@joshgroban at The Beacon Theater 9/29/15

Meet & Greet

So I won a meet & greet for 9/29/15 at The Beacon Theater.  That was remarkable.  It was only because Night Owl reminded me that I even applied — and then we both won them.  

I was so nervous about it that I even forgot to find out whether anyone from FOJG was getting together for dinner before the concert.

I was preparing what I would say to him.  I had a little script.  I forgot to look at it.  I remembered most of it though.

I wanted to tell him both my pseudonyms.  He’s tweeted me as @skysong263 and I’m pretty sure that he has at least sometimes read this blog.  I did that, but did not tell him my real name.  It’s on some list somewhere, certainly at FOJG, but I did not tell him that. I even had pins made up with the photos I use to identify myself.  Unfortunately, I made up the pins a few years back, so I had what’s actually the background picture for my twitter account now, not the parrot, which is my avi.  So he still does not really know who I am, but that’s ok.  It’s not like he’s going to call me.

I gave him a copy of a script of a play I was in this past June.  It was a play that was based on submissions. I submitted my Grobie inspired sketch.  I have posted this sketch on this blog at Grobie Inspired Sketch I wrote it during a sketch writing course back in 2013, just before I was diagnosed with cancer.  The editor/director of the play put all the submissions together into a script.  It turned out to have Josh spoofing as a major theme, so I thought Josh would like a copy of it

Here’s my tweet about it

.@joshgroban the editor/director of the play that I gave U the script 4 was @DanAhrens ; U were played by @JohnnyGriz; venue: @thepitnyc

They guy who played Josh had a really lovely voice.

I also was able to give Josh a private message.  That’s one frustrating thing about twitter is that everything is public.  You can’t tell him something confidential.

I also gave him a printout of a graph my first cousin did showing how Josh is our 11th cousin.  My 1st cousin went back 12 generations to find a Winslow who was a common ancestor with Josh back around the turn of the 17th century.  Josh seemed interested.  He autographed it and handed it back to me.  I pointed out that it was for him.  He said he autographs his own stuff all the time, LOL. 

He seemed quite subdued.  Of course, he’s said that that he turns on when he gets on stage.  We also see that in the “If I walk Away” video that his brother Chris made. If I Walk Away  I see it’s got over 2 million views.  Anyway, it shows Josh being very subdued until he gets on stage when he gets wired and high energy.

I actually got to put my arm around his waist when we were photographed.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about that.  Some fans really want to hug him. That’s not me.  I’m a blogger, not a hugger.  Still, it was ok.  I didn’t freak out.  Darren had wanted us to put our arms around his shoulders, but how do you do that  when you’re shorter and he has his arm around your shoulder? That doesn’t make sense.  

I forgot to tell him that I am a faith healer and that I’ve been told that I have extraordinary hands — with healing power in my hands.  Hopefully he benefitted.

I also forgot to ask him whether he called Stevie Wonder yet.

Josh sang one of Stevie's songs on the last album.  During a couple of interviews promoting the last album, he reported that Stevie had sought to write a song with him -- saying maybe they would save the world with the song.  Stevie has obviously some interest in something like my Quixotic Quest -- please note explanatory blog Explanatory Blog for Quixotic Quest  Josh said in those interviews that he felt too intimidated by Stevie to call him. I've been periodically tweeting Josh asking him if he's called Stevie Wonder yet.  I wanted to ask him in person, but forgot -- an omission from my Quixotic Quest -- and that's not good.

I blogged about this Stevie Wonder issue before Open Letter to Stevie Wonder

Now on to the concert

Josh did sound very good in the concert.

In prior years there have been issues.  I blogged about that Changes in Josh's Voice Blog  He was straining on high notes. Also he was making funny faces and bending over strangely ( twisting his head) when singing.  Voice teachers remarked that this seemed like poor singing technique. This was particularly a problem during the Straight To You Tour.

I know Josh wants to perform on Broadway, but I doubted he could be cast with these issues, even tho his fans love him.

I had noticed that the high note straining problem seemed better in the more recent recordings. Reportedly Josh has a new voice coach.  This is reputed to be her

http://www.playbillvault.com/Person/Detail/887/Kristen-Allen-Blodgette  

I am very grateful to this person.  He’s really sounding a whole lot better.

Still, “Bring Him Home” is very high and I heard him sounding strained when singing it on a TV show.

In fact his performance was nearly flawless and his falsetto in “Bring Him Home” was very full and relaxed.

He never bent over while singing, twisted his head strangely, or made screwy facial expressions. Well, I was not right near the front, so he might have made subtle funny expressions, but not that I could see from where I was.

Also, he had sometimes tended to sing back in his throat at times.  That seems to have vanished as well. I’m not quite sure if I like that part.  I know it’s better technique to sing in the front of the mouth, but his back singing seemed very emotional and sobby, so I was sort of drawn to it.

Now, if you know me, you know I never blog without complaining about something, so here goes.

In the first half, the sound quality was poor.  Josh’s voice was distorted.  All of its beautiful subtlety was lost.  It was also overloud. 

