More Detroit

The war of words heated up during the time I was writing the previous post:

Musicians’ spokesman Greg Bowens disputed the $40.1 million figure, saying, “That must be another example of the fuzzy math that got the orchestra into the deficits it’s in now.”…

Bowens declined to address most other issues in management’s Saturday morning press release, saying the musicians would hold a press conference at 8 p.m. tonight before their concert at Our Lady of the Sea Catholic Church in Grosse Pointe Woods.

The DSO release also contended that the musicians left Thursday’s negotiations after only a few hours for a 1 p.m. rehearsal, promising to return to talks Friday — but did not.

Bowens attributes that to the fact that the DSO attorney, Bernie Plum, allegedly wasn’t going to be able to make the Friday session, and the musicians agreed they’d simply meet today.

Hogle took sharp issue with this characterization. “This is not a misunderstanding,” he said. “That is a lie. Bernie was going to be in town till Friday afternoon.”

Oh dear. Having the DSO management call musicians “liars” is going to make for an interesting press conference tonight.

You can follow breaking news about the DSO strike here.