THE LA PHILHARMONIC CELEBRATES 10 YEARS
Held Downtown at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the L.A. Philharmonic played a symphony of sights and sounds, befitting for the evening, for a full fledged audience of Angelino extraordinaries which included the likes of Julie Andrews, Jane Fonda, William Shatner, William Friedkin, Jane Seymore, Helen Hunt, and Cheyenne Jackson, to name a few.
The event was an anniversary playing, celebrating the 10th year of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The evening was overseen by Musical Director Gustavo Dudamel and special guest Yo-Yo-Ma, with art installations by Nedia Jones (also billed as the evening’s director). Needless to say, the whole block was a buzz with voyeurs, paparazzi, bystanders, and road blocks – which fit perfectly in with the scene outside the bright lights in the big city. Around the red velvet carpeting, set the dilapidated and construction-prone buildings which surrounded the square like mountains surrounding a valley. Quite jarring for a social scene where status counts like hundred dollar bills!
En route, no matter where one came from, industrial back-burners of Los Angeles were like not so pearly gates one had to pass through to attain the Nirvana of the sojourn. Honestly, one would have to wonder how the city is supposed to maintain its status in the nation when the contrast of these streetly sights could bend night and day. From a few words of bystanders who were enjoying the sight, it would seem they were tired of the decline of proper elegance which the city was founded on. There seems to be no sign of light at the end of the tunnel either nor any notion that the government of the city is able to give taxpayers who make good money and an honest living, the rightful assets of inhabiting the city, that they deserve.
Still, the sophistication of the red carpet, which included Ms. Fonda commenting on the accoustics of the theatre, Jane Seymore telling of how she keeps in shape, and William Shatner pleasantly passing through the light with a devilish grin and a wink to those who noticed, kept the atmosphere afloat. The fine line between the elegant and the desolate is easily overlooked, thanks to the ambitious nature of those behind the event planning.
The event stood as a guiding light to how great the city can be, offering the briefest hint of elegance and grace. A new age of the city is dawning, with all the construction abounding, and thanks to the continuation of red carpet events such as this one, we can look forward to what could be.
