The curtain lowers and the audience roars!

College Concert Series Wraps up another semester of excellent performances

By Jay Schreiber, Arts Editor

nother semester ends and the arts
A= of Douglas College are all

extra excited about the upcoming
winter break. Sure, most of them have
exams and juries until mid December, but
for the most part, the headache is over!

The past week, Douglas College
hosted four special concerts as well as a
Tuesday recital and the year’s final Arts at
One performance, a student arts showcase.
This is the typical “everyone go crazy”
end-of-semester fun that arts students at
Douglas love to be part of.

The Tuesday and Thursday
performances showcased student’s
individual efforts in preparing solo
repertoire. Vocalists, percussionists, piano
majors and even shred guitarists took the
stage to show off the pieces that they’ve
been preparing for several months.

“Tf you want to know how to make
chili, pay attention,” said vocal director
Eric Hannon about the College Chorale’s
performance of “Chili Con Carne.” The
College Chorus and Chorale performed
their concert on Friday, November 27 to a
very receptive audience.

Douglas College’s local jazzers came
out on November 30 for the semi-annual
Evening of Jazz. The student-oriented Dues
Band had a five-song set of jazz standards
which was performed before a short set

 

from visiting big band The North Shore
Jazz Connexion. The Douglas Night Band
took the stage after the intermission and
brought the house down with some of

the best community players and faculty
members at DC.

Wednesday, December 2 had the
college’s small ensembles and concert
band play their repertoire and display each
different group’s talents. A saxophone
group, brass ensemble, mixed winds
arrangement, flute trio and percussion beat
masters all played two pieces of material
that they had been working on this semester.
Following that the College concert band
had a near flawless performance of
“Themes on Arabian Dances” before the
end of the night.

The composition concert held on
December 5 was one of the most creative
events of the entire year, highlighting the
musical creations of students at Douglas
College. Musicians and composers all
enjoyed playing along with each other and
creating interesting sonic sensations that
have never before been heard.

The Arts at One performances will
begin next January and run every Thursday
throughout the semester. Recitals and the
college concerts series return again in April,
for more information, you can contact
Angela Hubert in the Community Music
School office on the third floor north of the
New Westminster campus building.

 

wb ars

Will the lion roar again?

MGM ’s fortunes sour

 

By Leonardo Ramos

ik influence and scope that Metro
Goldwyn Mayer, (also known as
MGMy has had in cinematic history
is unquestionable. Films such as Rain
Man, Ben Hur, Hamlet (1948), Dances
With Wolves, Rocky, The Best Years Of Our
Lives, The Silence of The Lambs, West Side
Story, and even the James Bond Franchise,
has helped MGM make a mark as a
respectable film giant. You can’t help but
remember the chilling feeling of excitement
every time one sees the screen darken and
the MGM logo appears with the majestic
roar of its lion. Sadly, despite the studio’s
name and history, it now sits on the verge of
bankruptcy.

Created in 1924, MGM has gained
a collection of 4,100 films in its library.
Regardless, the studio has a debt of nearly
$4 billion with creditors hoping to get at
least $2 billion from either a single buyer
or by selling the assets separately. Yet,
despite the creditors’ high hopes to collect
in the money as quickly as they can, their
attempt seems to be in vain, since according
to Matthew Harrigan, an analyst of
Wunderlich Securities, MGM is only worth
$1.6 to $1.7 billion. Obviously, rumours
and headlines have been spread across the
globe, and interested buyers have begun
lining up. News Corp., Qualia Capital
LLC and Time Warner Inc. have all shown
interest in purchasing the falling studio, and
MGM has already looked into agreements
with 20 possible buyers. But in spite of
the dire situation, many are worried about
the state of the future of the James Bond
franchise and the production of The Hobbit.

First of all, since the company has

a co-production deal with the upcoming
prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy,
the potential bankruptcy could place the
film temporarily on hold. Not to mention
that the next Bond film, scheduled to start
production in late 2010, could also be
affected by the studio’s outcome, as well
as the question of who will then obtain the
rights to 007, and ultimately, how the new
owner could affect the future of the series.

Yet, in the end, this whole dilemma
begs the question of how could a big shot
studio like MGM, end up in the gutter.
How, with all its wealth, connections and
power could it just fall to the ground? Sure,
it has tried to gather in some revenue from
its DVD sales, but with movies on demand
and digital downloading hitting the market,
MGM, as with all film studios in general,
are having a harder time to gain income
from DVDs.

Interestingly enough, the company’s
library only made about $500 million
in its financial year ending on March
31, being down about five per cent.
Furthermore, MGM’s only new release
in 2009 was. Fame, a remake of the 1980
film of the same name, which earned only
$41.7 million in worldwide ticket sales.
Unfortunately, this leads me to believe in
the words of, Matthew Harrigan, “MGM
has done such a poor job of refreshing the
library. It’s a wasting asset apart from the
Bond franchise”.

Do I wish for this crisis to quickly
resolve? Should MGM call for bankruptcy
or get bought by another studio? Personally,
it would be with great discontent to see this
giant of the film industry be put to sleep.
Will the lion roar again?

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