Monday, October 19, 2009

Dampened spirits

There’s nothing like Monday mornings. Especially after a cold, wet weekend where “under the weather” takes on new meaning, and the haters come out of the woodwork to throw their skeptical scoffs into the ring.
There are always a lot of events to advance. Different strokes and all.
However, I have to say, it’s hard reading online comments at times because they can be worse than Trade Chat. (Those of you who know what that is will understand.) Rather than taking in enthusiasm around them, or taking part in the overall atmosphere or half-full-for-once mentality, it’s all boos and blahs.
I’ll tell you about some of the half-full folks I saw this weekend.

Those IU fans huddled under umbrellas and cheering at the sample gates as the homecoming parade wound around to speeches and band fanfare. Those Beatles fans who were lucky enough to make it to Glenn Gass’s lecture, applauding extra context and a deeper understanding to what exactly went on at those scream-ridden Beatles concerts and quieter moments, illustrated via a highly organized catalog of Beatles videos and footage projected on the Woodburn lecture hall screen. And yes, those Rain attendees who clapped and cheered after every number, or beforehand, maybe even picked up a “Beatles Rock Band” controller to hit notes as they digitally wizzed by.
Before the lecture, there was parking and avoiding the safety cordoned-off Dunn Meadow for a quick round of soggy fireworks, then trying to weave through traffic to get to sidewalks. The talk was so insightful, I didn’t care when my cell phone said 8:00 at the top.
I went into the Rain concert semi-skeptical myself. Even if I wasn’t of “the Beatles generation,” I grew up listening to them from the second I could walk. I admit that, with Rain, there were cheesy moments. But I was too busy singing along to notice. This was Rain, not the Beatles. (The photoshopped videos reminded us of that plenty of times.) An eyebrow would twitch when a note was missed, or the beat slowed slightly on the vocals while the instruments were played downpat. (While drums and guitar weren’t recorded, a mostly-hidden synth player added the other sounds when needed.) I would have covered my ears if I knew the “Day in the Life” end bang would be THAT loud. But overall, these guys were not standing in front of a karaoke machine and following the dots. It did feel like a Beatles musical, versus a concert, at times. (Some of them did come from “Beatlemania,” after all.) But still, I tried to join the half-full folks. And being semi-successful at doing so, I could walk away smiling.

• posted by Kristina   |   filed under music   |  
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