Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Pops down the national TV drain

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Here’s a little Hatch Shell history:

• 1929 – The Boston Pops start the free concerts in the Esplanade

• 1974 – The 1812 Overture, church bells, cannon, and fireworks are added to the free concert on July 4.

• 1976 – Bicentennial brings out big crowds.

• 1984 – PBS televises the event.

• 2003 – CBS takes over the TV, reducing it to a one-hour broadcast.  CBS moves the 1812 Overture out of the hour broadcast, placing a 35-minute gap between the cannons and the fireworks.

Since the CBS takeover, the Overture has been separated from the fireworks and banished to the pre-TV hours, and the Pops have been relegated to background players for the likes of Toby Keith and Craig Ferguson.  

So how do we get our party back?  I mean, I have nothing against comedians from Glasgow and country singers from Oklahoma, but there’s a time and a place for everything.

According to Ferguson, the Fourth of July in Boston is “St. Patrick’s day with explosives.”  Is that what it is?  Is that how we want to represent ourselves?  Was that even funny?

And how many of us are walking around with Toby Keith on our iPods.  I mean, how many of us even knew who Toby Keith was?

So, dear readers, here’s the two questions for the BMG family.

1.  Who should be the host and singer for next year’s BOSTON celebration?

2.  How do we take back our BOSTON celebration?

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Comments

  1. last year’s was so horrible, I couldn’t bear it. Craig Fergusen is funny on his show, but NOT as the MC of this event. All I freaking listened to last year was Fing country music and it was UNBEARABLE. I will not go so long as CBS is the one in charge anymore.

    <

    p>Even the fireworks last year were more generic  — and crappier —  than the year before.

    <

    p>Boston, we have a problem.

  2. When my wife, who tries to watch this thing every year, said “Keith is going to be on soon,” I assumed she meant Lockhart. Then I went into the living room when she was out of it, saw some pseudo-cowboy on the TV drawling about his music, and I figured the Pops wasn’t on, after all. I turned off the TV. Maybe if everyone did that, a message would be sent.

    <

    p>Who collects the money CBS puts out for this show? The City? The Pops? Apply pressure there.  

  3. He pays for it. He owns it. He’s the one thrilled about national TV ratings for it, for goodness sakes.

    <

    p>

    “Check this out,” Mugar said.

    I did. It was a full-page ad for the New York City Fourth of July fireworks display, sponsored by Macy’s and carried live Sunday night on NBC. Mugar was showing me an ad for a rival July Fourth celebration. I wondered if he had lost his mind and he wondered why I didn’t get his point.

    “A full page!” he said, his voice rising. “We do nothing like that. And you know what? We’re tops in the ratings. We beat them every year!”

    <

    p>He decides who gets on and when the fireworks are.

    <

    p>It’s his toy. His property.

    <

    p>You want to change that? Get him to move to Cleveland.

    • Brian McGrory wrote in the Boston Globe:

      He is also the driving force who has made July Fourth the signature event in this city, a celebration critical to Boston’s self-identity and one that sets us apart from everywhere else.

      At risk of overstating it, the gathering, with all the history and camaraderie, captures who and what we are.

      <

      p>Not any more.

    • Seems Toby and Craig were flat with the TV viewers.

      Ratings Race – ‘Macy’s 4th’ Grows From Last Year to Beat ‘Boston Pops’
      Last year, when the Fourth of July was on a Saturday, the later ‘Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular’ on CBS handily beat ‘Macy’s 4th of July Spectacular’ on NBC. This year, ‘Boston’ was flat in the ratings while ‘Macy’s rose 25 percent in total viewers.

  5. the inclusiveness of the whole thing.  Americans come in all stripes and stars, and if they’re willing to share the stage at the hatchshell with the Pops, it’s fine with me.  America’s a big damn tent.  I love every second of it.  I watch the fireworks from my boat, and listen to the music on the radio.  

    <

    p>The whining, however, is not unique to Boston either.  

    • to get a slice of American Cheese, I think you’re being a little confused. They turn it on for Boston Baked Beans and Boston Creme Pie. They turn it on for the revolution, the history, the nolstagia… and the Pops. They don’t turn it on for yet another opportunity to watch American Cheese. There’s enough blandness on every other channel. The Fourth of July is the one opportunity Boston really has to celebrate itself nationally and people want to tune in — we may as well do it in style, our style, because that’s why people tune in to begin with.

