I just spent an awesome evening at one of the most enjoyable, and best performed, symphony concerts I have been to in a long time.
Distant Worlds: The Music of Final Fantasy.
Composer: Nabuo Uematsu
Conductor: Arnie Roth
Performances by:
The Chicago Pops Symphony,
The Chicago Festival Choir
My good friends Jim and Paul from St. Louis drove up for the concert, along with their sister Catherine and friend Brandy. We also met up with Brandon, who plays in our World of Warcraft guild. Half the fun was just hanging out with that crew, of course. I wish I could see them more often!
The performance was superb. I attended the "Dear Friends" concert that was last at Rosemont, and as a Final Fantasy fan I thoroughly enjoyed the music, but as a music critic recognized a few flaws in the performance level. But this show was nearly flawless.
Here's a few highlights from the set list:
Liberi Fatali - One of my fav pieces, the choir was spot-on and was a great opener to get the crowd emotionally into the performance.
Vamo' alla Flamenco - the classical guitar soloist was amazing. I love this scene from FF9, the music gives you a sense of the adventurous but playful spirit in this game, and the performers nailed this one.
Main Theme - the guitar soloist also played for the main theme, was a great rendition of the main FF theme.
Opening Bombing Mission - This one took me by surprise as a most exellently performed piece, better than what was recorded on the Distant Worlds CD.
Fisherman's Horizon - Memoro de la Stono - These two pieces have never been played live by orchestra before, and were a nice addition to the show.
Opera "Maria and Draco" - Absolutely the highlight of the entire concert, the very popular opera piece from FFIII (FFVI jap) got the standing ovation it deserved. The Opera voice trio played perfectly to the crowd, adding some amusing but subtle expressions to their performance that prompted an overwhelmingly positive response from the crowd. As One reviewer put it, "Nothing less than a standing ovation is deserved. Bravo."
Terra's Theme - Another piece not often played live, a superb performance and a favorite of many.
One Winged Angel - The conductor introduced the last song as "And for our final piece... well, you don't need me to tell you..." A cult-classic favorite of Sephiroth fans, and excellently performed by symphony and choir.
I was very lucky to have a VIP ticket, which allowed a brief yet exciting meeting with the composer and conductor after the show (after 2 hours in line) but it was entirely worth the wait to get the awesome pics. It was a blast cracking jokes and talking to the friendly Rosemont staff while waiting in line. To Travis, the ultimate bouncer, who could break a man while blind-folded and with one arm tied behind your back: you rock.
I truly had a great weekend at that show, with friends as geeky about Final Fantasy as I am. What a blast!
If you ever have a chance to listen to the recorded Distant Worlds CD (performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Arnie Roth), you have to turn it up LOUD, close your eyes, and pretend you are sitting in the front section of an auditorium.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
The free trade economy of music
Jason Silverman of Wired.com interviews Michael Nesmith with the opener, "You remember Michael Nesmith. He's the Monkee in the wool cap."
You'd think this would be a psychedelic trip down the road of TV fame to tragedy and the slow road of rehabilitation and recovery that so many other pop stars experienced, but Nesmith's life has been anything but stereotypical.
Nesmith invented music videos. He was the brain power that started MTV. Have your attention now?
Now he's back to writing new music, and is releasing an album soon that he plans to push to the public through filesharing services first, rather than second to the big recording industry avenues.
Silverman asks Nesmith a series of enlightening questions about the history of the music industry, and where trends such as the file sharing revolution is taking the market for music, both for the music industry and for consumers.
I was particularly impressed with the insight Nesmith offers in his prediction of the forced retirement of the recording industry as-is, "Well, its all to the good, I think... It's a new personal freedom, new individualism." He continues, "Has anybody ever put together a word that means producer and consumer at the same time? That's what's going to happen. We'll be both. We'll have the means of production and consumption under our own control. I can't imagine that being anything but good."
Read the wired.com interview in it's entirety here.
You'd think this would be a psychedelic trip down the road of TV fame to tragedy and the slow road of rehabilitation and recovery that so many other pop stars experienced, but Nesmith's life has been anything but stereotypical.
Nesmith invented music videos. He was the brain power that started MTV. Have your attention now?
Now he's back to writing new music, and is releasing an album soon that he plans to push to the public through filesharing services first, rather than second to the big recording industry avenues.
Silverman asks Nesmith a series of enlightening questions about the history of the music industry, and where trends such as the file sharing revolution is taking the market for music, both for the music industry and for consumers.
I was particularly impressed with the insight Nesmith offers in his prediction of the forced retirement of the recording industry as-is, "Well, its all to the good, I think... It's a new personal freedom, new individualism." He continues, "Has anybody ever put together a word that means producer and consumer at the same time? That's what's going to happen. We'll be both. We'll have the means of production and consumption under our own control. I can't imagine that being anything but good."
