Lately, I've been thinking back on all my LOST adventures -- an escape if you will -- to spruce up my LOST love and, hopefully, put me in the right state of mind for Season 2 of LOST Rewatch (starting November 29th).
For those of you who don't know, I moved to Hawai'i with my family in July of 2007. I was already a HUGE LOST fan and was way excited to share an island with the show [being closer to Matthew Fox didn't make me cry none neither]. Since then, I've been lucky enough to do some very cool stuff both on and off the set.
So here it is: Part 1 of my memories of being LOST in Life on location.
THE LOST SYMPHONY OF HONOLULU
Originally posted December 2, 2007
After such a LOOOOONG time since the season finale of last MAY, there is not much LOST to be had, so as soon as I saw the advertisement for “The Lost Symphony,” I immediately called and got 2 tickets. The performance was a one-time event where the Honolulu Symphony would perform Michael Giacchino's amazing soundtrack for the show. I was not going to miss any opportunity to hear it live, AND I'd get my LOST fix [I was really hurtin' by December].
Up until the last minute, I was going alone, but I finally found a friend of a friend, Tina, who said she'd be interested. She is not a LOST fan, but I tried not to hold that against her since she seemed totally supportive of my need for something, ANYTHING to do with LOST.
The concert took place at Waikiki at an outdoor venue called “The Shell.” When we arrived, we immediately noticed that this was a typical Hawaiian production. One would think that the symphony would create an atmosphere of refinement and collect a snazzier set of people, right? Well, it does, BUT in Hawai’i, snazzier people here are just not the same as snazzier people on the mainland.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Waikiki, Hawai'i"]
[/caption]For example, the concession stand was open, to include candy, musubi (spam sushi), and large piles of french fries. As usual, there was trash everywhere, especially outside the front gate. AND the “special” seating, up close to the stage, was a line of school cafeteria-style tables and aluminum folding chairs. The centerpiece of the “special” seating was a genuine (according to the program) piece of the actual plane from the actual pilot of the show. Yee-Haw!! [Believe it or not, O'ahu is home to LOTS of LITTERBUGS.]
Tina and I craned our necks at the “Exclusive Backstage Party” that was roped off backstage but didn’t see anyone we recognized. I was kicking myself by then because I didn’t bring my digital camera! I did not think photography would be allowed, and I didn’t want to leave my expensive camera in the car to encourage a break-in. I was stuck with a disposable camera, which did a less than adequate job overall.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="320" caption="Michael Giacchino -- Uber Composer"]
[/caption]Our seats were to the far right, directly on the outer aisle. We weren’t far from the bathrooms, which were set up next to a trailer behind a few chain link fences. Before long, these two older ladies came along, stood near our row and started debating: Should they go to the restroom before they sat down? Or should they just sit down since the show was about to begin? After a few minutes of this, I leaned over and told them that they only had to crawl over me and Tina, and we didn’t mind either way. They laughed and said, well, then we’ll go to the bathroom first!
After they left, Tina and I discussed these ladies intently. They were wearing the “Exclusive Backstage Pass” stickers on their shirts, high on their shoulders, like nicotine patches. I told Tina, you know, we could easily knock these women over in the bathroom, take their stickers and head backstage before the show. No one would EVER know! Tina said we should wait until AFTER the show just in case we were thrown out. Then we wouldn’t miss any of the music. I reluctantly agreed, and we decided to wait. The ladies returned, and the show got underway.
The show itself was phenomenal [with good reason: This performance was being filmed for the Season 4 DVD release]. The music really was beautiful and interesting, and the musician quality was top notch. Terry O’Quinn introduced every number by reading a “letter” from an unknown “castaway,” and he was lovely. With every piece, a relevant slide show was flashed on a huge screen hanging above the stage, so even Tina could enjoy the music and slides despite knowing very little about the show [and I was one happy LOST fan].
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Terry O'Quinn reads."]
[/caption]There were, however, a few technical problems with the production. First, the Waikiki Shell is not set up for filming, and camera people were scrambling everywhere to get good shots of the performance. Half way through, I think during some scary music about “the others,” some of the ushers ran out carrying lit torches, which didn't do much for the audience [We were like, HUH?]. However, the most obvious problem was a pretty loud BUUUZZZZ from the sound equipment that we could hear very clearly every time the music paused or stopped.
Our two ladies, obviously long-time patrons of the Honolulu Symphony, complained OFTEN about the BUUUZZZZ, and they were relieved when it was fixed about halfway through the performance. However, until that happened, between each and every piece, one of the two would loudly proclaim, “OH. MY. GOD. That buzzing is just TERRIBLE! They should get RIGHT ON THAT.”
After the BUUUZZZing was fixed, our ladies decided it was time for a snack, so they pulled out their concession stand food for examination, discussion and consumption. Out of a white plastic bag came a clear plastic container [like at the grocery store salad bar]. Our ladies had some trouble getting it open, and it made a LOT of noise! Then there was some discussion about the quality of the tomatoes, and in the end they decided to close up the salad [much noise], open the sandwich instead [a different but equally noisy plastic container] and split it with a can of soda, which was then loudly opened.
Several people looked sternly over at our ladies, but they were oblivious. They were also oblivious that they had made the MOST noise through the longest and most touching piece of music [when the raft is finally launched, "Exodus, Part 1"], and, as they continued eating, they remained blissfully unaware of Tina and I wiping tears from our eyes and silently hyperventilating in laughter next to them.
My crap disposable camera did its best, but in the dark with the spotlights, it was just unable to perform well [I also had to hide my own noise with the camera as I had to scroll the film forward after every shot]. I managed to get a pretty good shot of the guy with the enormous head sitting in front of me. I took a shot of the strange torch shenanigans, but you can’t see much, and my pictures of "John Locke" ended up with poor Terry’s head about the size of a pin.
However, I got a REALLY good shot of one of our ladies.
I had Tina sit back and look forward. You can see her hands folded in her lap. Then I took aim, in the dark, and took the shot. The unexpected flash blinded all of us for a moment, and immediately after, I looked forward and muttered “Oops, my bad! Sorry, accident! Sorry, sorry!” as the ladies both shot us a dirty look!
But the shot is PERFECT!
See the SALAD IN QUESTION? See the noisy plastic bag?
OH, but it gets better. The very end of the show, the LAST number, was conducted by Michael Giacchino himself. He was introduced by writer/producer Carlton Cuse, who claimed that the music had saved their show-writing butts more than once. During the grand finale, which was really stunning, a montage from the show was projected over the stage instead of a slide show. It included a clip from the most recent season finale, where poor Charlie does you-know-what in "Through the Looking Glass."
This scene caused some chittering by the ladies, and it was not long before the one pictured here leaned over to us and said “Did Charlie die?” I shrugged and said, “Well, we don’t really know,” to which she ROLLED HER EYES, WAVED A HAND and said “Oh. You don’t watch the show.” Tina actually put her purse OVER HER FACE! I said, “Oh yes, I watch the show. It just wasn’t clear whether Charlie actually died or not. You know how it is,” to which she ROLLED her eyes and waved a hand, AGAIN!
Such is life: witness the Honolulu Symphony special status supporter with backstage access!!
(Next time, I’m going for the old lady mugging.)