      <

      p>I firmly suspect that, with this increasingly bland and crappy presentation, you’re going to see two things: a slow trickling loss in tv ratings spread out over many years… but, much more importantly, less people and much less enthusiasm for the damn thing on the Charles River. That, ultimately, is what’s really important — not the TV ratings.

      • One thing is that this nationalization of our celebration is making it still more and more popular with tourists nationwide.  Over a million people are part of this every year, and you think the popularity is dying?

            • “the signature event in this city, a celebration critical to Boston’s self-identity and one that sets us apart from everywhere else”, national popularity should be irrelevant.  

              • Saints preserve us….what does that say about our identity before Mr. Mugar got involved?  Really.  I’d like to think we have enough confidence in our identity that we’re not on a therapist’s couch because we let an Okie sing with the Pops.  

                • I was looking at the Toby Keith fans, and they seemed uniformly younger.  The older people seemed more interested in the Kennedy tribute.

                  <

                  p>Kenendy was elected 50 years ago.  While these younger people have certainly heard of him, the emotional relevance of Kennedy might be similar to mine in 1960 towards William Howard Taft who had been President 50 years earlier.

                • Madame P…they are younger.  My daughter, her cousins…they’re all new country music fans.  My 19-year old nephew, born and raised in Massachusetts, is tickled that he got tickets to Countryfest for his birthday.  

      • C’mon Rye, your Bawstin snobbery is showing.  We are celebrating America’s birthday, not Boston’s.  Massachusetts didn’t win this Revolution by itself…it took every one of the colonies to turn it around, including our southern sisters – Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  Every single one of the original 13 has their schtick (Colonial Williamsburg, etc.) and their “rights” to the Revolution.  So big deal – we showcased an Okie country singer and a Scots comedian.  They’re still Americans celebrating the birth of this nation.  

        <

        p>I don’t see the big issue with trying different presentations, styles and music with the Pops. Change is good, remember?

        • whenever left coast folks incredulously ask me why I haven’t forsaken our shores for theirs, one reason I always give is Boston’s amazingly vibrant classical music scene.

          • But that our amazingly vibrant classical music scene shouldn’t preclude participation from another genre.   I don’t think the Pops performance is sullied one bit by having other performers.  But perhaps I’m just a little too McD to care.

            • put on popular music. There is no need to add any more popular music to the repertoire of the region.

        • I guess when the Fourth of July is the same in every area, that makes it much more convenient. Variety — blah. So overrated. Having everything the same everywhere is exactly what this country needs more of…

          • Featuring a star-studded revue of country musicians who have never before set foot in Boston! Hosted by Carlos Mencia! Featuring a special appearance by Ron Paul!

            <

            p>Contact Ticketron for your reserved seating.

        • …that we supposedly wouldn’t have won the Revolution without them.  A couple of ladies in period costume once reminded me of this at Colonial Williamsburg, to which I retorted that without Massachusetts there probably wouldn’t have BEEN a Revolution!:)

    • Why a guy who’s really fostered the “real America vs. SF/Chi/NYC/Mass” mentality?  A guy who absolutely went out of his way to pour fire on the Dixie Chicks v. GWB nonsense?

      <

      p>It was a crap pick.  It’d be just as nonsense as bringing in Kanye West to do the 4th of July event in Salt Lake City.

      <

      p>

      <

      p>And yes, I own a Toby Keith CD, and enjoy some of the songs on it.

      • Who gives a crap about his position on the Dixie Chicks?

        <

        p>I think I will file this into the same place as the sudden reaction by “conservatives” to The “Born in the USA” Boss when they realized what the lyrics said.

        <

        p>Or as the “controversy” contrived by the Dixie Chicks in the first place.

        • Maybe THAT would have been OK, becasue he sang it with Willie?

          <

          p>Actually, this entire thread is Brahmin thought at its finest, like a fly preserved in amber.  It echoes the shock and predictions of Armaggedon when the Pops came into being in the first place, desecrating the tone of decent Wagnarian classical music.  EEEN-fah-dellzzz!  Playing violas outdoors!   My palpitations!  My smelling salts!

          • Just so.

            <

            p>I read a funny might-as-well-be-true anecdote about a visitor being questioned by the Beacon Hill society set, and saying she grew up in Iowa, prompting the reply:

            <

            p>”In Boston, we pronounce it Oh-hi-oh, dear.”

