FLIGHT

I'm just with the Roger Water's camp of "Sit and listen to what the artist is sharing with you." and I know that may not always apply considering the artist or music, but take your seat at some point.

_________________
Visit the GK Movie Watch Blog at www.Galaxykid.blogspot.com

Friday night was a beautiful night. Nice cool breeze, clear skies, and John Williams was conducting the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl for a night of great orchestral music. The theme? It sounds kinda gross but it was "Olympic Fever". Boy, I hope nobody has died from the "olympic fever".. it sounds pretty severe. But it only comes around every two to four years. The symptoms usually involve running around with a torch or having a sudden urge to learn how to pole vault.

Or maybe it's not a disease at all but rather... the theme for the night's program! Ah yes. Maestro John Williams, the man behind the music of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, just to name 11 scores, is also the man behind countless Olympic themes! Off the top of my head he's written four pieces for the Olympic Games. Two of which are for the Winter Games, the other two for the Summer Games. Ok, you really have no excuse now to never have heard his music!

But onto the Bowl! Now, when I was a young lad I always thought the Hollywood Bowl was just some fancy bowling alley! You laugh at me now but how could you NOT think this as a kid? And you can probably picture the disappointment when there WAS NO bowling at the Hollywood BOWL. "What a Jip", I must have thought.

If you haven't been to the Hollywood Bowl, it's what I like to call the poorman's concert venue. I say this because there are several factors that make this place less than ideal for hearing the orchestra at its full potential. The first factor is that it's outdoors, so while you get the nice evening breeze and plenty of fresh air, you also get other elements you never thought of. All of us have been to a regular rock concert one point or another... and we all know that when you leave the show, your ears are RINGING from the loudness of it all! That isn't the case at the Bowl. The orchestra plays, and you hear it amplified on the speakers, but you don't "feel" it. You don't get the awesome resonance that comes with a concert hall, which is too bad. It's like listening to your stereo with medium volume. When I see it live, I want to feel and see the music.

Other factors that make the music experience less than perfect: chatty patrons who think they can't be heard since it's outdoors, helicoptors zooming over head, sirens from emergency vehicles, empty bottles rolling down the aisles, and best of all... CRICKETS. Yes, crickets. These little bugs don't stop for any reason! They've grown so acustomed to the music they just add their own.

But hey, it's the Hollywood Bowl and if you want a seamless experience, it'll probably cost you $200 to get a seat right on the bottom. But tickets can be as cheap as $6 for nosebleed! And did I say that you can bring food to this place? EVERYONE has bags and bags that clog the aisles. My tickets were $35 and were a decent distance away. Not too close, not too far. I wouldn't say it's perfect but they were good enough.

So what did they play? Here's the complete program including encore pieces:

-National Anthem

-John Williams -- The Cowboys Overture

-Arnaud/Williams -- Bugler's Dream/Olympic Fanfare and Theme

-Torke -- Javelin

-Williams -- The Olympic Spirit (for Seoul winter games)

-L. Bernstein -- Olympic Hymm
Cal State Fullerton University Singers

-Williams -- Call of the Champions (for Salt Lake City winter games)
Cal State Fullerton University Singers

Intermission

-Williams -- Music from Superman:
The Planet Krypton - Main Theme

-Williams -- Suite From Harry Potter:
Hedwig's Theme - Double Trouble* - A Bridge to the Past - Harry's Wondrous World
*Cal State Fullerton University Singers

-Williams -- Dry Your Tears, Afrika (from Amistad)
Cal State Fullerton University Singers

-Newman -- Cathy's Theme from Wuthering Heights
Bing Wang, violin soloist

-Williams -- Raiders March (from Raiders of the Lost Ark)

Encore:
-Williams -- "Flying theme" from E.T.
-Williams -- Yoda's Theme from ESB
-Williams -- Imperial March from ESB
-Williams -- Star Wars Main theme

Ah, the familar music of the movies. It's pretty amazing that he did four encores. He usually only does two or three. Other highlights of the evning were special guest: Olympian Bruce Jenner with 20 southern Californian Olympic Medalists, and John Williams own mother who is now 95 years old. How sweet is that?

So yes, it was a very nice evening despite my snobbiness. There were also two heavier set women sitting next to me who commented on each piece afterward. "Oh, wasn't that just lovely?" "it sure was... mmph." Very entertaining indeed.

I'm still disappointed that the place isn't a real bowling alley though. Who wants to go bowling?

