Saturday night, my mother took us all to see The Transiberian Orchestra. I know absolutely nothing about them. All I know is this video, which I imagine we've all seen:
At this point, I was thinking that it would just be.... an orchestra. We'd go sit and watch a bunch of people in tuxedos play weird music. I was wrong.
My first clue was when I found out it was being held in the college basketball stadium. It was at about this point that I began to fear that my "nice evening out" clothes were going to be overkill. I revised my attire and off we went. At the doors, I noticed signs saying "WARNING: flashing lights and strobes in effect". Ok, so it's going to be a bunch of people in tuxedos playing weird music while lights flash.
Well... yeah. Only not quite like i thought:
It's ROCKSTARS in tuxedos playing weird music! These guys just rocked it right out. The first half kind of dragged, but by my fifth seizure, I was hooked. And I wasn't alone! People all around me were going absolutely crazy. A lady in front of me was dancing and screaming and singing along. At first I thought she was drunk. By the end of the evening, I actually thought she might be slightly off her rocker and felt a little bad. The guys behind me couldn't stop yelling "YEEEEAAAAHHH!!!" People were dancing, singing along, even shouting the guys' names! These guys have groupies!
The first section was a whole long story. It was narrated by a guy who could put Isaak Hayes to shame, smoothest voice I've ever heard:
I wasn't quite following along, and when I compared notes with my family later, all we could agree on was that Santa was drunk in a bar at some point:
(At the show we saw this guy had long white hair)
At the end of the Christmas story, our narrator returned and told us all, "merry Christmas", and blew a kiss out to the audience. As the lights faded to black, I heard the guy behind me say, softly and with feeling, "merry Christmas to you man... merry Christmas to you".
Then they started rocking out for serious. It was an hour or so of guitar solos, blinding flashing lights, all interspersed with Christmas carols. Every one of the guys had long hair, making me wonder if it's a requirement. Every one of them played his solo with the intensity of Jimi Hendrix, even if it WAS "Silent Night" they were playing. You couldn't help but love it. Add in the 4 scantily clad girls singing and dancing, another chick playing an electric violin like a crazy person, and it was just pure gold.
I LOVE Neil Diamond. I've been listening to him since I was a little girl, and everyone of those songs is a surefire mood elevator for me. Yes, even Heartlights. It could use a little more *BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM*, but still.
Yesterday was a particularly Diamondy day. Not only did I enjoy some of his musical hits, but Saving Silverman was on, the movie that gives him the love he deserves. Now I'm not going to go crazy here and say his performance was as stellar as it was in The Jazz Singer, but it was pretty great and only increased my affection for the man.
In other nostalgia news, I also dug out my cd of The Nutcracker Suite for Robb, who is playing one of the pieces in band. I haven't listened to it for quite a while either, but it was nice to find it still gave me goosebumps. I was all set to come home and watch the masterpiece that is Mikhail Barishnikov dance it, only to be crushed when I rememebered that I only have it on video, and I got rid of my VCR a few months ago. Dammit! I believe the Bolshoi is coming through town though to perform it, so maybe I'll indulge myself. This also means that I'll be blaring the score and jete-ing all over my house next time I have a few minutes alone.
Weeeeee! Who wants to volunteer to take me to the emergency room?
I know I am a terrible blogger. The past few weeks have been pretty rotten. But I think things may be looking up. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new season of Project Runway.
I will spend this evening getting familiar with every single detail of the contestants, so that I'm completely up to speed. I am fanatical about this show. I wanted everything Jay designed on season 1, was disappointed with Chloe's win on season 2, and wish I could have Jeffrey from season 3 as a house elf.
Expect to hear me exclaim, "I have really got to start sewing again" about 3 million times over the course of this season.
Yay me!
Also in recent news: when I picked up Robb today, some lady driving by me in the parking lot stopped and honked her horn at some pigeons that were in front of her.
