Periphery kicked off. All through their set, I was wondering if they really needed three guitar players. The answer to that question is pretty simple, and let me explain it to you in a flowchart:

Flowchart: Do I need three guitar players in my band? (click to enlarge)
photo credits: IMG_4322 by Dr Chino CC-BY-NC-SA, and Iron Maiden en Costa Rica by adels CC-BY

Dream Theater was great. Lots of tracks from their latest album A Dramatic Turn of Events and still quite a lot of old stuff. To showcase new drummer Mike Mangini, he got to play a drumsolo. If he can do the same amount of hits per minute on a keyboard as on his drumset, he would be the best data typist. Still I could help but wonder whether drumsolos are necessary. Again, the pretty simple answer is best explained in a flowchart:

Flowchart: Should I play a drumsolo? (click to enlarge)
photo credit: Blue drum set by Frank Tellez CC-BY-NC-SA

Sorry, but I still think that instrumental wanking for no apparent reason is completely uncalled for.

Seen live: Dream Theater + Periphery on February 1st, 2012 at the IJsselhallen, Zwolle.
Setlist: Bridges in the Sky / 6:00 / Build Me Up, Break Me Down / Surrounded / The Root of All Evil / Mike Mangini drum solo / A Fortune in Lies / Outcry / The Silent Man / Beneath the Surface / On the Backs of Angels / War Inside My Head / The Test That Stumped Them All / The Spirit Carries On / Breaking All Illusions // Pull Me Under

En waarom mij dat niet verbaast? Marinus de Goederen kan nu eenmaal hele fijne liedjes schrijven. En die speelt hij niet onverdienstelijk. Zoals gisteren, in het Papenstraattheater in Zwolle, met hulp van Tim Coenen op piano. Ten opzichte van de eerste show van de tour, in Zoetermeer, was de setlijst ietwat gewijzigd (bijvoorbeeld geen "What the World Needs Now is a Killer Storm" maar wel "They've Shut Down Marks & Spencer", die ik nog niet eerder live gehoord had), waren er meer en langere verhalen bij de nummers (en na twee jaar nog steeds geen post-it's in dat boek over Jackie Kennedy), en een beetje acrobatiek danwel gestuntel met wegglijdende vloerkleedjes. Voor, in de pauze van en na de voorstelling heb ik nog gezellig met wat mensen staan babbelen, en tot slot heb ook nog een hip t-shirt met pornosteropdruk aan mijn collectie kunnen toevoegen. Puike toestanden allemaal.

Seen live: mr. a balladeer, "Save Your Drama for Your Mama", in het Papenstraattheater, Zwolle op 26 januari 2012.
Setlist: Herbst / Plan B / Rumor Had It / They've Shut Down Marks & Spencer / Noah / A Little Rain Has Never Hurt No One / Sirens / Oh, California / Superman Can't Move His Legs // More or Less the Sort of Shit Ex-Lovers Get Restraining Orders For / Why Hitler Loved His Dog / When a Heart's Been Broken / Mary Had a Secret / Nightmare on Elm Street / Where Are You, Bambi Woods? / 10 Things to Win You Over / Swim with Sam / Fortune Teller // Jolene (Dolly Parton cover)

It was especially annoying because that one song was the sole reason I bought that particular album years ago. I haven't had many CDs that malfunctioned, but when they do, it's usually on my favorite track on the disc, or the one most relevant to my interests. Anyway, to cut to the chase, today I tried ripping the CD at work with Exact Audio Copy—which is still the best ripper for Windows, hands down—and guess what: it worked. Flawlessly.

The song I'm talking about is "Happy Ending", from Yvonne Elliman's Food of Love album. It's the first song written by Jim Steinman that was commercially released.
Yvonne Elliman — Happy Ending

Taken from a German Limitierte Auflage 12″ single, this edit of doesn't cut out the Phil Rizzuto baseball Play-by-Play section entirely, it's just the instrumental with Jim Steinman doing some Lascivious Effects.
Paradise by the Dashboard Light (without Baseball Play-By-Play)

The 1973 "More Than You Deserve" single can be quite hard to find. I got lucky. Not only did I manage to acquire a copy of the regular version, some time later, I also obtained a promo copy. Last year, another copy showed up on eBay. The seller wanted a $2100 starting bid. I can't quite remember what I paid for mine, but it was nowhere near that.
More Than You deserve 1973 mono/stereo promo.

In 1989, Jim produced two songs on the soundtrack for Rude Awakening, a cover of Lovin' Spoonful's "Darling Be Home Soon" by Phoebe Snow, and the title track, performed by Bill Medley. According to Rick Rose, one of the writers of the song, Jim was brought in as the producer to the songs and he wrote the intro and worked with us on the bridge to the song. An edited version was released as a single, and well, here you go:
Bill Medley — Rude Awakening

2012-01-31: links expired.