I ended up putting in ear plugs in the first half, not so much because it was too loud as because the ear plugs seemed to remove the distortion.  There was a similar situation in Newark during the STY tour, when I heard him there.  I wonder if Josh is hanging on to some incompetent sound guy.

Fortunately, miraculously, in the second half, things sounded better.  I double checked with the lady next to me and she agreed that the sound was better in the second half.

Obviously, someone complained during intermission.  It wasn’t me.  I didn’t get around to tweeting about it.  I’m thinking maybe it was Kat, because she was around there somewhere.  People saw her going in and out.

But at least there was an intermission, which there typically has not been before.  Someone got through their heads that women of a certain age, who are frequently Josh fans, have to pee fairly often.  The line at the restroom was crazy: around the basement, up the stairs, and past the generously sized bar.  Taking advantage of intermission was challenging.  The men of course had virtually no line.

Ruslan, sadly, was not there at the concert.  We all liked his playing so much that we payed into a kickstarter so that he could come out with an album.  As a result, he is busy recording an album right now.  That’s sort of ironic.  One pays into a kickstarter, because one likes to hear him playing, which means that one DOESN’T get to hear him.

In general the accompaniment was quiet, unobtrusive, and not particularly musically interesting.  

I miss the more  avant guard aspects of Josh’s music from Josh’s prior albums.  I always considered him the first mainstream new music/modern classical singer.  He wasn’t purely pop classical crossover.  There was an edge to what he did.

Accompaniment is pleasant but uninspired on this album as well as on this tour.

Josh is apparently not touring with a concert master/mistress this time.  They used a local orchestra and chorus for this concert.  There was a woman sitting in the first violin chair. I have no idea who that was.  Josh didn’t introduce her.   They don’t give out free programs at this type of concert, so I couldn’t look her up.  In any case, no Christian — and certainly no Lucia (who I always preferred)

He had another performer there, Lena Hall, who he sang two duets with and who sang two solos from her own album.  I did not care for her voice.  During the June private concert, he sang with Sierra Bogges — and a bootleg video came out of that .  I much prefer Sierra’s voice to Lena’s.  But I guess Sierra is in an active Broadway show and therefore not available to tour.

Josh did not play drums or piano, as he normally has during his prior concerts. I thought that was nice when he did that in the past, partly because i like to hear him play, but also because it broke up the concert a bit more. I missed him playing -- and having him always standing in front without moving around much or playing the piano was a tad dull.  

Even though the sound was cleaned up in the second half, the lyrics of “Move On” were garbled due to sound issues.  One of my friends could not even distinguish what song was being sung, despite being long term fan who has all his albums.

Over all, I would say that it was not nearly so exciting a concert as the one in the Allen Room Allen Room Concert report

I may add more later.

@lang_lang @nyphil 9/24/15

In the summer of 2014, I subscribed to the 2014-15 season of the New York Philharmonic, because Josh was the featured performer in the opening gala, and the only way you could see that performance was to subscribe.  I got the absolute cheapest subscription — sitting up in the 3rd tier.

One thing that immediately struck me, listening to the orchestra was that the violins sounded different from what I was used to with orchestras. They sounded much clearer — and fully synchronized, so that they sounded like a single instrument.  It was a mesmerizing sound.  

I’ve never been much of a violin fan.  I have auditory sensitivities.  Violins are generally not compatible with me.  The only exception has been Lucia Micarelli, who I’ve mentioned before, my favorite violinist.

But it was this intriguing sound that hooked me.

I decided to renew and be a subscriber this year as well.

One time last spring I got to speak with a long time subscriber, and she said that there was a temporary concert mistress — and that this temporary person had dramatically  improved the sound of the orchestra.

I decided to renew this year, even tho Josh wasn’t performing.

The opening gala this time featured Lang Lang.  I had seen him on YouTube before, notably playing flight of the bumble bee on an iPad.  I wanted to see him in person, so I signed up for the gala.

I really fell for him as a performer. 

His playing is like liquid gold — so smooth, subtle, nuanced.  He’s something of a ham, as well, acting out the feelings he has for the music, as he plays.  He’s entertaining to watch as well as listen to.  

I noticed that one of the guys in my box elected to wear a sleep mask during Lang Lang’s performance, apparently wanting to focus on the sound rather than the visuals.  I noticed he took the mask off for the Beethoven Symphony that Lang Lang was not participating in.  It was a bit spooky.  I hope he isn’t dangerous.

Anyway, Lang Lang is able to convey the impression that the piece he is playing is totally fresh — that his playing is not due to following music on a printed page, but improvised spontaneously in the moment in response to what he is hearing.  Everyone else is staring at the music.  He is listening actively.  He has great stage presence.

There was a new concert master.  Unfortunately for me, the violins had gone back to normal.  They did not sound like a single instrument.  They sounded like a group of performers, due to tiny variations in timing.  That eerie, preternatural clarity and crispness was gone.

I suppose there is no reason to prefer them all sounding like a single performer, other than novelty.  I suppose I'm being unsophisticated for preferring that, but still I like the sound I heard during Josh's concert.

Curiously, Lang Lang passed the bouquet he was given to woman who I think is the former temporary concert mistress.  That made me wonder if he, too, noticed the difference and liked the former version better, not that he would likely say anything.