It’s not about the man in the red suit or the baby in the manger… it’s the “good will to all men” bit that’s the big deal.
Its an anthropological deep-rooted itch that all cultures scratch. it’s “Chrismanukkahwanzaadan”.
We send cards, emails and go to parties, “pinging” our tribal groups. We “unScrooge” with acts of altruism and charity and make our world twinkle in lights. Our Clan of blood and kin gathers, traveling and sleeping over; sharing food, joy, tears, love, babies, gossip and gifts. It’s a tactile time of hugs, back slaps and mistletoe, a four million year old relic of scent-trade bonding.
Homo Sapians needs Christmas… or what ever you want to call it.
I wish you a merry one.
It can also be breathtakingly beautiful, as we saw on Christmas Eve in Woodstock, Illinois.
A friend of ours went to see Roger Waters perform “The Wall” in Oakland and told us the next day “it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen”. Jeri and I are monster Floyd fans so I got on Craig’s list and snagged some tickets for the the San Jose show last night.
Jeri says “awesome” is a much overused word… this WAS awesome.
I went without a camera, so these are not my images. Mine are burned into my retina.
One entire end of the arena was “The Wall” which was built up brick by brick over the first half of the show, working as an evolving projection screen several hundred feet across and walling in the band behind it. After short intermission, the show continued with Waters and his band now dwarfed in front of this giant wall while the most intense visuals washed over us (someone had a ton of fun in 3dMax or Maya rendering all this). The sound moved the air like rolling thunder but clear as a clang of a bell through the range. The ultimate sound system.
I don’t want to spoil things, but as “The Trial” ended the show and the crowd took over the vocals with “tear down the wall!” the whole wall came crashing down, giant bricks spilling everywhere. Total release of energy.
This is a very nice entry on how the thing was produced from behind the scenes.
BTW.. Jeri picked up a tee-shirt at the gig. She snagged the “School Master” shirt with “we don’t need no education” scrawled across the back. “so the kids can see it when I am writing on the blackboard”. Priceless!!
This is an “untoppable” gig…. drop everything and go see it if you can.
