Across the Universe

Sitting here doing physics homework, watching the snow fall and listening to The Beatles. Which leads to an interesting question in my mind- how many people have ever fallen under this description of activity? Many of the material physics classes you take haven't changed much in recent years- or at least since the 1960s- and the decades in between cover millions of physics students, Beatles listeners, and snow watchers respectively. Surely these categories of people overlap to at least a decent several thousand.

It's funny how united in experience we can be, even if we never stop to think about it.

Crazy Times down on Costello Music

Last night I decided that for better or worse I will never, ever be able to utter bad things about San Francisco. Why? Because within the past few days it has dawned on me that famous bands actually come to San Francisco at concerts one can actually go to. Specifically, I discovered by chance this past weekend that The Fratellis- a band I've mentioned here more than once- were going to be in town Wednesday (yesterday). In what was even more exciting, I found myself with a reasonably priced ticket to a sold-out concert surprisingly easily, so I got to go to their concert last night!

The concert was at The Fillmore which it turns out, in that way I end up in interesting places without realizing it beforehand, is a pretty famous concert venue. Back in the 1960s it was the focal point for the music side of counterculture- aka hippies- and everyone has played here. (Speaking of which, remember the hippie VW Bus in the movie Cars called Fillmore? I now know where his name comes from!) There are posters all over the walls of the bar areas and it's hard to think of a band name I didn't see from the past few decades I didn't see, from Jimi Hendrix and The Who to Matchbox 20 and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Here's an image off their site to give you an idea-
The Fratellis, of course, had their own poster for the night, and further it is tradition at The Fillmore everyone got one while leaving the venue (thus undoubtedly the primary decor in several Bay Area dorm rooms). Bit of a weird one though-
But anyway, the concert! It was absolutely fabulous of course- they just came out with a new CD this past week so lots of new tunes, but they had the sense to play their old hits as well so everyone was happy (they also have one of the most intense drummers I've ever heard- huge drum set, and his shirt was drenched through after just a few songs). Further, The Fratellis have music that has quite a bit of energy in it, meaning it's very, very easy to dance to, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who wasn't doing just that. I even did a few turns with a colorful San Franciscan or two, on the grounds that it's more fun that way and who knows when I'll have the chance to do it again, and it definitely ranked high up there in terms of concerts I've been to.
(Picture from The Fratellis website, as I didn't take my camera.)

I'd describe more, but suspect concerts are primarily exciting to go to and not to read about. Honestly, I suppose this post is an elaborate way of me saying I am quite enamored with San Francisco's music scene right now. After all, there are only so many cities in the world where you can show up one week and discover one of your favorite bands is playing there the next, and San Franciscans definitely have had enough experience in how to do good concerts. Must investigate this further...

A Few Links

Got the wisdom teeth out today- was knocked out at 8am, have vauge recollections of going out to the car/into bed at some point after, and slept until 1pm. Spent the rest of the day taking it easy and with pain that was manegable with only two Advils, though to be honest the back of my jaw had ached for awhile now so perhaps being used to it helps. But hey, not complaining...

Until the cross-country stuff starts coming in in a few short days, here are a few links for the procrastinators out there. First, here is one to The Fratellis' newest single, Mistress Mabel. I've loved them ever since New Zealand where I first heard them, and their new CD is coming out next week so you should look into it.

And, because it is late, I just finished watching The Colbert Report and Brian Greene was just on to promote the World Science Festival in New York City next week (and have Colbert make fun of string theory and discuss the Large Hadron Collider), which is the sort of event that makes you wish your road trip went in the opposite direction. I'd link to the specific video but it's not up on the official site just yet, but heartily encourage you to wander over and check it out.

Boo

No luck with Chicago. C'est la vie. Here's a good question for you all though- how many people think they actually found another Hungarian chick for the part? Just idly wondering...

Come On Babe, Why Don't We Paint The Town...

Just so you guys don't hear any wild rumors, I auditioned for Chicago earlier this week. Explanation: every semester there is a musical on campus for students, and next spring the musical is going to be everyone's favorite musical about 1920s murderesses and flapper girls. It's really a great show and it just so happens that there's a small role of a girl who only speaks Hungarian. The fact that she gets to be in one of the best songs in the show and it's a small enough role that a physics major can manage it didn't hurt either!

