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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: TheGreatPretender on December 08, 2014, 09:17:21 PM
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So, apparently, JLB is doing this event in his hometown of Midland. Seems like sort of a "Inside Actors Studio" type of event, where he'll get to talk about his life and stuff. I think I'm gonna check it out. It's only a couple of hours away from me.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10451683_10152419455282181_225657588271489968_n.jpg?oh=7fba175f2970fb900a3737c30dd4dd5f&oe=54FD8EFB&__gda__=1426072432_412476b1d6fc6ec938283ea3fc92277e)
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Wow... Ninja'd by seconds.
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Eh, I say close the thread I started. I only beat you because I was lazy and didn't bother posting the picture of the event. But anyway, you should definitely go to this event. If I was anywhere within a few hours, I would be there.
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Can't promise a bootleg though, lol.
Well, maybe. :yarr
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Why do they always have to add the "Prog rock may not be your thing" disclaimer on these things? It should be everyone's thing!
PS. Rush asked "Where's My Thing?" on Roll the Bones. It's quite possible that it may be in this post.
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Why do they always have to add the "Prog rock may not be your thing" disclaimer on these things? It should be everyone's thing!
PS. Rush asked "Where's My Thing?" on Roll the Bones. It's quite possible that it may be in this post.
Yeah, that's what I said. I mean, whether it's someone's thing or not, it's not a very good marketing move to just assume that people won't be interested and trying to make a last ditch effort to convince them in the last sentence. That's how it comes off anyway.
The simple fact is, those who ARE prog fans will be interested in it, otherwise, they're advertising to the local crowd no doubt, and first of all, considering that this is something they do with all kinds of people, I wonder how many of their locals go to these things just because it's kind of interesting. Second, JLB having grown up there, I imagine he must be somewhat of a local celebrity. I mean, it's a pretty tiny town, and as far as I can tell, JLB has pretty much been the biggest name to come from there.
Point is, if a person isn't interested in prog rock, and they're not interested in rock artists in general, and they're not interested in local Midland celebrities, that last sentence probably won't sell them.
That being said, I do wonder how full the audience is going to be.
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That would be really neat to attend.
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Not to get off topic, but three grammy nominations? I'm aware of two. Is that a misprint or am I missing something?
And yes, cool opportunity for anyone who can go!
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Not to get off topic, but three grammy nominations? I'm aware of two. Is that a misprint or am I missing something?
And yes, cool opportunity for anyone who can go!
Yeah, that struck me as odd. Were they nominated for two categories last time around?
Or was he ever involved in any other project that got nominated?
By the way, if there's a Q&A session at the end, I wouldn't mind taking some suggestions as I have a really hard time coming up with questions, especially given how much I already know about the guy.
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Who does your hair?
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Would love to see JLB in this kind of setting....
Wouldn't it be great JLB and Charlie Rose asking and chatting away?
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Would love to see JLB in this kind of setting....
Wouldn't it be great JLB and Charlie Rose asking and chatting away?
...or even Charlie Dominici
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I came up with an interesting question to ask him.
My friend met this guy who claimed he was in a band with James before DT (and I'm assuming before Winter Rose), the guy's name is Tom Keating apparently, and he said that James quit the band after this Tom Keating smashed his Journey audio cassette... By accident, I presume? lol
Kind of a weird story, but I'd love to know if it's true or not.
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Not to get off topic, but three grammy nominations? I'm aware of two. Is that a misprint or am I missing something?
And yes, cool opportunity for anyone who can go!
I was just reading through this to see if this was brought up. I would like to know if there is a third one for real or if its just a mistake.
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This seems like a pretty cool event to attend for a DT or JLB fan. Wish I could be there, for those who go I'm looking forward to hearing a report of the evening.
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It would be interesting to know how the vocal melodies are written since MP's departure. Is it mostly JP's work, or James does most of them?
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What's up with that picture :lol
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I live in the GTA, so I might attend. Too bad it's on a Wednesday, I'm 1.5 hours from Midland.
In Timmins Ontario, where I'm originally from, there are a few billboards stating that Shania Twain is from there.
I would ask why there isn't a huge JLB billboard as you enter Midland. :rollin
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Not to get off topic, but three grammy nominations? I'm aware of two. Is that a misprint or am I missing something?
His first Grammy nomination was with Winter Rose.
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I don't know what's wrong with my head, but I keep reading that last sentence like this:
"Progressive Rock may or may not be your thing.."
But yeah, it really says "may not" only. Minor screw up on that one, I feel.
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Not to get off topic, but three grammy nominations? I'm aware of two. Is that a misprint or am I missing something?
