30 Second Spots - The Cross Is So Frickin' Cool

click here to hear The Cross Is So Frickin' Cool

Pasadena has a number of seminaries. Sitting near me in Starbucks one day were three young college students, 1 male & 2 female. They were obviously cramming for an important exam on matters of high doctrine and biblical accuracy.

I could only hear what the guy was saying. Words like "Israel" and "Jews" kept appearing. Eventually he said the title of this piece exactly as it appears here. The girls didn't react.

Of course, when he said "Frickin'" I heard it as a transparent substitution for the word "Fuckin'" - and so did you - unless maybe you're a seminary student. It seems to me that the line "The cross is so fuckin' cool" is a rather unique combination of unreasoning dogma and heretical blasphemy. Rare in someone so young.

Copyright © June 16 & 19, 2006 by David Ocker - 64 seconds

Explanation of 30 second spots

Music Video for today - heretical blasphemy for believers in Mozart. Click here to hear someone named Gilles Apap play a cadenza to a Mozart violin concerto.

His cadenza would make an amazing ENCORE piece - but as a cadenza in the middle of Mozart concerto it's like beaming into a different universe, showing off a few tricks, getting a few laughs - and then beaming back home to finish up with boring reality. All that stuff has precious little to do with the music in the actual concerto - unless maybe there are blues and raga passages in some Mozart concerto I've yet to hear.

But the guy sure can show off.

I also wonder why orchestra musicians must wear formal "vestments" when the soloists dress for a renaissance fair.

In his own defense. What Gilles Apap says about this video:

Another free movie if you can get it is called "Gilles Plays Mozart Third Violin Concerto with a little cadenza that will free your mind and will help you unlock your deepest inner emotions by taking you on a journey of transcendence with the help of Polish friends.

The Man Hisself: Click here for Gilles Apap's Home Page

Previous Mixed Meters Posts:
Mozart Becomes a Religion or
A Video Mashup of Crucifixion Scenes
Smart & Dumb Comments About Mozart

Thanks to Alex Ross' blog "The Rest is Noise" for the Apap video link. Thanks to my friend Roger Lebow for sending me Gilles' homepage.

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