Chicago-land...

Yeah, I know it's the post you've all been waiting for. I should be working on a project for my Feminzi class that's due tomorrow and have quasi-started, but I'm gonna take a break and post about my awesome weekend in Chicago. Just a warning, this could get pretty lengthy because a lot happened in the 2 days I was there, so I suggest setting aside some time to read this, read it in sections, or just read the thing.

I woke up Saturday at 4:30am to leave at 5am in order to pick up Sharon in Huber Heights at 5:30 and make it to BG by 8am. We left BG around 9ish and stopped at the Woodwind and Brasswind store in South Bend, Indiana. We were totally shunned because we were horn players. THey had absolutely nothing! Not a single horn mute and the horns they had on diplay were crap! So we banged on some hand drums and played an electric drumset. Then we got back in the car.

We got to Chicago around noon, we parked downtown and walked around all day. We went up to the top of the Sears Tower and FAO Schwartz. We ate some good 'ol Chicago deep dish pizza :) At 7pm we went back to the car to change for the Chicago Symphony concert. Nothing is more fun than changing in the bathroom of a parking garage! Then came the best part...

The Concert. Holy jeezel was it awesome! There wasn't a single missed note or intonation problem or anything. It got to the point where we were looking for things like that. Those daggone professionals! The concert was flawless, and the brass section lived up to their reputation. There was even a chord they held out and i heard overtones. I NEVER hear overtones. John Williams is amazing. This concert was the debut of his horn concerto, that was the whole reason for going. The concert wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was gorgeous! I <3 John WIlliams!

Dr. Moss, the director of bands here at BGSU, knows the 2nd trumpet player of the CSO because the trumpet player used to be in his high school band in Wheaton Illinois. The trumpet player does an awesome impression of Dr. Moss too! Anyway, we went down this back hallway to find him because Dr. Moss gave us $20 to take him out to dinner, he couldn't go with us, but definitely got us the hookup. He took us on a backstage tour and then down to Dale Clevenger's reception. Dale has been principal horn of the CSO since 1966. He played the concerto. We all got Dale's autograph on our programs and got to meet him. What a rush! Then when we were saying our goodbyes and tanks yous to the trumpet player, I turned around and John Williams ran into me. It was odd, he was like "oh sorry, excuse me" and kept walking. He was gone in the blink of an eye before I could even ask him to sign my program. I guess you'd want to know what the program consisted of. Because John Williams was conducting it was mostly movie scores :)

1.) Sound the Bells
2.) Tribute
3.) Concerto for Horn and Orchestra
Angelus
The Battle of the Trees
Pastorale
The Hunt
Nocturne
4.) Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
5.) Suite from JFK
Theme
Motorcade
Arlington
6.) Selections from Far and Away
County Galway, June 1892
The Fighting Donnellys
Joseph and Shannon
Blowin' Off Steam (The Flight)
Finale
7.) Theme from Schindler's List
8.) Adventures on Earth from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Encores:
1.) Across the Stars from Episode II: Attack of the Clones
2.) Star Wars Main Theme
3.) Theme from NBC's Nightly News

Sunday we woke up around 10am and went back downtown. We went to the aquarium and ate some more food. Too bad I woke up sickish and it's gotten progressively worse to the point where I feel like major poo right now. Oh well, after an awesome weekend and Thanksgiving break, it's down to the last 2 weeks of classes and birthday #21 on this Saturday!