Such a Lovely Audience

WE HOPE YOU WILL ENJOY THE SHOW:  It was a dark and stormy Monday night. Sideways sheets of rain assaulted the city, while gale force winds turned bumbershoots inside out and took our breath away at times. But still ... The Beatles. We were willing to brave the storm.

We simply HAD to get back to where we once belonged, and on Monday, that place was Moore Theatre in downtown Seattle, to soak up a Sgt. Pepper's sing along. We're not just fair-weather Beatles fans and wouldn't miss it for the world!

I'll let CJ tell you a bit more about the event.

On January 29th, 2018, at the Moore Theatre, the Chris Friel Orchestra played the entirety of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Sgt. Pepper) as Sgt. Pepper's Sing-Along. Sgt. Pepper is a legendary multi-platinum album by 1960s British pop-rock band The Beatles.

Sgt. Pepper's Sing-Along revolved around the audience singing along with the band, helped by the lyrics to the songs appearing on a screen behind the orchestra. The band was composed of about ten people by my count, and included players with multiple different instruments. These instruments included, but were not limited to, drums (played by Chris Friel), a guitar, a bass guitar, and a keyboard.

Chris Friel, the leader of the orchestra, is a long-time Seattle musician who has drummed for multiple different bands. In the 1990s, Friel played with Pearl Jam for their demos for the multi-platinum album Ten, as well as the soundtrack for The Basketball Diaries in 1995. Friel also drummed for the bands Goodness and The Rockfords.

The Moore Theatre is a historic theater. The Moore was opened in 1907, and is the oldest currently operating theater in the city of Seattle. The Moore houses approximately 1800 seats, and is well-known among Seattle-area musicians and other artists. For example, the music video for Pearl Jam's 1991 hit Even Flow was filmed in the Moore.

The songs played at the Moore ranged from the surreal (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) to the somber (She's Leaving Home). An interesting fact is that when Sgt. Pepper was originally recorded, it would've been very difficult to re-create the studio sound effects in any live performance. Now, over 50 years later, said sound effects are now easy-to-replicate.

Shortly before playing the song When I'm Sixty-Four, Nancy, the emcee, announced that Daniel, a man in the audience, was indeed turning 64 that day. The crowd proceeded to applaud for Daniel.

After playing the last song from the album, the orchestra proceeded to do an encore, culminating in Hey Jude, a song from The Beatles' White Album.

Believe it or not, the concert was free (!). We have Seattle Theatre Group's Education and Community Programs to thank.

MOON SHADOW:  Our hopes are high and our alarms are set, but we're expecting to be disappointed when it comes to viewing the super special, super blue blood moon total lunar eclipse early tomorrow (1/31) morning.

Here in Seattle, we're hoping to see the full moon fade to red between 4:51 a.m. and 6:07 a.m. PT Wednesday.

“Set your alarm early and go out and take a look,” NASA’s Gordon Johnson urged in a press release. 

According to Space.com, the super blue blood moon is something the U.S. hasn't seen since 1866. That's a long spell!

Below is a NASA map of potential viewing areas and their relative vantage points.

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While clouds might, well, cloud our view her beginning at 2:30 a.m. NASA TV will have a live feed of the moon.  The NASA TV broadcast will feature views from the varying vantage points of telescopes at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California; Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles; and the University of Arizona’s Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter Observatory.

This particular full moon is special for three reasons: It’s the third in a series of “supermoons,” when the Moon is closer to Earth in its orbit, about 14 percent brighter than usual. It’s also the second full moon of the month, which makes it a “blue moon.” And then this super blue moon will pass through Earth’s shadow to give viewers in the right location a total lunar eclipse. While the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow it will take on a reddish tint, known as a “blood moon.”  A moon trifecta!