Political correctness is a disease that has a stranglehold on this country. That’s why I go to see Bill Handel’s live show…it’s politically incorrect and hilarious. Where else can you watch James Brown sing “I Feel Dead”, Michael Vick sing “Dead Puppies” and Kim Jong Il Yung sing “How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?” Just like the manatees who write Family Guy, if one thing isn’t funny, nothing is funny.

A Salute to John Williams – featuring tons of movies you never heard of! Featuring the 501st Legion! Notice the incredibly tall Imperial Fighter. I admire these guys….

March from Superman
This piece reminded me of how disappointed I was with Sky Captain…that main theme was so reminiscent of Superman and yet the movie let me down so much….

Harry Potter
The Sorcerer’s Stone (actually The Face of Voldemort)
Harry’s Wondrous World

Sayuri’s Theme from Memoirs of a Geisha
featuring dancers from Wakahisa-Kai

Jim’s New Life from Empire of the Sun

If We Were in Love from Yes, Giorgio
The film was a bomb featuring Luciano Pavarotti. Williams didn’t write the entire score, just this beautiful piece for the ballooning scene. The conductor regaled us with a tale about how after the film came out, there was a cartoon where a suspicious looking man who was on a pay phone saying unless he gets a lot of money, he was going to release a bomb, and he was holding the film canister with Yes, Giorgio in it.

Far and Away Suite
A Ron Howard movie that I never heard about with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The music really demonstrated Williams’ ability to adapt cultural identities into his works.

Star Wars [NOT LISTED IN PROGRAM]
Conductor announces that he can’t find the music and it’s REALLY hard to conduct this piece without the music. R2-D2 comes on stage with the music. Conductor asks him if there’s anything he’d like to say while he’s on stage. R2 beeps and the conductor interprets that as “Who are you going to vote for?” Then they play the main theme from Episode 4 – segueing into the rebel blockade runner theme and then segueing back to the end of the credits.

March from 1941

Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Happy Birthday (Variations)
That’s right….John Williams varied the Happy Birthday song. According to the program notes by Peter Laki, Williams “composed a set of dazzling orchestral variations…for three three of his famous musician friends: Yo-Yo Man, Seiji Ozawa and Itzhak Perlman” (the program). The conductor also told us the history of the birthday song (checks out with Wikipedia and I don’t feel like detailing, so click it 😉 which was enjoyable.

Hook
The Face of Pan
Flight to Neverland

Jurassic Park
The conductor gave this large introduction to how enjoyable and wonderful Peter Pan is (also that they were playing The Face of Pan direct from John William’s personal library) and then tags on that they’ll also be playing the theme from Jurassic Park. What, there are dinosaurs in Neverland now?

Adventures on Earth from E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark [NOT LISTED IN THE PROGRAM]
Firework show included.

All in all, a very enjoyable evening.