Me And Wynton

Thanks to Jayman the ticket guru, J-Mac and I are going to see Wynton Marsalis once again. He is the ticket guru because he has memberships at all the different venues in Toronto such as the Hummingbird Centre, Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.


For Marsalis' show in March of next year, he was able to get tickets before they went on sale to the general public, so we are talking sixth row centre. And if you know Massey Hall, sixth row centre is pretty darn close.

Here is the very good Itunes ad featuring Marsalis from 2005.


Two of my 10 favourite concerts of all time, would have to be the last two times that I saw Wynton Marsalis. The first of which was at the Hummingbird Centre. This was with his big band orchestra, Jazz At Lincoln Centre, of which Marsalis is the Musical Director.

What I love about jazz show's is the sponteniety of it all. And this show had plenty of it. One of the horn players, looked like British actor Richard E. Grant. And throughout the show I kept watching him because he was just so into it. If someone did something strange or different, you could tell right away because he would react to it. The look on his face during a piano solo that all the sudden broke into Bobby Darin's I'm Beginning To See The Light. Plus, they had this old saxaphone player. I mean, he looked so old that I thought they just had him on as a veteran presence, not that he really had the chops anymore. Well, I could not have been more wrong. About 3/4 through the show, he got his own solo. And it was really good. And you could see the rest of the band get ready to break in and finish the song, but even from our seats, we could hear Wynton yell, "No, let him play!". That solo went on for another three minutes and literally, it was one of the greatest things, I'd ever heard in my life.

About a year later, Jayman was able to arrange front row centre seats for the Marsalis family concert at Massey Hall. Literally, it was Wynton on trumpet, his father Ellis on piano, and brothers Branford (saxaphone), Delfeayo (trombone) and Jason (drums). I don't know if you have ever been to a concert in the front row, I have never but wow you almost feel like you are invading their space. You could hear them talking to each other. You can hear them make fun of each other. It might have been the coolest concert I have ever been a part of.

Top5 Favourite Concerts I have ever attended.
1. David Bowie, 1997 The Government
2. Bruce Springsteen, 2000 The Air Canada Centre
3. David Bowie, 1990 The SkyDome
4. Paul Simon, 1991 The SkyDome
5. The Marsalis Family, 2004 Massey Hall

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Believe it or not, the long delayed movie version of Wonder Woman has finally been cast. This has been going on since the early 90s when Sandra Bullock was first thought of for the role. It now looks to be going to Kate Beckinsale fresh from her success (??) from the two Underworld movies. Movies, as of yet, unseen by me.

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Also, and getting back to talking about tours, Steely Dan is clearly bored during their current tour. First they wrote a nasty letter to OwenWilson over starring in the movie You, Me And Dupree. They have now written a letter to Wes Anderson, director of the films Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Acquatic. Of the letters many issues with Anderson, the biggest is that his movies seem to be going downhill. My thoughts are that Steely Dan should stop writing letters and start figuring out a way for their current tour to come to Toronto. However, without Michael McDonald opening because if I hear to hear Ya Mo B There I am going to Yamo burn this place to the ground. (Yes, I like to quote lines from the 40 Year Old Virgin whenever appropriate).