Bring the Boys Back Home

Hello my strong, devoted, loyal reader. I am writing to you yet again. As my previous blog entry had mentioned, Melanie and I were attending the 10/10/10 performance of "The Wall: Live" tour with Roger Waters. This is quite a ceremonious entry as it is my 50th. It is also the 30th anniversary of my favorite album, "The Wall" and I am extremely tickled I get to write about a live performance of the album in this historic (only for myself) entry.

I must immediately start off with "WOWEEE OH MY GOD THAT CONCERT WAS AWESOME, I NEVER WANT TO GO TO ANOTHER SHOW IN MY LIFE" kind of statement. At straight face value, this concert was a spectacle of epic proportion. The backing band for Mr Waters was quite proficient and talented. My only real gripe with them was the lead guitar tone was a bit too harsh, as I am used to Mr Gilmour's more mellow tone. The stage effects and projections upon the 200 foot wall were dazzling and enthralling. The real thing that made the concert so moving though, was the deep, personal connection the performer has with the material. Roger was sharing with us his childhood, his political and social beliefs, and his struggle. It is rare to find a musician to be so blunt with his expression and truly wear his emotions on his musical sleeve. He smacks you in the face with the realities of being a child of a soldier and his battles with social pressures and authority, and his conflict with his fame. This piece is about nothing but anti-establishment. To imagine an artist with the courage to perform such an anti-government, anti-commercialism work in the nation's capital is quite courageous.

With that said, I of course have to call Mr Waters out. I spend $70 for a tour program and a tour t-shirt. Mr Waters was selling his tour shirts for $45 and the program for $25. Live Nation is selling these items on their website for $10 less. If I knew he was using this money to feed the starving Africans projected on his wall, or to put the poor crying child reunited with their G.I. father through college, I'd have no issue paying these prices. I stood in line to purchase these items with the rest of Mr Waters' "iSheep", clamoring to get my hands on one of the five male t-shirt patterns. Mr Waters also was selling three female shirt patters, a hoodie, a demin shirt, coffee mugs, two styles of hats, a music CD, a tour program, and a book on the making of the tour. Also, key-chains and metal pins were available. These items being sold by the man who hated the commercialism of music and fame. Who, in the films shown, placed iPod earbuds on dictators and victims with terms such as "iHate" and the previously mentioned "iSheep" on the screen.

Along these lines, but in a deeper sense, the basic concept of the concert and album is the band building a barrier between it and the audience. The lyrics have issues with fame and fortune and glitz of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. The group spends one hour of music building a wall to shield themselves from us. Then after intermission they do two numbers from behind the wall, and suddenly there's Mr Waters before us, walking in front of the wall. It seems to me now, that Roger has come to terms with his fame and fortune and cannot pull himself away now from his crowd. Why else would one build such a large wall, bash the concept behind fans spending money to see him in the first place, just to then stand in front of the wall as if now one is proud of their creation, and sell outrageously priced, yet very diverse tour merchandise? I feel now that Roger Waters is a changed man. In no way is this a criticism of the musicianship or the showmanship demonstrated in this performance, but just a moral dilemma that plagued me on the long metro ride home, and all this following Monday. If he truly hated the stuff he preached against in his music, why would he present it? Why would he charge for it? Why would he make such a production of it? Why would he create it to begin with? My humble opinion is he simply created a monster that took control of him, and he felt presenting it would help.

These things could be the root cause of the divide between him and David Gilmour. This album was really the starting source of contention between them. With Roger now taking "The Wall" on tour again, and presenting it in such a way, I am left with several questions. Has Roger woken up and accepted his fame or is he trying to live both sides of the fence, and is it possible he always has tried to live with both teams of being anti-establishment but in reality is a big part of the establishment? And if Roger has changed and is doing this tour just to celebrate the wonderful music, gripping story, and fantastic concept, why can't he admit David was so important to it, and reunite with him and Nick Mason? At this point why keep the quibble going? Why not tour together? Who would be hurt by a simple mutual apology around some coffee, get the managers talking and plot out a mega tour? Would Gilmour possibly feel like he's submitting by playing "The Wall" again? This concert had such energy, I literally teared up about 5 times during it, and actually lost control and began to cry a little during "Tear Down the Wall" and "Outside the Wall". Why can't these two men of incredible talent tear down their wall? I am in no means saying that it is a fan's right to have their band together at all times. I'm a musician, I know what it is like to professionally disagree with someone so badly that you can no longer stand playing with them, yet you drink a beer with them after. I am simply posing the question of who wouldn't benefit? The fans get one of the most influential art rock bands of all time back together. The agents and merchandising people make millions. Roger Waters finally has his music performed exactly how he wants. Don't forget he credits himself as writing "The Wall" and "The Final Cut" and having it performed by Pink Floyd. As a fan you see that as pretentious but musically, that means he chose them for his piece. He wanted them to perform it. As a composer I can see Roger's point. I can't see what is in it for David Gilmour except for maybe coming out of the decision as the bigger man, willing to forgive Roger for his actions, and play the music of which so many of us fans just can't get enough. So for us, music history, and yourselves, bring down the wall, end the war, and bring the boys back home.

In The Flesh

Greetings, my loyal reader. I won't insult you with an apology for not writing. I write tonight because I finally feel inspired to write again. A bunch of things have happened to me in my musical universe that should be shared, and my opinions are blossoming into fertile flower beds of statements that don't really matter, nor will anyone really care about, but this comes with the territory of having a blog.