            <

            p>I almost think that this thread should be bookmarked for reference next October when the inevitable, clueless “We aren’t condescending elitists, rich people like Charlie Baker are!” thread appears.

        • the Dixie Chicks didn’t contrive the controversy.  Country radio and conservative media did.

          <

          p>The point is that Toby Keith has absolutely no cultural connection to Boston.  None.  He’s got an anti-connection.  I’m not asking that the musicians have a political tone at all… but if they do happen to have one, could we not pick a musician who
          * has no connection to the region
          * sings a genre of music which has no connection to the region
          * takes a political tone which includes ugly politics

          <

          p>

          <

          p>For the record, I would have suggested that the Dixie Chicks would be an equally unfortunate pick, and although their music spans a bit wider base of genres than Toby Keith’s, it’s still regional, and not our regional.

          • We should get you appointed (elected) Minister of Culture so that you may likewise ban:

            <

            p>(i) 1812 Overture.  We aren’t Muscovites!

            <

            p>(ii) New York, New York.  Even if played by the orchestra without lyrics. I mean, ick.  Leave this for Macy’s.

            <

            p>(iii) Glenn Miller’s repertoire.  He was from Iowa, after all.

            <

            p>(iv)  Irving Berlin.  Another Russian!

            <

            p>(v) fireworks.  Why should we use this Chinese invention to celebrate an American holiday?  

            <

            p>(vi)  Rascal Flats, Toby Kieth, Dixie Chicks, other country acts.  Go play in some square shaped state, rubes!

            <

            p>(vii)  Barry Manilow.  Yeah it was one of the best shows ever, but he’s from New York.  Leave him to Macy’s.

            <

            p>(viii) Ralph Stanley.  Find some show in the mountains to play that vulgar bluegrass crap, old man, where people might vote for someone who drives a pickup truck.  Here we have sophisticated taste.

            <

            p>(ix) classical music.  European tripe.  There’s a reason we ran WCRB out of town on a rail.

            <

            p>Maybe we should just stage a Buffalo Tom concert on Lansdowne Street.

  6. Toby Keith is pretty popular around here. There’s a reason he always sells out Great Woods, err, The Tweeter Center, umm, The Comcast Center or whatever they call it this week. I personally can’t stand what passes for country music these days, but as long as the likes of Toby Keith or Kenny Chesney are popular these days, The Pops is shrewd to include them.

    • more people around these parts dislike Tobey Keith’s music than like it. I’m actually willing to bet that more people find his music akin to scratched chalk boards than people who make sure to catch his concert every time he’s doing a show in the area.

    • If he’s played at Great, Tweeter, Comcast or whatever, then fans in the area have had ample opportunity to see him perform. The event is supposed to be a concert, not a variety show using the Pops orchestra as the house band.

  7. I like the inclusiveness in the crowd and on the stage, too. I like incorporating ALL kinds of music from classical to country to pop…I like patriotic music on the 4th, particularly the songs we can sing along to and pass on to the kids…Toby Keith was okay with me, he got the crowd stompin’ and when he sang American Soldier and the camera panned to the men and women in uniform in the crowd, every one of them was singing along, word for word…it was a moment that viewers could not help but be moved by…

    <

    p>But, I fear taking this special event away from PBS has diminished it in a number of ways…just as the National Spelling Bee was destroyed by broadcast television this year (that’s another tragic story of greed over purpose and common sense)…what CBS added to the event actually took away from the event rather than making it better (for TV viewers or attendees)…Keith Lockhart is a great EMCEE for the night…Comedian Fergusen was a drag with foolish comments and insipid interviews of other celebrities…the half hour or more of lead-in to the start with CH 4 newsies doing the color commentary and interviews was just dull filler…And, I love Jack Williams but incorporating parts for CBS employees even in the show itself (ie: Kennedy tribute) did not ring true to the event…and I won’t even comment on the commercial breaks, it goes without saying that they broke the flow of the program for watchers and attendees alike…

    <

    p>Dave Mugar…I appreciate all he has done to keep this event in Boston…but I wish he would give it back to PBS where it can still be shared with the whole country and seen start to finish for the great event it used to be…I saw parts of the Macy’s event which seemed even more commercialized than what was going on on CBS…it was awful stuff with high dollar tickets and a celebrity focus on loud and unintelligible music…so I am grateful we are not there yet…I hope it is not a vision of what is to come.