Read the wired.com interview in it's entirety here.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Dear Friends
This weekend was awesome.
My friend Jim, his wife Brandy, and brother Paul drove up from Saint Louis for the weekend.
We had tix to the Final Fantasy, "Dear Friends" concert at the Rosemont Theatre. It was pretty funny making fun of the gamer geeks in t-shirts and/or cosplay in comparison to the older 50+ crowd in full suits and ties, etc. But the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra really did an awesome job. I was most impressed by the behavior of the crowd who broke out into spontaneous applause when the Composer, Eumatsu took his seat to watch the performance, and for a few short seconds when Vivi came up on the screen during the Latin dance from FFIX.
And that was only the beginning of the weekend! On Sunday we drove downtown to Ed D'bevics for dinner, my sisters Ruth and Rachel joined us since they hadn't seen Jim in... wow, probably close to 9 years. We had a good time, even with the meandering trek through Chicago to actually get there.
Brandy is soon to be a momma! It was a little strange to see Jim being the protective husband at first, but I think he will fit the position well.
Jim's brother Paul was a great guy, too. I am glad he was able to head to the show and hang out with us. I hope my sisters didn't intimidate him too much, though. ;) And I will never hear some jock rev his engine without breaking into a spontaneous grin.
Sunday evening we hung around the appartment. Napoleon Dynamite was the movie of choice for the evening. THAT IS A HILLARIOUS MOVIE and a little embarassing how much that resembles the boonies of the Midwest where I grew up. I think Rachel was in denial, but hey, I will admit it, we really WERE that geeky and neive. And the "skit" scene... that just rocked. Napoleon is my pseudo-hero.
Jim and crew were going to head out early that evening, but we went on for hours on ranging topics from hauntings at Milikin Univ, how to tell you've just been to a bad wedding, and more amusing randomness.
Around midnight our friends realized they should leave so they could be home by 5am, since they had an appt at 9:30! So we let them part, and crashed to bed in a very good mood.
That has to be the best weekend I have had in a long, long time!
My friend Jim, his wife Brandy, and brother Paul drove up from Saint Louis for the weekend.
We had tix to the Final Fantasy, "Dear Friends" concert at the Rosemont Theatre. It was pretty funny making fun of the gamer geeks in t-shirts and/or cosplay in comparison to the older 50+ crowd in full suits and ties, etc. But the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra really did an awesome job. I was most impressed by the behavior of the crowd who broke out into spontaneous applause when the Composer, Eumatsu took his seat to watch the performance, and for a few short seconds when Vivi came up on the screen during the Latin dance from FFIX.
And that was only the beginning of the weekend! On Sunday we drove downtown to Ed D'bevics for dinner, my sisters Ruth and Rachel joined us since they hadn't seen Jim in... wow, probably close to 9 years. We had a good time, even with the meandering trek through Chicago to actually get there.
Brandy is soon to be a momma! It was a little strange to see Jim being the protective husband at first, but I think he will fit the position well.
Jim's brother Paul was a great guy, too. I am glad he was able to head to the show and hang out with us. I hope my sisters didn't intimidate him too much, though. ;) And I will never hear some jock rev his engine without breaking into a spontaneous grin.
Sunday evening we hung around the appartment. Napoleon Dynamite was the movie of choice for the evening. THAT IS A HILLARIOUS MOVIE and a little embarassing how much that resembles the boonies of the Midwest where I grew up. I think Rachel was in denial, but hey, I will admit it, we really WERE that geeky and neive. And the "skit" scene... that just rocked. Napoleon is my pseudo-hero.
Jim and crew were going to head out early that evening, but we went on for hours on ranging topics from hauntings at Milikin Univ, how to tell you've just been to a bad wedding, and more amusing randomness.
Around midnight our friends realized they should leave so they could be home by 5am, since they had an appt at 9:30! So we let them part, and crashed to bed in a very good mood.
That has to be the best weekend I have had in a long, long time!
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Whilst I was away
This weekend I took a trip to my parents.
My dad is very amusing when it comes to him trying to use any sort of technology. He recently bought himself a laptop, which he has no idea how to use, so my sister and I spent a good 8 hours just in the car, not counting the time I spent trying to write step-by-step instructions on how to do *everything* with his laptop. The funny thing is, he probably will have one of my brothers *do* everything for him, so when he ends up on the road he won't know how to use it anyway. hah, I love my Dad, and it was pretty cool to have the extra time to catch up with my sister. I hope she didn't go too crazy spending sooo much time around me!
My brother James is indeed now taller than me. Don't worry, I beat him around enough to make sure he remembers his place in the pecking order. Joshua is actually getting pretty close himself. It is really sad, I figured since I was taller than both of my parents, I would end up staying the tallest. As luck would have it, both of my younger brothers will probably end up passing me. I guess I really _should_ have eaten all of the brussel sprouts, liver, lima beans, squash, broccoli and calliflower and such that I avoided as a child. Oh well, as long as I can still beat both of them up, it's all good.
