Fanfares: Better live. Sorry NBC
Friday, August 22, 2008
Background Noise:The St. Louis office hard at work
Random Thought:Could a day spent at the Michigan v. Michigan State football game and then the Red Wings v. Blackhawks be the best day ever?
Mood: Ready to go home
Greetings from St. Louis, my home away from home. Or so it feels like. It's sad when the sales people at the Shoe Stop have just now realized that you don't live in St. Louis, you just visit enough to be a frequent shopper.
Anyway, prior to jetting to STL yesterday morning (sans tornado-induced blackouts, as was the case 2 weeks ago), I managed to drag my tired self to the CSO Wednesday night. Happily, John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma made it all worthwile, as the former conducted all of his own works and YYM accompanied him for the second half as they ran through 6 pieces from Memiors of a Geisha.
The evening also included pieces from Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind (awesomely set against a giant screen showing clips from the movie), Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and ET (joyously amazing without the film to muck it up). The other highlight was the performance of the JW-composed Olympic Fanfare, which NBC butchers by talking over during all of their broadcasts. It's amazing how much better it sounds when performed live by an 80-piece symphony orchestra than when pushed to background by Bob Costas' inane blather. And the olympic images projected on giant screen were equally impressive. Olympic swimmers at 100 feet? Awesome.
Random Thought:Could a day spent at the Michigan v. Michigan State football game and then the Red Wings v. Blackhawks be the best day ever?
Mood: Ready to go home
Greetings from St. Louis, my home away from home. Or so it feels like. It's sad when the sales people at the Shoe Stop have just now realized that you don't live in St. Louis, you just visit enough to be a frequent shopper.
Anyway, prior to jetting to STL yesterday morning (sans tornado-induced blackouts, as was the case 2 weeks ago), I managed to drag my tired self to the CSO Wednesday night. Happily, John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma made it all worthwile, as the former conducted all of his own works and YYM accompanied him for the second half as they ran through 6 pieces from Memiors of a Geisha.
The evening also included pieces from Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind (awesomely set against a giant screen showing clips from the movie), Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and ET (joyously amazing without the film to muck it up). The other highlight was the performance of the JW-composed Olympic Fanfare, which NBC butchers by talking over during all of their broadcasts. It's amazing how much better it sounds when performed live by an 80-piece symphony orchestra than when pushed to background by Bob Costas' inane blather. And the olympic images projected on giant screen were equally impressive. Olympic swimmers at 100 feet? Awesome.