His first Grammy nomination was with Winter Rose.
Nah.. Really? Nah.. that's not true is it? I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not. Damn words. It's almost believable, but the only place that mentions the words Winter Rose and grammy in the same sentence is unencyclopedia, and they got 8 grammys according to that. :lol
https://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/James_LaBrie
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Not to get off topic, but three grammy nominations? I'm aware of two. Is that a misprint or am I missing something?
His first Grammy nomination was with Winter Rose.
Nah.. Really? Nah.. that's not true is it? I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not. Damn words. It's almost believable, but the only place that mentions the words Winter Rose and grammy in the same sentence is unencyclopedia, and they got 8 grammys according to that. :lol
https://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/James_LaBrie
lol I googled that as well because I didnt believe it. It isnt true as far as I can tell. :lol
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Not to get off topic, but three grammy nominations? I'm aware of two. Is that a misprint or am I missing something?
His first Grammy nomination was with Winter Rose.
Nah.. Really? Nah.. that's not true is it? I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not.
:justjen
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No there was no Grammy for Winter Rose but James did win a Vera Wang Fashion Award for his time with the band
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Hope someone goes and records this.
I'd go if it were a lot less than 12 hours away.
Very cool.
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Not to get off topic, but three grammy nominations? I'm aware of two. Is that a misprint or am I missing something?
His first Grammy nomination was with Winter Rose.
Of course. It narrowly lost to Manitoba's Wild Kingdom.
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Suggestions for questions:
Can you be more explicit in your current role of the writing process? Would you like that role to change, and if so, how? Is there anything outside your influence that is stopping that change?
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Anyone here definitely going?
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Just thought of a great question - it's been rumoured in the past that JLB was considered to replace Bruce Dickinson after he left Iron Maiden in the mid 90's, but as far as I can see this has never actually been confirmed, discussed with or mentioned by the man himself.
It'd be nice if someone here could be bold enough to ask him if this is true, and if so, what exactly took place - did they ever contact him directly about it, did they invite him for an audition, or what?
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Just thought of a great question - it's been rumoured in the past that JLB was considered to replace Bruce Dickinson after he left Iron Maiden in the mid 90's, but as far as I can see this has never actually been confirmed, discussed with or mentioned by the man himself.
It'd be nice if someone here could be bold enough to ask him if this is true, and if so, what exactly took place - did they ever contact him directly about it, did they invite him for an audition, or what?
Pre-injury, I think he would have been a great replacement. I don't know anything about it, but the thought is pretty exciting. 1994 Labrie singing for Maiden.. wow.
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Just thought of a great question - it's been rumoured in the past that JLB was considered to replace Bruce Dickinson after he left Iron Maiden in the mid 90's, but as far as I can see this has never actually been confirmed, discussed with or mentioned by the man himself.
It'd be nice if someone here could be bold enough to ask him if this is true, and if so, what exactly took place - did they ever contact him directly about it, did they invite him for an audition, or what?
Pre-injury, I think he would have been a great replacement. I don't know anything about it, but the thought is pretty exciting. 1994 Labrie singing for Maiden.. wow.
The only problem with that is we may have never gotten Bruce back into IM since JLB would have been a much better replacement than Blaze and I am a Blaze fan.
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I'm pretty sure there's nothing there anyway.
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Just thought of a great question - it's been rumoured in the past that JLB was considered to replace Bruce Dickinson after he left Iron Maiden in the mid 90's, but as far as I can see this has never actually been confirmed, discussed with or mentioned by the man himself.
It'd be nice if someone here could be bold enough to ask him if this is true, and if so, what exactly took place - did they ever contact him directly about it, did they invite him for an audition, or what?
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I remember JLB said himself on his forum he was asked to fill in for Bruce. I did a quick search and found the post. Scroll down to the bottom.
https://www.jameslabrie.com/forum/index.php?topic=325.0 (https://www.jameslabrie.com/forum/index.php?topic=325.0)
In case the link doesn't work for some of you, here is a copy and past of his post.
James LaBrie
Member
**
Posts: 66
View Profile
Re: James; please answer that!
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2009, 10:39:48 am »
Hey Everyone ,
The tour is going great. We are having a blast and the fans/ audiences have been nothng short of stellar.
