Right – well, right that it was throwaway, wrong that it was fun. And yes, trying to make it appear as though your ignorance is someone else’s is dishonest, while doing it repeatedly isn’t just dishonest, but – especially when you’re too cowardly to put your name to it – also lacking in common decency.

And here I thought I was just making a fun, throwaway quip.

Little did I know that I’m actually Senator Joseph McCarthy reincarnate and you’re Joseph Nye Welch, heroically exposing my nefariousness to the world.

I see you’re still confused on what distinguishes a STAGE from a VENUE; the fabulous Ms. Williams, however, is not, and did not say what you dishonestly imply. Have you no sense of decency?

Yes, I admit that I picked names of classical music venues at random without researching and ascertaining whether they had, in fact, replaced their stages in recent decades. (And the replacement of the stage at Carnegie was actually quite well publicized–especially when they found a layer of concrete under it that some claimed was deadening the acoustics of the hall.)

What prompted my comment was the quote from the Ryman manager that stated that “there may not be ANY” other venues in the WORLD with such a revered stage. My general sense tells me that there probably are a few. But no, I did not research it and do not know which ones they may be.

I deeply apologize to all who were injured by this failure. [In my defense, I'll point out--and this may be totally foreign, and incomprehensible to you--that my comment was "light hearted" and intended for people who possess a "sense of humor." Maybe it's a conceit, but I think some of them may have "chuckled" when they read it.]
Maybe

Apparently, you fail to grasp the difference between a stage – boards forming a floor for performance – and a venue – the hall in which a STAGE may be found. Which one of those STAGES still exists? STAGES, not venues. It took me all of 1 minute on the internet to learn that the STAGE of the main room at the venue called Carnegie Hall dates all the way back to 1986. Are you under the impression that Caruso gave a post-1986 performance there? Can you say with any certainly whatsoever that the STAGES at any of the other venues you mentioned are actually older than the STAGE at the Ryman? STAGES, not venues; they aren’t synonyms, and Sally’s comment – like the whole article in which it appeared – referred to the former (STAGES), not the latter (venues).

Oh,–Apparently, you think it goes without saying that admirers of Caruso, Lanza,Pavarotti, Callas, Sutherland, Heifetz, Oistrakh–to pick a few names–don’t have anything near the reverence for any of the stages on which those artists gave their greatest performances that country music fans have for the stage where Roy Acuff and Hank Williams played.
(I mean, “There may not be any other stages in the world that are as revered as” the Ryman floor.)

I don’t know how you came to that conclusion, but I’m not prepared to make such an assumption.

There’s someone who didn’t understand what he was reading. Here’s a clue: Sally was talking about the subject of the article, which is to say, the stage. Not the venue, the stage.