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The morning papers

I interrupt Holiday Radio Silence to point you to the following worthy pieces in this morning's papers: The Herald checks in with local hip hop and garage rock acts in a pair of interesting stories. Quote of the Day comes in Brett Milano's story on the Charms, from singer Ellie Vee:   “People love to gossip in Boston,” she noted. “People were really supportive when we weren’t successful. But when you get your first whiff of success, they aren’t as psyched about you anymore." And Bob Young talks to local pianist Danilo Perez, who's making a splash with his annual january jazz fest in his native Panama. Meanwhile, the Globe's Names & Faces pops with the news that Elvis Costello will headline the Boston Pops season opener conducted by Keith Lockhart on May 10.

Judy Collins to headline Passim benefit

Judy Collins, Lori McKena, Mark Erelli and Girlyman will play the March 31 Passim Folk Music and Cultural Center 48th Anniversary Celebration Concert at Sanders Theatre to benefit the Culture for Kids program. Tix $30-$50 are on sale at the Sanders box office, 617-496-2222 and www.passimcenter.org. There are also $150 tix with premium seating and a pre-concert reception with the performers.

The morning papers

All those years of newspapering have left me terribly cynical, but maybe Boston's arts czar Susan Hartnett really did resign for personal reasons. Better news is that - despite the MFA and ICA sucking up all the funding out there - the Children's Museum is on track to break ground for a $45 million addition/renovation early in 2006.

Animated debate

Those who've been following the ongoing brouhaha over crowd-pleaser (or sponsor-pleaser) exhibits at the MFA in recent years - "Cars," "Things I Love," "Guitars" et al - might enjoy the debate over MOMA's Pixar exhibit at Tyler Green's ArtsJournal.com blog, here.

More Aida talk

Those bemoaning the state of arts coverage around town should be happy the Globe put Geoff Edgers' piece about the cancellation of 'Aida on the Common' on its front page. Less happy is the news that corporate mergers - local companies being swallowed up by out of towners - are behind the cancellation. CEOs just don't seem as interested in writing big checks to Boston cultural institutions these days, exactly as feared when some of these deals were announced. Wouldn't it be nice if Bank of America or Manulife decided to prove us wrong?

Big doin's for Berklee's 60th

Paul Simon and Herbie Hancock will headline Berklee College of Music's 60th anniversary concert at the Wang Theatre on Jan. 28, with Bill Cosby as emcee. Music industry king Phil Ramone will produce, and Berklee vets Gary Burton and Chiara Civello will also perform. Tix, $48-$98, benefit the Berklee Presidential Scholarship Fund. They're on sale via the Wang box office, Telecharge (800-447-7400), or www.wangcenter.org.

Aiyeeee! No Aida

The Boston Lyric Opera announced via email this morning that the planned "Aida On The Common" for September 2006 has been canceled due to a shortfall in corporate sponsorship. Calling off the followup to the acclaimed "Carmen on the Common" of 2002 "was a difficult decision for those of us who took such pride in this program," Lyric General Director Janice Mancini Del Sesto (left) said in a statement. In addition to two free, outdoor opera performances, the "On The Common" deal includes dozens of mini-performances and clinics for community and school groups.

The Lyric raised over $1 million of the $1.4 million needed, but that's not close enough, apparently. Although, this isn't the first time we've seen a worthwhile program very publicly canceled after falling short on a fundraising drive, only to attract a last-minute hero with a checkbook.

I didn't attend the formal "Carmen" performances, but I spent a very pleasant - and very extended - lunch hour that Friday, lolling on the grass, eating a lemon ice and watching a rehearsal from more or less the front row. (Jossie Perez in the title role - oh lala!)  This would be a shame.

Being a bad host at the holidays

Last week ended in raging problems with the Typepad hosting service, which was down for at least a day and showing an outdated backup of this blog. Apologies for the weirdness and for those of you whose news has gone unposted. Everything seems to be fixed now and I'll be back on the case on a limited basis over the holidays.

Music: Opening for the Stones...

... on their latest tour leg will be Brooks and Dunn, Merle Haggard, the Meters and more. But when Mick & Keith and company return to the Garden on Jan. 13 and 15, the opening act will be the Canadian pop-rockers Sloan. (Insert weak party horn noise here.)

Music: Berklee rocks in Grammy noms

This is pretty much per usual, but Berklee College of Music says 18 faculty members and alums racked up a total 23 Grammy nominations for the Feb. 8 awards show. Branford Marsalis '80, Natalie Maines '95 of the Dixie Chicks and James Valentine '96 of Maroon 5 are a couple of the familiar names. But how about mixing/engineering nominees Brian Garten '95 (Mariah Carey), Andrew Dawson '01 (Kanye West) and Matt Marin '98 (Gwen Stefani)!