Nutcracker in September - Tchaikovsky and Firework at Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl is amazing. I experienced it for my first time last Saturday with my beloved boyfriend and a Whole Foods custom crafted sandwich. You can bring your own food if you didn't know, and wine or any other sultry beverage if that's your bag. "Picnicking" they call it. I call it a steal.
The show was titled Tchaikovsky Spectacular with Fireworks! led by conductor Bramwell Tovey featuring the LA Philharmonic. Sounds a tad stuffy with someone named "Bramwell" leading the whole shabang but I assure you it was anything but. Bramwell was my favorite part. I fought the tears at the end with 1812 Overture and fucking fantastic fireworks spewing from behind the Bowl. Just before the whole thing exploded at the end, the USC Trojans "slipped on" (Bramwell's much applauded verbatim introduction, not mine) and blew the audience away.
I don't know if you remember at the end of V for Vendetta when V blows up British Parlement, the city's PA System is playing "1812 Overture". It's pure power, which is what the Russians needed after defeating offender Napoleon Bonaparte and his intrusive Grande Armee. Oh the French.
Berliner Philharmonic - "1812 Overture" MP3   (with Vocals)
I was a bit bored/peeved at the beginning, when the symphony performed music from the Nutcracker. I hate when Halloween garb hits drug store shelves September 1, how the Starbucks red cups come earlier and earlier each year and ESPECIALLY hearing Christmas music before December 1. It messes me up emotionally. It woud be like putting a heat lamp in a hibernating bear's den in Jthe dead of winter. You'd probably murder him with confusion. I need the time to be right, no cheating the Season's highs.
So Good tidings to you, I'll see you in December wearing short-shorts and zinc oxide on my nose, fucking Nutcracker in September, who does that?
Honestly is was a blast, literally and figuratively and I would do it again for certain.

Hollywood Bowl's Professional Photo of the affair:

My low-res iPhone foto (still rad!):

<3 ANR

Damn Straight You Can Listen Greedy

Just as you can ride dirty, be pretty ugly and eat jumbo shrimp, you can be a greedy listener. It may not be a blaring oxymoron however one  generally conjoins Greed=Aggressive and Listener=Passive so there inlies the oxymoronic tendency. The reason this blog is called The Greedy Listener is because in my past life, I listened to music for a sense of identity, for my ego. I wanted to be the tits when it came to knowing new songs, bands and upcoming shows. I wanted to have every tee-shirt, seen ever big band "before they were big" and make you think I was really fucking awesome because of it. I hated when Target used a Starfucker song on there commercial way more than you did. One time I confused Pennywise for Millencollin in front of a boy I liked and I hid out for a week. I was a full-blown, ego-driven, self-serving music snob lacking a true identity and and sense of humility. Today that is different.
Trouble is, since I had a nice feeding on humble dookie pie, I lost my drive to uncover the best of the best new/current/forgotten bands and artists. I want some of that desire to come back. In all honesty, my yearning to blog about music was sparked today after reading an old Twitter post that read "Cribs at Bimbo's tonight with Jemina Pearl, fun fun." I then wished I had logged every show I had seen at that time in my life. I was wild, inebriated and even despicable at times but still there is something sad and sweet about this young girl and her tenacity to discover others' auditory achievements. I have empathy for her today.
For the woman in front of you now, (yes I am a 26 yr old woman. Does that ruin your image of a hip, bearded man in plaid? Sorry) an undeniable passion for sound vibrates inside her stomach. She cries at the end of Don McLean's "American Pie" and throughout Van Morrison's entire "Into the Mystic". She knows beauty as well as sadness (the 2 go together) and wants you to know that same bitter-sweet pit in your gut.
I love writing, I love music. And now that I am no longer a stay-at-home asshole, I can truly listen, assess and express. I want to give back to the music industry but also regain a touch of the "cool" tag as well. Hope I can be consistent and introduce you to something special that tells you more about who you are and helps you know you are alive. Because that's what music does for us, both in the making and in the enjoying.
-ANR