Because Shut Up, That’s Why!

Ita_podcasts
Back in the beginning of April, 2008 Jason Heath (Arts Addict and Double Bass Blog author) and I recorded the first three episodes of Inside The Arts’ new series of podcasts and next Monday, the first episode from that session goes live. This inaugural series is a music review podcast where a panel of guests listens to recordings and then offers comments. Did I mention there’s a catch? In order to make things more interesting, panelists typically aren’t told what or who they are listening to until after they’ve heard the selections and offered comments…

Entitled Because Shut Up, That’s Why! the series encourages
lively debate and each episode is packed into a (roughly)
15 minute time frame – perfect for easy listening. The first round of
episodes features a trio
of panelists comprised of musicians from the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Orchestra: violist Frank Babbitt, bassist Collins Trier, and principal
librarian John Rosenkrans (who just happens to author Inside The Arts’
own culture book review).
The recording session was loads of fun and this trio brought a distinct level of energy to the room. To get an idea of what
I’m talking about, the media player to your right contains a little
outtake of Frank Babbitt offering some format "suggestions."

Something worth pointing out is the program’s format is
able to use audio clips longer than 60 seconds thanks in large part to
the innovative licensing structure at iodapromonet.com. IODA is the
internet’s leading digital distributor of independent music and is the
same organization groups like the Milwaukee Symphony and Chicago Symphony use to distribute their new digital labels.

So mark your calendars now: the debut episode of Because Shut Up, That’s Why! comes out Monday, May 5, 2008.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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1 thought on “Because Shut Up, That’s Why!”

  1. Put me on the list to be a guest some time, since the Met Quiz will never take me. Public pie on my face!

    Well I think this will be more interesting and entertaining than the Met quiz but you have an open invitation to come on anytime – just let me know when you’re in Chicago next and we’ll see about trying to align the schedule planets. ~ Drew McManus

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