Althouse: Distant fireworks.

July 4, 2010

Distant fireworks.

Seen — last night — from across the lake. No explosive sounds, just crowd murmurs...

... and the sound of a boombox somewhere tuned to the radio channel that plays the official "Rhythm and Booms" soundtrack. Earlier, pop tunes played. "Man in the Mirror," for example. Meade said they needed some more patriotic songs. And then, as if on cue, the final set of songs began — "Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder," "The Marine Hymn," "Stars and Stripes Forever," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".... All played and I heard no Madisonian dissenting opinion from this crowd. Many noticed "Taps" and stood.

12 comments:

rhhardin said...: Last night around my house, 9:30-10pm, the audio you seek real audio .

Home grown doesn't have a finale, but rather a petering out of ammunition.

It starts with annoyed Robins, and ends with impervious tree frogs.

All the porches are up this morning, so no serious damage was done.; 7/4/10, 9:30 AM
Paul Kirchner said...: It really spoils the local fireworks display for me when they play music during it. Fireworks come with their own soundtracks of whooshes, booms, and crackles, to the accompaniment of crowd oohs and aahs, and I like that sound.

When music is played, I can no have the pure enjoyment of the fireworks because I'm affected by whether or not I like the song they are playing at the same time, and mostly I do not. A lot of worn-out classic rock and some country kitsch, like Toby Keith song about putting his boot up Saddam's ass, etc.

In the last couple of years they've stopped playing the music during the fireworks, so I guess some others felt as I do.; 7/4/10, 9:53 AM
Unknown said...: Man in the Mirror????

Better to have done "Yankee Doodle", "Over There", "The Field Artillery March", and some Civil War stuff ("Garry Owen", "The Girl I Left Behind", and (dare I say?) "Dixie").; 7/4/10, 10:04 AM
Wince said...: Only thing worse than "distant fireworks"...

Aloof fireworks.; 7/4/10, 10:36 AM
GMay said...: No dissenting opinions because the patriotic music induced waves of nausea too strong to overcome in that particular part of the crowd.

Probably could have put them in a coma with things like "This Is My Country", "Battle Cry of Freedom", "Anchors Aweigh", "U.S. Field Artillery March", "Semper Paratus", "National Emblem", and "God Bless the USA".

I always liked music before the fireworks. The best I remember was when the fireworks kicked off during the last strain of The Stars and Stripes and then the rest of the fireworks continued without music.; 7/4/10, 11:04 AM
rhhardin said...: Corn is as high as an elephant's eye.

That's in Oklahoma, not Ohio, but genetically engineered corn makes up the difference.; 7/4/10, 11:12 AM
rhhardin said...: If you insist on fireworks music, you can't beat Granados.

(Played by Granados via piano roll); 7/4/10, 11:22 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Thank you Meade for the musical selection and for spreading patriotism in Madison.

Thanks Ann for the video.; 7/4/10, 4:04 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Happy birthday America; 7/4/10, 5:20 PM
Roy Lofquist said...: Taps:

http://www.theospark.net/2009/04/amazing-andre-rieu-and-melissa-venema.html; 7/4/10, 6:22 PM
AST said...: I've lived in this rural area of southeastern Utah for 30 years and there's never been any music at our fireworks displays, unless there's a piece called "Oohs and Ahs" somewhere. The best accompaniment is the chattering of children.; 7/4/10, 7:23 PM
MamaM said...: A bird's eye view of the entire country lighting up this evening as darkness moves from east to west would be an awesome sight. Blossoms of light springing up like gardens from city to city, in a one of a kind pyro show.; 7/4/10, 9:54 PM