RE: GG: Kunst ist tot?

[KImmoor@aol.com]

Today was quite depressing indeed. 
   We've all been reading about the "imminent death" of classical music;
sales are falling, stores are hesitant to waste their floor space on
slow-moving merchandise - hell, I work nights in a Media Play (for the great
discount!), and I can tell you firsthand that we order an average of 500 "top
product" cds for every 2 classical. Still, you never actually think about the
day when you'll wake up in the mood for some cd shopping, and all the lovely
little plastic boxes will be gone. 
   I went to Best Buy today, the local shop where I buy all my classical
(don't tell my boss...). They have always had the largest collection of
classical merch. at the most ridiculously low prices - we're talking $18
bucks for the Sony GG doubles. Anyway, I walked into the shop and, to my
horror, the classical room had been gutted! I must have let out an audible
scream of terror, because the dept. manager for classical came in behind me
and remarked, "Sad, isn't it?" He explained that in all of 1996, Best Buy had
sold only 300 classical cds. The decision was made that the merch. was no
longer commercially viable, so the store packed up 9000 of its classical
titles and shipped them back to Minneapolis (which for some reason seems to
be the repository of all musical product - the Media Play warehouses are
there too. Anybody know why?) The remaining classical stuff was generic,
budget label-assembled collections of composers' greatest hits. The clerk
said that all the stores in town were making the decision to pare down their
classical, the stuff just wasn't selling anymore. I asked him what I was
going to have to do to find a store that had a good classical collection. His
answer? Move to Europe.
   So, rather than pay competitor Tower's egregiously inflated retail prices,
tonight I went online looking for good mailorder links for the classics. What
a pain in the butt. 
   The real question is, what can we do about this sad situation? Force kids
to take more music appreciation classes? Mandatory NPR programming in public
places? Organize a Lollapalooza tour of chamber musicians (Yo Yo
Malapalooza?) Hypothesizing about the death of an art form is one thing...
witnessing it is another.