  8. I personally dislike Toby Keith, and pretty much all faux-country music.  I flipped to Channel 2 when he was on…thank goodness I’ve gotten Neil Diamond and Roberta Flack the years I’ve gone.  I don’t mind an occasional sop to the misguided country music fans of New England, but I would prefer not to hear any more twanging for ten years.

    <

    p>I like Craig Ferguson.  I think it’s a bit odd to decry the loss of the quirkiness of our Boston thing, while also decrying Ferguson, who’s an awfully quirky host.  No sense in Boston taking itself too seriously; that’s problem enough in our Puritan culture.

    <

    p>Any time there are changes, some people will like, some people won’t.  I’m still regretful the typical order of 1812-Stars and Stripes-fireworks has been altered.  But that’s not enough to make me turn to the plastic celebration in NYC, or the stuffiness of DC.  The Kennedy tribute was quintessentially Boston, and welcome.  The second best apart, IMHO, was having Toby Keith watch fireworks that were synchronized in part to the Dixie Chicks.

  9. It’s amazing what they can do now.  But all I can think about is how many chemicals went into them, and how they effect the air and river.  I suppose someone will tell me it is negligible, perhaps just a fraction of the damage caused by cars on storrow everyday.  But this was so obviously unnecessary.  It could have been a tenth as long and I’d have been just as happy, without the gnawing feeling that my country is insane.

    • is once a year, for crying out loud.   Our Independence Day celebration should be a bold thing…not some wet fizzle on the Charles.  It has historical precedence on its side:

      <

      p>

      “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever.”  John Adams  

       

      <

      p>I’m far more worried about the decades or longer damage that the BP spill is going to do than our fireworks.  

      • doesn’t make spending millions on fireworks a positive thing in comparison.  As I said, it could have been a tenth as extravagant and I’d have been happy.  These times call for some austerity.  And making it “bold” as an act of willful denial of the problems we face is not going to help get people to realize how fucked we are.

        • no taxpayer money is involved did you miss?  This is David Mugar’s baby and if he wants to raise it and spend it – who am I to quibble?  I thank him, from the bottom of my patriotic heart, for continuing to provide us with a fantastic celebration.  

          • let’s take half of it as a Fireworks tax, and have half as big a show, and use the other half for essential services.  I don’t think people have a right to spend their own money however they want, and blowing it on fireworks, which use up finite resources to produce and have a lasting environmental cost, is not a public good use of our common wealth.  I think David Mugar should be allowed to live off of the Star Market profits (even though they killed the Independent Grocers Association stores and hooked suburbia on driving to supermarkets, complete with space age drive-through grocery loading technology, and pushed processed foods and overcharged their customers), but not take his Star fortune and spend it in ways that wind up costing us even more than supermarkets already have, and sending us further out on the limb.  Next year, half the money spent on fireworks, half a tax to the general fund, to be used where it’s most needed.

            • like an elephant.  Why should you care how or why Mr. Mugar spends his money?  Apart from the fact that it’s NOYB, his celebration aids the economy via tourism and other sectors.  Let me guess….you didn’t take economics in college.  

        • If you want to go around dressed in sackcloth and self flagellate yourself, please go ahead, but don’t whine if the rest of us don’t want to emulate you. If you want the economy to recover, the last thing you want to do is to encourage rich people not to spend money.

  10. I don’t have a strong opinion about Toby Keith, but if they don’t have something you like this year, maybe next year.  I doubt you can please everyone.  Personally I’d like all popular patriotic tunes.  My one suggestion would be to include 1812 in the national broadcast, either by moving it later or having the network begin coverage at 9:30.  I liked the Kennedy tribute, though I thought they would use the closing lines of Ted’s 1980 convention speech.

    • …is the half hour they added between the Pops and the fireworks in order to make it end at 11 (great news lead in).  It makes the night just a little too long.

      <

      p> As for Toby Keith: it’s not like the Pops were ever cutting edge.  They’re the Pops!

      • …they can put the 1812 between 10 and 10:30 to fill that gap during the national hour.  The other wasted space I thought was 8-8:30 in local coverage since the concert didn’t get underway until 8:30.