So Monday evening I went to tryouts with the song 42nd Street prepared (and by prepared I mean I sang it a few times to myself over the weekend sitting in my room and got a suitemate to listen a minute before I headed over). The hall was teeming with theatre people who are not quite like the average student from these parts: they're all rather loud and interesting, I'd say, and a lot of them were borderline annoying because they liked to be overly dramatic. (Go figure.) I think what annoyed me most was how every girl in the place was auditioning for either Roxie or Velma, the two leads, meaning perhaps 20 girls auditioning for those parts. My mathematical skills indicated that perhaps a few of them should try for secondary roles but I suppose you can't tell that to a drama queen... Oh, and they all were saying "ohmigawd I'm so nervous!" like they suddenly weren't going to be for the actual production.

When I go into the audition room the auditioning board (ie perhaps 7 students) immediately noticed off my form that I speak fluent Hungarian. "Have we got the part for you!" they gushed, and I sang my little song and I think it went alright.

Then they handed me a typed sheet that they'd copied monologues from various roles, including the Hungarian part. I started reading it aloud but stopped a few words in, saying "wait, this is formatted wrong!" Everyone laughed really hard, and the one guy said I get 30 extra points for that comment alone. (Yay!) I got to read from the actual script instead, but unfortunately stumble a little because it's Hungarian and I'm not that good at it. Hopefully they understood that was the problem.

After I finished they asked a few clarifying questions (dance experience, if my email was properly written), so I left the room grinning a bit since I thought it went well. It left all the nerve-wracked theatre kids wondering what on Earth I'm so happy about because you're not supposed to be happy after an audition dammit!

So that's where things stand right now. They said that the callback list will come out Wednesday (as in, in the next few hours) so with luck I'll be very excited soon, and callbacks themselves will be Saturday. Even if I don't get it, though, it was definitely fun to delve into this world I haven't touched since doing musicals in high school and I'm glad I tried it!

Listening Through "Drastic Fantastic"

One of my favorite current artists out there is KT Tunstall, who is a singer/songwriter from Scotland. In fact, it turns out that my music collection is more gender biased than a physics department, and Tunstall is the only female musician I keep track of so the release of her new album, Drastic Fantastic, counted as a big deal in my world.

(By the way, if you don't know who KT Tunstall is, check out Suddenly I See or Black Horse and Cherry Tree and come back after that. If you follow recent music at all, you should be able to recognize these.)

Anyway, Drastic Fantastic. I like it. I already suspect that Hold On is going to be one of those songs I play endlessly on my iPod, as well as a few others, and while I might not like all the songs individually (but honestly, does anyone ever like all the songs?) it is definitely a great album to just listen to in the background. My one problem with it, though, is how (with the possible exception of Hold On) there is no loud, upbeat, I-am-going-to-take-over-the-world soundtrack of which there were several on her first album. (The first album, by the way, is called Eye to the Telescope. Turns out Tunstall's dad is a physicist!) I admit I have high expectations in this, as Suddenly I See has the #1 spot on my most played playlist and Black Horse and Cherry Tree isn't far behind. But hey, songs take some time to grow on you, so we'll see what happens in the next few days/weeks.

Incubus!

Forgot to mention that Sunday, my last night in New Hampshire, I saw Incubus! Yay! They were doing a concert in Guilford, New Hampshire of all places, so my siblings and myself went to check them out.

(By the way, if you are culturally illiterate and have no idea who Incubus is, please go listen to Drive and Stellar and then come back when you are properly enlightened. You'll thank me for it, I promise...)

Now I will confess upfront that we were unfortunately not setting our hopes too high for this concert: the previous year we'd seen Counting Crows at the same venue where they played all slow, whiny songs not even on the CDs, and then refused to play Mr. Jones despite the crowd chanting it throughout the whole encore. (I understand that bands can't play all their famous songs at once, but if you ever reach #1 with a song you are required to play that song at all subsequent concerts because that's what people pay to see. Or at least any songs you are generally known for!!!) Thankfully last year's concert wasn't a complete waste as Goo Goo Dolls played before Counting Crows and were much better, but that didn't stop us from joking the whole way "man, I hope Incubus doesn't pull a Counting Crows on us..."


