Greg Sandow

@dominos To be clear, I’m talking about your store at 6239 Georgia Ave NW in Washington DC. The pizza did come tonight, after much confusion. But this store shouldn’t be in the delivery business.

@dominos Tonight in DC Doordash says our order is on its way, will arrive by 8:45. It’s 9:08. Map shows car hasn’t left Domino’s. Your delivery here is totally broken. Worthless.

@dominos Washington DC delivery fail, over and over. Order is late, has wrong stuff, doesn’t come at all. Last night driver couldn’t find our house, which is on a main street. You owe us free pizza for a year.

@dominos Please get me a refund for $52. This happens too often with this store. Orders coming even hours late, or not at all, difficulty getting any response when we try to contact them.

@dominos Your store 4362 in Washington DC never delivered order #210 to us on 9/20, even though the tracker says it arrived. Can’t get them on the phone, no response to messages on the app.

@fergusmcintosh I'm at greg@gregsandow.com if you'd like to discuss further.

Lovely writing from you: "Chamber musicians pass melodic lines to one another with sways and glances. A whisper of pressure on the beat might mean 'Go faster,' or 'This time with feeling.'" Never seen it better said!

@fergusmcintosh I too wd say what you said, but it's an impression. Couldn't definitively source. Fascinating problem for researchers and fact checkers!

@fergusmcintosh "Orchestras are struggling to fill seats." Some are, some not, no data on overall orch tix sales. NY Times piece in May about orch tix trouble, but only a few big orchs quoted. Small orchs said to be doing better.

@fergusmcintosh Not dinging you for this. I've worked for years on things related to the future of classical music & I'm amazed by lack of data. I too think tix sales are low, but can source only to impressions and fragmentary inside info. Fascinating problem!

@fergusmacintosh From your fine piece on the Emerson Qt: "In a field accustomed to half-full auditoriums, their concerts sell out." 1/2 full for all classical music, or just chamber music? And I'd love to know the source for 1/2 full! The field has no stats on ticket sales.

@AubreyBergauer This is in DC. For people I meet — in a demographic that in age and education would seem to fit classical music — the Kennedy Center might as well not exist. Their lives are full of culture that fulfills them. Try it yourself. Go outside classical music and see what you find.

"How does this benefit me and my organization next year?" when the short-term goals are so daunting "I need to balance this year’s budget right now." But an existing customer is cheaper to keep than getting a new one.

Retention over acquisition, agree or disagree? Theaters, museums, ballets, orchestras and operas need new audiences, but we first need to be better at keeping the ones we have… Admittedly, it’s hard to think about patron loyalty and retention...

@AubreyBergauer To clarify: as I meet regular people and share their culture, there’s hardly anyone who even thinks about classical music, though there used to be 10 years ago. And the very smart local newsletters they read, full of other culture, almost never mention classical music.

@AubreyBergauer Though I don’t have much hope for a new audience. I just don’t see one, after spending much time outside classical music. Sure, a few new people might come, and a special event might attract a crowd, but I don’t see any new audience large enough to be sustainable.

@AubreyBergauer Look at the May NY Times piece about a rise in orchestra tix sales since disastrously empty halls last fall — but sales were still way below pre-Covid levels, with numbers I don’t think are sustainable. And that’s just what’s reported publicly.

@AubreyBergauer With all respect, Aubrey (and hi), the existing audience appears to be vanishing, not just for orchestras but for all of classical music. That changes the problem, and the restaurant comparison would be to one that not enough people want to eat at.

@AubreyBergauer Though recordings from 80-100 years ago suggest we’ve de-optimized the art. My students hear this. The old performances have more freedom, spontaneity, personality, soul. Try the 1920s Archduke trio with Thibaud, Cortot, and Casals. gregsandow.com/popclass/archd…

To everyone hand-wringing about theaters closing, all those articles almost never mention marketing at all. We've spent hundreds of years optimizing the product, the art. Comparably, we've spent very little time optimizing other parts of the business.

@JetBlue Customer service fail at DCA. Flight 1954 delayed 45 minutes, says an app. But no announcement at the gate. Total silence from Jet Blue while we just sit there.

@FOXSports TERRIBLE coverage of WBC. Story is bigger than calling, analyzing games. US v Cuba- who are the Cuban players? Which are still in Cuba, which are MLB? How do the two groups get along? Why did Cuban govt decide MLB players could join their team? BIG change!

@Amtrak Train 184, 2/7, leaving DC. No signs telling people they’re in the quiet car. Just like when I rode 184 last week. Small thing? When you neglect small things, as Amtrak does on almost every trip I take, it’s fair to wonder if you neglect big things, too.