IT advisory ideas & more...
For years I’ve read about German tenor Jonas Kaufman, even before he sang at New York’s Metropolitan Opera (the ‘Met’). I first heard him at the Met in Verdi’s La Traviata , and again last year at a small group concert put on by Barry Tucker (son of tenor Richard Tucker, one of the 20th century’s opera greats). Kaufman sang and acted beautifully, and last year...
read moreOn August 12, I discovered and attended the Brazilian Cisne Negro dance troupe performing in Aspen CO, one week before it would visit and perform for a week at at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Author Tonya Plank has documented the forthcoming New York visit, at her site: http://www.tonyaplank.com. This dance company was founded over thirty years ago, and while other ballet company’s...
read moreIn March of 2010 I wrote a post called Innovation Often Redesigns the Status Quo: Musicin which I wrote about my frustration with the “program notes” passed out at classical concerts and my appreciated but unused reformatting of these notes. Today I would like to share a letter I wrote, but never sent to Clive Gillinson, British Chief Honcho of Carnegie Hall, about a year ago further...
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The once prominent ‘BBC Music Magazine’ let me down in its April issue. Its cover feature, called “The 20 Greatest Conductors of All Time,” was beyond disappointing. Being a classical music jockey I could not wait to read the results. I was eager to perhaps discover what method could possibly allow any publication to define the variables which make for great...
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Jackie Mason, who was once one of the funniest comedians I have ever encountered, is now roughly my age (6 years older). We cross paths very occasionally, and I recently purchased what I believe was his last video. Watching it was a gas (very funny), growing funnier minute to minute! While others might think he has poor taste, the video certainly made me yearn for the good ‘ol days. I...
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[The following recollection, written by Ken in his own words rather than my paraphrase, is included for its charm (e.g. it does not really belong in the 'Advisory' category); it describes an unusual interview process even for me, which I’m sure was the result of circumstances, long forgotten-GIG] MAHLER AND ME by Ken Sonenclar It is the winter of 1982. I am a senior editor at Information...
read moreFor those interested in the eminently readable combination of innovation and how to exploit it, combined with lots of adventure, I heartily recommend reading his book (available on Amazon, search on “Connecting The Dots”).
read moreA friend, Paul Raynault who had been partners for years with an even closer friend Tom Martin, put together an amazing book called “13.7 Billion Years in 24 pages”. Since the rate of evolution of the world has accelerated geometrically during its life, he decided that each chapter would be a three times as long as the succeeding chapter. Thus, working from beginning to end, the second...
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In my opinion the best music magazine in the world is Gramophone, published in the UK. About a year ago it brought together many of the leading world’s music critics to help determine the greatest orchestras. The order was as follows: best in the world was the Royal Concertgebouw from Amsterdam, followed by the Berlin Phil., Vienna Phil., London Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Bavarian Radio,...
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35th Anniversary of Gartner Inc.'s Founding: Gartner Inc. (originally called Gartner Group) was born on April 1, 1979, together with a ... [read more]
Oh My Darling Clementine: My three year-old grand-daughter Clementine is very smart. While she's never taken any piano lessons ... [read more]
Social Networking May Be Bad for Your Health: What might have once been called 'intellectual networking' seems to have been displaced by today's ... [read more]
Genius Economist Suggests Solution to Housing Problem: John Geanakoplos is James Tobin professor of economics at Yale University and one of the founders of Ellington Capital Management, ... [read more]
Which Executive Education School Is Tops?: Interestingly, executive education rankings by various publications produce results which seem all over the map. In fact, the ... [read more]