Concert Attendance

Nope. Uh huh. Not going to happen.

Not only am I not going to list all the concerts I've been to, I also will admit that I have no IDEA how many I've been to.

So here's something else instead.

Here's the story of maybe the worst performance I ever went to...

I don't even remember when this was. High school, I'm assuming? This was before Mom worked for Class Act but we got free tickets to it must have been when I was in PSYO. PSO were performing William Bolcom's arrangement of William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience."

I had just studied the Romantic poets in English and I pretty much despised them. (I later, in college, went on to consider writing a paper about Coleridge and two weeks into research reminded myself how much I hated Coleridge and decided to write on Max Weber instead. MUCH better idea... I also would later, in college, write my own Blake-esque poem for the London class. It was AWFUL. I'm pretty sure it was about a star because night/bright/light/sight all make for easy rhymes.)

Anyway, I had no idea what I was getting into. And that was a three-hour long production that included full orchestra, jazz band, full chorus, children's chorus, soloists and at one point, a solo jazz singer, I think? It was endless. I mean, it really felt like it was never going to end.

And then, to top it all off, during intermission, this lady who was sitting behind me comes up to me and tells me I have a "very bouncy ponytail." Um.... thank you? How do you respond to that? Apparently my "bouncy ponytail" was distracting her from the music. I think that says something about the music and about you, lady, more than it does about my ponytail. I certainly was not bopping my head along to the tunes, that's for sure.

 Years later, I still have a real dislike for Blake. My soul died a little when I had to purchase the "Songs of Innocence and Experience" for the London class. I was enthralled by the use of "Tyer Tyer" in The Mentalist. I can still barely sit for a three hour movie without getting antsy. Let's just say this whole William Bolcom experience was not one that I'd ever like to repeat.

So I haven't.