2009: The Year of......
For the Chinese 2009 is the year of ox, but it's also the year of science and it is astronomy year. Don't forget Darwin (I should have started with Darwin because 2009 is rightfully his year, his impact and ideas deserve it to be commemorated and honored) and Calvin. For many more things 2009 is the year. For music lovers 2009 is the year of "Tommy", the first ever rock opera. Tommy , a double album by the Who, was first released may 23, 1969. So 40 years ago. Reviews at the time of release were mixed. Nowadays it's considered a masterpiece. It elevated the Who to stardom and really made their name and fame. Quote: "In 1998 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value." If you want to know all about Tommy, take a look here at Wikipedia, they have a large piece on it, its history, chronology, an analysis, recoginition and stuff like that. Right now I'm listening to Tommy. And every time again I'm amazed by the beauty of the music. It's not much of a story, but heck, most opera's are thin in that department, but the music...........it's awesome. Through the history Tommy has been staged by several (opera) orchestras, a movie has been made, a musical, and now Di-rect, a Dutch band is performing Tommy, in a dutch translation, in theatres in Holland. So, all you people who up until now have been missing out on Tommy, it's getting time for you to right that omission.