Fireworks

Did you have smiley faces in your fireworks last night?

I did!

Courtesy of “A Capitol Fourth” on PBS last night.

I also watched “Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.”  (I think I liked the previous title better: “Pops Goes the Fourth.”)

I recorded both programs and watched them this morning.  It made it really handy to fast-forward through the parts that I wasn’t really interested in.  That was mostly performances by current musicians.  I’d listen to a few seconds, and if it didn’t appeal to me, zip to the next.

I have not seen the Boston Pops in quite a while.  They no longer have a program on PBS.  I used to watch the Pops 4th of July program on A&E channel.  But when it went to network TV, it lost its “hometown” feel.  Seemed like they had to make sure to keep it within time constraints in order to get all the commercials in.  I found the show this year on BTV.  Wha’?  Yeah, I’d never heard of it either.  Bloomberg Television, whatever that is.

Keith Lockhart is no longer the boyish youngster he looked in 1995 when he became conductor of the Pops.  Guess that is to be expected.  I missed seeing some of the familiar faces in the orchestra.  There was a trumpet dude whom I’d recognize.  And the older lady who played the piccolo in “The Stars and Stripes Forever” is gone.  I missed her.

One thing that I really like is when these outdoors performances use real cannons during the “1812 Overture.”  I wish they would show how the military personnel are directed to shoot the cannons at the appropriate time.  My guess is there is a musician holding a score and indicating the proper time to shoot them off.