As for the IM debate. We were just about to go into the studio to record Images and Words and had a meeting with potential Management ( Iron Maiden's )... Rod and Merk. When in convenient proximity they asked what I thought of possibly singing for Maiden. Without hesitation, I said DT was where I belonged and I was not into filling the shoes of another singer, the definitive singer of Maiden. Remember if you will. When I was 22 yrs. old I sang for a popular band in Canada 'Coney Hatch'. They had recorded 3 albums with their original singer. Kicked him out for creative differences and vocal limitations and asked me to join. I did and sang with them for a year. We were writing new material and were about to record when I knew this wasn't going anywhere, this could only exist or not as the original line-up. Not to mention the material was weak. Anyway, I moved on and was glad i did vowing to never sing in a band that had strongly established themselves with their current line-up or singer.
As for Judas Priest, no conversation ever took place. To be honest, no one could have done a better job then Ripper Owens. He did an amazing job singing for Priest. The guy has the perfect voice for that kind of singing.
Okay, now let's move on.
Hope to see you out at one of the shows.
Take care,
James.
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Wow, never knew that!! Imagine if James had sang on The X Factor and Virtual XI. Which kind of reaction would have that been?
Thanks for the facts!
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Those albums would have been extremely different and probably wouldn't have the immensely dark edge that Blaze Bayley brought in. Anyway, James made a good decision, obviously. ;D
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Well, I guess that answers that!
Still, I'm surprised that this seems to be a relatively little known fact about the great man. It's quite the claim to fame if you ask me.
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James in his prime would have been an awesome asset to Maiden. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he didn't leave DT, but it would have been amazing.
Although, he was right by stating Dickinson is the definitive singer for Iron Maiden. Although James would have brought something cool and different to the band, it would have hardly replaced Bruce's signature voice and Maiden's signature sound.
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Maybe he would've gotten an audition, but there's no way he would've gotten into Maiden. Steve Harris has a ton of pride and was strongly against a singer who wasn't British.
I don't think it would've been a very good fit anyway. I can't imagine him sounding very good on the stuff Maiden was doing in the 90s.
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Yeah, let's not overstate what happened.
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Hey guys! I just got back! It was pretty damn awesome! Very welcoming and intimate atmosphere.
First of all, let me just say holy crap, I knew that Midland was a small town, but talk about being out in the boonies! Thank heavens we live in the age of portable GPS.
Anywho, so, overall, it was pretty much stuff that most DT fans would know, he talked about his upbringing, the career, the albums, the throat incident, stuff like that. If you've read the book, you'll pretty much know everything he said.
Except one little inconsistency. According to his recollection, DT ended up discovering him by accident when someone passed along a live bootleg of Winter Rose to them. He didn't mention sending his photo, CD and stuff like that, although maybe that's what he was talking about.
So yeah, unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to record it, but there were a couple of things he said that I haven't heard before and found quite interesting:
One, they were talking about his vocal stamina, and when he gets to the best condition of the night, and he said that whenever the setlists are put together, he sits down with whoever puts them together and basically says, "These are the songs I could do at the beginning of the night, these are the songs I could do in the middle, and these are the songs I could do at the end," to make the best use of where he's at. I found this to be very interesting. I didn't realize that they actually put that into consideration, although I can't say for sure how long this has been going on.
Another awesome thing is regarding the new album. It seems as though this album will be going in some particular direction. Could even be another concept album. Basically, when asked about what the future holds he said that DT is going into the studio in February to write the new album, and then he said, "I can't say more than that. I know what album we're recording, but I can't say." So there's already a direction, it seems.
And yeah, the awesome guy that he is, he came out after the show to meet people, so I gave him a CD compilation of the vocal stems from Awake, as a souvenir, and got an awesome picture with him. Great experience!
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10931244_10155085076200433_1837090620765388104_n.jpg?oh=a8c49894c64b079c72333ce78858ed8b&oe=552A404A&__gda__=1428354079_81d7ce23d580f33f9c148f8e6ef9f6b8)
If there's anything else you guys wanna know. Whether he talked about this or that, shoot!
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Thanks for the detailed report!
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Haha, great gift!! :lol And great post, thanks! Sounds like a concept album if he already knows what they are doing... Hmmmm....
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Knowing what they're doing doesn't directly imply a concept album (nor does it rule it out). It just means they know what they're doing. You could say that about many DT albums, such as ToT, as opposed to an album like SC where they said they went in and just wrote what came to them (yet still ended up in a certain direction).
Not saying it excludes a concept album, I just don't know why everyone loves to jump on that every time a new album cycle rolls around. :dunno:
Oh, and thanks to TGP for the facts!
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Oh, and thanks to TGP for the facts!
Always a pleasure! ;D
I'm not suggesting that it's definitely a concept album, but it also seems like it had more intention than just something like DT12, with its shorter song format + epic at the end. Either way, they've done albums with preconceived ideas, and they've done albums without preconceived ideas, and they've done albums where they had some vague ideas and ended up with something concrete once they were in the studio. This time, we know which one it is and I can't wait to find out what the idea is.
