Maestro Shaq!

Yes, our first ever visit to see the Boston Pops Holiday concert, and we get Shaquille O'Neal as our guest conductor!  It was so cool. 
1.  The man is ginormous.  Huge.  He makes Keith Lockhart look like a pygmy, and even Mr. Wonderful would look small at 6'7.  Shaq is 7'1.
2. Man can move!  The clip is his conducting a Michael Jackson song, and the dancing is impressive.
3. His head moves in time with the music like a bouncing ball.
4.  Even from the lower level balcony seats about half way back, his hands looked like shovels. 
5. I've never heard an orchestra play "We Are the Champions", and I've never heard the "Hallelujah Chorus" sung by the same group that later sings "We Are the Champions".  Amazing.
6.  The sing along wasn't too mushy.
7. Renese King has a great voice and was fantastic.
8.  I really was looking forward to hearing "Sleigh Ride", but Shaq conducted it, so it wasn't up to par with the Arthur Fiedler version on my iPod.  Slightly disappointed, but I'll have to go back next year. 

All in all, I really enjoyed night number 2 of cultural explorations.  Drawback:  it did snow.  Yup, we got a couple of inches, and guess when it started?  Right as Mr. W and Sis were making their way to my work to meet me there since it's only a few blocks (ok, long blocks) from Symphony Hall.  I figured we'd go to a nearby pub (curry chips!! Yes!) and then walk.....
Let's just say that the wind-driven snow snarled up traffic and trolley alike, so we trudged in the snow.  And it was chilly.  By the time we reached Symphony Hall, we were frozen and frosty white.  It took a while to warm up.  I think my feet are still numb.  Sis and I had on boots, but Mr. W had on shoes.  Remember they said that it was supposed to amount to nothing?
In my next life, I want to come back as a weatherman in New England.  How come no one ever yells at them about accuracy, and they keep their jobs year in and year out? 
When the concert was over, we headed out of the hall and started to walk back. The snow had stopped, but it was cold.   A mild disagreement ensued over the wisdom of walking in slippery snow or descending into Symphony station with a few hundred new friends, and walking won out.  We beat the trolley.  I couldn't feel my face until I got home.

I also found a clip of the group of musicians who played at the Celtic Sojourn--it's from a rehearsal, but I thought it sounded good. 

However, I can't figure out how to get the clips into the body of this post, so I posted both of them seperately.  Both are on YouTube.  When I put them into the original post, I couldn't add text due to the constant loading of the videos.  It was driving me crazy, so I opted for Plan B before I threw something at the comptuer. 
So what can we come up with for January?  I told Mr. W it's his turn to plan something cultural.  I should remind him that car shows, book shops and old fire trucks that are for sale do not count as "cultural", right?