fallback - part I: January - MAGfest and Video Games Live
Okey. The time has come for me to finally set things in order because I have been away from here far too long. Now that graduate school auditions are over, I’m back (for now) from the most excitement I’ve ever had squished into two and a half months of my life. This is a long recap - you are warned.
Where to start….
I suppose everything begins with [Select Start] (+guests)’s 13-hours-one-way roadtrip to perform at [MAGfest] in Alexandria, Virginia. Once a small festival that people only found out by word-of-mouth, MAGfest VI hosted well over a thousand people and was truly the most welcoming environment any video game cover group could imagine. Select Start performed to a huge crowd the Saturday night of the convention (reportedly the largest crowd of the entire weekend) and received unimaginably awesome responses from headbanging to chants to tears in the audience’s eyes.
Sales reached a record high, everyone lost everyone else at least twice, took random adventures in the Virginia area, and I spent way too much time in the jamspace, networking, and - according to others - hanging out with my dear friend [Mustin] (who, along with [Dale North], I was all too happy to be reunited with after [the trip I took] to perform with [The OneUps] last summer), and meeting the great people who make up such stellar bands as [The Advantage], [Armcannon], and [Temp Sound Solutions] as well as amazing composer/arranger [Jake 'virt' Kaufman], those from [OCRemix], and many, many others. Highlights include finally meeting my friend [Darryl 'Escushion' Fabia] who I had known solely online and through phones for many years, playing a piece with [This Place Is Haunted], the fire alarm (of course), and Mustin and [Kunal 'ktriton' Majmudar] joining us on one of our Secret of Mana tracks during the show to just, well, bring the house down. Not bad for a little classical video game cover group, eh?
One week later, I found myself in a 50-minute phone conversation with [Tommy Tallarico] (famed composer of such games as Earthworm Jim, Advent Rising, and Prince of Persia) planning and discussing the details for a guest performance as part of [Video Games Live] and answering emails from [Jack Wall] (famed composer of such games as Jade Empire, Myst, and Splinter Cell). One week after this, we found ourselves in the backstage of the entire Universal Studios boulevard, more specifically [Hard Rock Live Orlando], preparing to play for over two thousand people and meet one of the friendliest, professional, and fun groups to have ever worked with.
The entire experience of playing for Video Games Live was pure exhilaration by the time all the nervousness of meeting these big-time composers face-to-face wore off. The staff and crew were laid-back but professional (i.e. ridiculously cool) and there was not a single boring moment of the fourteen hour day. There are so many highlights from that one day (a full recap will be posted elsewhere soon), but three must receive particular attention:
After a solid sound check (except for problems with piano coming through monitors that was quickly fixed) and verbal run-through of the show with Tommy (and meeting Jack, [Martin Leung], and some really great staff and crew members), we were allowed to stay on the stage and watch the orchestra rehearse. Being classical musicians, before rehearsal officially began, John (cello) and I could not stop ourselves from taking interest in the orchestra’s music so we found the courage to approach the musicians of our respective instruments. Within seconds, I was running through licks from Metal Gear Solid with the concertmaster, helping him with tempoes (since he had never heard much of this music before), while John was getting cello tips from the extremely animated principal cellist.
We stood off to the side when rehearsal officially began and marveled at the beauty of some of the arrangements and the talent of the musicians to come together as a group so quickly. However, their sightreading of Kingdom Hearts, paired with the video montage Tommy had put together, brought three of the four Select Start girls (myself included) to tears by the end of the piece. In this moment, the stunning gorgeousness of Shimomura’s music, the novelty of hearing the music so close to us, watching the performers engaging in the music we personally loved so passionately, and the emotions of exclusivity slammed down on us pretty hard so even “super-manly” John, standing next to me, was shaken a little. Mrs. Wall, who was standing near us, noticed us crying and came over to give Kiki (violin), one of the biggest Kingdom Hearts devotees in the world and most noticeably teary of us, a warm hug while calling us “sweet.” Tommy walked by not too long after to poke fun before admitting that he himself gets a little teary watching the entire Kingdom Hearts segment.
Video Games Live is an event that no one should ever miss. Standing in the crowd and watching the music we so loved being showcased and appreciated as if The Beatles had been reunited was an unbelievable experience, never mind getting to be part of the show. The orchestra and chorus blew through the opening numbers so seamlessly that who would have ever guessed they had only seen the music hours before?
What happened next was a blessing and pure stroke of luck all rolled into one: We were scheduled to appear after the Space Invaders segment, but as soon as [Gerard K. Marino](!!!!) strolled out onstage after the God of War segment, David (guitar) suggested that we go backstage since Space Invaders was next on the program. Backstage, we are slowly unpacking our instruments, chatting with Marino, who had just walked offstage. Suddenly, [Becky 'Aktrez' Young] opens the backstage door and starts waving at us furiously to go onstage. Completely confused, we suddenly hear Tommy yell from the stage “…local group Select Start!” followed by cheers. Not knowing what else to do, we run onstage, all putting our instruments together, and there they were: two thousand people and us - 85% mentally unprepared for one of the biggest moments of our lives.
So we just do what we do best and start playing. When the nervousness wore off, we found ourselves in the usual groove and after that, things were nothing short of fun. Plus, Kiki rocked everyone’s face off as we’d never even seen her do. Later, Jack reveals that he was attempting to stop Tommy’s mistake but just gave up in the end - a defeat visible in the video graciously taken by David’s’ girlfriend. Everyone has a good laugh over the mistake post-show.
After the end of a show which cannot be done justice in words alone, Select Start was invited to join the entire Video Games Live crew and guest artists for at least one hour of signing various articles of merchandise. The night finally ended around midnight with suggestions of post-show celebrations, but most people from VGL and Select Start were too tired or had early flights out in the morning (VGL’s next stop was St. Louis…I think…) so I don’t think many ended up going. I myself was on my way to Seattle in the morning to audition for the University of Washington.
And what would you know - on my flight to Dulles (transfer to Seattle), Tommy and I shared the same row on the airplane, but opposite sides of the plane. We exchanged greetings, jokes, and both fell asleep pretty much as soon as the plane took off.
My personal photos from MAGFest are available [here]. Photos from Video Games Live and the Seattle journey/Play! (coming up next) are [here]. Video of our Video Games Live performance can be viewed [here]. Videos from MAGfest are available somewhere on YouTube…
March 13 2008 | games and music and travels | No Comments »