So, some major things have changed in my life. I have lost a significant amount of weight. I know in the manifesto of this blog I said I would never mention personal life issues, but this has affected me musically. Mainly, my trumpet playing, I feel, has improved dramatically. I have less resistance and my upper register doesn't sound so strained. My endurance has increased as well. I have dropped 135 pounds of weight off my lungs, torso and upper body. Before, holding the trumpet up was enough of a stress. This has led me to successful performances of Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony, a long production of "The Secret Garden" and currently great rehearsals of Shostakovich's 5th symphony.

The weight loss has also made attending concerts and performances much more bearable. I was able to attend my first Broadway show. Melanie and I saw "The Addams Family" starring Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, and Kevin Chamberlin. All three we spectacular, and although catchy, the musical was a bit cliche. With such a great and flexible and outlandish medium as the Addams Family, I thought it could have been a bit more "out there".

Also, with comfortable seating, Melanie and I (noticing a theme? She has become quite the little concert goer herself) attended two symphonic multimedia concerts. First, we saw "Planet Earth Live". The Baltimore Symphony partnered up with George Fenton, who composed the soundtrack to the amazing documentary series, to present clips of the show, with their accompaniment played live. Mr. Fenton conducted and narrated the program, explaining how he was moved by certain footage to inspire the music that he composed. We definitely enjoyed the polar bear segment. His music at times would make you laugh, or just well up with tears. The second multimedia symphonic concert we attended was "Star Wars: In Concert". This concert we straight up didn't like. Narrated by Anthony Daniels of C3PO fame, this concert didn't really teach you anything of the inspirations for the soundtrack but merely retold the story of all 6 movies with a series of movie trailer footage mash-ups and selected medleys from the soundtrack. It would have been much better if they took direct full scenes from the films and played the soundtrack to that scene. We only became interested at the end when they began showing behind the scenes footage from making the films, such as artist sketches for different character concepts. Frankly, the subway ride with Boba Fett and Obi-Wan was more fun. Also, I was pretty amused by the line that had a solid 200 people in it, just to get an autograph from "Darth Vader".

Now, also during this time off from the blog, I attended concerts of previously two of my favorite live bands to see: AC/DC and Iron Maiden. We revisited AC/DC on their second stop to the Verizon Center in Washington, DC simply because I had the money and Ticketmaster offered me seats up close, almost floor level. They are a totally different experience up close, as opposed to in the rafters. Melanie and I of course donned the flashing red devil horns and screamed our heads off. AC/DC this time sounded a bit more fresh, and played more classics and less from their new album, which was definitely welcomed. Sadly, though, when seeing Iron Maiden this past time, they did the exact opposite. I barely recognized anything from their setlist. They perfomed songs from their new album, which at the time hadn't been released. Dream Theater opened for them. Little did I know that it would be the last time to see Dream Theater play with Mike Portnoy for quite awhile as he has now left the band. The saving grace of this show was my weight loss, as the Wicker Man Iron Maiden tour shirt I purchased fits me.

Just a few weeks ago, I had an experience that really refreshed my musical spirit. I participated in the Rusty Musicians program with the Baltimore Symphony. I won't make this sound impressive, as all I had to do was be one of the first like 30 trumpet players to e-mail the symphony, but I will say that it was immensely rewarding. I got to have 40 minutes on stage in a rehearsal atmosphere with two trumpet players of the BSO, and conductor Marin Alsop leading a group rehearsal of Brahm's "Academic Overture". The only way I can explain this experience to non-musicians is that imagine your boss at work acted as if they were a partner and was in the situation with you, but also could clearly in one sentence, tell you exactly what they want you to do, how to do it, and make you feel like you're the office hero for doing it. It was so rewarding, and I got a nice compliment from one of the pro's to "play louder". In trumpet speak that's a compliment. It invigorated me to want to play more, and for a second made me think I could actually play in a symphony orchestra of that level. Again, without the weight loss, I would have never even taken the initiative to send the e-mail to get to have this amazing chance.

Melanie has also gotten me to loosen up about pop music as I have now become an official fan of Lady gaga and Florence + the Machine after watching the Video Music Awards on MTV a few weeks ago. I have to admit Lady Gaga's character, plus catchy hooks could make her a big landmark on American music if she can keep the creativity up. Though, I do still hate Auto-Tune. I'm looking at you Justin Bieber. And as a quick note, thanks to Melanie, I have began listening to the Beatles after a 18 year hiatus. Happy Steve?

To wrap up this very lengthy, and self gratifying blog entry, I predict that this weekend I will see a concert that will change my life. This weekend, Melanie and I are seeing Roger Waters' "The Wall: Live" concert at the Verizon Center. This is as close as Mel and I will ever get to see Pink Floyd. Though, I am sad that him and David Gilmour couldn't have buried the hatchet for this tour, my wallet thanks them for not doing so, because I'm sure the ticket price would have been double. "The Wall" is my favorite album by my favorite band. The tension between the band mates rings through in the album as the album deals with the band's inability to handle fame, yet also has a deeper message with hatred and war. This show should be unbelievable as they construct the wall.

This blog entry itself has been about me tearing down my wall of sorts and shedding the barrier that has been keeping me from enjoying life and music for so long. I have my regrets of not doing this in college when I was still competitive in my music and could have gone to grad school. But at the same time, it took help to tear it down. I needed the accomplice to help break a hole in the wall so I could escape the prison my own thoughts and weight had formed. A few years ago, I was saying Good Bye Cruel World, and that I was Comfortably Numb. But now, after The Trial, I'm Outside the Wall.