This entire year I have listened to people talk and read on Facebook about all kinds of concerts and just how great they were or how great they are going to be. The Beyonce concert, Bruno Mars, Jason Boland, and how no one can wait until Mumford and Sons comes into town. And let me just say that I believe that all those concerts were great, and the performances were probably fantastic. But last Saturday I went to a concert and it was more than anything I could ever imagine. It was transcendent. I got the pleasure of going to see the great John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic play with none other than Mr. Cooper Hagedorn.
Some of you may not know who that is so let me enlighten you. He is probably the greatest living film composer, and for that matter just the greatest film composer period. With such films as Jaws,Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., Superman, Hook, War Horse, Lincoln, and so many more. To say the man is a musical genius is just an understatement. And I got to sit in a stadium with thousands of people and watch and listen to him preform. When I die and I'm up in heaven kicking it with Jesus talking about the many mysteries of life, like how he did it with boobs and just how great they are, I know that I will be listening the the many wonderful scores of John Williams.
Now that I'm thinking back on it all the day feels kind of like a blur from the cook out, to the pool party, and then the concert. It was such an amazing day all around and I was just the perfect amount of drunk by the time we got to the concert and it will be a memory that I hold in my heart for as long as I am alive.
In the first half of the show he played the score from The Pink Panther. I know that you all know that tune and when it started up tears streamed down my face, because I was instantly transformed back to my childhood sitting in the living room on a boring Sunday playing with my Ninja Turtles on the floor while my dad cracks up laughing watching The Pink Panther on A&E. And that is exactly what the night became. Me being transported back in time to all these beautiful moments that I had just assumed were gone forever. And I realize now that those moments will never be lost. I know that I will eventually get older, or at least I hope that's the case. And as bad as my memory is now I'm sure I'll have some sort of dementia or worse, but I know I'll never lose those memories. Not as long as I can turn on some John Williams.
In the second half of the concert he played selections from Indiana Jones and of course Star Wars, and what do you know I was in tears again. Transported back in time once more to when I was a kid and the hero inside of me was alive and well. And I'd run around the house and the yard pretending I was a Jedi. Knowing in my young heart of hearts that I was going to save the world someday, because of course the world needed saving and I would be just the man for that job when I got older.
It's a funny thing remembering that young boy who wanted to save the world and then waking up everyday and looking in the mirror at the man who is just trying his best to exist in it. Well not anymore. I don't think I'll ever be the same after listening to that concert Saturday night and thank god for that. I think it's time for me to be the man that wants to save the world instead of just existing in it. I think I owe that boy that much. I also owe one Cooper Hagedorn, and not for inviting me to the concert, but for being the person sitting next to me in the stands yelling out, "DO IT JOHN, PLAY E.T.!" And what would you know he did just that.
I'll never forget the night I sat and listened to John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic. It was a perfect moment in time for me. I don't know how many more of those moments I'll get in life, but I do know that I will take them as they come and be damn thankful for every single one of them.
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