Trish's Escape from Hardware Hell


Upgrade your RAM with the Memory Selector
Select your system and press go!     

 

My COMDEX Review..."Blue Man Group; Live at Luxor"

Ok, so, COMDEX 2000 is over and the onslaught of reviews, predictions, gadgets this, wireless that and so on have hit the web. Now, that is all fine and I certainly found some great reading, but I have a slightly different subject to share.

Last year was my first COMDEX and what a buzz! I felt it was something I just had to experience and I was right. When you get that many techies in the same town, there is an incredible buzz in the air that really gets you going. Other than the killer MaximumPC party at Hard Rock, by the end of the day, your feet have kicked you in the butt and you are lucky to just reach the shower, much less hit the town. This year was going to be different. After all, I wasn't there for business purposes since hardware is just a hobby for me and you can just about bet, most all COMDEX vendors don't need a Web Developer. If they do not already have a website, they probably have some fly by night scheme up their sleeve anyway. This year I was going to get out on the town a little...

Blue Man Group; Live at Luxor
"Blue Man Group: Live at Luxor"


Meanwhile, while everyone is writing reviews and so on of all the latest hardware, I would like to share my experience with the Blue Man Group Live at Luxor. From an entertainment perspective, this show was worth every bit as much mention as any new product at COMDEX. The only problem is how to put it into words. Definitely not your usual Vegas type show.


The fun starts before the show even starts with the audience reciting overhead scrolling messages and funky greetings. Before you know it, everyone is reading in unison and ready for the audience participation ahead, which was a big part of the show.

Three creative and artistic minded men with futuristic looking bald, blue heads splatter paint and use every imaginable prop in this off-the-wall and highly percussive show. They have no preconceptions or fears and resemble small children; curious, playing with their food, making messes and experiencing things for the very first time. Only the results are abstract art, unforgettable music, special effects, unadulterated humor and a show unlike anything you've seen before. The three blue men never speak a word, but the show is far from quiet.

The show opens with a backlit silhouette style heavy percussion number, The drum rhythms and beats are very powerful and get your full attention on the 1.5 million dollar sound system. With the tribal like music, special effects and lights, it reminded me of Pink Floyd; The Wall, only from naïve, exploring and fearless minds, not drugged out and paranoid. However, don't be surprised if you feel like you're on a pretty darn good trip. The music was inventive and original with instruments consisting of drums, PVC tubes, airpoles, strings and more. You can read more (and listen to sample effects) about their uniquely created music here.

It seems obvious that they like to play with their food. They get quite the little jam going by munching on Captain Crunch cereal.   A display of their off beat comedy was a skit eating Twinkies, which included a reluctant member of the audience. The blind participation of the volunteer would keep this an ever-changing skit and pretty darn funny. Now, one's first thought might be, "this person was planted in the audience." Not true. This girl was so completely wasted! 

The art creation methods were uniquely entertaining to say the least. There was a lot of paint flying around including pouring different colors of fluorescent paint on top of three tall drums, heavy drum play and holding the canvas in the air to accept the medium.   Then there was another audience volunteer that was taken backstage, (cameras and big screen show what's going on back there) he was suited up in heavy duty coveralls, drenched in multi-colors of paint, hung upside down by his ankles and swung into a huge canvas a few times. It was quite a piece of art.

One scene involved a series of messages printed on three different sets of HUGE flash cards that will have you reading faster than you ever have, (you are only supposed to be reading one set) and ends with the audience singing Jefferson Airplane's "Go Ask Alice." If you're claustrophobic, be warned, the entire audience was draped with intertwined crete paper as the three string it across every aisle. Being intertwined, there was no escape.   

This only scratches the surface of this show and the stimulation of the senses that are aroused. If you happen to be in Vegas, you would not regret this show that words can not describe. Be forewarned, it is a good idea to be on time. Let's just say, the latecomers became part of the show, not to mention, you wouldn't want to miss a minute. You can read more about the Blue Man Group at their official website.

A few other interesting clips:

TV Show - Great act about vision (what you see) 

Tubes in Action incl. the band 

 

Special thanks to Denny Burzynski for insisting we go!


HOME APPLE / MACINTOSH ARTICLES BUILD / UPGRADE
CDROM / AUDIO COMPANY CONTACT CPU / CHIPSETS DOWNLOAD
DRIVERS DISCUSSION EXTRAS FULL INFO SITES
HARD DRIVES HELP FORUM JUMPER SETTINGS MEMORY
MISCELLANEOUS MODEMS / SERIAL PORTS MONITORS / GRAPHICS MOTHERBOARD / BIOS
NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS OPTIMIZE PORTABLES
PRINTERS / SCANNERS PS/2 - OS/2 PUBLICATIONS SCSI
WEEKLY TWEAKS ADD LINK AWARDS CONTACT
GUESTBOOK MISSING CHILDREN MY LINKS WEB DESIGN

Deleting Temporary Files Painlessly

SEARCH hardwarehell.com


    search tips

Search Help Forum

Updated 07/06/04

© 2004 Trish's Escape from Hardware Hell -- Privacy Statement
A NetSavy Site