eric135

Absolutely amazing guitar version of Michael Jackson's Beat It by 15 year old Sungha Jung

Amazing. He also has an excellent version of Dancing Queen and Hotel California on his YouTubes. 

 Here's a duet with Trace Bundy performing Pachelbel's Canon. Beautiful. 

www.sunghajung.com

 

Glee Concert, Dodge Theater, Phoenix

I lucked into an extra ticket to the Glee concert, at the Dodge Theater. The concert kicked off here in Phoenix, with the first show selling out within something like 15 minutes.

It was an excellent show. It had all of the student main stars, with Mr. Shuster and Sue making recorded appearance.

Man, those folks can sing and dance. And they sang all of my favorites: Beautiful, Bust Your Window, Defying Gravity, Like a Prayer, Somebody to Love and others.

I personally thought all of the renditions sung today were even better than the versions on the TV show or on the Glee CDs. And the dancing was great.

They don't have many concert dates, just a couple in LA and NY, maybe Chicago...

JFK airport, Goldberg Variations, Bach-Busoni Chaconne...

I'm back home from vacation. I had to change my flights at the last minute, and instead of flying through Atlanta, I had to connect through New York JFK. God what a madhouse. Getting to my next gate was was easy enough, but getting food was a 20 minute wait in line. 

The other problem is that, of course, the place is packed all the time, and there just seemed to be a lot more running folks trying to meet their connections. There was one group, two women and a young boy, that had missed their flight to Nice. They ran up to the gate, was told they missed their flight, a very passionate argument broke out, I believe there was some serious cussing in French, they were told they might make a different flight in another terminal, and they ran (more like sprinted) across the airport. But then they found that the plane was able to return to the gate, so they had to send a notably non-athletic gate attendant to sprint/wobble after them. The group ran back, sweating like farm animals, and got on their flight. A few minutes later, the non-athletic gate attendant stumbled back into the gate with a broken shoe.

Later, I was standing in front of one of those big airport maps. While standing there trying to find some sort of observation deck or quiet corner, I was approached by two Asian women (I believe they were speaking Vietnamese), an Italian couple (I am pretty sure it was Italian), and an Arab. I tried my best to help them, but eventually the only thing they understood were my shrugged shoulders.

The flight from JFK to PHX was very nice. I found out that the on board entertainment system had quite a selection of music tracks, and I spent two of the four hours listening to music.
This version of the Goldberg Variations, played on string instruments, was excellent. I like artists that perform the speedy variations... well... speedy, which this ensemble certainly did.
Helen Grimaud Plays Bach was another excellent CD. Her version of Bach's Chaconne almost knocked me out of my seat, and her performarnce of the Prelude and Fugue in A minor BMV 543 was also excellent.

Here's a youtube video of one of Grimaud's recitals, where she plays the Chaconne:

Retirement, MRSA, Vids, Joshua Bell, Dementia, Chondroitin

• A NY Times (eric135/eric135) article about how it's as important to prepare psychologically for retirement as it is to fund your 401k or IRAs. Hell no. I'm ready psychologically.
• Athletic trainers see rise in MRSA Infections.
• A very weird exercise video. Obviously CGI but still oddly hypnotic. They need to make one with kitties. No idea what the hell is going on in this exercise video, but I laughed so hard I snorted like a pig.
• On January 12 2007, Joshua Bell played a 43-minute concert at the L'Enfant Plaza, one of the stops on Washington DC's metro. It was an unannounced free mall-side concert given by one of the best (probably the best) violin virtuosos ever. He played on a 1710 Stradivari. JS Bach's Chaconne, Schubert's Ave Maria, and other masterpieces ended... to thunderous silence. He made $32 in change, after 1070 people rushed by, few even looking his way.  He usually makes about $1000 per minute. You can hear him for a short while in the video clip in the middle of the article.
• Dementia Care costs worldwide reach $315 billion.
• A list of things to make your offline life easier. My favorite, of course, is to not feel ashamed to use a ManPurse. I have several. Unlike the author of the article, I don't think backpacks count.
• Now they're saying that glucosamine and chondroitin may not offer any real benefits. I've been taking a supplement (the pills are so big I had to check the label to make sure they weren't suppositories). I think they have increased my flexibility, and it has been a long time since I've had a flair up. Figures. Next thing you know, they'll be telling us that there are problems with Ambien... Oh, wait...