Could you please pass the noise and kindly bring the funk?

Here’s what we heard:

Kodaly - Concerto for Orchestra
Strauss - Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major
Shastokovich - Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, Op. 70
Strauss - Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28

I liked the the Kodaly and the Shostakovich best, with the Shostakovich the clear, over all, winner.

To me the Strauss concerto had this feeling of, beginning of the 20th century European manifest destiny trip. I checked the dates and it could be so, the timing is right. This feeling as if before all the world wars, the new dawn was nigh. That was the most interesting part about it. I liked the Merry Pranks better.

But the Shostakovich so very clearly had this whole “I don’t take myself so seriously” thing going on that I loved. It made me wish I could have sat down with him and had a good chat about the sublime and ridiculous human race and the terrible beauty of life.

There was lots of string plucking in all the pieces and I really liked that sound. As well as the image of the bows bobbing in the air. I really liked string plucking against wistful flute.

The scene was weird, everyone checking everyone out. The appraising and measuring up and looking at shoes and jewelry. There were the super rich in the boxes and they were funny to watch.
One lady in a faded denim outfit was so bored and pissed while her husband was all head bobbin’ and chipper.
Then sitting behind them was the lady I ran into in the bathroom. A lacquered blonde helmet, bob. Crepey skin and the collagen injected lips that look like Jamie Foxx doing Wanda. The perfect beige outfit with the mohair sweater. She looked at me like I was some odd bug when I gave her the polite nod and smile.
Ah the Uber-riche, they have to pee too don’t they? I’m betting she was the one who spattered all over the floor of the stall next to me, which is what happens if you’re afraid to sit down.

I always find it ironic that the people who are terrified of the funk of life are usually the ones who end up creating a good portion of it.

Another example is the people who used to come into the store asking to have you pick up the meat for them and put it into a vegetable bag. If you are that afraid of your food, why are you eating it?

So anyway, I did find an interesting thing in terms of myself. I was subject to some real anxiety as I was sure I was going to fart, burp or blurt in some awful way at some awful moment. I also was terrified that I was going to knock my cell phone off of vibrate somehow by rummaging in my purse. I felt like I was going to leap up and shout or something. It was like when I go to NYC and get all crazy on the psychotic vibe there and want to do evil crime, only this was due to an opposite influence.

There was actually some risk of some episode happening. There was a piece that featured the french horn. They had the featured player standing up front, and he had to constantly empty the spit valves. Now you probably don’t know this about me but in the last ten years I have a spit issue. I first noticed it watching Beavis and Butthead, cartoon spit made me gag. Ever since then I can have a bad reaction to spit, even now just thinking about. So there was some question as to whether I would suddenly vomit. I solved it by checking out all the frescoes and ornamentation. But it certainly kept the human element right up front and took some of the sheeniness off the slightly pretentious overtones.

Ear worm radio this Am:
The Libby's vegetables jingle

(When it says Libby's, Libby's, Libby's
on the label, label, label
you will like it, like it , like it
on your table, table, table.
When it says Libby's, Libby's, Libby's
on the label, label, label)