What about the show? Well, it was good. Damn good, really. First we had to wait a minute, until the stage had sufficient fog. But then they took to the stage, James Allan with a thick, white, glowing mic cable, like something out of Bladerunner.
Robert Plant is an interesting choice for the Ravinia Festival. On the one hand, he and his bandmates Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones defined behemoth self-indulgent rock in the ‘70s as Led Zeppelin. However, he’s now surrounded himself with massive names in country, folk and bluegrass and creates music that is, if not calm, complacent.
Ravinia is the perfect venue for Wynton Marsalis, who has concentrated his career on education and outreach almost as much as on music. Jazz at Lincoln Center has a year-round education & outreach program, geared towards giving children opportunities they would not otherwise have.
And then there’s the music. The music is simple. I mean, like, really simple. Almost everything is I-IV-V. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that singer/rhythm guitar player Justin Young only knew the chords C, F, and G, and just moved a capo around to change keys. But you’d be wrong. Because that’s the point. Oh, Justin Young knows plenty of other chords, he just chooses not to utilize them – because those are the only chords he needs.
This material could be really vital, really brutal, heart wrenching stuff. But instead it’s just entertainment. It doesn’t really grapple with the issues, you don’t leave the theater thinking about how our school systems need to be changed, updated, for the times.
Review by Peter Oyloe Late Summer evenings are some of those most special of things, the air giving up the humidity of the season and in return floating your memories of the last few months across your minds eye in a cooling breeze that comes with the lengthening of the evening. It is a time … Read more
Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stooky returned to Ravinia to pay tribute to Mary Travers who passed on September 16, 2010 at age 72.