The Boston papers today (06/23) carried lengthy stories about the cancellation of something called the "Lollapalooza Alternative Music Tour" due to lack of demand. The Boston Globe's pop correspondent Renee Graham described it as "once the jewel of summer music festivals". She quoted a tour organizer as being in "utter disbelief that a concert of this stature, with the most exciting lineup I've seen in years did not galvanize ticket sales...given the the great bands and the reduced ticket prices." The Boston Herald radio and entertainent writer, Dean Johnson, also brought up the mediocre sales of events sponsored by Boston powerhouse radio stations WBCN and WXKS-FM. He quotes a director of Mass Concerts that "Lollapalooza" contacted him about promoting the Greater Boston appearances, but when he balanced the requirements of the presenters, and the likely ticket sales, he said he'd be crazy to take it on. Clear Channel Communications apparently is the entity that will take a bath, and they get about as much sympathy as Wal-Mart (probably for the same reasons). I see on artsjournal.com that a summer classical music festival near Chicago has DOUBLED its subscriptions for this year (they're moving into a new performance venue designed by the unstoppable Frank Gehry). I checked the Boston Symphony's website to see if any Tanglewood performances are SOLD OUT yet but that would probably be a stretch except for the LvB 9th which undoubtedly be a tough ticket for walkups. Admittedly the performance venue for the Rockport, Mass. chamber music festival is small, but they had several sell-outs this year, and the concert I attended came close (the Boston Trio playing Brahms and Ravel). I think it will be interesting to see how the summer festivals by orchestras and opera companies do this summer. The major ones, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Glimmerglass, etc aren't cheap, so the observation that pop and rock show foundered due to high ticket prices may be counteracted if the aforementioned and other classical festivals do well in spite of the exalted ducat prices! Laurence Glavin Methuen, MA