For Whom The Bell Tolls
Well, I'm back playing Godspell again after 8 years. This is truly the show that wouldn't die; it just seems to keep getting resurrected.....hmmmm.....sorry.... I must say though, it's been so much fun doing this show again. First of all, I love playing musical theater. Secondly, I really like THIS show. The music's great, the band's great, the cast is great, and we get to eat chips the entire show. Seriously.
The history of me and this musical goes back to 1998. I had done Evita previously with Uncle Randy productions in North Vancouver while still at Cap. I guess they liked my guitar playing because I was asked to come back and do their next show, Godspell, which was slated to run for 2 weeks at the Centennial theater, not unlike the run that I'm doing right now. The show ended up being a success and as it was winding down and we were starting to get sentimental and say our goodbyes, they held it over. Cool. So the show finally came to a close and we wrapped it up. Had the cast party, got sentimental, and said our goodbyes. I'm not sure how long it was after the show closed, but I got a call from Courtenay the musical director asking if I was available to do the show again at the Vogue. Sweet, do the show downtown!!! Of course I'll do it. It ran and was a critical success.....i think we got held over there too, but I can't remember. So anyways, the show closed and we got even MORE sentimental after a second run and once again we said our goodbyes. THEN, Courtenay called AGAIN asking if I was available for a tour. Of course. Well we took it on the road. It was so much fun and obviously everyone REALLY bonded. It really is a show that relies on the comraderie of everyone involved and thankfully we had exactly that. In fact, so much so that 2 of the cast members ended up marrying and now have a little boy. Well after that run, we decided not to get sentimental and say our goodbyes because we never knew....
So here we go again. 3 of the cast are the same and 2 of the band are (Courtenay and I), but Bill Runge (who played the show in 1974!!!) and Sam Cartwright are of course kicking so much ass! In fact, the whole cast, although much of it is EXACTLY the same, are bringing their own unique take on it. It really is great and I'm having a blast. I closed the book tonight and I'm playing it totally by memory now, even though I probably could have done the same on opening night. Please come check it out.
The other thing I needed to mention is Metallica. Yes Metallica. Nice transition, eh? Anyways, I have always hated Metallica. Yes it's true. I've never really been much of a fan of their music and this compounded with everything that comes out of Lars Ulrich's mouth makes me hate them more. BUT....I try never to influence the opinions of my students and try to remain objective in lessons. I have taught the tune "Fade to Black" for a while now and it's a good one for the Aeolian mode and for any kid that's into heavier stuff. I kept forgetting my CD of it at home since I cleaned out the studio in the summer, so I was without a reference recording while teaching it recently. I had my laptop right there in the lesson and decided that I would download it from the itunes music store (downloading music illegally is a pretty sensitive issue with me and I like for my younger students to see that if they want a song that they should pay for it). Turns out that there is NO METALLICA IN THE ITUNES MUSICSTORE......wtf? Lars, I can understand your beef with file sharing and Napster and all that stuff, but I WANT TO GIVE YOU MONEY FOR YOUR MUSIC AND YOU'RE NOT LETTING ME!!!!! This made me hate Metallica more. Not only was I teaching a song to a potential fan of theirs against my own personal preferences further widening their prospective market, but now they won't even allow to give them the proper payment for their crap!
That was a month ago. Last week I decided to check in with the itunes store and see if Lars and the boys had worked something out.....they had. It seems that the whole catalouge is now available. My friend Kelly Brown knows full well of my hatred but has always insisted that I should check out Master of Puppets, my friend Kris even went so far as to call this album the "Kind of Blue" of metal. OK. 10 bucks is 10 bucks. I finally loaded it in my ipod on last monday and decided I would take a listen in my car on my way to Neils to teach and see what all of the fuss was about.
