December 2010

1. Choose your weapon and gather your gear. If you’ve purchased a pricey ornamental champagne saber, whip it out. Otherwise, a solid butcher’s knife will do just fine. And have some glasses (and maybe a couple of towels) handy.

2. Be sure to start with a bottle of champagne that is very cold (38-40A F, tops). Remove the foil wrapper and little wire cage. This will make for a clean break, although some people say it’s not necessary to remove the packaging…

Seventy-seven original scores have qualified for Academy Award consideration, according to the list mailed this week to the 236 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ music branch.

The list contains no real surprises. Four scores that had been considered major contenders were already ruled out: “Black Swan” and “True Grit” as substantially based on previously existing material (Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and 19th century hymns, respectively) and “The Kids Are All Right” and “The Fighter” as scores “diluted” by the presence of too many songs…

In arts and entertainment, the year saw the deaths of two members of the Redgrave acting dynasty: Lynn Redgrave and her brother Corin Redgrave. Another who died was author J.D. Salinger, who spent much of his life retreating from the fame garnered by his book “The Catcher in the Rye,” which shocked and inspired millions…

Leroy Jones and Spirit of New Orleans are playing YllA s Jazz Blues, one of the world’s northernmost jazz festivals in Finnish Lapland.

Helsinki-based group m: Spirit Of New Orleans (SONO) is headed to YllA s in the end of January with one of New Orleans’ top trumpeters, m: Leroy Jones, as its soloist. YllA s Jazz Blues is one of the world’s northernmost jazz festivals; it takes place in the villages of YllA sjA rvi and A”kA slompolo in the western Finnish Lapland, about 95 miles (150 km) north of the Arctic Circle. The festival is celebrating its sixteenth anniversary this year and is offering, as usual, a varied program of high-quality music…