Long Overdue

I'm sorry I haven't posted on here for a while. I was planning on posting every day of the break, seeing as I have Igor up and on the net now. But this is the first Thanksgiving ever that I don't feel like talking about. So I"m not going to talk about it.

I will however talk about the awesome concert that I went to with Kate on Tuesday. I was extremely excited to hear that the Trans Siberian Orchestra was coming to Richmond. I have been a fan of theirs for about three years now. Ever since I first heard them I guess. First a few words on my musical tastes(not that they are important to anyone...except me...and it's my blog so.....NI). People sometimes ask me what kind of music I like, and I really have no answer when they do. Mostly because the kind of music I truly enjoy doesn't exist as a definitive genre. Let me explain. I like songs from all different kinds of music. I like certain songs by Duke Ellington, Eminem, AC/DC, Boston Pops, Kylie Minough, or movie scores. But I don't really have a favorite genre of music. There are things I like in music though. Energy, I love songs with energy and passion. Like the Smashmouth song "All-Star". I know it was severly overplayed and is a little simplistic. But I can connect with the energy of doing my best and being an all-star in well whatever I'm doing. I used to use that song to get psyched before going on stage. But my favorite kind of music is the kind that is an energetic song arranged for an orchestra. And preferably performed with some non-traditional instruments. So combining orchestra sounds in electronica would be a good example(Manheim Steamroller is good for this).

Or I think my favorite is using an electric guitar in colaboration with an orchestra. And that is exactly what the Trans Siberian Orchestra has done. They have a strings section, two electronic keyboardists, a trap set, an electric guitarist, bass guitarist, jazz guitarist and opera trained singers. Paul O'Neil, the rock producer who started the band describes the it like this:

With Trans-Siberian Orchestra, first the music is created with no artificial limitations, and then we seek out within the classical, rock, Broadway and R & B worlds, the very best singers and musicians to bring each song to life. This also in many ways forces us to operate on a higher level. This environment has the additional benefit of causing a cross pollenization of musical ideas, creating hybrid forms of music that normally never would have occurred, such as an R&B singer doing a classical style melody and bringing gospel touches to it that causes it to glitter in ways that even the creators could not have predicted. Another very important aspect in the creation of the band, is that there could be no limits on the members; we mix all races and ages.

So this is my favorite band and favorite music style. Unfortunately there is no term for it that I can use when someone asks me what kind of music I like. They have done three Christmas CD's and CD of a rock opera called Beethoven's Last Night.

So anyway when I heard that they were coming to Richmond I knew we had to go see them. I didn't order tickets right away because I wanted to wait until paydyay. I ordered them online at Ticketmaster.com and was able to get seats that were pretty close to the front. On Monday I worked for 8.5 hours and then left for Kate's house on Tuesday around noon. I called her when I left sheets to let her know that I was on my way. And we ended up talking for over an hour. I don't think I hung up until I got to White's. I made it to Kate's and we had dinner while I talked with her Dad about how to get to the Colesium in downtown Richmond. Apparently that area has a pretty high crime rate, Kate's parents talked about nothing else than all the muggings and things that had taken place out there. I was a little bit paranoid by the time we left after dinner. But we found it easily enough, parking was close to the entrance and no suspicious characters were around. As we were standing in line to go inside I started to notice that most of the people were older and were dressed pretty nice. I realized that these people probably only knew that it was an orchestra playing a Christmas concert. And had no idea what kind of band TSO actually was. We finally found the right door. The Richmond Colesium ias a big place with multiple levels and entreances. We found where we were supposed to sit. We were on the stage right side four rows from the front!!! Right in front of us was this HUGE bank of speakers and amplifiers. And the people around us were definetly not expecting a rock concert. Well in short it was one of the best performances I have seen in any genre. The combination of the trapset and rock guitarists with the strings, jazz guitar and keyboards was simply inspired. They performed their show "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" my favorite as it happend. And then they took a small intermission to introduce all of themselves. My favorite was the rock gutarist. His name was Chris Caffery. He made Rockstar-In-Tails thing well....rock. Exactly the kind of vibe I wanted to have back when I was doing my magic act. The Bass guitarist was cool too. Whenever he would come over to our side of the stage I would throw up devil horns or point with the music so to speak. And he actually remembered Kate and I when we went through the autograph line. The pyrotechnics and the lights were just something else, perfectly timed and choreographed with the music they made the experience that much cooler. I truly had the time of my life and was extremely sad when the show was over. I wanted them to start over and play it all again. Kate was excited too, she hadn't ever been to a concert before so even the format was new and exciting for her. She was really geeking out after it was over.

I can't wait for their next album to come out, it has songs in latin and is calle "Dark Castle". In my next update I think I will try to list the songs that I like the best from different genre's. I don't know if I can get it done but it will be fun. That's all for now. I'm breaking out of my funk and should feel like posting more from now on.