Well I checked it out and I want to make no mistake about this statement: I loved this album. It's unbelievable. And what's worse is that I wanted to hate this album. It would've taken a miracle to make me change my mind on Metallica and a miracle it was. Maybe this is the only true way to listen to an artist seriously: to come from a place of hate. Hmmm....
It tolls for thee....
The history of me and this musical goes back to 1998. I had done Evita previously with Uncle Randy productions in North Vancouver while still at Cap. I guess they liked my guitar playing because I was asked to come back and do their next show, Godspell, which was slated to run for 2 weeks at the Centennial theater, not unlike the run that I'm doing right now. The show ended up being a success and as it was winding down and we were starting to get sentimental and say our goodbyes, they held it over. Cool. So the show finally came to a close and we wrapped it up. Had the cast party, got sentimental, and said our goodbyes. I'm not sure how long it was after the show closed, but I got a call from Courtenay the musical director asking if I was available to do the show again at the Vogue. Sweet, do the show downtown!!! Of course I'll do it. It ran and was a critical success.....i think we got held over there too, but I can't remember. So anyways, the show closed and we got even MORE sentimental after a second run and once again we said our goodbyes. THEN, Courtenay called AGAIN asking if I was available for a tour. Of course. Well we took it on the road. It was so much fun and obviously everyone REALLY bonded. It really is a show that relies on the comraderie of everyone involved and thankfully we had exactly that. In fact, so much so that 2 of the cast members ended up marrying and now have a little boy. Well after that run, we decided not to get sentimental and say our goodbyes because we never knew....
So here we go again. 3 of the cast are the same and 2 of the band are (Courtenay and I), but Bill Runge (who played the show in 1974!!!) and Sam Cartwright are of course kicking so much ass! In fact, the whole cast, although much of it is EXACTLY the same, are bringing their own unique take on it. It really is great and I'm having a blast. I closed the book tonight and I'm playing it totally by memory now, even though I probably could have done the same on opening night. Please come check it out.
The other thing I needed to mention is Metallica. Yes Metallica. Nice transition, eh? Anyways, I have always hated Metallica. Yes it's true. I've never really been much of a fan of their music and this compounded with everything that comes out of Lars Ulrich's mouth makes me hate them more. BUT....I try never to influence the opinions of my students and try to remain objective in lessons. I have taught the tune "Fade to Black" for a while now and it's a good one for the Aeolian mode and for any kid that's into heavier stuff. I kept forgetting my CD of it at home since I cleaned out the studio in the summer, so I was without a reference recording while teaching it recently. I had my laptop right there in the lesson and decided that I would download it from the itunes music store (downloading music illegally is a pretty sensitive issue with me and I like for my younger students to see that if they want a song that they should pay for it). Turns out that there is NO METALLICA IN THE ITUNES MUSICSTORE......wtf? Lars, I can understand your beef with file sharing and Napster and all that stuff, but I WANT TO GIVE YOU MONEY FOR YOUR MUSIC AND YOU'RE NOT LETTING ME!!!!! This made me hate Metallica more. Not only was I teaching a song to a potential fan of theirs against my own personal preferences further widening their prospective market, but now they won't even allow to give them the proper payment for their crap!
That was a month ago. Last week I decided to check in with the itunes store and see if Lars and the boys had worked something out.....they had. It seems that the whole catalouge is now available. My friend Kelly Brown knows full well of my hatred but has always insisted that I should check out Master of Puppets, my friend Kris even went so far as to call this album the "Kind of Blue" of metal. OK. 10 bucks is 10 bucks. I finally loaded it in my ipod on last monday and decided I would take a listen in my car on my way to Neils to teach and see what all of the fuss was about.
Well I checked it out and I want to make no mistake about this statement: I loved this album. It's unbelievable. And what's worse is that I wanted to hate this album. It would've taken a miracle to make me change my mind on Metallica and a miracle it was. Maybe this is the only true way to listen to an artist seriously: to come from a place of hate. Hmmm....
It tolls for thee....
posted by Hammer at 11:30 PM
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