John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl. Simply amazing. A lifetime dream to see him conduct at HB, and he was on fire tonight for the New Orleans victims. We all respond to tragedy in unique ways, and his was stoic and focused...he only really spoke to us once, to praise the three famous conductors who died this year, and to say he wished the notes they played tonight could somehow float on the ethers to those suffering in Katrina's wake. Four encores, one of them being the original Star Wars, which I was told by my JW expert next to me that he NEVER plays. And of course, the Sith tune was accompanied by a huge chorus onstage, and much lightsaber-play in the audience, which all made my hair stand on end. Amazing how one melody can encompass all the emotional resonance missing from eight hours of celluloid. If I ever think of watching the prequels again, I'll just play JW's music instead.
The company I was in was just delightful. Got to hang with my two best Bruins, happily married/cool Mark & Charmaine. And I met Carey (or Carrie?), a fun friend of theirs, and Dallas Middaugh, a manga author for Random House imprint Del Rey. Dallas and I frequent the same comic book store, which is an odd coincidence. He has been lurking on the blog for a while, which didn't surprise me that much because he's Mark's friend...but then we found out he found my blog through the Eisner's instead of Mark. Small world. It was pretty wild to meet him and have him ask how my wrist was! (I forgot about it too much yesterday with all the Advil onboard, though I did stay off the keyboard...I kept myself from clapping by keeping something in my hand the whole night to remind me not to use it. Did the annoying Whoo instead for JW. Sure the foreigners next to me LOVED that.) Everyone was so nice and witty; it was great to be included in a cultured night. You know, except for the sea of lightsabers and thirty-year-olds screaming "PLAY E.T. and INDIANA JONES!"
Mom is okay. Rough day. Her cough is back, and we're waiting on test results. They painted her room today, and moved her in with a Russian family that didn't speak English and kept staring at her. Then they were going to move her back into her room without opening any windows first...hello, lung cancer people! I swear, I don't know what Mom would do without Nurse Sis having her back.
9 comments:
Wow -- what a fabulous night -- that sounds great. (As it were.) Ah, there's so many wonderful things to do in LA... can't wait...
Can you believe what happening in New Orleans? I am AGHAST. HFS. Can I just say, without anyone getting mad, that our gov didn't respond quickly enough to the needs of the city folk left behind, and that the majority of those folks without means of getting out were of one specific race, and that this looks suspiciously like race played a role in the delayed actions of gov? I'm just saying. It's suspicious.
Dr. NN
YEA!!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!!
I know, it's hard to imagine someone not taking offense to that. Though hey, even NBC finally picked up on it.
And the questions and scrutinous analyses are piling up...
From the L.A. Times.
From the Mayor of New Orleans.
From the Governor of Louisiana.
Anyone want to look up how long it took after the last hurricane hit Florida before Pres. Bush showed up to wipe baby-brother's nose?
I don't know myself, but it may prove interesting.
BTW -- kid sis, you are far too kind. Last night was SO much fun, although the FOUR encores took a little bit more out of me and CC and Cari than we anticipated.
The violin on the Schindler's List theme was so heartbreakingly beautiful, I nearly cried -- and that hasn't happened for me and a piece of orchestral music in a LONG time.
Invite is still open should you want to come over tonight and watch the UCLA football game tonight with CC and me and some friends and family. I realize it may be a bit slow compared to a night of clubs or avant-garde cinema, but it has a good old-fashioned suburban charm. ;-)
Thanks again for a really fun evening!
MIM
Just heard on the news "And Mother Nature has been anything but maternal..." Wow, they'll blame anyone!
MIM, have you seen Outfoxed? I think Fox news has finally gone far enough that the average person is saying "Hey wait! That's biased, dude!" Thank god. Or Mother Nature. She needs a publicist.
I thought the violin was stunning, too. Though yes, I'm still attracted to Ralph Fiennes, and that is still very very wrong.
I'll call you about tonight. Believe you me, it wouldn't be because I had a more Hollywood offer...it's that I'm saving spoons after our lovely evening last night. It whupped my ass too. Say hi to CC, and a big yes to her movie invite! Still love that she and I were outraged by the beginning of Sith!
info about the Green Cut
Thanks for the link! Also found tons of info on the Donner's Superman site.
'Saving spoons?'
MIM
For newer readers, The Spoon Theory!
Ahhh. Whimsical yet poignant. Thank you for the reference.
At first mention, to a parent of two younguns, "saving spoons" sounds like blocking out 15 minutes to wash all the little feeding spoons that inevitably get lost in kitchen drawers, the dish rack, the diaper bag. Never know when you can't find 'em.
MIM
Sounds like an awesome time. The Spoon Theory is a great link.
And I'm "this" close (holding my thumb and finger about an inch apart) from getting my hands on the reconstructed version of Superman II that has been circling around.
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