Little changes in the way you go about your day can save money. As I mentioned on Friday the 26th even something as changing a font school-wide or in businesses large and small can save a lot of money in ink and toner. A Wisconsin college has found a new way to cut costs with e-mail — by changing the font. The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has switched the default font on its email system from Arial to Century Gothic. It says that while the change sounds minor, it will save money on ink when students print emails in the new font. The school’s director of computing says the new font uses about 30 percent less ink than the previous one. That could add up to real savings, since the cost of printer ink works out to about $10,000 per gallon. In our company, Entercom, we have been turning to a font full of holes, literally, called Sprang eco sans. If you’d like to try it click here for a font download.

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The Vienna Philharmonic has announced that it has appointed a woman as concertmaster of the orchestra.  The leader of the violin section also traditionally serves as a kind of second-in-command of the orchestra.  It’s the first time a woman has risen to this level in the Vienna Philharmonic.  In fact, they only began allowing women into their ranks in any capacity as recently as the 1980’s but only on a provisional basis.  Full membership in the Philharmonic Society was not granted to women until 1997!  The Vienna Phil is one of the world’s top 5 orchestras, with positions often passed from father to son for generations.  Well, all I can say is it’s about time!

Albena Danailova

And you might, too. The applause kept coming from the capacity crowd at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater on Monday night for the long awaited Einaudi concert. At the end of the second half of the show the grateful audience was rewarded with smiles from the band and a lot more music. They seemed to deeply appreciate our enthusiasm. I have heard that plans are being made for a return performance, hopefully in the next 12 months. It seems that Einaudi is always touring, but as you can see from his website, there are some gaps between concert dates. Ludovico fills that time with composition and recording. I’ve heard he is working on more film music and an opera commission, his first.

Here is the set list from the Monday concert:

Planets
Lady labyrinth
Nightbook
In principio
Indaco
The crane dance
The tower
Ludvico solo piano
Bye bye mon amour
Reverie
Nightbook version 2
Eros
Divenire
Due tramonte
Fly
Andare
Eden roc
Lady labyrinth version 2

As for the solo piano pieces, his tour manager Karen wrote that “no one can remember because Ludo always does what ever he feels… Its the Italian way!”

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Those are the words that Robert Schumann (also born in 1810) used to describe Frederick Chopin’s music. Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal contained a terrific article on Chopin by classical pianist Byron Janis. The piece contains some interesting insights of the man from a performer who, at age seven,  first “met” Chopin through his music. Janis recalls how he learned that Chopin, like his music, was “filled with intense emotions and tender poetry”. I’m always fascinated by quotes and descriptions of great composers contemporaries and Janis passes on a gem from Franz Liszt. He captured Chopin’s “otherworldly” quality by introducing him to friends with the words “I’d like you meet a man who comes from another planet”. This planet never saw his like before and will never again, I imagine. Read the whole article here.

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Hope you’ll join Hoyt and me for our 3rd annual Family Day at the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose on Saturday March 20. The museum is free all day and is one of the great family experiences in the Bay Area.  Still on view is the Star Trek exhibit and also on view Saturday the 20th will be Hoyt and me doing a live broadcast from The Tech.  This is a wonderful opportunity for us to meet our South Bay listeners (and you are legion).  So grab the kids and come on down for the live broadcast and stay for live music and dance performances to follow!

The Tech's bright purple dome

There have been many an article about presenting the right image when applying for a job. Successfully landing that job can involve things as simple as having a well crafted resume free of typos. An article in the March 9 Wall Street Journal highlights one more important piece of your presentation, the cover letter. Columnist Sarah Needleman says that with the stiff competition for jobs these days, a good cover letter helps you stand out. Thankfully it doesn’t have to be an “epic”, just make it brief. Use it to fill in holes in your resume, or show that you understand the industry your seeking a position in. If you’re in the “job search business” right now this article is worth a look.

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Every year it seems Beethoven’s mighty 9th Symphony conquers the KDFC Top 100 Classical All-Stars.  Can you predict what will be #1 when we reveal your absolute favorite soundtrack this Friday at 5p?  Check out the list so far here and see if your fave has already aired.  Will the Top 10 be dominated by John Williams? Will one of the younger film composers prevail, eg. Alexandre Desplat, Randy Newman, James Horner? How important is a great soundtrack to a movie?  Tell us which movie score should win and why.  Predict the winner right here with a comment to this blog.

Will Max Steiner's greatest score be #1?