  11. I stopped going to the Esplanade years (perhaps decades) ago, when my children were toddlers and I realized that I was utterly unable to protect them from morons shooting bottle rockets into the crowd and, for that matter, the crowd itself. My decision was reinforced in the years after 9/11 by the presence of all-too-many uniformed kids carrying automatic weapons — such measures make me feel far LESS safe.

    <

    p>With all due respect to the Pops, going to the Esplanade to listen to the Pops — instead of watching the fireworks — is surely like reading Playboy for the interviews. Fireworks don’t translate to television AT ALL, no matter how fancy your technology.

    <

    p>My wife and I moved to Somerville this spring, just outside Ball Square. At 9:00p Thursday night, we took a five minute walk up our street to Broadway, and joined the throng at Trum field on Broadway. We heard the end of a suitably patriotic set by some local chapter of the US Navy band, and then watched a half-hour of real fireworks from across the field. No National Guard, no guns, no hassle, just rousing patriotic music (hilariously including some great marches from Wagner and Strauss) and, of course, fireworks.

    <

    p>After a rousing finale, we walked home and enjoyed a glass of wine on our front porch.

    <

    p>It’s been a marvelous Fourth. I agree that the homogenized CBS-flavor Pops-on-the-Esplanade Fourth is a colossal waste of time. That’s why I ignore it.

    • Pictures of naked women saturate the internet to such a degree, the only way playboy has managed to maintain a competitive edge is with fantastic articles, interviews and reviews on all things manly.  

    • If I were to go it would be for the music and I’d be tempted to make my way out before the fireworks.  I suspect this is one of those things it would be cool to do once then realize you have a better seat in front of the TV anyway.

  12. I always like the special guest, especially when it is a performer that I don’t already know.  They generally mix things up enough so that there is something for everyone, even if the guest star isn’t for you.

    <

    p>I thought Neil Diamond was pretty cool, and the 4th was my introduction to Rascal Flats, who are pretty good.  Prior to that, they had John Mellencamp and Aerosmith.  I seem to recall a Willie Nelson year.

    <

    p>My favorite, though, is without a doubt Barry Manilow–  a performer I expected to hate– who was absolutely fantastic.

  13. This view will probably get me deported from Massachusetts, but I could do without the Pops part of it altogether. It’s probably a result of not being from around here (everywhere else I’ve lived, when it gets dark, the fireworks go off – you don’t have to wait two hours!). Therefore, I’m not inclined to lobby for any change in the program, but I rarely go and when I do (usually because of out-of-town company), I arrive no sooner than 10pm. And given the others on the T with us at the same time on Monday, this appears to be a popular option.

    <

    p>I agree with much of BrooklineTom’s comment above: It’s much less hassle and therefore a lot more fun to hit the local celebrations.

  14. Frankly I would have loved to have watched the pops from my girlfriends house in rural Illinois, but unfortunately the Chicago affiliate was covering the local fireworks. So this ‘national’ telecast would have been appreciated by this Bostonian who missed the traditions of home. As long as the cannons go off for 1812, the fireworks go off a little early during Stars and Stripes, and the grand finale is really awesome than its a great thing. I have plenty of friends who weren’t from Boston who went this summer and had a great time and said it was the best fireworks they saw. All my friends from Chicago, including my girlfriend who thinks Chicago>Boston on most fronts, conceded that our fireworks are better. And believe me I was heartbroken I couldn’t be home this year, from the Horribles parade in Salem in the morning to the Pops at night. That said the small town fireworks display I saw in Lemont, IL was quite impressive and a much more community oriented event than the spectacle of Boston. It was also nice to get a front row seat to the fireworks without having to show up five hours early or beat a million people to the Red Line afterward.

    <

    p>But bitching about what is and isn’t truly Bostonian is a Bostonian past time, one that will certainly not go away as we become more of a global city and finally shed our parochial and provincial concerns.  

  16. “nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded…”. The event has grown wildly and continues to grow. They will lose locals by the thousands and gain tens and hundreds of thousands of viewers and “importees”. I went in person 2 years ago and won’t be going again. Reminds me of so many other things… my favorite beach on the cape, my favorite ice cream place… Pat’s games… all these things are great and when word spreads and they get more popular then they become “unattendabe”. Don’t waste any energy as “Pops goes the Fourth” will continue to grow, with or without you/us.

  17. What a bunch of snobs…I went on the Esplanade last year and had a great time…people were relaxed, some from Massachusetts some from outside the Massachusetts.  It was a great concert, and a nice linking of recent Bostonian tradition with a national celebration of a holiday that exists in no small part thanks to the people of Boston many years ago.  This year I went to a local celebration.

