An interesting experiment from the Minnesota Orchestra: hire a jazz trumpeter to direct a five-part jazz series, presumably using symphony musicians, which would be where the “experiment” part comes in. Can symphony musicians morph into jazz players? When I’ve heard the Oregon Symphony attempt to play jazz, I have liked the spirit of Norman Leyden conducting, but usually left thinking the effort was half-hearted, even on something like Rhapsody in Blue with Thomas Lauderdale, detached from Pink Martini, attacking the piano. Was it lack of rehearsal time, an interest deficit or did they simply lack the capacity to swing? In any case, we’ll be watching how Irvin Mayfield, the New Orleans trumpet player Minnesota hired, manages with his new orchestra.

Where the flashbulbs of the media are popping, there, moth to flame, we find the ghost of Andy Warhol. Or his traces. In the case of the Beijing Olympics that means the complete set of his “Athletes” series, ten acrylic paint and silkscreen depictions of Muhammad Ali, O.J. Simpson (!), Chris Evert and other heroes of the ’70s. They’ll be on sale at a Beijing Gallery. A single portrait of Ali went for $9.2 million in November at Christie’s. (Warhol produced eight sets.) Will this Olympics reach yet new levels of commercial and political exploitation? The presence of Andy encourages me to think so!

Finally, a tip of the hat to Culture Shock, a blog that we just “discovered”. There’s going to be a lot of Portland theater news on that site, if I’m any judge at all.