This year we get only two Summertime Classics programs from the NY Philharmonic, each presented three times. Due to the spring tour, the subscription season ran long, and the orchestra's July out-of-town commitment squeezed things tight, and so Summertime Classics is compressed into little more than a week.
Interestingly, having only two programs to play with, they decided to devote one to Russian music and the other (spanning 4th of July weekend) to American music. … <Read More>
This may sound like an arcane issue, but actually it is quite significant because of the anomalies and peculiarities of New York State Law. Does the state's Human Rights Law (Executive Law Section 296) apply to the public schools (K-12), so that a student who has been subjected to bullying that their school refuses to address effectively can file a claim with the State Division of Human Rights and seek monetary and injunctive relief if … <Read More>
Finding that a labor arbitrator's imposition of a 6-month suspension without pay was "shocking to this court's sense of fairness," New York Supreme Court Justice Manuel J. Mendez vacated the arbitrator's decision and ordered that an openly gay high school librarian be restored to full employment status with back pay and without any requirement for counseling or training. The decision in Asche v. New York City Board of Education, 108528/10, NYLJ 1202498891395 (N.Y. Supreme Court, … <Read More>
One of the fears of those observing the campaign for marriage equality is that if same-sex marriage becomes available, progress on getting recognition for alternative arrangements that some might prefer could be lost. After same-sex marriage became available in Massachusetts in 2004, some employers that had been providing domestic partnership benefits for same-sex partners of their employees dropped the program, announcing that those who wanted to keep getting the benefits could get married. Not all … <Read More>
More than doubling the portion of the United States population living in jurisdictions where same-sex couples are entitled to marry, New York
To judge by his first two seasons as music director, and the announced plans for next season, Alan Gilbert likes to end the season with a real bang, bringing a big production of a work not previously played by the New York Philharmonic that includes unusually large forces (singers, chorus), sets, costumes, staging, etc. Last year, it was Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre. This year, last week, it was Janacek's opera known in English as "The … <Read More>
The headline in a Michigan newspaper reported this as the court rejecting a "gay panic" defense, which may be overstating things slightly. Nonetheless, the decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals to uphold the verdict in People v. Cutler, No. 296078 (June 16, 2011)(unpublished disposition), is certainly welcome.
Dale Cutler was convicted of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and was sentenced as a habitual offender-fourth offense to serve 11-25 years and to make … <Read More>
After reading a rave review in Fanfare, I had to hear the new recital disk by Dutch baritone Henk Neven, singing songs by Carl Loewe and Robert Schumann accompanied by pianist Hans Eijsackers. It's an import on the Onyx label. I'm glad I took the trouble to order it, because this is one spectacular recording.
To begin with, Neven has an absolutely, positively gorgeous deep baritone voice, which he handles with sensitivity and agility to … <Read More>
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Daniel R. Moeser has rejected a constitutional challenge to the validity of Wis. Stats. Chapter 770, the Domestic Partner Registry Act, finding that it does not create a "legal status" that is "identical or substantially similar" to marriage. Judge Moeser granted a motion for summary judgment filed by the Intervenor-Defendants, Fair Wisconsin, Inc., and a group of same-sex couples. Although the state defendants, former Governor James E. Doyle and two … <Read More>
Last night I dropped in on the NYC LGBT Community Center Garden Party for about an hour, then explored the new northern extention of the High Line Park. Propinquity governs. A stairway to the High Line is conveniently located at 14th Street near Pier 54, where the Garden Party is held.
The Community Center Garden Party started off as a "real" Garden Party early in the history of the Center – a block party that … <Read More>