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This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home
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Review by Seth Rogovoy
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Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21
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Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
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Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend
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Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak
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[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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Workshop Live Is Dead
12.26.08
While its website is still up and apparently functional, reports have it that Pittsfield, Mass.-based Workshop Live has laid off its staff and shuttered its doors.
This hardly comes as a surprise to those who, from the beginning, thought that selling subscriptions to "interactive" video-based guitar lessons via the web was, while undoubtedly well intentioned, nevertheless an idea dead on arrival. Time has apparently proven the skeptics correct.
There were some, however, who jumped all over the promise of the world's greatest guitarists moving to Pittsfield, forsaking their performing careers to make instructional videos in Workshop Live's well-equipped recording studios-- promises that came paired predictions of the creation of two hundred new jobs in forlorn Pittsfield.
In fact, the powers behind Workshop Live were able to convince the city fathers of Pittsfield of the likelihood of success to the tune (presumably played on guitar by Steve Vai) of tens of thousands of dollars of tax incentives, credits, giveaways and givebacks.
The Berkshire Eagle, the newspaper of record, has yet to report any news about the shutdown of this much-heralded economic development project.
When and if the editors of the Eagle do get around to reporting this significant story (presumably when the paper is done with its backlog of youth sports stories, weather hysteria, and reports on the latest video games that typically take up the most real estate on the paper's once-serious front page), here are some points we hope are included in the story:
1. The details of the original incentive package agreed upon between the city of Pittsfield and Workshop Live, including the target figures that the latter needed to reach in order to continue receiving incentives.
2. A detailed history of incentives (tax credits, deferrals, exemptions, givebacks) received by Workshop Live.
3. A yearly comparison of incentives promised vs. incentives received, charted against promises of job growth and actual job growth.
4. An annual tally of how many full-time jobs Workshop Live brought to Pittsfield.
5. The current status of incentive payments and givebacks to Workshop Live by the city of Pittsfield.
6. Finally, a justification for the city's belief that Workshop Live could indeed reach any of its projections from day one.
In other words, if those of us sitting back and shaking our heads knew this bird could never fly simply from reading about it in the Berkshire Eagle and on the basis of media pitches by Workshop Live, what did the city fathers know that we didn't to make them think differently?
And if they knew nothing, what made them throw money at the project while longtime downtown businesses like the Lantern, House of India, Jim's House of Shoes, Paul Rich & Sons and Haddad Carpets have been left to fend for their themselves, weathering the vagaries of the downtown business climate, buying their own umbrellas, in a sense, while domed stadiums with luxury boxes are provided to anyone with a weird enough idea to win the support of those who control the pursestrings of Pittsfield's paltry bank account.
Inquiring minds want to know....
12/27/2008
I really like your style Seth. At least someone is paying close attention to the details versus the "hype".
From IP address: 66.65.241.62
1/5/2009
technically, WL is still open and running. The production department is dark but everything else is still up as of today.
From IP address: 74.9.178.130
3/1/2009
Amazing how the "hype" in Seth's articles, as usual, is all there is.
Check your facts, man.
From IP address: 74.76.207.58
6/23/2009
I wish I had read this a while back. They keep renewing my subscription, charging my card and not returning my emails or phone calls.
From IP address: 64.79.40.242
12/31/2009
They had a 50% off sale and I got sucked in.
Once inside - IT SUCKS. It's for total beginners. There is no way there are award winning lessons on anything from what I saw.
I had joined for the year. After a day I told them to change me to a month 12.95 and cancel.
No one replies to emails. No one is at their support AIM and no one answers the phone, always a machine. I'm calling my CC to cancel all payment to them. If you want to learn online - try riffinteractive.com Or FREE lessons on youtube.com BEWARE WORKSHOP LIVE is a scam.
From IP address: 174.42.195.79
3/30/2010
Hello,
Thanks for the article!
Is there a way to have access to business results of WL?
From IP address: 90.47.252.238
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...sites that work