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If they know what type of album they want to make going in - it might simply be " all ballads " or " All long songs " or " double album "
Doesn't automatically mean Concept every time.
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Did he say whether or not he'd be contributing lyrics this time?
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Did he say whether or not he'd be contributing lyrics this time?
It would be far too early in the process for them to have sorted out lyrics, however, the primary reason he didn't contribute lyrics on DT12 is because he'd already written lyrics for his solo album. I would expect we'll get JLB lyrics this time around.
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Thanks TGP. That was a great read.
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Did he say whether or not he'd be contributing lyrics this time?
Now that you mention it, they didn't talk about him writing lyrics at all. Not on the previous albums, not on solo albums, not his general approach... Well, that was a missed opportunity.
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Thanks for that TGP!
Basically, when asked about what the future holds he said that DT is going into the studio in February to write the new album, and then he said, "I can't say more than that. I know what album we're recording, but I can't say."
Oh god, let the Metropolis 3 speculation commence.
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Great story, TGP. :tup
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Thanks for that TGP!
Basically, when asked about what the future holds he said that DT is going into the studio in February to write the new album, and then he said, "I can't say more than that. I know what album we're recording, but I can't say."
Oh god, let the Metropolis 3 speculation commence.
No no no no no
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Nice report and cool pic! :metal
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TGP great report thanks for posting.
Was wondering how many people roughly where present, and did the majority appear to be DT fans or local Canadian who came along with an interest to what a local "celeb" had to say?
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Nice report and cool pic! :metal
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Sounds like a great time, thanks for the post!
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Thanks TGP. That was a great read.
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TGP great report thanks for posting.
Was wondering how many people roughly where present, and did the majority appear to be DT fans or local Canadian who came along with an interest to what a local "celeb" had to say?
Yeah, this was something I also wanted to mention. I'm not really sure how many people the place sits, it's a very small hall, so maybe 300 or so, would be my estimate. And I was happy to see that the place was pretty full. I didn't really see any empty seats, so if there were any, it would've been like the odd one here and there. His whole family was there, and what seemed like a lot of his old friends, so that was cool to see. Gave the whole thing a very homey atmosphere.
From the looks of it, most of the people were local, although I'm sure quite a few of them are familiar with DT's music, I heard some talking about it.
As far as I could see, there were maybe 20 DT fans from out of town, or at least around 20 people who looked like they were out of towners, and had a very "metal head" or "rock fan" type look to them. Though I could be underestimating.
For those who may not have been familiar with DT, they actually played quite a few sound and video clips of the band. There was a general snippet montage of various songs that his son, Chance, put together, to showcase James' range and style. They also played many clips from Breaking The Fourth Wall, showcasing the musicians, James performing, the orchestra and choir, as well as The Looking Glass in its entirety. So people got a fairly decent introduction to DT.
At one point, they were discussing the Enemy Inside video, and how they collaborated with that one organization that deals with veterans with PTSD on it. And they wanted to show the clip from the video, but the techie accidentally got the lyric video with the dude with pixelated out face instead. The host played it up as if that's what he was intending to show all along, :lol, but when talking about like, the scenes from the video, and stuff, the clip obviously didn't get across any of it. So that was probably the biggest flub of the evening on their part.
Also, another little thing... Apparently, James hates this picture. (https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/v/t1.0-9/946642_10151420483082181_1440679097_n.jpg?oh=5cb3614631fb4ea8c6af96a1dc311bb2&oe=55209E9A&__gda__=1428670293_b1e52516591f71be8ecef07a4b0062a6)
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Oh god, let the Metropolis 3 speculation commence.
Clearly it will be Metro Gun 33-1/3
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Did he mention anything regarding The Theater Equation on how it's going to play out? It is just them doing the album in its entirety or doing some dialogue in between or something else?
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Did he mention anything regarding The Theater Equation on how it's going to play out? It is just them doing the album in its entirety or doing some dialogue in between or something else?
No, he didn't mention anything like that, but it was brought up. I don't know about dialogue, but there will definitely be some stage direction. He says he won't have that much rehearsal time with them, pretty much a week, but he's in talks with them over skype, so he'll get his stage directions and things like that by those means. But considering that he didn't bring up any dialogue, I'm guessing it's just going to be the album.
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Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions in such a detailed way. :yarr
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Always a pleasure.
