LA, CA John Williams - Hollywood Bowl - August 28 - Saturday

Sara, we're more fun...

 

Hey all, greetings from the East Coast. My fiance and I are driving up for the concert from San Diego (we'll be there for the week). We'd like to join you guys for the pre-concert picnic thing if you'd have us.

We saw John Williams in concert with the NY Philharmonic in February, and it was one of the greatest experiences of our lives. He finished with E.T. "Adventures on Earth" and did a triple encore: a tribute to Leonard Bernstein, the Star Wars:ANH concert suite (main titles + Leia's theme), and the NBC News Theme ("just in case you don't make it home for the news"). Our heads were pounding for hours as we were in the 5th row.

I've never been to the Hollywood Bowl (or California for that matter)... how early should I get there to get a parking space on-site?

-ObiWill & BenaeQuee
Mos Eisley Port Authority

 

ObiWill, we'd love to have you and your fiance join us!

As far as parking goes, it is extremely expensive at the Bowl (and it's stacked parking, which can be a real hassle). The parking lots open at 6:30 PM, so if you do decide to do that, I'd get there around that time (besides, we'll be starting picnicing around that time, too).

Really, I'd suggest parking at the L.A. Zoo and taking the shuttle bus. The parking itself is free, and the bus ride is only $3.00 a person. Plus the buses get going right after the concert, which is good.

Here is a link to parking info for the bowl: parking

See you there!

 

Thanks for the info!

Nasssty stacked parking... we hates it. I think we'll use the park-n-ride by the Chinese Theater (we'll probably do the Hollywood tourist thing during the day). See you there

 

Hey ObiWill!! You're that guy from the Triumph the Insult Dog goes to the Star Wars line thing!!! You're a celebrity with our Fan Force. We would love to meet up with you and take pics and get your autograph!

Just kidding... no hard feelings ok? But really, it would be cool to meet up with you. Just look for the rowdy group carrying lightsabers and bottles of Charles Shaw.

 

I still get recognized every now and then. LOL.

Never had Two Buck Chuck. Tell you what, I'll sign a bottle for you.

 

Wait a sec...you mean to tell me that this whole thing is just a concert featuring John Williams????

I thought we were all going bowling with the maestro in Hollywood...

 

I'm sure there will be a lightsaber or two present also. Looking forward to meeting you ObiWill.

 

Program notes for the concert (paraphrased):

Program Notes for John Williams: Olympic Fever

The program begins with music written by Williams and others for the Olympics. Williams was already well-established in 1984, when he was invited to pen the theme for the Los Angeles summer games. He had four Oscar wins to his credit, for his adaptation and original work on Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and for his original scores for Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and was the popular conductor of the Boston Pops (he is now their laureate conductor). Williams took the fanfare-like Bugler's Dream by Leo Arnaud (1904-1991), composed for the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, as his starting point. Arnaud had studied with Ravel and D'Indy before settling in Hollywood and pursuing a successful career with the studios; his theme forms the basis of the music's powerful opening. The faster flourish that follows marks the beginning of Williams' own Olympic Fanfare.

The Olympic Spirit, written for NBC Sports to celebrate the 1988 Seoul Olympics, begins with a fanfare of Williams' own, while Call of the Champions, the official theme of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, opens quite differently, with the choral cries of "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (swifter, higher, stronger), a motto of Baron de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894 and was responsible for the modern rebirth of the Olympics. Williams explained in a radio interview with Jackson Braider of WGBH in Boston, "I thought it would make a wonderful declamatory handle, just that triad of words sung in a very forceful way by the chorus.... It sounds like all the heroes coming down from Olympus and chanting together."

Williams, of course, isn't the only composer associated with the Olympics. Another famous American musician of many talents, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), wrote his Olympic Hymn for the 1981 Inter-national Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden, in what was then West Germany. Bernstein revisited the music of the number "Proud" from his ill-starred 1976 musical 1600 Pennsyl-vania Avenue to craft a work for chorus and orchestra of great nobility and expressive power. German author Günter Kunert's text celebrates the universal values embodied in the Olympics: "Give an example that applies to all: Fight as friends, not as foes." Williams himself captured the spirit of the Games while he was working on Call of the Champions in 2001: "The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us."

Michael Torke (b. 1961), one of the leading American composers of his generation, was invited by the Atlanta Olympic Games to write a piece for the 50th anniversary of the Atlanta Symphony: His thrilling Javelin, a virtuoso showpiece for orchestra, was the result. Ingeniously orchestrated - his use of percussion and wind sonorities is especially memorable - and energized by catchy juxtapositions of melodic material, the work perfectly captures the energy and exhilaration of sport.

Among the selections from Williams' extensive work in film on these programs, we also have an example from that earlier tradition - "Cathy's Theme" from Alfred Newman's score for 1939's Wuthering Heights. This film had an all-star cast, led by Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, and Flora Robson. 1939 was a pretty good year for Newman: He was nominated for four Academy Awards, including for Wuthering Heights, although he didn't take one home. The present version of the "Theme," for violin and orchestra, was prepared by Angela Morley and recorded by Itzhak Perlman and John Williams for the second of the pair's Cinema Serenade albums.

Beginning in the 1960s, after working in television, Williams tackled the world of film. Some of his earliest scores retain their appeal because of their vitality and because of Williams' ability to preserve their music in orchestral arrangements that lose little or none of their impa

 

I am so excited...this is gonna RAWK!

 

So, if no one claims my ticket by Thursday night I'm stuck with you guys.
I won't complain either way.

 

This is going to be so much fun! Sorry Elensara, I don't know anyone who needs one ticket.

 

Looks like a great program. Superman, Jaws, Indy, Star Wars, and all that soaring Olympic goodness.

I can't wait to hear what JW composed for this year's Olympics (assuming he's written something).

 

Is it necessary to buy advance tickets for the Bowl Bus from the zoo lot?

 

Is it necessary to buy advance tickets for the Bowl Bus from the zoo lot?

Nope -- just show up in the parking lot (down by the Autry Museum, at the north end of Zoo parking) and get on the buses. First bus leaves at 6 PM.

 

We're probably going to go to that same lot. What time do the shuttles start?

 

I think she said 6pm.

 

Yep, 6:00 PM, departures every 20 minutes, from Lot "C" as in Camel, at the Zoo. $3.00 per person for the round trip.

 

I'm relying on you DH to tell me what time we're going to go because I'm clueless as to what's going on in the real world anymore. Just tell me what time you're going to pick me up.

 

Cool, we'll see you guys there.

Ticketmaster wanted $10 (I think) for 2-3 day shipping, on top of their ridiculous "convenience fee." I opted for Standard Mail and am still waiting for my tickets... [-o|

 

JR, will Mark be meeting at your place first? If so, to get there to catch the first shuttle at 6 (sorry I missed that ValedaKor) we should probably pick you up around 5:15 - 5:30. For some reason there is always traffic in that direction. What do you want to do about dinner? Does Mark want to pick up Bento boxes for us again? They were really good last time.

 

Hey Devi, want to carpool to this?

 

Is anyone bringing a lightsaber? If so, will it be the collapsible variety or a Master Replica/Park one?

 

I was thinking about it. I would love to bring one if others were going to do the same. If I do, it will be my Parks saber because of the absence of sound. I wouldn't want to upset the people next to me.

 

The sound won't be the only thing to bother people. Have JR tell you about how he was going to kick some old guy's @$$ because he complained about us waving our sabers and he pushed JR's saber forward because he was concerned that JR would hit him with the saber.