Out With a Bang... Or Several...

This was technically a duty day... I woke up early at 0600 to phone in muster with the quarterdeck, and then was early to pick up my bravo duty driver phone at 0115 for the 0130 turnover. And I turned it in at 0630... I read in The Kite Runner for a couple hours, and otherwise rested. I was very tired.

That was because it was a very full day. First thing I did, I went to the library for nearly two hours. I first purchased a ticket to the symphony's outdoor summer pops Tchaikovsky concert that I found out about from an email they sent me. Then I took care of re-shelving the audio books and various dvds. I left at a quarter to one, the perfect amount of time to get macaroni salad, raspberries, and hot dogs & buns at Stump's Market, across the street, then arrive at the Witte's apartment just as the BBQ was to begin. We watched The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, relaxed at their complex's pool, ate magnificently (including hamburgers and ice cream), and watched Spaceballs too.

From there I went to Old Town to hop on a trolley for downtown. I didn't know exactly where at the Embarcadero Marina Park it would be held at, and I did take a wrong turn down the first little peninsula, instead of the second, behind the convention center. Sat down on my spot of lawn ten minuted before the concert was to begin.

It started with March Slave, then the Violin Concerto (which replaced the Piano Concerto that they planned, due to the pianist getting very sick). Their concertmaster volunteered to perform it, at the rehearsal six hours before the first performance (yesterday)! And he did extremely well. The conductor said the orchestra didn't have a chance to rehearse the piece before they played it that night!

During intermission I wandered around, taking a look at the 16 theatrical cannons they had on the other side of the audience (glad of that, they were very loud). And I found an isolated spot where I could watch the rest of the concert with an unobstructed view and away from the noisy children that accompanied their parents on the designated lawn. I also signed the guestbook for the giant flag travelling all 50 states before visiting the September 11th sites on that day.

The second half of the performance they played the Swan Lake Suite, ending with the famous waltz. People started clapping between movements after the third or fourth movement (out of the seven they played). But the grand finale! The 1812 Overture! Near the end, the guns boomed, the fireworks lit up the sky over the bay (right below the half-full moon), and a dozen members of the Navy Band Southwest marched in time onto the stage and uniformly raised their horns to support the big brass ending (this I did myself once -2005-2006, I think - while in the Husky Marching Band, we were invited by the Seattle Symphony to accompany the very same part). So much fun!

Jp