Sunday, October 31, 2010

Kris and Warren's Most Excellent Adventure!

"Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!"

My brother, Kris, and I had the time of our lives this weekend! Last night, we went to an incredible concert at the Sprint Center: Roger Waters - THE WALL Live Tour. And while that would have been enough in itself, the best part was getting to attend via "guest tickets" with backstage passes through the awesome courtesy of JON CARIN, keyboardist in the band!!!!!! Roger Waters understandably gets most of the press on this concert tour. However, I want THIS post to be a "Tribute Page" for JON!!

How did we manage such a cool opportunity? Well, it's part of a silver lining to an otherwise very challenging situation. Our Mom and Jon Carin's mother have been fighting a very rare form of cancer for some years. But they became friends through an online support network. Through that relationship came the generous gesture of "The Meeting of the Sons" at the concert.

Jon was an extremely nice guy, and we really enjoyed talking to him (both before the show and during intermission). Part of the fun was some "Jon Carin Fan Club" t-shirts we made to wear when we met Jon, just for a laugh. Some of the guys in the crew thought they all should wear them! (Not sure what Roger Waters would've thought about that!)

Time for some photos...
Above is one of the early moments after meeting Jon. He took us not only backstage, but ONSTAGE as well. I did not colorize the image of Jon and Kris...it was Kris having a hyperventilating "Pink Moment" (ok...maybe it was a light check...but who's to say?)! He's a huge Pink Floyd fan (a "Floyd Head", as he puts it) and has loved their music most of his life. So getting to see Roger Waters perform "The Wall" was a dream come true for him.

My turn for a photo op. Kris and I noticed later that Jon had a pen in his hand...guess he was just too shy to ask for our autographs. (Jon...we can mail them to you sometime!)

The drums and guitars, ready and waiting...Jon's keyboards...

Jon's view from on stage behind his keyboards...

Warren, Jon and Kris near the "hospitality area" (Thank you, security guard lady, for taking the photo!)

I won't try to relive all the details of the evening's events. Let me just say that it was a Visual and Auditory FEAST! Some of the most amazing stage production I've ever seen...modern computer technology making possible what could never have been achieved otherwise. The music was thunderously loud and technically perfect...all in all, an amazing experience!

Here are a few select images of Jon Carin performing (in the back). The quality of the photos are not wonderful, due to the "non-professional cameras" rules that apply there at the venue. So we could only get the shots with smaller cameras that weren't great in the dark environment. The two images on the right side show stages of the wall being constructed during the show. Sadly, we couldn't see Jon's face from where we sat. I'm not complaining, though...we had INCREDIBLE seats...center floor, 12 rows from the stage!!!

Jon, playing both keyboard and guitar. He's an incredibly versatile musician...plays mulitple instruments as well as sings.

The rest of these images are just a sampling of some of the amazing visuals we beheld. It was almost sensory overload...but so much FUN!

Finally, from Kris and I both...a tremendous "Thank You!" to Jon and Terry for making this adventure possible for us! We'll never forget it!!
UPDATE!!!
I have 28 photos of the concert I took that were posted on the Pink Floyd Fan Site "Brain Damage"(www.brain-damage.co.uk). If you want to see them, check out the link HERE. Scroll down the page near the bottom, and you'll see their write-up! Pretty cool!
If you want to just see their Facebook page...click HERE.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What fantastic shots.
The best I have seen anywhere.
And I was at the concert on Long Island October 13.

I'm fine now and your Mom will be too.
Terry

linsolomons said...

STUNNING PHOTOS!!!!
It looks like an evening right up your alley!!! Couldn't have happened to better brothers!!!

Anonymous said...

What a spectacle! I can't imagine! And the shots were absolutely out of this world! Gotta have one of those cameras.....just need the same impulses and talent to take the stupendous shots. I must have passed them all to you, as I don't have any left. Hate to give credit to PMP for anything good, but if it brought all of this about, I can almost say it was worth it! mom

Anonymous said...

glad you had so much fun Dad!!~J