Posts Tagged ‘music’
Hollywood Bowl- John Williams and the Music of the Movies
I went to the Hollywood Bowl last weekend! I’ve always wanted to go, having only seen a few clips of parts of concerts. The stage was a lot different than I expected. I thought it would be more lawn, but there were amphitheater seats and picnic areas behind. It was also more in the foliage than I expected, and on the side of a hill.
This is the view from my picnic table.
Cheesing. I got the yummiest cheese ever from Whole Foods. Manchego El Trigal 12 Months aged. It’s a very flavorful and hard cheese. That’s grape juice kids! I love cheesing and grape juicing.
Other picnicers.
Dude with a funny mustache.
View from where I was. Pretty close to the back. You can still hear very well though.
People brought their lightsabers. John Williams played Harry Potter music for the first hour. It was narrated by…the actress who was the flight instructor I think. They performed the music of while Aunt Marge is blowing up, Fawkes, and other notable character themes. The second half of the concert consisted of a short medley of many famous movie themes: Casablanca, Doctor Zhivago, Jaws, Star Wars, The Natural, Gone with the Wind, Titanic, and other I can’t think of… Then they performed music from Catch Me If You Can, and then Casablanca, and then Superman. During Superman they showed clips of Superman movies, old and new, and also Batman clips, old and new. It was a little weird to put in Batman clips, when the music was just Superman, but it was nice to see all the actors who had played Batman. Val Kilmer <3.
Lights during Superman
After Superman, they made like it was the end of the concert. Whaaaaaaat?! So everyone was clapping and about 5 seconds after John Williams had walked off the stage, he walked right back on to play…the Star Wars theme! Yaaaay. It would have been super weird for all those Star Wars people who had dressed up and brought their props if he didn’t conduct it!
Then he walked off and on again to play ET. The background colors were blue at first…but right near the end, the rainbow colors slowly started stretching across from the left. It was a reeeeally cool effect.
Then he walked off and on again to play the Imperial March.
Lightsaber bobbing to the music. I zipped up my stormtrooper jacket. I made an observation that only people who sat more in the middle and back brought their lightsabers. It was weird to see a sea of light up sticks (yes, light up sticks!) in the middle and around us…and then a sea of dark in the front.
Then he walked off and on.
And did nothing.
And walked off with the symphony. Such a tease! Many people yelled for Indy. Alas, it did not happen.
Aside from the staked parking, which I had never done before, the experience was really wonderful. Long live music!
Mayan Theatre
Today I played at the Mayan Theatre! Wyatt asked me to play the cello for a band that wanted more strings. We had a rehearsal on Saturday in Pasadena and then today we played in two services at 6PM and 8PM.
This is the outside…I didn’t get a good picture of the whole place because then I’d have to cross the street.
Inside…
Through the doors…
A bar… There were lots of cool places but I didn’t really wander…it was kind of dark.
During sound check. Sound check is kind of…it tests your patience! Going around and people say what mics they want to hear…and if it’s loud enough for them. You really can’t hear yourself or other play. I couldn’t really hear myself so I was super worried if I was out of tune and didn’t even know it.
You can sit up there on the second floor.
oOoo. This bassist was reeeally good. I met him later. He can speak fluent Japanese and reads Korean. He also plays the kodo and the zither! The zither! I’ve always wanted to learn that…so jealous. He majored in Japanese music and was like…the embassador for music in Japan for something…sent by the embassy…And composed for the Japanese embassy here or something crazy like that.
View from the back of the second floor.
The ceiling is pretty neato.
Fog and lights and keyboard.
I didn’t get a picture of what I wore, and it seemed silly to take a picture after the fact so I didn’t. But I will share this lovely accessory I made. Fun to flair when vibrato-ing. The sheer ribbon also kind of sparkles under the lighting. Inspired by Sanosuke from Rurouni Kenshin.
Two songs. I’d say the more impressive song is 4:35 but you can probably hear me better in the first song.
Last song. I didn’t get any music for this so I repeated notes a la Canon in D style. You can also actually hear me better here too.
It was really fun. I got to stay in a green room and I got to get nervous before I performed. Some people came up to me and gave me their business cards and said that cellists are a rare breed. Rare! Dripping with blood! >: E kekeke
After all that socializing though, I did yearn to return to my shell. Curl up in my sweater and bask in my monitor’s glow.
One Silver Astronaut
My friend, Wyatt (the one on the very right), is a member of the band, One Silver Astronaut. He plays the violin! How kooky is that, right? Someone find me a band where I can play cello. And is close to me.
Anyway, they have an album out, called The Research and you can check it out on iTunes here. And their myspace page as well.
One of their songs, Band-aid For a Fracture is going to be on Gossip Girl on March 23rd on the CW. I really like this song too and you can totally hear my friend playing the violin! Ch-ch-ch-check it out!
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(Oh gosh I just noticed the UNIQLOCK is auto playing music so be sure to scroll down and kill it)