The gallery is a good fit for Inman Square." The Zeitgeist is at 1353 Cambridge Street; for information call (617) 876-6060. — Nina MacLaughlin The Nutcracker (continued) The future of Boston Ballet’s — and Boston’s — Nutcracker continues to be a hot topic. In last Friday’s Boston Globe, Geoff Edgers reported that the company is looking into the possibility of moving its holiday production into the newly renovated Opera House. The catch is that Clear Channel Entertainment, which paid for the renovation, is set to open The Lion King in July 2004, and that production is expected to run through Christmas and beyond, so that The Nutcracker wouldn’t be able to move in till 2005. Boston Ballet’s executive director, Valerie Wilder, has asked the Wang Center, which did not renew The Nutcracker’s lease for 2004, for a one-year stay of execution; so far there’s been no response. Whether the Ballet and Clear Channel could come to terms is another question; the nonprofit Wang houses the nonprofit Ballet at a reduced rental rate. On the other hand, once The Lion King is gone, Clear Channel will need a holiday moneymaker, and even though Nutcracker attendance fell last year, the production did bring in some 115,000 people. Once the Rockettes’ holiday show is gone (probably after a couple of years), the Wang will also need something to put in its Christmas stocking. It would be interesting to see The Nutcracker at the Opera House face off against the Rockettes at the Wang in 2005. Meanwhile, Tab writer Alexander Stevens, under the headline "Where’s Joe?", took Wang Center president and CEO Josiah Spaulding to task for not providing an explanation of the decision to foreclose on The Nutcracker. No one needs to have it explained that the Wang, which operates both the Wang Theatre and the Shubert, is fighting for shows with Clear Channel, which has in addition to the Opera House the Colonial Theatre and the Wilbur. Or that, these days, there’s not much more than touring revivals to fight over. But the Wang’s move has jeopardized the existence of one of America’s best dance companies. If Boston Ballet goes down the drain, Boston will get a black eye on the world arts scene. And if the Nutcracker that’s seen annually by more people than any other can’t make enough money to satisfy the Wang, then that needs to be talked about. — Jeffrey Gantz Tooting our own horn — and others’ Boston Phoenix Associate Arts Editor Jon Garelick has been named the recipient of a an ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his article "Giving jazz the business: Can major labels make the music go pop?", which was published as an Arts-section cover story on June 21, 2002. The article, one of Jon’s regularly featured "Giant Steps" columns, discussed statements made by record-label executives in a Billboard article questioning the commercial viability of jazz. Jon’s citation was announced by ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers) as one of its 36th annual Deems Taylor Awards, which were named for the late composer and critic. The awards are given in recognition of outstanding print, broadcast, and new-media coverage of music. Also honored this year was Arthur Berger — the eminent composer, critic, and author, a Boston-area resident who for years taught at Brandeis and died this past October 7 at the age of 91 — for his career-spanning collection of essays, Reflections of an American Composer (University of California). Writers and editors of journal, magazine and newspaper articles, and program notes and/or liner notes receiving ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards this year are Alan Light for articles published in GQ and Spin; Eli Attie for articles in the Washington Post; Ashley Kahn for his liner notes to John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Impulse/Verve); Jim Dulzo for a piece published in JazzTimes; Laurence Hobgood for an article published in the JVC Jazz Festival program book; Austin Clarkson and David Holzman for their liner notes to Stefan Wolpe: Compositions for Piano (Bridge); Mark Gresham for an article published in Creative Loafing; Clarke Bustard for an article published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch; Ralph P. Locke for articles published by Ashgate Publishing Ltd., and Lewis Rowell for an article published by the University of Nebraska Press. Book authors and publishers in addition to Arthur Berger honored by ASCAP this year are Alfred Appel Jr. for Jazz Modernism: From Ellington and Armstrong to Matisse and Joyce (Alfred A. Knopf); Larry Hicock for Castles Made of Sound: The Story of Gil Evans (Da Capo); Lise A. Waxer for The City of Musical Memory: Salsa, Record Grooves and Popular Culture in Cali, Colombia (Wesleyan); Charles M. Joseph for Stravinsky and Balanchine: A Journey of Invention (Yale); Allen Shawn for Arnold Schoenberg’s Journey (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and Michael Hicks for Henry Cowell: Bohemian (University of Illinois). The Timothy White Award for Outstanding Musical Biography (named for the late Billboard editor and biographer of, among others, Bob Marley and Brian Wilson) goes to Richard Sudhalter for Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael (Oxford). In addition to Jon Garelick, ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Awards are being presented to Jim O’Neal and Amy Van Singel for their book The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues Magazine (Routledge), Steve Reich for Writings on Music 1965-2000 (Oxford), and Douglas McLennan for ArtsJournal.com. The winners of the 2003 ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards will be honored at a special reception on December 4 at Walter Read Theatre in New York City. "Childsplay" in Lexington A Stradivarius has a special sound, and so, it would seem, does a Childs. That would be the instrument built by Cambridge violin maker Bob Childs, who for 26 years has been producing fiddles for all manner of classical, popular, and folk musicians. On December 6 and 7, Childs will present the fourth annual "Childsplay" concerts, which gather more than 30 fiddlers from the United States and Europe to play violin music of all genres, all on instruments built by Childs. But it won’t be all-fiddle all the time. In addition to players like All-Ireland fiddle champion Sheila Falls-Keohane and BSO member Bonnie Bewick, there’ll be All-Ireland harpist Kathleen Guilday, singer Aoife O’Donovan, Appalachian clogger Amy Fenton-Shine, and many, many more. The concerts take place at the National Heritage Museum, 33 Marrett Road in Lexington, at 2 p.m. on December 6 and 7; call (617) 522-8633.
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