ArtsWatch

Here's my favorite quote from an Oct. 22 New Yorker profile of Metropolitan Opera chief Peter Gelb. Mercedes T. Bass, the philanthropist, recalled how she proposed to her husband that they give $25 million to the Met: "...if you really want to give me a great Christmas present," she said to Sid, "this is what I would like to do." The whole decision, she said, "took about five minutes."
I can think of some other groups that might have been grateful for the stocking-stuffers.