    <

    p>I realize some people get their kicks putting on airs about how things used to be so much better, but this is just ridiculous…sad to see so many people preventing themselves from enjoying such a great experience.

        • Your statement would make sense if, for example, Boston took a poll to see who wanted what in its show, etc. However, it’s CBS calling the shots now, based on whatever it thinks will do well commercially across the country at the cheapest possible price… not what would draw the most from the unique traditions we’ve had for the fourth here for years… you know… the reason they wanted our presentation to begin with, what makes it worth watching. It’s privatizing our fireworks to a company that doesn’t really know what to do with it, but felt the need to tinker. CBS has become to Boston’s 4th what the NYT was to the Boston Globe.

          • is you and others wishing to dictate the program of the concert, because you think the current program is uncultured, unworthy, insufficiently classical, drivel, or something.

            <

            p>Not unlike the people who are pissed that there is a FIFA World Cup because they don’t like or understand soccer.

            <

            p>

            • We started with the pops.  They added the 1812 Overture and some fireworks.  CBS came in and extracted the fireworks from the Overture, and are now in the process of shoving the Pops to the background.

              <

              p>This year’s program may have been uncultured, unworthy, insufficiently classical, drivel, and not very Boston, but the real point is that we liked the pre-CBS event and want it back.

  18. When Keith Lockhart became conductor, the orchestra began a speedy descent into drivel. Its performances ceased to be Pops Orchestra concerts, but instead the orchestra became the house band backing up a variety of popular entertainment acts designed to draw interest from across the country for a TV market. One of Lockhart’s first 4th concerts included his college choir, and in a effort to get them their tv time, he cut back on the 1812 Overture to fit them in and still have time to broadcast the fireworks. Since then, it’s been more of the same, with constant interruptions and alterations in order to fit the “concert” into a national tv format, both in time and choice of act. All in all, it’s no longer a Pops concert. They’ve lost their way.

    • The Boston Pops were a respectable organization before John Williams ruined it.

      <

      p>Actually, they were posers already.  I was a big fan of the Pops until Arthur Fielder let in the hoi polloi.

      <

      p>And twenty years from now, we’ll all talk about how the purity of the Lockhart Era has been ruined by the new guy…or woman.

      • That is the guy who who really wrecked it when he forgot what kind of music orchestras are supposed to play.

    • “The orchestra began a speedy descent into drivel”

      <

      p>Its the POPS as in what is popular, as in, essentially drivel. The whole point was to open up classical music to the masses. Sousa was the Toby Keith of his day, scorned and disdained by serious music critics. Similarly the pops set to orchestra music such “banalities” as Gershwin, Cole Porter,  jazz, show tunes, musical tunes, and popular hits of whichever era it came from. The music of John Williams various movies, as catchy and memorable as they are when played by serious groups like the LSO, are still fundamentally Musak and drivel. No one is studying any of these compositions in music classes. They are meant to be a soundtrack of summer, the orchestra wears white dinner jacket suits or seersucker since that’s what people wore during the summer, something unthinkable for a serious orchestra which must wear white formal tails at all times. It plays out of doors in the open, in complete defiance of any acoustical sensibilities. It plays music that is popular in defiance of playing music that is meant to educate and stimulate. This is supposed to be a soundtrack of summer, played for free, in a public park, where all the rabble can hear it and set to fireworks, how uncultured! People are picnicing and grilling and gosh so shocking eating! while they are listening to music. I am sorry but the whole point of the Pops is to make it open to all the masses and this snobbery is ironic since it is snobbery over what was supposed to be the least snobbiest orchestra in the country.  

  19. You don’t have to wait a year.

    <

    p>Tomorrow, Wednesday, at 7PM, the Landmarks Orchestra is performing the first-ever orchestral concert in Fenway Park!
    Hear Copland, Rossini, Bernstein, the finale of Beethoven’s 9th (with the New World Chorale and a brilliant vocal quartet) and more!

    <

    p>Tickets are all gone, but the concert will be broadcast on 99.5FM and webcast at http://www.wgbh.org!

    <

    p>Listen up, blue folks and red folks alike!

    • I have a friend so snobbish that none of that even qualifies as real classical music to him, so again a lot of this is relative people.  

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