And then, finally, last friday, I was sitting in a small theater, in a small town, somewhere up in the snowy, desolate wastes of Finland,* and the house lights went down and the music started. Nearly three hours later, I was pretty euphoric. It took some effort not to jump up and down going all, like, you know, ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod.

But that's par for the course. I've made similar trips to Hamburg, Vienna (twice), Budapest, Oberhausen and Antwerp to see Tanz der Vampire, and it's a pretty freaking awesome show, whichever way you turn it. This time I was told to be prepared for some changes. Not changes in the Broadway Dance of the Vampires-sense of the word, but changes due to the smaller size of the production. The sets are completely new, as is most, if not all, of the choreography. It's a completely fresh take.

Oh, and beware! Here there be spoilers and rambling.

As it turns out, most of these changes work out really well. The most noticeable changes in the characters are the way Rebecca and Koukol are portrayed. Rebecca (played by Leena Rousti) isn't the ugly old hag she usually is, and this changes her relationship with Chagal completely, and for the better. While she usually leaves me completely indifferent, now she seems a much more sympathetic character. Koukol (Antti Railio) also is played quite different. He was not his usual hunchbacked self, but reminded me of Danny de Vito in that one Batman movie. He gets to sing in Carpe Noctem, too. The role of Professor Abronsius, as played by Esa Ahonen, was different too, but that much. He wasn't the old, slightly incompetent academic-type, but he seems more confident. It suits him.

The first act stayed pretty close to previous incarnations of Tanz. Apart from the new interpretations of the characters, no drastic changes come to mind. The staging of some scenes is different—most noticable, Von Krolock (Jyri Lahtinen played him very well) doesn't come in through the auditorium for Jumala on kuollut/Got ist Tott—but that's fine with me. The only nit I have to pick is with Voimakkaampi meitä/Starker als wir Sind. In every version I've seen and heard, Krolock doubles Sarah's last line, as if to convince her to give in to temptation and leave her dreary gray life behind. That very part is always the part the gets me, as it's so increddibly powerful: there's all these voices praying for strength to overcome the dark powers, and then this big, booming voice comes it. I missed that.

The second act has always been my favorite one, this time it was truly excellent. The most noticeable change is doubtlessly the crypt scene. It's my least favorite section of the entire show, as it goes on for way too long, isn't particularly funny or touching: it seems to be there just to help the plot along. This time, it felt a lot shorter, and the set design was great—I mean, a crypt rising up from the orchestra pit, how awesome is that? We were sitting in row three, and I almost got the impression that we were going down instead of the stage coming up. Along with some other little touches, like Krolock and Herbert almost waking up when Alfred drops the hammer and stake, it's a much better section.

As I said, the choreography is (almost) completely new. The only case where it didn't work for me was in the finale. Any show should go out with a bang, and having just a few dancers with the rest of the cast rocking out on the side of the stage just doesn't deliver that. The final bows, with the entire cast on the edge of stage was nice though.

One of my favorite scenes was Kun kaikki pimenee/Totale Finsternis. It was staged simple but very powerful: Sarah (Raili Raitala) is center stage, and behind her, on the top of the stairs, we see Krolock watching her, enchanting her, luring her into his web. He stalks up and down, watching, waiting for the right moment to strike. She is entranced by him, daydreaming about the wonders he promises. Yet she never looks at him, until he is right next to her, ready to seal the pact with a deadly bite. That act almost breaks the trance, but then he calls her again, and as if by magic a door opens and together they disappear into the castle.

The biggest complaint is a minor one: for a musical about bloodsucking fiends of the night, there isn't nearly enough blood flowing. When Chagal bites Magda, they get away with it because of the lighting, but when Krolock finally sinks his fangs in Sarah's neck you'd figure she'd bleed. But she didn't have a drop on her.

Oh, what a wonderful bite. (© Ari Ijäs / Seinäjoen kaupunginteatterissa)

There's just two more actors that do need a mention: Ville Salonen was excellent as Alfred, and his Sarah'lle/Für Sarah was very pretty. And Jouko Enkelnotko's Herbert was, well, everything you'd expect a campy gay vampire to be. Quite good.

Walking out of friday's show I had to conclude that Dance of the Vampires Finland is an excellent adaptation that can rival any other version that I've seen. It was certainly worth the trip, and I'd love to see it again.

Luckily, the next day we got to see the matinee show before heading back to Helsinki. That performance was equally awesome. Furthermore, we were invited by Laura of Eclipsis to join a very informative and enjoyable backstage tour led by costume designer Leena Rintala. And thanks to her, I also got to be, as Dave keeps calling it, a star on Finnish television.*

The trips to see Tanz der Vampire are great ways to meet up with friends and like-minded people I haven't met before, they're great excuses to go and see new places, and as an added bonus, you get to see a great musical.

Now, if I could only find out what the deal is with these vampires in St. Petersburg. And since it's kinda in the neighborhood, it's tempting to swing by Seinäjoki again.

