Seattle conductor George Shangrow killed in crash

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSqoZjiS8NY

Handel Messiah Comfort Ye Every Valley. Stephen Wall tenor. George Shangrow conducting from the harpsichord.

J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Orchestra Seattle – Seattle Chamber Singers
George Shangrow, Music Director

Seattle is in mourning today and for all time on the death of George Shangrow. Seattle area conductor George Shangrow was killed in a car crash on Saturday July 31, 2010.

It’s not normal for me to publish things like this on my website. But this is just so shocking to me. I first worked with George when I was around 12 years old as a boy soprano and in 2005 had offered to relocate my record label and internet company to Seattle to solely focus on promoting his groups. I’m so sad to hear this. What a tremendous loss. He was such a great conductor, pianist and person. Condolences to his family.

When I was around 12 years old, George Shangrow was around 27 and worked as a rehearsal pianist for the Northwest Boychoir that I was in. He would also sometimes accompany me in voice lessons and later I sang in the chorus with him conducting Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

In 2006, before I relocated to China with Cirque Du Soleil, I last saw him conduct the Bach Mass in B Minor in Seattle, WA. I spoke with him after the concert and he said “Are you still interested in that studio and internet thing?” and I said “Yes”. But that was the last we spoke and I relocated to China.

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Adam Baldwin – My Bodyguard fight scenes

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKMjpN2iCmc

Clip from My Bodyguard movie starring Matt Dillon, Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin, Ruth Gordon from 1980.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pachHZTZZic

Classic clip from My Bodyguard where the bully Mike gets his ass kicked! Excellent Movie from 1980!!

I have been watching the sci-fi series Firefly and really enjoy the character that Adam Baldwin plays. That made me remember when I first saw him in the movie “My Bodyguard” back in 1980. Chris Makepeace and Adam Baldwin are around the same age as me so My Bodyguard was a powerful movie for me when it came out that I could relate to.

Here I posted the two fight scenes from My Bodyguard. What a great film for the time.

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Audio Downloads

I was going to wait until the uploads were finished to announce this but Google is already indexing my audio – so you can download audio I’ve written and produced at http://www.ConradAskland.net

It’s the “dot net” version of my name. The site you’re on now is “dot com”. I split the downloads into a new website because this one is already getting really bogged down with traffic.

And since I’m at it I’ll let you know that my forum which I never told anyone about is at:
http://forum.ConradAskland.com

I’ll keep doing uploads as I can and then come back here to make all the navigation between the different areas more user-friendly.

John Cage 4’33”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E

You might have heard the piece 4’33” (Four minutes and 33 seconds) by John Cage for piano, but here it is presented by a full orchestra.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y

John Cage talks about Silence. “We don’t know a difference between time and space, we don’t know where one starts and the other stops.”

PDQ Bach

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMSEPUuNP8k

(Part Two is the performance, so I post it first)

Itzhak Perlman and Peter Schickele mix it up in a hilarious duet at a Boston Pops Concert with John Williams conducting. Part 1 is mostly the setup, with Peter Schickele expounding on the life of P.D.Q. Bach, “the 21st of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 20 children.”

PDQ Bach is the ultimate in combining High Art and Low Art for awesome high brow comedy. It was great in this video to see PDQ Bach, violinist Itzhak Perlmand and composer/conductor John Williams all working together on the gags. I also like how the music makes you wait for each subsequent gag as they are interspersed with a fiarly straight ahead Riccoco style orchestration.

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