_________________
My name is Dave.

I caught The Pixies at Bend, Ore. this past weekend. A dream come true, as they became one of my favorite bands during college Not only did I manage to get near the front, I got some pretty good pictures of the occasion as well.

I wrote up a concert report in my livejournal using said photos to illustrate the evening.

Photo gallery is here if you'd rather skip the commentary.

_________________
i heard rumors, he was into
http://jae.imperialotter.com/

I attended the Keane concert last night at the Avalon theater and it was fantastic! It was pretty amazing how a guy pounding on the keyboards, guy on drums, and one dude singing and produce so much sound. It was rad. And these guys sound just like the CD live, but better. I love that don't you?

Anyhoo... they were great enough to stick around afterwards to the first 100 people who bought a cd that night and signed them. Very friendly blokes.

The opening act were the French Kicks who weren't bad either.

_________________
My name is Dave.

I think I might see the Pixies next month. Wheeeee.

EDIT: With The Mars Volta, who suck, but still, the Pixies.

_________________

Torch The Bridge Forums

I went and saw Muse last night even though I'm not really much of a fan, it was more out of the respect that they actually would come and do a show in Brisbane since most of them pass us by on their way to Sydney and Melbourne (hopefully the fact that we sold out two club shows and got it moved to a bigger venue sent some sort of message). But yeah even so I was damn thouroughly entertained. They played all their good songs, although it was a little short I guess and lacking a lot of their material from Showbiz. Still it was all killer stuff and my fave Bliss was done well and when they ran Time is Running Out and Plug In Baby together it was awesome. I spent some time in the mosh as well although I couldn't hack it (curse my shortness/weakness) so I got out after a while. Lost my phone in there too but it turned up today so that was good. Stage setup was great with screens, interesting lighting and balloons filled with confetti and other such things. Sound was also the best I've heard at a live gig.

I'm still tossing up for whether I should go see Iron & Wine in three weeks..running low and cash and the gig will set me back a fair bit. I'm wondering if I may derail the topic slightly and ask how much gigs are in general over in the US (or wherever you are). Muse set me back 60AUD (~40USD) and Iron & Wine is going to be 38AUD (26USD). Aussie bands would range from 15-30AUD (10-20USD).

Oh and with sitting vs standing, I guess it depends on what kind of music it is really. In a more intimate and smaller setting sitting would be best, but for most other things I must prefer standing. Although seeing as I'm short that usually doesn't work well unless I get a stool/bench/make my way to the front. I saw the 5,6,7,8's pretty much right up the front and it was crazy. Good crazy!

And The Decemberists and Death Cab as opening acts?! I hate you! Everybody and their mother has seen the Pixies but me, argh.

I haven't posted in here in a while, but I guess I should record for posterity that in June I saw Iron & Wine in NYC, which was wonderful, and in July, Sufjan Stevens and Joanna Newsom in San Diego with much of the Flight gang (that's in the con report on my site).

This Friday I saw Hayden perform in Pittsburgh. The opening act, Cuff the Duke, was surprisingly pretty good... (At first it seemed like they were just imitating Radiohead and Superchunk, though they could have chosen worse influnces.) They actually have a pretty nice sound, and they can really pull off the alt-country. They also came back on stage to back up Hayden for some songs, as The Elk Lake Serenaders. Hayden's act was simply one of the most generous and best that I've seen. He was great back when I saw him in April, but here in a much smaller club, he was really in his element. And his onstage banter is hilarious. He even paused to answer his cell phone after "Streetcar." And he had a lot of funny stories to tell. Well, sorry you missed it!

That seems like a lot to pay, wen... I usually pay what you do in the Aussie band range.

_________________
@rumrug
neilcomics.com

I so wish I could go to the Inland Invasion concert this saturday... what a line up!

-Morrissey
-Siouxsie
-Devo
-Billy Idol
-Tears for Fears
-Ian Brown of Stone Roses
-Missing Persons
-A Flock of Seagulls
-X
-Franz Ferdinand
-The Killers
-Muse
-Death Cab For Cutie
-The Walkmen

For those who can't make it (like me), there's a webcast that will be available on www.kroq.com

_________________
My name is Dave.

OMGWTF X!

Franz Ferdinand, DCFC, and The Walkmen are also great.

_________________

Torch The Bridge Forums

Haha, what the heck is Flock of Seagulls doing there?? This sounds like a blast.

