Mad Dog Baroque

I just went to hear Piers Adams play a bunch of baroque recorder sonatas with the Irish Chamber Orchestra. I sat waayyy back in the nosebleed seats which were 1/3 of the regular price, and it turns out that the sound at the back of the hall was fantastic. If you have not heard of this guy, he is, if you can believe it, the Bad Boy of baroque recorder. His promotional materials shows him in dark hyper-hip sunglasses holding a trio of recorders on the shoulder of his open fronted black silk shirt. The baroque is now officially Hot.

The costume of the Irish Chamber Orchestra for the gentlemen is the frock coat. They really looked quite good! The women wore the usual black dresses, but one second violinist was wearing a sparkly hip black chemise top that looked like she might go clubbing after the concert. Mr. Adams was also a frock coated dude, but it was a Bad Boy frock coat. No, really. He came out on stage to play the first four sonatas on a treble recorder wearing a black velvet frock coat with leather pockets, collar and cuffs. The leather had brass rivets in it. He was wearing a white collarless silk shirt with a purple sash tied low slung across his hips. And he was wearing leather pants. He jumped and grooved while he played, and he played those recorders like the hounds of hell were after him. I swear, if you have not heard this guy play, find his Vivaldi CD: it is jaw dropping virtuosity. And, with the costume and the incredible skill, he was also a funny show-guy. He introduced the descant recorder as "the angry stick feared by parents the world over." He also commented, "Some people say Vivaldi wrote 400 sonatas, but they maintain it was really just the same sonata 400 times. That's not really fair. I have selected four that I hope will show you that there were at least four different ones."

The other two concerts I have attended so far have been Irish rock bands a la U2. I went with the anthropological intention of finding out what Young People These Days are really crazy about, and these two bands had tremendous hype and anticipation. One was called the Blizzards which played to a sold out crowed of skimpily dressed students, and the other was a more soulful and yet just as loud band called Director. They were carding people at the door, but they did not ask me for ID. Jeez: I wonder why? ;-) I guess wrinkles are good for something as I did not have any ID on me. They also frisked everyone for knives. Good think I left my knife at home with my ID! I cannot comment on the music of these two bands as they appeared to contain the same four chords with the same backbeat, but presented in slightly different orders. None of the guitar players had any real technique to speak of, and it seemed like it was really just about the beat. However, the dancing of the crowd seemed to limit itself to hopping up and down with one hand in the air. Nevertheless, the student paper reported both concerts to be wild successes highly praised by all. I thought the most interesting praise was from a young man quoted in the paper in reference to the lead singer of The Blizzards, "If there were a reason to turn gay, it would be for him."