Never stopped believin'

Friends I write this blog to you in the light of the new word. This word is of Journey, the new lead singer Arnel Pineda, and their new album Revelation. I did not think this band would ever bring themselves back after Steve Perry leaving ten years ago. His voice and song writing skills were almost on a Freddie Mercury level. With Neal Schon now doing most of the songwriting, the guitar is a little heavier, and their sound has made the jump to the new millennium but they're still 100% Journey at heart. I found myself on the second listen singing along. The CD is a great investment as well. Disk 1 is new material, Disk 2 is Arnel singing classic Journey songs, and then the concert DVD. The DVD is an hour long and contains the new line up performing new and old Journey hits.

On a totally unrelated note, I did attend my first opera about 1 month ago. I saw the Baltimore Opera Company put on Madame Butterfly. I have to tell you I really enjoyed the multimedia experience. I have listened to many operas on the radio and CD but never seen one performed. Its quite an experience. But with that I must present my review.

I enjoyed the overall presentation. They used projections instead of a mostly real set. The projections went from being abstract, pseudo-Japanese art prints (tacky flowered wallpaper), to being overly blunt ( a ship sailing straight at the audience and Butterfly belts her heart out). I will not bash the end of the first act fading to a starry night as Pinkerton completes his seduction of Butterfly. The use of projection was not wise, though. The projections were projected from the house, meaning anyone who stood on the stage were covered by the images, wiping out the quite nice costuming. There were also numerous technical difficulties with the projector, which is not good considering its the last dress rehearsal before they charged ($125 I believe was the cheapest seat) people to see them.

The orchestra, overall, was quite good. There were times where the phrasing could have been slowed for dramatic pause and more chances to allow applause would have been nice. Some tempi seemed rushed. I also had huge issue of only one intermission. They took the intermission after act 1, but not after act 2, and they proceed to still play the prelude to act 3, which felt like an out of place intermezzo for 15 minutes of serious music. It took me about 6 minutes into it to recognize that this is what they did. I did not like that at all.

The blocking of the production was quite awkward as well, sometimes there were extras on stage you couldn't quite understand what they were still doing there and looked bored on stage. Then you had off stage singing when the character should have been on stage. Worst of all, Butterfly tells her son to go play in the garden so she can kill herself. He goes to the opposite side of the stage from Pinkerton's American bride who is waiting in the garden. He then proceeds to walk in a circle waving an American flag while his mom kills herself with the same sword her father used to kill himself. It was very uncomfortable to watch.

Though my review sounds negative, it was a positive musical experience for me to witness how an opera is put on live and the singing, overall was quite nice. Just a lot of the issues I had were things that a group with such high standards should have taken care of, since they charge so much. This isn't a community group putting on Gilbert and Sullivan, this is a city's representation and contribution to the arts. I may have too high of standards since i do like to watch the Metropolitan Opera on public television.

I must discuss one more thing. The other night I was giving my close friend Steve a ride home from a party and he asked me a very difficult question, which in the 10 minute ride home I could not fully answer. Since Steve recently embarrassingly admitted to reading my blog, I feel I should use this space to answer him.

Steve asked me, basically, why do I listen to what I listen to? With my odd taste in bands, what draws me to them and not others. Why metal? why progressive symphonic metal? Why AC/DC? Why Journey? There is no simple answer to this complex question and I know he understands this. I will try my best to explain. My love of metal is connected to my love of Romanticism and virtuosity. There is a certain virtuosic thing in symphonic metal combined with a composition level not found in much of pop music. Prog and symphonic metal satisfies the classical music lover in me in a rock 'n' roll way. I hear Wagner, Strauss, and Mahler in the long compositions of Dream Theater and Rush. My enjoyment of AC/DC, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, and those types of acts, such as Ozzy Osbourne, comes from the ability to listen and enjoy myself without the analysis stage of listening occurring. They're fun acts that have some exact musical influence that hits me deep. For example, AC/DC's guitar riffs are straight out of standard blues riffs but are put in a straight, in your face chest thumping way, along with a very distinct vocal style. Judas Priest touches on the rebellious spirit that I find myself also relating to in the music of The Clash and The Ramones. There are also bands that I listen to because I feel a certain member's talents combined with excellent songwriting skills makes them a must listen. Journey, with Steve Perry's "pipes", as my friend Andy has dubbed them, combined with their song writing and expansive chordal vocabulary makes them a group that you must at least own their greatest hits album. Iron Maiden's bass player, Steve Harris, is a fantastic bass player and does some really cool things you won't hear in other rock bands, such as small bass fills and even sections where the bass is busier than the lead guitar. That combined with some really kick ass lyrics with an in your face approach and beat, and some epic composition skills, makes them worthy of listening and mild fanaticism. These reasons I listed cover pretty much why I like every band that I do like. So to finish that off I will list for you my top 10 favorite bands, in order, for now at least.


10. Judas Priest
9. Black Sabbath (with Ozzy and Dio, but preferred Ozzy)
8. Ozzy Osbourne (solo, with Randy Rhodes, and with Zakk Wylde)
7. Iron Maiden
6. Dream Theater
5. Journey
4. Queen
3. AC/DC
2. The Killers
1. Pink Floyd
Honorable Mention: The Beatles, UFO, The Ramones, The Clash, Deep Purple, Rush, Airbourne, Avenged Sevenfold, The BeeGees, Boston

Another thing I do take into consideration is the use of concept albums, and in my opinion, Pink Floyd combines that with all the items I mentioned above; great composition skills, overflowing virtuosity, driving beats, with a rebellious and independent spirit. And as a side note, on that list, after this summer, I will have seen 6 of those top 10 bands live. I just had to rub that in.

With that my friends I bid you a good night. Remember your blanket for those lawn seats and enjoy the second hand pot.