fine art
Last night the parents took me to see Art Garfunkel perform with the RPO. The average age of the crowd was close to sixty, (the same age as the artist.) I had expected the show to be slightly corny, but it was scarecly more upbeat than a soft-rock radio station, dripping in that melancholic sentimentality people gain when they finally begin realizing they're going to die. What's more, he brough out his wife, a very stiffler's mom-looking lady, and had her do a fairly horrible rendition of Lennon's Imagine. Art still has his strange and beautiful voice, though, and Bridge Over Troubled Water definitely evoked a shiver or two. Aside from a drum solo, however, it was far from most rockin' show I've ever seen.
The audience was the worst part, I guess. It seems that old people thoroughly enjoy clapping and giving standing ovations. I am all for showing a performer appreciation and respect, but there's no reason to applaud when he begins singing a song you know, or mentions the city you live in or person he used to perform with.
I'm just scared that in 30 years my (current) favorite artists will be relegated to playing sappy orchestra shows for binocular-toting women and their bald husbands who come to hear the song they loved half a lifetime ago and sleep through the rest of the concert...
</rant>