February 12, 2011: Heavy Metal Concert

February 12, 2011: After I had completed all of my weekend tasks, I received a text from David asking me if I'd like to go to the art exhibition of a friend of his family's. Of course I agreed to go and we arranged to meet downtown. Here is a picture of an interesting dome on a building that I saw on my way to meet him.

While waiting at our meeting place, I saw electronic signs that give the bus/tram status on how many more minutes it would take for them to arrive at the station.

However, when we met, David told me that the exhibition was closed on Saturdays, so we had to find other things to do. He told me about a restaurant on Andrassy ut so we went there but could not find the restaurant he was told about. However, since we were close to the Alexandra Bookstore, we went there for a cup of coffee. After that we walked down Liszt Ference ter and I saw the Liszt Academy of Music during the daytime.

Liszt Academy of Music

Then David suggested we go to a Gastronomy Exhibition in Buda specializing in foods from Transylvania. 

Exhibition Center in Buda

However, when we got there, the hall was jammed with people and it also cost a lot of money to enter so we decided to forgo that idea. Instead we went to the Mammuth mall in Buda for a quick look

Mammuth Mall

and then a pancake house, had a quick snack, and then returned to each of our homes before going to hear his friend, Andras, perform in a heavy metal concert. 

The concert venue was at a bar far far far away from Budapest center -- probably the last place one could go before leaving the city going east. After we arrived there, we learned that there were four bands playing and Andras's band was the last of these. The reason Andras gave was that his drummer was returning from Cairo on a plane at 4:00 in the afternoon and so his band had to be last to give him some time to get there. 

The first three bands were also heavy metal, the first being mostly grunts and groans from the singer. Andras praised the band saying "It's very difficult to make those sounds. They're so good, it sounds like they're driving heavy nails into the wall." If you asked me, it sounded more like they were using a wrecking ball to destroy a building! The music was loud loud loud. I guess one man's construction is another man's deconstruction. The bar was also full of cigarette smoke, but everyone there seemed to be having a good time. Andras, David, and I sat at a table in an adjoining room where it was still loud but not as loud as being in the room with the band. They spoke in English and I was able to hear all they said above the music. 

Andras is close to completing his doctorate degree in jurisprudence. He is very knowledgeable in constitutional law and was able to compare and contrast the constitutions of western Europe and the US very easily. He clearly is an intelligent person and while a student, he also wor ks for the Hungarian Department of Justice and teaches seminars on law at various universities. I therefore found it curious that he would be the lead singer in a heavy metal band, but he told me that Tony Blair himself had been in a band before he was prime minister of England so I guess there is some history here, provided Andras wants to be prime ministre (not until he's 35, the age a person must be to become one). Here are pictures of two of the bands that preceded Andras's band, the Dantes.

Finally it was time for the Dantes to perform. Unlike the other bands, the Dantes actually sang songs while the other bands were strictly musical (or grunted and groaned). Many of the songs were favorites of the heavy metal genre, AC/DC, Metallica, etc. but the only song I even recognized was "Eye of the Dragon". The Dantes also performed many original compositions and David told me that the words to the songs, all written by Andras, were philosophical in nature, no surprise having gotten to know Andras. Andras also proved to have a good voice.

The concert ended about 11:30 and by the time Andras changed back into his regular clothes, it was around midnight, well after the time that the buses were in operation. After 11:00, only "night" buses are running. These buses have special three digit numbers all beginning with "9" and they have special routes so one needs to know the route before getting on board. Also, these buses run very rarely throughout the night and we read that the bus wouldn't be arriving at our stop until 2:00 a.m. So much for taking the bus! Andras called for a taxi and had just concluded the call when two cars driving down the road turned around and came to us to offer to take us downtown. I found this strange because one of the cars was driven by a gentleman about my age and his wife. They offered to take us to Ors vezer ter so David and I climbed in while Andras waited for his taxi. In the drive on the way, though, the driver explained that he was heading to Buda and since the route was close to David's apartment, we ended up being driven right to his apartment! I thought this was very nice of two seeming strangers to do for us, but as we got out of the car, I finally understood that the driver and his wife were the parents of another bandmember of the Dantes, he being in the other car that followed us home. So, everything made sense after all. But were we fortunate to have found a way home; otherwise who knows where I would have spent the night. As it is, I spent the night at David's since we didn't know when a night bus could take me to my apartment.

At any rate, this experience was very interesting and I was happy to have been invited to it by two people who are the ages of my own children. And perhaps this experience has taught me about the interests and parties that my own students attend. (Speaking of which, on Friday, there was a party of this sort at UMSZKI and two of my classes asked if I planned on attending it. I ended up not going, but would have probably experienced the same sort of music although there would not have been any smoking in the school where it took place!)

Tomorrow I'll be attending a concert at the Palace of Arts where they'll be performing Mahler's 3rd Symphony, another of my favorite composer's symphonies. I'm counting on the music being a bit different than I heard at the bar on Saturday.

Speaking of Mahler, I purchased our season series tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2011/2012 season. I really had to agonize over which series to subscribe to because all of the classical ones had some great things to hear. Next year the LA Phil is doing the Mahler Project where all nine of Mahler's completed symphonies will be performed. I can't wait!