_________________
@rumrug
neilcomics.com

just saw Muse and Supergrass on weekend.
both great shows

Muse were at the Hordern in Sydney, which as a venue i don't generally like, but Muse filled it out quite nicely (musically that is)
they kept crowd entertaied for whole show with some great music and then balloons, smoke, video projections and giant bouncing balls filled with confetti. only thing that annoyed me was guy standing next to me for first 20 minutes or so. he was pretty drunk and just kept on yelling stupid stuff out, especially during slower moments of some songs. definetely worth checking out if in your area. not sure of setlist, as i'm terible at oreder of songs, but they played all their bigger, more well known songs.

then got home and was awake all night as i'd been sick previous to that day and not fully recovered, so adventure out made it get worse again. then straight to work on the saturday (no sleep) before coming home and resting for about 3 hours so i could make it to Supergrass on the saturday night. great show by them.
played all their hits (just about all of the best of album) except for 'alright' which i was sure they were saving for the encore, although they didn't in end. at one stage about halfway through set they brought out a couch and played 'late in the day', 'seen the light' and 'caught by the fuzz' on acoustic guitars on stage. was good little moment before returning to the loud, rocking style again. great set all round with a Neil Ypung cover during encore.

_________________
'something really witty/funny or profound here!'

I think they have some sort of 80s theme.

_________________

Torch The Bridge Forums

This year I was at a free Jazz festival at a public park and some local bands were playing, it was great. Homecooked cajun food, at one point the street cleaners came up and just started dancing in front of the stage, it was great.

The most fun I had though was a METHOD MAN concert I went to in houston. That man is a natural entertainer, he came out with "m.e.t.h.o.d.man", jumpin off the stage onto the speaker boxes, givin people dabs in the crowds. Halfway through one of his songs he just stopped and said "shit, I ain't gonna lie to you, I forgot the words." Then some kid being wrestled down by security had a joint in his hand extended out to him. Meth grabbed it, took a hit, and flicked it back out to the crowd.
It was wild...

My biggest regret this year was missing the Pixies in Austin, TX.

_________________
Jon Sukarangsan

Yarrrrr.
FortuneCookiePress.com
jsukarangsan@gmail.com

Hehehe, that's hilarious about Method Man..

I saw MIRAH [MEE-rah] perform this week in Pittsburgh. She really seemed in her natural element and I found myself liking her music even more. It's a great live show... Her backing band-mates are also really cute.

_________________
@rumrug
neilcomics.com

For those of you in Southern California, there's a show going on this weekend that you might want to know about. It's the ATP festival pacific: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/line_up.php?event=12

It's a 2day event at the Queen Mary in long beach and here's the lineup:


QM EVENTS PARK STAGE - SAT 6 NOV
LOU REED - 10.30PM - 12AM »
MODEST MOUSE - 9.00 - 10.00PM »
THE WALKMEN - 7.45 - 8.30PM »
LUNGFISH - 6.30 - 7.15PM »
J MASCIS + THE FOG - 5.15 - 6.00PM »
THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION - 4.00 - 4.45PM »
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY - 3.00 - 3.30PM »
WOLF PARADE - 2.00 - 2.30PM »

QUEEN MARY STAGE - SAT 6 NOV
THE BUFF MEDWAYS FEATURING BILLY CHILDISH -7.30 - 8.30PM »
SUFJAN STEVENS - 5.15 - 6.00PM »
WHITE MAGIC - 4.00 - 4.45PM »
WHITE HASSLE - 3.00 - 3.30PM »
WILLY MASON - 2.00 - 2.30PM »

QM EVENTS PARK STAGE - SUN 7 NOV
THE FLAMING LIPS - 8.45 - 10.00PM »
THE CRAMPS - 7.15 - 8.15PM »
BUILT TO SPILL - 5.45 - 6.45PM »
THE SHINS - 4.30 - 5.15PM »
STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS - 3.15 - 4.00PM »
CONSTANTINES - 2.00 - 2.45PM »

QUEEN MARY STAGE - SUN 7 NOV
PEACHES - 7.15 - 8.15PM »
EAGLES OF DEATH METAL - 6.00 - 6.45PM »
LOVE AS LAUGHTER - 4.45 - 5.30PM »
RADAR BROTHERS - 3.30 - 4.15PM »
MAGIC MAGICIANS - 2.30 - 3.00PM »
THOSE PEABODYS - 1.30 - 2.00PM »

_________________
My name is Dave.