Extremes

I went to two performances tonight, one super-hyped event with a huge budget, enormous crowd, and plenty of security, and the other a small, quirky event that often felt like a children's show on public television. I think you can guess which one this first photo is from:

Adam Bohman and Patrizio Paolini make music and do spoken word using some pre-recorded samples and what could be the contents of an offbeat daycare: paper-towel tubes, glasses filled with water, toys used to sing babies to sleep, wind-up animals that jump with a percussive beat, and lyrics sheets seemingly written in crayon. Between pieces, Adam told "jokes." Sample joke: "What did the printer technician hope to get for Christmas? A cartridge in a pear tree." You get the idea. This is what event number two looked like:
Tonight was the first of three free live-feed broadcasts from London's Royal Opera House shown at outdoor venues all over the UK. Swan Lake graced the screen this evening: Although this past week has been full of weather that basically made fun of the title of this series, "Summer Big Screens," today finally decided that it did indeed want to be summery, and it was a perfect night for an outdoor event. Not too hot, and nowhere close to cold, Trafalgar Square was filled with people happy to picnic on the pavement, enjoying pitchers of their favourite beverages free from the confines of the concert hall. In fact, most people seemed to be paying more attention to their food and drink than to the ballet!