Yesterday, I managed to take part in one of those things that I thought I wouldn't enjoy, but enjoyed immensly.
I took my father to see the Alberta Centennial Tatoo. Now, I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. This wasn't some big sweaty guy with Alberta tatoos all over his body. "Tatoo" is also the term for a concert of military bands.
As you can imagine, this was made up of military bands from all over the province - and some from a federal level. It was military bands, so it was pretty much nothing but marching bands and pipe & drum music.
Now, it wasn't purely concert. They arranged a bit of a plot to go along with it. The plot revolved around a young Albertan named Albert, who joins the army and becomes a trombone player in a military band, and we follow the history of Alberta through his eyes and the wars.
There was only one part of the show where I laughed inappropriatly. When we reached the Korean War. After they did their stage show part, the band started playing. I recognized the main tune as being vaguely familiar. I just thought..."No. They're not going to play...?" And they did. For the Korean War, they played the theme from M*A*S*H. Don't get me wrong. If you've ever heard the lyrics, it actually is a very sad and poignant song. But, in that context...I giggled.
They managed to play quite a bit of movie themes. For example, when Albert first dons his uniform for His Majesty's Imperial Army for World War I they played...the Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme). The Modern Era kicked off with the Indiana Jones theme and the theme from Mission: Impossible. The grand finale was one of the greatest movie themes ever written, the theme from the Magnificent Seven, which sounds surprisingly good when played on bagpipes.
And, of course, the show ended with a mighty explosion and coloured streamers raining upon the crowd. I got hit with a big faceful of green streamers. The person sitting next to me turned to me and said, "Woah! You got hit good!" Yes, I was sitting next to the one and only Captain Obvious.
It was a wonderful show, and I had a lot of fun.
It was also cool being in Rexall Place again. (Formerly Skyreach Centre, formerly the Edmonton Coloseum, formerly Northlands Colosseum.) Since I don't really care for hockey and have never been to a concert, I never get to Rexall Place that much. I know it's just a hockey rink, but I find its size rather awe-inspiring.
I always dreamt that, someday, when I'm rich and famous, I'll buy a luxury box to see the Oilers. Not that I'm a hockey fan, but it just seems like the thing to do when you're rich.
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