I love the movies.

"Star Wars in Concert" coming to Conseco

And I love the music of the movies.

That’s why I absolutely could not pass up the chance to find out more about “Star Wars: In Concert.”

There was a special press conference held at Conseco Fieldhouse on Tuesday to formally announce the concert event that is touring the world and will visit Indianapolis on Saturday night, December 12. 

The local Star Wars fan club, The 501st Legion, had many costumed characters on hand for the announcement. Boba Fett, assorted Storm Troopers and the big guy himself, Darth Vader make for great visuals.

Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am at the Conseco Fieldhouse Box Office and Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000. Ticket prices are $65.50 and $35.00.

The pricing was better than I expected.

The music is coordinated to imagery from the movies on a huge, three story tall LED movie screen above the stage. Lasers, lighting and other special effects will also accompany the performance. 

Darth Vadar "lights up" at Conseco

Anthony Daniels, the British actor who famously portrayed C-3PO in the “Star Wars” saga narrates the program.  

There will also be a gallery of props ans costumes from the movies on display for the audience to check out.  

As you might guess, I love “Star Wars.” Seeing it in big 70 mm at the now torn-down Eastwood Theatre on Indy’s eastside back in 1977 was a memorable event.

“Star Wars” is one of those movies that has had a huge impact on my life. The movie and its music have had a huge impact on the pop culture soundtrack of the past thirty years.

Composer John Williams is a genius. Pure and simple.

George Lucas created a great epic story. But it was John Williams’ music that really helped bring it to life.

If you are a fan of epic soundtracks, this should be a treat!

A Stormtrooper takes aim at a blogger...

This past week,  the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, the venerable Sears Tower in Chicago changed names.  It’s now the Willis Tower.

Willis Group Holdings, a  British insurance brokerage concern, is taking a mere three floors in the 110-story skyscraper but got the naming rights as part of an agreement to lease space.  So the Sears Tower now becomes the Willis Tower.

There’s just something wrong with that.   Everything’s up for sale.  Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse.  I’ve said it before but, once again, hats off to Max Schumacher and the Indianapolis Indians and Victory Field.

I finally got used to the RCA Building in New York being the GE Building.  But when I look at the Met Life Building there on Park Avenue, I stll see the Pan Am building.  Don’t even think about renaming the Chrysler or Empire State Buildings.

Sears Roebuck and Company, a Chicago institution, moved out in 1992 after nearly two decades there but its sign stayed on.  And, the iconic structure retained that moniker.

Chicagoans have had to bear the brunt of relabeling Marshall Field’s as Macy’s and Comiskey Park as U.S. Cellular Field.  And, for the time being, it’s still Wrigley Field.  Although, with Tribune now facing bringing the Cubs into bankruptcy court, that’s probably up for grabs.

So far, nearly 40,000 people have signed a petition against changing the 110-story landmark to Willis Tower.  It’s probably futile,

The baby T-Rex, one of the stars of "Walking with the Dinosaurs"

I’ve loved dinosaurs ever since I was a little kid. When I was little, stop motion special effects guru Ray Harryhausen lovingly brought dinos to life on the movie screen. 

In the 90’s, Steven Spielberg made them even more scarily realistic with computer generated dinos in “Jurrasic Park.” But that was the movies.

 Thursday night, I got to finally see dinos LIVE and in person. And man, was it cool!

Dinos have invaded downtown Indianapolis!

Through this Sunday, Conseco Fieldhouse is hosting “Walking with Dinosaurs” an arena spectacular based on the BBC television show that aired a couple years ago.

The show is about the history of the dinosaurs. But let’s get right down to it…it’s really a cool excuse to stage and showcase some remarkable engineering by creating life-size and very life-like versions of some of the coolest dinos!

The show is in two acts with a palentologist narrator that walks you through the various stages of dino life on Earth.

There is some very imaginative lighting and staging even beyond the large animatronic puppets. And those effects really help bring the dinosaur characters to life.

But the star of the show is the fearsome T-Rex. The show wisely waits till near the end to reveal him (and his baby T-Rex.) The T-Rex got the biggest and well deserved reaction of the night.

A couple weeks ago I got to meet the Baby Rex when he visited Channel 6. (You can see his close-up up above.) After that close encounter, I knew I had to see the Conseco show. WFYI, the PBS station has been airing a cool special this week on the making of the dinos used in the “Walking with the Dinosaurs” Arena Tour. Check that out. And if you can, see the show downtown. 

It was great fun for my whole family!

There’s something palitable about going to a show or concert and watching performers enjoy themselves. I like to think that if they are having fun,  I can have fun, too. 

Think about it. I’ve been to plenty of shows where the star performer didn’t seem to want to be there.

A few that are on my performer wall of shame -The Cars (just a few months after I saw them, they broke up. I could see it coming by the way they did NOT want to be on a stage together.)

Sheryl Crowe, early in her career at Deer Creek – I have seen her since and she more than made up for her off night. That’s good.

But the worst was a guy named Gordon Lightfoot back in college. Gordon was such a cranky guy, he actually stopped singing because the audience was singing along with him! (I swear to God I am not making this up.) Needless to say, Mr. Lightfoot will not be on my list to ever see again.

Anyway, my wife and I saw Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire on Tuesday night. And thankfully, these guys, celebrating 40 years performing, fall in the “having fun” category!

And why not? Both groups have had stellar careers and an amazing string of hits. Both have their roots in the Windy City. And both put on a great show (though I have to admit, EW&F was just a little bit better!) But why quibble? This was a classic rock fan’s delight – a 3 hour plus string of hits through the decades. And the bands sound remarkably great, especially playing together! And they were obviously, joyfully, enjoying themselves!

They came out together starting with a Chicago hit, “Only the Beginning” and didn’t stop. After a few songs together, Earth Wind & Fire took over launching with “Boogie Wonderland.” 

Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire together again!

After about a one hour set, Chicago took the stage. Their set included most of their Top 40 hits. But I felt their best stuff was the earlier career songs (Saturday in the Park, Color My World etc)

The bands then re-joined for a third act which got Conseco jumping with classics like “September” (my favorite for the night.)

This is the third time these two supergroups have toured together. It was a welcome return and they made beautiful music together.

More importantly, they seemed to be having a blast doing it. And so did we.