The wife has her Spring Break from teaching, so she is down south visiting some of her friends and family. After my first day back at the appt alone, the next three days are looking very sad and lonely for me. Ah, when you are in love, being apart is oh-so-not-fun.
Today I took my bike out for a spin. I put a few miles on it thismorning as a very nice break from work. I really mourn the past when I actually was any good at biking, but for now I am content to ride along the silly paved path through a well maintained and somewhat treed area that the city folks here fondly like to call a "forest preserve". I call it a well maintained, somewhat treed area with a paved little path running through it. Forest, my ass.
Actually, I am breaking from work right now to write this. Yes, I am still working. My boss decided to send me home to work on a project. This was supposed to free me of distractions for the remainder of March to finish said project. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line the concept of "free of distractions" was lost. So leave it to say I have many sleepless nights ahead of me as I try to cram this project that could probably use another 2 weeks of work into the next 3 days. Wheeeee! Deadlines are fun.
So yep, I am basically slaving away at work, with the very rare exposure to sunlight today that almost blinded me. Fresh air and sunlight I have decided are VERY over-rated, and in general very unpleasant to deal with.
I want my Underworld soundtrack. I ordered it and the tracking thingy at Best Buy said it was shipped, but guess what, I DONT HAVE IT AND I WANT IT. Anywhoo, its really good from what I can tell from the crappy previews they give on the website, and I have found that techno-industrial actually is a better background for a work-minded environment than even classical. My Moby and Crystal Method are definitely getting their milage in addition to Mozart and Bach. No, I am not becoming a little pansy clubbing poser. I leave that to the youngins. But in moderation (both time and volume), there are some decent indy-tech cuts out there.
Well, time to get back to hacking out code. I have some sexy COM+ database objects that need a bit of a makeover before I share them with the world.
As always, I love you my dearest of friends and blog readers. Remember, a little insanity makes life alot easier.
My dad is very amusing when it comes to him trying to use any sort of technology. He recently bought himself a laptop, which he has no idea how to use, so my sister and I spent a good 8 hours just in the car, not counting the time I spent trying to write step-by-step instructions on how to do *everything* with his laptop. The funny thing is, he probably will have one of my brothers *do* everything for him, so when he ends up on the road he won't know how to use it anyway. hah, I love my Dad, and it was pretty cool to have the extra time to catch up with my sister. I hope she didn't go too crazy spending sooo much time around me!
My brother James is indeed now taller than me. Don't worry, I beat him around enough to make sure he remembers his place in the pecking order. Joshua is actually getting pretty close himself. It is really sad, I figured since I was taller than both of my parents, I would end up staying the tallest. As luck would have it, both of my younger brothers will probably end up passing me. I guess I really _should_ have eaten all of the brussel sprouts, liver, lima beans, squash, broccoli and calliflower and such that I avoided as a child. Oh well, as long as I can still beat both of them up, it's all good.
The wife has her Spring Break from teaching, so she is down south visiting some of her friends and family. After my first day back at the appt alone, the next three days are looking very sad and lonely for me. Ah, when you are in love, being apart is oh-so-not-fun.
Today I took my bike out for a spin. I put a few miles on it thismorning as a very nice break from work. I really mourn the past when I actually was any good at biking, but for now I am content to ride along the silly paved path through a well maintained and somewhat treed area that the city folks here fondly like to call a "forest preserve". I call it a well maintained, somewhat treed area with a paved little path running through it. Forest, my ass.
Actually, I am breaking from work right now to write this. Yes, I am still working. My boss decided to send me home to work on a project. This was supposed to free me of distractions for the remainder of March to finish said project. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line the concept of "free of distractions" was lost. So leave it to say I have many sleepless nights ahead of me as I try to cram this project that could probably use another 2 weeks of work into the next 3 days. Wheeeee! Deadlines are fun.
So yep, I am basically slaving away at work, with the very rare exposure to sunlight today that almost blinded me. Fresh air and sunlight I have decided are VERY over-rated, and in general very unpleasant to deal with.
I want my Underworld soundtrack. I ordered it and the tracking thingy at Best Buy said it was shipped, but guess what, I DONT HAVE IT AND I WANT IT. Anywhoo, its really good from what I can tell from the crappy previews they give on the website, and I have found that techno-industrial actually is a better background for a work-minded environment than even classical. My Moby and Crystal Method are definitely getting their milage in addition to Mozart and Bach. No, I am not becoming a little pansy clubbing poser. I leave that to the youngins. But in moderation (both time and volume), there are some decent indy-tech cuts out there.
Well, time to get back to hacking out code. I have some sexy COM+ database objects that need a bit of a makeover before I share them with the world.
As always, I love you my dearest of friends and blog readers. Remember, a little insanity makes life alot easier.
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