* This is a slight exaggeration, but probably better for the story.

Remember everything that I told you
And I'm telling you again that it's true:
You're never alone 'cause you can put on the phones
And let the drummer tell your heart what to do

Jim Steinman, Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through

It's still November first, so it's still Jim Steinman's birthday, so it's still appropriate to share this edit of The Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion" single from the cassette single. It's supposedly done by Jim.
⇒ The Sisters of Mercy — This Corrosion (Jim Steinman edit)

Also, I just came across this mp3 of Jim playing a bit of "Pray Lewd", from the Classic Albums: Bat Out of Hell DVD, and I hadn't heard it in a while, so what the heck.
⇒ Jim Steinman — Pray Lewd Improvisation

1. Dream Theater (77 plays)
2. Bløf (67)
3. Meat Loaf (51)
4. Eefje de Visser (42)
5. Daniël Lohues (41)
6. Claudia de Breij (39)
7. Porcupine Tree (37)
   Solo
   Roosbeef
10. Within Temptation (33)

Dream Theater has a new album out, A Dramatic Turn of Events, their first after the departure of Mike Portnoy. It's a pretty solid album, and they'll be playing in Zwolle on February 1st, 2012, and I'll be there.

One of my colleagues made me check out Eefje de Visser. She sings electro-pop songs in Dutch, and does so quite nicely. She's playing in Zwolle next week. And guess what, I'll be there too.

Finally, Roosbeef got a new album out too. It's called Omdat ik dat wil and you should check out the first single Twijfelaar. They'll be playing in Zwolle in three weeks time, but I kinda sorta have other plans.

Apart from my seat — there is no legroom on the first row of the balcony — it was a marvelous experience. Given that I was not at all familiar with this particular play, three hours seemed a little daunting. But exactly the main reason I went to see this particular play made it so rewarding: the integration of Tom Waits' music. Not that I'm at all familiar with his work, but the combination worked effortlessly. You see, Richard III is about obsession with power and descend into madness. And for that, Waits' songs, in all their sprawling chaos, is a great fit. Sure, the singing wasn't top notch, but then again, Tom Waits isn't a great singer. So the acting was great, the music was great, and visually it was sparse but effective. The stage ended up a grandiose mess. It was a great way to spend an evening.

Seen Live: Orkater, Richard III at Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam on August 16th, 2006

Last night I went to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (related item on the list — #70: see a concert in the Concertgebouw) where the Orkest van het Oosten performed Beethoven's choral symphony. And by the beard of Wodan, how epic was that? Well, imagine seeing something incredibly epic, triple that, add an additional dose of awesome and then you're halfway there.

And while I am so totally not downplaying the first three movement—they are completely awesome—how totally off the charts is it when in the fourth movement everything just stops, and a single voice implores you not to sing those tones, but rather something more joyous? And then, another voice starts Schiller's An die Freude, an ode to joy:

Freude, schöner Götterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligthum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Try stop whistling that. I dare you. I've got several parts of that stuck in my head, on repeat. There are worse things to have there.

This was such an excellent experience, that I might just need to do that again someday.

Incidentally, last night's concert was broadcasted live on Radio 4, and is available for streaming.

Seen Live:
Orkest van het Oosten, Consensus Vocalis, Jan Willem de Vriend (conductor), Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano), Annemarie Kremer (soprano), Wilke te Brummelstroete (alto), Marcel Reijans (tenor) and Geert Smits (bass) at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on July 19, 2011
Setlist:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, KV. 453
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

1. Solo (107 plays)
2. Boudewijn de Groot (103)
3. Bruce Springsteen (80)
4. Dream Theater (75)
5. Meat Loaf (72)
6. J Perkin (60)
7. The Beatles (59)
8. Tim Knol (56)
9. Jim Steinman (53)
10. Genesis (44)

On March 28 I went to see Solo in Theater Kikker. It was the first time I really listened to his/their stuff, and after listening to complimentary This is Solo compilation, I was hooked and I got all other releases asap. J Perkin (#6) is/was the alias of Solo mainman Michiel Flamman, who released one pretty fine album (Exhibit) under that name.

Since my sister insists that Boudewijn de Groot is probably the best thing that happened to Dutch music, since, well, ever*, I acquired his complete studio collection. Still haven't made way through all 12 CDs, but what I've heard I dig a lot. Especially the twenty-something minute acid trip that is "Heksen-sabbath" from Nacht en Ontij.

And finally, The Beatles. While I'm aware that a lot of people think that they are the single best thing that happened to music and I understand why they're so important, I never gave them much of a chance, since what I've heard of them on television and radio didn't excite me much. Since I could obtain a copy of their red and blue compilations for a decent price, I decided to give them a shot. Still, it isn't the awesomest music I've ever heard, but it's not as lame as I always thought it was. With the exception of "Obladie-Oblada" and the ending of "Hey Jude" of course.

* This is a slight exaggeration.