I just remembered another cool part. He was asking James about his vocal style, and how he developed it, and JLB told an interesting little story. He said that when he was young, and he'd sing a lot, he'd always be singing in the shower, and he'd be singing Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and his other influences, and apparently his father told him that while he sounded great, he was sounding too much like those other guys, and he needed to find his own voice. (Something I think a lot of singers, myself included, have to face at some point.) So apparently, he'd be walking around the house, just trying various different things with his voice, and I'm paraphrasing here, "until one day, I just did something and I found it really opened me up and allowed me to project my voice a lot easier. And I thought it sounded cool."
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One, they were talking about his vocal stamina, and when he gets to the best condition of the night, and he said that whenever the setlists are put together, he sits down with whoever puts them together and basically says, "These are the songs I could do at the beginning of the night, these are the songs I could do in the middle, and these are the songs I could do at the end," to make the best use of where he's at. I found this to be very interesting. I didn't realize that they actually put that into consideration, although I can't say for sure how long this has been going on.
When and who? In that case was it Mike Portnoy who decided the setlist for each concert? Some hours before the concert?
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When and who? In that case was it Mike Portnoy who decided the setlist for each concert? Some hours before the concert?
It sounded like he was talking about present tense, so I'm guessing he means currently with JP.
If they did do that with Portnoy, I'm guessing this would have been done at the beginning of the tour, which would basically have given MP a selection of songs which he could plug into the beginning, middle, end part of the concert. At least that's how I understood it.
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TGP: Were you the one in the second row seated next to us?
JLB had the assembled crowd in stitches a few times through the evening. When he talked about the early days of touring and "living in a van down by the river" (but he claimed that as vocalist HE got the bed) and other experiences (a loaf of bread and peanut butter & jelly were sustenance in those lean bar scene days).
He also had the place howling when they showed the "American Idol" video and then he explained what that was really all about.
He demonstrated what a consummate pro he was when on a few occasions the moderator (Fred Hacker) got a few album and DVD titles wrong but JLB never skipped a beat and answered the questions on cue. Hats off to FH that night....he asked the pointed questions and kept the evening flowing along nicely.
JLB was very gracious afterwards taking time with everyone in the foyer to take pictures and sign things. My son and I got a number of items signed and we also chatted with him a few times. All in all a wonderful evening and kudos to JLB for making the night a memorable one. Hopefully they do this again sometime in the future. :D
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Awesome, thanks for the recap guys.
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TGP: Were you the one in the second row seated next to us?
I was indeed in the second row... I don't know who I was sitting next to, lol. Does my picture look like the guy who was sitting next to you? :lol
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My son had the purple Aeropostale sweatshirt on and was seated right next to you. I believe when you first came into the hall and made your way to the seats you asked me if the seats next to us were vacant. I said "yes" and then made a comment about how appropriate as they were playing "Vacant" on the sound system at the time. ;D
We went to the pub next door after the night was done and sure enough JLB showed up there with family and friends. He was just as gracious chatting it up with everyone.
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Sounds like a very unique event that could only take place in a town with direct JLB history.
<tongue in cheek> Did this happen?
JLB: Well, that reminds me of ...
Moderator: What was that aboot?
JLB: Can I finish? The fact is ...
Moderator: Answer my question, buddy
JLB: Can I finish? What I was saying ...
Moderator: You Canadians and your beady eyes
JLB: I resent that. I find that racist. Can I finish?
JLB: As I was saying. I apologize for Bryan Adams.
Did JLB mention if he had any music education background?
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My son had the purple Aeropostale sweatshirt on and was seated right next to you. I believe when you first came into the hall and made your way to the seats you asked me if the seats next to us were vacant. I said "yes" and then made a comment about how appropriate as they were playing "Vacant" on the sound system at the time. ;D
Hahahah, yep, that was me! Are you guys local, or where did you come in from?
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He did mention that he has worked with some voice coaches over time if I am not mistaken (names escape me now). But I think it was more a case of self-discovery of his ability and then he progressed from there.
They did play one montage of vocal tracks that demonstrated his high ranges. Pretty impressive actually.
We came in from Toronto. He was skiing with his class at Blue Mountain the next AM so we stayed the night. It all worked out perfectly.
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He did mention that he has worked with some voice coaches over time if I am not mistaken (names escape me now). But I think it was more a case of self-discovery of his ability and then he progressed from there.
They did play one montage of vocal tracks that demonstrated his high ranges. Pretty impressive actually.
We came in from Toronto. He was skiing with his class at Blue Mountain the next AM so we stayed the night. It all worked out perfectly.
He studied with Rosemary Patricia, which I think was the one he mentioned, but that was at the age of 21, and then he had coaching with Victoria Thompson after that whole incident where he was almost fired from the band in 2002. And then more recently, he trained with Jaime Vendera.