October 21st 2006 THE PAGEANT, st. louis, mo, usa
Source:
JVC GZMG21U HD > PC via USBPanasonic PV GS 19 miniDV on Fujifilm DVC80 LP > PC via firewire
Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro v7 > MPG2 > TMPGEnc > DVD-R/M > DVD-R/1
Taped by Hops Hopper
DVD Video:
Quality:Video: B+
TV system: NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 720x480 (4:3)
Bitrate (average): 4200 kb/s VBR
Audio: B+
Audio Coding mode: MPEG-1 Layer 2
Sampling Rate: 48kHz
Bitrate: 224 kb/s
Duration: 107min 05sec
Setlist:
01. Sex Changes02. Gravity
03. Missed Me
04. Glass Slipper
05. Dirty Business
06. Modern Moonlight
07. Coin-operated Boy
08. Mein Herr (Cabaret)
09. One Of Us Cannot be Wrong
10. Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner
11. Backstabber
12. Mandy Goes To Med School
13. Delilah
14. War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)
15. Girl Anachronism
16. Mad World (with Trash McSweeney from The Red Paintings)
17. Half Jack
2 camera mix.
Taper's notes:
The morning of the day ofthe night of the show and I still wasn't sure I was going to go.
Got up about 9:00 and headed to the bank to cash a check and figured I was halfway to the Pagaent so I might as well go see if there were any tickets left and pick one up if there was. Now I was committed to going even though I had so looked forward to watching the first game of the World Series on TV that night. Got home, got some late lunch, piddled around a little and headed back to the venue.
The doors opened and I sat in the Halo bar for a little bit. When they let us in, I went upstairs and found a nice little chair against the rail. Got to meet the neighbor to the left. She said she was here at the show with her 20 yr. old daughter and friend that were down on the floor but that she had to play mom and give the kid her space for the night. I laughed. Never having been there/done that for myself lately. I said lately.
I asked her if she had ever heard of the Dresden Dolls before. She said "well kind of - my daughter plays them all the time and I've been on the net and seen the videos..."
I said "Oh really? - so are they any good?" she responded: "I think so".
By this time I was warmed up so I asked her if they played any songs that I might have heard before. She looked at me and said, "Probably not". So we go to talking about the monster jams at the old Busch Stadium back in the 80's. The concerts at the Old Arena and Kiel.
I finally let out that I'd both seen and tried to videotape the Dolls on at least two other occassions.
I told her they were great and that she would enjoy the show. After everything was over she told me she was a fan for life and that the Dresden Dolls were more than she expected.
I handed her my e-mail address and told her I'd send her (for her daughter of course) a copy if she wanted one (and if it turned out ok). Haven't heard from her so I guess not.
I pulled the new JVC out. Things looked good.
I thought I would prop it up and maybe have a static focus on Amanda and use the Panasonic to mainly catch Brian with. Maybe then I could marry the two vids later.
This whole evening was sort of set up like a roadshow. Entertaining to say the least.
First the M.C. Sxip Shirey did his thing. Introduced himself and played a couple of numbers on a modified flute or something. Strange, weird and different but it set the stage for the evening.
I tried to take a couple of photo still shots and they just were not coming out. Should have been the first clue I was in for a mixed emotions night. Clownvis Presley was next. Young-skinny Elvis in a white jumpsuit and big red nose. Did a couple of numbers. Looked silly but had the spoofed moves down pretty good. The Red Paintings were pretty rockin'. Novel idea to have human canvasses on stage while you play and that's not to discredit the girl painting on a canvas at the back of the stage. Pretty spiffy. Hadn't heard any of their stuff but I was polite, applauded whn appropriate, indulged in another beverage and about had a heart attack when the waitress told me the Cardinals had already pulled ahead 4-0.
I thought I would try to capture a little of the Red Paintings but the camera would not focus right, and even in the LCD view finder, the vid looked skippy and choppy. Should have been my 2nd clue. I had RTFM (well I scanned it real good) and was pretty sure I had all the settings correct.
I tried to shoot a little video as The Red Paintings were wrapping it up. The lead singer is rolling around on stage playing the guitar and then BAM!! just like that he rolls and falls off the stage. My first thought was that it was part of the crazy act, but then he didn't get up. He ended up having to be assisted off the floor. Scary. Seems he was ok later because he did a hellified version of Mad World with the Dolls as part one of the encore. Still, it set the timingof the Roadshow back about 20 minutes. I checked the vid. Double scary. Out of focus, in and out etc. Just didn't know what the problem was.
Gravity Plays Favorites - dude! Do NOT let your honey see you checking these two out. I had no idea that two gorgeous women could hurt a pole by doing the things that these two lovelies did. Very entertaining. Amazingly mesmerizingly beautiful. If you ever get a chance to check their act out. Do it!
Sxip again and then the Dresden Dolls. I hit the record button on the Everio. Propped it up and tried to direct it towards Amanda. About 30 seconds later I flipped on the Panasonic and framed Brian in the viewfinder and it was showtime! And that's why the first song or two is Brian heavy. I was doing my job, the JVC was wasn't doing its. Like it kept trying to auto focus in lowlight or something. I honestly expected alot more from an HD camera.
PSA coming up:
Do not buy a JVC Hard Drive Camera. I took it back the very next morning and got a full refund. Marched my fat butt right over to the next store down and plunkered down another couple of hundred and got another nicer mini-dv. Dude at the counter was like, "I could have told you. I'd wait a couple of years for HD cameras to catch up."
So now you all know. Don't waste your hard earned dollars.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming:
What else can I say? The Dresden Dolls put on a great show as always. Amanda mentioned her voice was going out, but she was a real trooper and did very well. Brian as always played the drums like a fiend from hell. Not too bad on the guitar for Mein Herr too. Got to catch the live debut of Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner. And all this time, the damn Everio kept clicking on and off. Supposed to be able to record 4hrs. of dvd quality mpgs. It had a 30GB HD. So come to find out it that 4 hrs maybe could have fit on the hd just not 4 hrs of "continuous" video. And that it auto-shuts off after every GB. And it's like for heavy video, a gig is about ten minutes worth. I should have just left it alone, cut my losses and tried to do the best I could with just the panasonic. Instead, I kpt thinking that somehow I wasn't pushing the right button or focusing right or whatever so instead of just going with the one camera and getting what I could, I kept laying the working piece down (no video during those times) to try and fiddle with and fix something that was of no use. Very frustrating. See what I mean by mixed emotions? I was ecstatic to be watching the Dresden Dolls in rare form and so very pissed at a two pound-$500 piece of junk.
Turned out the audio from the HD camera was better than the Panasonic (pretty much a dictaphone would be better than the Panasonic) so I used what I could but other than that, I can't think of another reason I would mess with another one of those cameras.
I had a good time. I saw a damn good show and I hope they come back to St. Louis soon.
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
peace.
Rich
http://www.geocities.com/hops_hopper/tradingpage.html
and by the way, the Cards kicked Tiger ass in Game one and went on to become World Series Champions!
