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John Williams on PBS's Capitol Fourth


Doo_liss

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"Eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno will host a tribute to Team USA, honoring the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams, featuring five-time Academy Award-winner John Williams conducting his "Olympic Fanfare." Broadcast live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, A CAPITOL FOURTH will air live in HD on PBS Wednesday, July 4, 2012 from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. ET"

http://www.prnewswir...-161080405.html

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I have a bookmark for General Discussion and Other topics. And I check the main page about once a week

Show started. this is soooo boring. I hope they put JW soon so I can change the channel

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Well I for one am glad Faleel gave a heads up for the many of us who may have missed that or simply forgotten.

Thanks Faleel!

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I remember those huge trumpets from a few years ago and someone made a flub in the piece. I hope it goes well this time

Hey somehow the bridge theme and the trumpets sounds different than usual

Perfect performance !!! And I think JW looked great

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Well I for one am glad Faleel gave a heads up for the many of us who may have missed that or simply forgotten.

Thanks Faleel!

Shouldn't you have thanked him first instead of directly belittling this site's main page?

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Well I for one am glad Faleel gave a heads up for the many of us who may have missed that or simply forgotten.

Thanks Faleel!

Shouldn't you have thanked him first instead of directly belittling this site's main page?

Hmmm?

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I forgot to DVR this. I was going to actually attend but I didn't plan well enough in advance and realized I wouldn't have enough time to get back for work tomorrow.

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The mic-ing/mixing was awful.. you could barely hear the orchestra's trumpets. Especially evident during the Liberty Fanfare and the West Side Story excerpt. It was only fixed in time for the 1812 Overture.

Also the local station (WETK - Vermont Public Television) interrupted the show 5 times for weather alerts due to a thunderstorm, including during Stars and Stripes.

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The Capital Fourth is always a good show. Respectful of the arts, without resorting to abominations like Katy Perry as a headliner like it was for the Macy's celebration.

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I agree about Katy Perry although I was HIGHLY disappointed by the Boston Pops show. Why the hell would they be playing Coldplay and other pop music during the fireworks when they have the Boston Pops?! Not to mention I have no idea what Coldplay and the other songs have to do with America or our freedom...

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I agree about Katy Perry although I was HIGHLY disappointed by the Boston Pops show. Why the hell would they be playing Coldplay and other pop music during the fireworks when they have the Boston Pops?! Not to mention I have no idea what Coldplay and the other songs have to do with America or our freedom...

We didn't even watch the Macy's. When I saw the titles flash across with her name, we immediately stopped it and switched back the Capital show.

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Actually the Boston concert starts at 8:00 or 8:30 and the entire thing gets broadcast locally on WBZ. The national CBS network only joins in for the end of the 1812 Overture, a headliner song, the patriotic sing-along, another song, and The Stars and Stripes Forever. The concert officially ends with this last piece (as they've been playing for over 2 hours) and the fireworks are set to a pre-recorded playlist as the place empties out.

Also they never admit that it's not the "real" Boston Pops (made up of BSO players) but rather the Boston Pops ESPLANADE Orchestra (freelance).

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The mic-ing/mixing was awful.. you could barely hear the orchestra's trumpets. Especially evident during the Liberty Fanfare and the West Side Story excerpt. It was only fixed in time for the 1812 Overture.

Also the local station (WETK - Vermont Public Television) interrupted the show 5 times for weather alerts due to a thunderstorm, including during Stars and Stripes.

it's really crappy when they do that. Do people really need to be warned about these things in the middle of a TV show?

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Was the West Side Story/Liberty Fanfare bits worth watching? I DVRed it and skipped to JW's contribution without watching anything else.

I thought it was good, except for a few instance when the low brass was very clearly out of sync with the rest of the orchestra. Usually they rushed the downbeat. Also the cymbal player was early on the last cymbal crash. JW looked great, it was awesome to see him conducting in Washington DC.

I agree about Katy Perry although I was HIGHLY disappointed by the Boston Pops show. Why the hell would they be playing Coldplay and other pop music during the fireworks when they have the Boston Pops?!

The Boston Pops are known for...pop hits. Their concert music is usually light and accessible, and they frequently record/perform pop songs, either instrumental versions or with singers. That is nothing new.

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Host introducing JW as the best american composer

Fair enough. Hans Zimmer is German.

~*~

At any rate, celebrating the Fourth of July is silly without also celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. We didn't win our independence on July 4, 1776 -- it's the day we signed a piece of paper that thumbed our collective colonial noses at the Crown. We're just lucky we had French help to win the war, or the Fourth of July would be known in England as the day they got to hang a whole bunch of traitors.

It's the difference between the day you tell your parents that you're moving out, and the day you take the last piece of junk out of their basement and (maybe) hand in your house key. It's all about perspective, but one is more effective than the other.

"Fourthajuly" is more catchy than "Thirdaseptember," which already has its own summer's end holiday in Labor Day. We do need that mid-summer holiday of July 4.

Just sayin'.

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Host introducing JW as the best american composer

Fair enough. Hans Zimmer is German.

~*~

At any rate, celebrating the Fourth of July is silly without also celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. We didn't win our independence on July 4, 1776 -- it's the day we signed a piece of paper that thumbed our collective colonial noses at the Crown. We're just lucky we had French help to win the war, or the Fourth of July would be known in England as the day they got to hang a whole bunch of traitors.

Actually, the Declaration of Independence was ratified on July 2nd, signed on August 2nd (although it took a few extra days to get all the delegates' signatures).

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...because we know Wojo's posts are always addressing the substance of a post, and never the peripheral information.

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Jesus, I was pointing out an interesting piece of information that is commonly mistaken. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

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Yeah, thanks, missed one.

Regardless of the forum front page -- I don't do dialup when I'm at my family's -- I wish I would have remembered that JW was on TV, because my family and I decided that due to an absolutely terrible thunderstorm we endured -- high winds, torrential rain, and quarter (25 cent)-sized pieces of hail, how we escaped tornadoes, only Jeebus Nose -- we would not drive the fifteen miles to the nearest "city" to watch the local symphony perform patriotic pieces (plus 1812) and fireworks. We figured the world was ending there, too -- but it didn't, the show went on without Hitch. So we stayed in and watched The Muppets, which was good, but not really patriotic.

I'll feel more patriotic on September 3rd, c'est vou'plait.

I'll feel more patriotic on September 3rd, c'est vou'plait.

It's "s'il vous plait" ;)

Why yes. Yes it is. French plus 12:20 AM equals dib-dib-dib-dib-dib... (flicking lower lip with index finger repeatedly)

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I'll feel more patriotic on September 3rd, c'est vou'plait.

It's "s'il vous plait" ;)

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Did anyone notice the awkward green screening of the maestro against the Capitol on the monitors? Seriously...this is 2012.

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