Thank goodness, Incubus delivered: they went through Drive, I Wish You Were Here, Megalomaniac, Oil and Water, and even Stand by Me as a cover. They even played a song from their next album during the encore, which was called Punch Drunk if I recall correctly.

The other noteworthy thing about this concert is how we ended up with really good seats: earlier last week my brother dropped a pair of shears on his foot and needed nine stitches, meaning he was going around with a golf club cane during the concert. His limping meant he (and my sister and I, as an extension) got VIP treatment from pretty much all the staff, and even got front-row seating on the lawn which was pretty sweet. To quote my brother who bravely hobbled without complaint, "I really don't like political correctness, but I really like it when it's in my favor."

So yes, good concert. It would have arguably been better if, in the aftermath, I didn't have to get up at 330am to catch my 6am flight back to Cleveland the next morning, but I guess you can't be too picky when such opportunities make themselves known. Plus it was so worth it.

Crazy Times Down on Costello Music

Got rather quiet here, I know... apparently if you run away for two weeks, the work still catches up with you. So that's what I have been/ still am doing... no worries though, everything will get turned in tomorrow and I'm free again! Hooray!

I will admit though, this all would have been finished a lot quicker except for the fact that I discovered a new band to listen to- ever hear of The Fratellis? They started out in Britain not too long ago and are rather popular over here as an extension- lots of playtime on the radio, and they even got an iPod commercial. Not bad! They're not that big in the US yet from what I hear, you can't even buy the whole CD on iTunes yet, but with luck that will pick up soon.

The reason I like them so much by the way, and don't mind the few extra hours it's taken to complete my work, is because they are the first band I've heard in a long while that reminds me of The Beatles. This excites me. Here's my favorite music video if you want to check them out-



(Completely unrelated note- if a guy ever set up a band and started singing under my window, he'd get a date on the spot. It seems like the least one can do to repay the gesture! Of course none of the guys I know would ever think of ever seranading, or writing a poem, or sending roses or anything like that, so I am perfectly safe admitting to this sentiment.)

Though their most famous song (the iPod commercial one) is Flathead, which has topped the charts despite being downloads-only. Their third single, Chelsea Dagger, is pretty good too, and the rest of their songs have great names like Vince the Lovable Stoner and Ole Black 'N Blue Eyes.

Anyway, I'm buying my first CD in about a year this weekend once everything gets finished. You should consider doing the same... it'll give you something to do until I finally turn everything in and post my South Island pictures...

The Starlight Symphony

I still have a few hours before my first class, so I may as well ramble a bit about the concert I went to two nights ago. It was an annual event called "The Starlight Symphony" and consists of ~200,000 people flocking to the main part of the Auckland Domain (the biggest park in Auckland) and listening to the Auckland Philharmonic and various New Zealand talent perform great works of music. It's all for charity too, so it's free beyond whatever donations you feel like giving.

Well, it was just great. You have no idea. First of all, they were rather careful in the program selection so most of the music was as well known as your old friends, such as Mozart's Overture from The Marriage of Figaro and O Sole Mio. (They also did some more recent music, like Bridge Over Troubled Water and Good Vibrations and such.) They also did a lot of cool stuff: for example, they did a laser light show during the Star Wars theme and everybody stood up to waltz during the Emperor Waltz. Pomp and Circumstance was cool too: remember how technically we're all loyal subjects of the British Empire down here? Well during Pomp and Circumstance we had to stand up and sing Land of Hope And Glory, which made me smile because there's something amusing about people singing the patriotic songs of a country half a world away.

The big finale at such a venue, of course, was Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture complete with cannon and fireworks. So so so cool!!! To all my classical music friends back home, you would've loved the entire evening. I missed you!

As a final note, guess who showed up right after intermission on the stage? Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Now let me ask you this: have you ever been to a country where the person holding the highest office in the land casually strolls into your classical music concert? And have most people look on with passing interest because she probably has nothing else to do and does stuff like this all the time?

I love this country.