Sunday, June 23, 2019

When the Show Must Go On

I don't know these guys, but this really was something. I would have been leery of being electrocuted. Electric guitars and microphones don't really go with rain. But good on 'em!



Plus he won't have to humidify his acoustic guitar for the next month or so...

4 comments:

Will Wilkin said...

I never listened to this band per se, but neither did I know this song is by them. A coworker plays it often on the roof, his playlist is 90s rock, which as mediocre as it is to me, is better than the truly vulgar and vacuous hiphop played by some others. I would never try to impose my baroque opera and other enthusiasms on them. There is a polite illusion sustained at work that at least we can all agree on Bob Marley (who bores me), but I don't even think we could find a Christmas carol everyone likes anymore. There seems not much common ground in the explosion of available recorded music.

Bryan Townsend said...

Professional musicians can share some of the experience of performing at least, but yes, you are right, the music scene is remarkably fragmented. The question is, is it more fragmented than it has been previously? I don't think I am the one to answer that because my attitude is that I am probably interested, to some extent, in any music I consider genuinely creative. Weird Al Yankovich? Some stuff, for sure. Kanye West? Absolutely. Taylor Swift? Absolutely not. Javanese gamelan? For sure. Bruce Springsteen? Nope. I'm pretty omnivorous. But what I really prefer is French Baroque, Viennese Classical and Russian modernism.

Can we at least all agree on Mozart?

8^)

Will Wilkin said...

I'll agree with you on Mozart. When younger and exploring 20th century orchestral and chamber music, I thought he was boring and predictable. But there came a point where I wanted to get away from noisy music and I found Mozart to be truly divine. After recently thrilling to Wagner's Die Valkurie at a cinema simulcast of the Met Opera, I went home and put on a recording of it. After 15 minutes I couldn't even listen to it anymore. I switched to a recording of Cosi Fan Tutti and basked in the glory of opera that was just one fabulous number after another...truly LISTENABLE and, yes, THRILLING.

Which reminds me, there was a moment when I imposed my tastes on my coworkers. It was a bit of lucky timing. I pulled into a jobsite where they were milling about before starting and on my SiriusXM radio Met Opera station had just begun Mozart's Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute. Oh GOD what vocal fireworks and I let it rip very loud through the parking lot with all my windows and sunroof open. Later on the roof one coworker said "Will I enjoyed your music this morning" and I think he meant it.

Bryan Townsend said...

The Queen of the Night aria just kills it! Follow up with the finale to the Symphony 41.