Live: Almost Independence Day
Randy Newman, others, wallow in Dodgermania at the Bowl
By Ron Garmon
First off, I’ve never cared much for the totemically American game of baseball. Any activity that brings out common-man lyricism in the snootwad likes of George Will can’t have much going for it, and the sport’s lack of meaningful violence is off-putting. If the incomprehensible passions baseball looses were translated into players slugging each other with bats, or a ritualized combat a quatre mains between brass-knuckled managers and referees, I’d be more sympathetically attentive. Historically, baseball culture is equal parts sentimentality and bombast – the usual flood of high rhetoric and low chortle that accompanies most things American, from political campaigns to Indian massacres.
Prospect of this familiar old gush is what brought me to a box at the Hollywood Bowl on July 3 for the middle installment of the L.A. Philharmonic’s “Ball at the Bowl with the L.A. Dodgers,” celebrating the 50th anniversary of the team’s move to our city from Brooklyn. I typically go to the Bowl for more heathenish events like rock shows and dance parties, so the sudden PA-moan of “Will-you-now-stand-for-Our-National-Anthem” caught me scribbling in my notebook. “Oh, fuck,” I howled, looking around as some 17,000 patriotic Angelenos, of all races, colors, and (non-destitute) conditions, shot boltlike from their seats. I clambered to my feet, thinking a descendant of Betsy Ross ought to be legally exempt from this shit. Some few oldsters clapped hands over hearts and one or two of these squinted in my direction as Old Glory filled the Jumbotrons and conductor Rob Fisher eased the Phil into that catfight of a tune, followed by a spare, spine-chilling rendition of John Williams’s “Theme from Midway.” Michael Torke’s “Javelin” came as a sugar-blizzard after that, but the orchestra worked it with their usual delicacy, their normal concert-wear replaced with matching Dodger shirts. Much more satisfying was the romp through “Variations on a Shaker Melody” by Aaron Copland, the lusher passages bulging eyes and catching breaths of patrons around me.
Brian Childers, a professional Danny Kaye impersonator (showbiz being as specialized as insect life these days) followed, throwing out the first screwball pitch of the “baseball” portion of the evening with Kaye’s “It’s a Beautiful Day for a Ball Game.” He was followed by Vin Scully’s flat-toned recital of “Gibby at the Bat,” a triumphal abortion of Ernest Thayer’s immortal cautionary fable Scully based on Kirk Gibson’s feats at the plate during Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. The first half of the program ended after former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda waddled onstage to reminisce of dugout daze gone by and lead the crowd into “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” The first half of this cornshuck closed out with the redoubtable Nancy Bea Hefley – the Dodgers’ longtime organist – playing a selection of durable Americana.
We were summoned back from intermission with a suite from James Horner’s score for Field of Dreams, which accompanied video clips celebrating the team’s L.A. history. A hero’s roll of old-time players was called, with Maury Wills, Tommy Davis and others trotting out to applause for their services to cleat and city. A suite of songs from Stephen Flaherty’s musical version of E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime followed, leading into a star turn by the great satirist Randy Newman, who started off with an unironicized “I Love L.A.”
“The Phil is the greatest there ever was,” mumbled Newman, “Not that the crap I’m asking them to play demands all that much out of them.” He then played “You Have a Friend in Me” and “Losing You” – the latter from his new album Harps & Angels, out Aug. 5 – before hefting the baton to lead the Phil in selections from his score from Robert Redford’s The Natural.
This kicked off the fireworks display, which is what everyone had been waiting for. As red, white and blue detonations went off over the Bowl, I moseyed for the exit, with hordes of better Americans behind me ooing ecstatically over some really impressive explosions.
Published: 07/09/2008
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT
