OCYSO December 5th

I am pleased to announce that on December 5th, at 4:00, I will be performing with the OCYSO Orchestra at Chapman University.

The songs we will be playing are very challenging, and fun…and of special interest to those who like the more orchestral offerings of artists like Baxter and Esquivel.

First up is George Gershwin’s “American in Paris”. A fun song with many twists and turns which is really swanky sounding…like something you would hear in your head walking around a 40’s/50’s era Hollywood studio back lot. Very much space age classical! In fact, it sounds like something Danny Elfman would have written!

Next up will be Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”, obviously written by a foreigner, but about our great nation. Dvorak was convinced that African American and Native American music were the wave of the future. Prophetically, he was right about the first but wrong about the second!

In this day and age, when youth culture is in the decline, it gives people very little hope for the future. Everywhere you see this obsession with baggy pants, NBA and hip hop. Every other kid is a sullen, inarticulate waste of space, it seems, incapable of really amounting to anything except a rap star or drug dealer, or perhaps a reality TV star……it’s the decline of Western Civilization…happening right before your eyes!

Often I feel great despair when I imagine the kids these days, and then remember the conversations me and my friends in High School had…even those kids associated with Punk and hard rock seemed to have thoughts and feelings and questions about their very existence. The current generation? Not so much, it seems.

It’s an idiocracy out there, just like in the movie of the same name.

Then, you meet kids like the ones in the OCYSO. These are the good ones. High school and college kids who work their asses off to gain a position in one of the nations premier pre-professional orchestras!

The audition process is daunting. The commitment extreme. This orchestra is not just preparing young players to be in a professional orchestra later on. It is preparing them for life itself!

Weekly 3 hour rehearsals. Monthly day long workshops. Camps. Retreats. It’s a total immersion in the world of classical music. These kids are expected to maintain a scholarly and professional attitude at all times. Being late for a rehearsal has consequences. Consequences! How rare is THAT these days!

The Orchestra is supported by the “friends of OCYSO”, a charitable tax deductable organization that is worth it, if you are looking for something to contribute to! This is really an investment in the future, if you ask me!

Unfortunately, some seasons they can’t fill all the positions…so they have to bring in “ringers” like myself to fill crucial slots. That’s why I am involved. But the funny thing is, I am also having to work my ass off to keep up! This is no amateur school orchestra. These kids are the cream of the crop, the best of the best. Kids that are not out there doing drugs, running amok or being truant…there are kids that are getting high grades, practice their instruments every chance they get…and can speak in complete sentences!

Close your eyes and you won’t be able to tell that these are young people when they play. I am proud of them!

The concert will be at Chapman University, a private, old fashioned college in old town Orange. This campus is prestigious, and AWESOME looking! They have filmed quite a few movies here. Walking around this beautiful campus reminds me of the movie “animal house” and the fictional Faber college…though this one is the real deal! The performance takes place in Memorial Hall.

If you miss this one, there will be one at the end of the season at the Orange County Performing arts center, Segerstrom Hall.

Again, if you are looking for a great cause to support, this would be a good one! I hope to see some Tiki central people coming over to the dark side and checking out what will be a great classical music performance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otwCrhZ2JLQ

[ Edited by: Lucas Vigor 2010-10-19 07:50 ]

Shoot, after all of that I forgot to post here!

Anyway, it was really fun....and we did really well.

Here is me with one of the other bassists, all dolled up!

Glad to see that your musical skills are not only used to provide a swingin' time at our favorite tiki hotspot but to also help enlighten and inspire todays youth.

Thank you, King. Yes, I agree completely! It's well worth the time..these kids are great!!.and I myself am actually learning a lot of good stuff (I was never in an orchestra before, so it's new to me!)

Aw Lucas!
Wish i would've known about this!
Chapman U is only about 2 miles from the studio!
Could've heard my boy in action.....

The youtube. Not the best sound quality, and I am totally hidden behind a cellist...you can see my head peep out at about 2:28, and again at 7:23 (I am turning pages)......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPzLWmtgAWI

Not too bad for a guy with no social life (according to the kool kids, that is!)

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2010-12-11 15:55 ]

Good on you. Hip song list, too.

'Hope you had gobs of fun doing it.