Rock and symphonies, how to make them suck.

I'm a big fan of rock acts teaming up with symphonies in an effort to expand the scope of their music. This started for me with Aerosmith's amazing rendition of Dream On with the Boston Pops on MTV's 10th Anniversary show. The highpoint of the genre, in my humble opinion, was of course Metallica's shows with the San Francisco Symphony, chronicled on the outstanding S&M CD.

Last night, as we channel surfed, we caught pieces of an Elton John show; one with a full symphony and choir backing him up. Somehow, they managed to suck all the life out of these great songs. First of all, there was a barrier between Elton's band and the classical musicians. It looked like the walls at a hockey rink. That visual spoiled things right from the start. One of the great things about the S&M shows was that Metallica was right there in with everyone else.. band members walked around, jammed with violin players.. became part of the orchestra! In the show last night, there was almost a feeling of quarantine. No interaction. Rockers down here, classical up here, and never the twain shall meet!

Then there was the music. Elton John has produced some of my favorite songs of all time, but last night they were listless and dull. Rather than adding to the music, the symphony felt like it was tacked on with no thought. Again, listen to S&M. The late Michael Kamen sat down and actually wrote symphonic parts for the Metallica songs they were going to do. Rather than just backing Metallica, the symphony became part of the band. The result was far more than the sum of the parts.

This has been a pointless rant because I hate to see a good musical opportunity squandered like that.

And I need to get the Bruce Hornsby cover of "Madman Across the Water" into my MP3 collection.

OK, taking the leap

Tell me three things I should do before I die.

Friday Five - Gawker

1. What's the first physical feature that attracts you to another person? Eyes.

2. Do you read the tabloids (i.e. The National Enquirer, The Mirror)? I've been known to pick up The Weekly World News from time to time.

3. Have you ever snuck a peek at someone else's paper while taking an exam? A few times back in high school.

4. How would you describe your vision? Fairly nearsighted. Without my glasses, anything over five feet away begins to blur.

5. What's the scariest thing you've ever seen? The 4-foot long cottonmouth that was under my rucksack when I picked it up.

Whole bunch of stuff to report

Kiri has a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starts Monday, temp-to-hire gig. This is a huge relief. I'm still looking for something better myself. But we can pay the rent!

To celebrate, we went to BJ's Brewhouse. Good food and excellent beer.

In additional celebration we went into the mall and hit Borders. Got The Incredibles on sale, picked up Green Day's International Superhits, the latest Analog, and Triplanetary, since Kiri's never read Doc Smith it has been way too long for me. I need some good space opera in my system.

We looked at grabbing Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution, but decided against it.. good thing, since it was sitting in our mailbox when we got home! Thank you fimbrethil! You rock my world!

According to this page, every teenager on Earth is really a goth.

The Incredibles.

OK, it rocks. Completely.

I don't care what game I run next, Edna Mode is in it. Artificer of Magic Armor, Arms dealer on Rhylanor.. she's in.