LarryC Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 LOL! I and a friend had the good fortune a few years ago to see Yo-Yo from the front row at his concert of three Bach cello sonatas at Washington Nat'l Cathedral! Through a mixup, they'd sold our tickets which were half-way back, so they seated us in two spare seats in the front row. The WNC interior is so big (2,500 in the audience that night), that they had to amplify it. We could hear Yo-Yo directly from the front row, but I could tell that the sound system took over only a few rows back and it didn't sound as good or as musical. I don't know how we lucked out, good looks and dignity I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I was just listening to the inauguration on the radio and had no idea Ma and co would be playing. Listening to the music without preface or introduction I was stunned with the elegance of the music, a great choice for the inauguration. Whoever made that call did wonderfully well. Now as to having to play tape because of the cold weather, I'm just not troubled or irritated by that. The only other alternative would have been to scratch the talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Bruce, There's also a joke in there about Yo-Yo strings, but it's too late for me to formulate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Yes, certainly. Along with something about more cowbell we can believe in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Yes, certainly. Along with something about more cowbell we can believe in. That just might ring true... [:#] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audible Nectar Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 This is nothing new. I remember the shock when word got out that Whitney Houston's performance of The Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XXV was lip-synched (and hey, that was an improvement, becuause remember that before this era we got "Up With People" for Super Bowl "entertainment"). This Whitney discussion and rendition was during Gulf War I so there were some who really took offense. I am somewhat quizzical at why some people seem surprised. Like corporations who are too big to allow to fail, there are events that are too big to allow to fail, like Super Bowls, Olympic Games, and Presidential Inaugurations, and extreme measures have been and will be taken to assure that none of these fail[]. When the Rolling Stones made it a point to announce that they were really going to be "live" at Super Bowl XL, you had to figure we were living in backwards land at that point. The assumption had been made by so much of the at-large public (even South Park has lampooned this idea) that whoever played at the Super Bowl WOULD be lip-synching that the Stones (and now Bruce) are now having to announce "Yes, we really are playing live". This soooooo reminds me of baseball player Mike Piazza having that press conference a few years ago where he announces that he is a heterosexual. LOLOLOLOL.... And yeah, Fini, the new avatar is a classic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 This seems like a really close call, leaving behind a $4 million Strad -- Cabdriver Thanked for Returning a Stradivarius (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/nyregion/07violin.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Violin%20in%20a%20taxicab&st=cse) and Time to Tie a String Around That Strad (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/weekinreview/11wakin.html?scp=5&sq=Violin%20in%20a%20taxicab&st=cse). "Forgotten-fiddle stories abounded on the Web site. One musician drove away with a violin on the roof of the car. Another drove over it. A violist left her instrument in an open trunk during a night of rain." "In the end, its recovery may lead to a permanent separation from Mr. Quint. The barrage of publicity troubled the Arrisons, and Ms. Arrison said they were still weighing whether to return it to him. “We really don’t like the idea of people knowing where the violin is,” she said." He's lucky -- another anonymous patron loaned him a Guarneri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 You probably noticed that some Stradivarius instruments have names, like the "Davidoff" Strad cello that Jacqueline du Pre once owned and Ma has access to. String quartets (2 violins, viola and cello) are also named, and here's an article on concert by the "Stradivari Quartett" concert, in NYC -- Playing Second Fiddle to Their Instruments (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/arts/music/24stra.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Playing%20second%20fiddle%20&st=cse). The first violinist plays the "Aurea" Strad, the second violinist plays the "King George," and the violist plays the "Gibson." The cello was not made by Stradivarius, but someone else who I never heard of. They weren't always so careful about Strads back then: King George III gave his namesake to a Scottish army officer who was killed at Waterloo with the instrument in his saddle bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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