Well, the screening was simply extraordinary.
It was all for the Holywood Arts benefit. What these people do is provide a place and material for young adults who are homeless etc to study arts. Music, graphics etc. Steve is on the board of directors. During the introduction there was a student who told his life story and how this oppertunity basically saved him from living on the streets. The founder of Holywood Arts was there as well and talked a bit about it.
After introductions the evening continued with a small animation flick, starring Vai as the guitar and Ann Marie Calhoun as Violin. It's an animated story about a guitar in a music store falling in love with the violin. It's really funny and very clever done. I hope it will be viewable online somewhere, or at least available. It's short though, 5 minutes I think.
Then the DVD, blue ray version started. It's long, but it really goes by fast. Highlights on the DVD for me are:
1. Now we run (because it's really intense)
2. Oooo (because I just love that song)
3. Building the church. (The end improv is pure musical genius).
4 Tender Surrender ( I just love that one as well).
5 Die to live (I love this song so much)
6 Apples in Paradise (A duet of Ann Marie and Alex. This is taking a Vai dvd to a whole set of new levels. The virtuosity of these two violinists is amazing and it fits so well in this show)
7 All About Eve ( this might even be my favorite of the whole dvd.)
8 Actually I really like the whole accoustic set, including Jeremy's drum solo: Angel Food is such an amazing track and Jeremy is such an amazing drummer. Really refreshing drum solo and I just enjoy watching him hitting the living shit out of his kit, beating it to a pulp.
9 The Murder. I have to add this to the list. I think it's unique and entertaining. It certainly represents a lot of time and effort. It looks really cool - although some of the gfx effects look exactly like what they are: plug-in presets. Which is like using factory presets in a well known synthesizer: recognizable to the people who know it. Fincal Cut Pro is an excellent edit suite, but it (and Motion) isn't really up to par yet for special effects the way Adobe After Effects is (imho). And then again AE really starts taking off when you add a few key plugins from the Trapcode plugin sets. ($$$$$). Anyway, to the avarage viewer this isn't noticable, so. And in the end it looks really cool so it's a favorite.
10 Juice (just a cool fun track)
11 Whispering a prayer (the best rendition remains the one on the Astoria for me, but this one is also extremely good)
12 Taurus Bulba (what an amazing track!! And it really showcases the musicianship).
13 FTLOG (it's unique in it's execution. Really refreshingly done with Ann Marie and Alex. However, and I know most people will disagree, I hope that the next release will be FTLOG-less. I realise it's sort of the Steve Vai Anthem, but there's so much more in his catalog
)
In the end the DVD is everything and you more you can expect from Steve Vai. And yet again he managed to raise the bar.
I have to add that the title work, intro graphics, album artwork done by Mikey are an excellent example of what he is capable off. It's pure excellence.
Anyway, back to the evening: it was fun to hang out with a bunch of forum members here.
A very memorable evening, excellent music, cool people
The silent auction seemed a huge success so, way to go!
Well done, Steve. Now it's up to you to beat this one.
Jeroen
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lol nice pic guys!!!
