Countdown!

Okay, I know that this is sort of late, even by Eastern Time standards (i.e. it is almost the end of the day). 2008 passed by without much incident, much to my delight. Once more, I find myself heading down to Downtown Pittsburgh for the annual countdown (recall that I went there last year). Being the lazy bum I was, I managed to miss the entire parade, so the first thing that I went to see was a show by Bésame, a Latin American music quartet.Here's another shot from the other side:The fun thing about this quartet is the rather interesting mix of instruments---I have yet to see the appearance of a soprano saxophone in any small band (big-band style jazz has some parts for the soprano saxophone, but that's usually played by a player doubling in it), so it is rather refreshing to find this instrument here. That and the fact that a tuba is used to provide the beats, as opposed to other more ``traditional instruments'' like the cello or even the bass guitar. The members are also quite talented, since all of them could sing, in addition to playing their instruments. The range covered by their voices is fairly complete too, which makes it all the more interesting. The beats and rhythms are quite catchy, and the solo-bits by the soprano saxophone are just plain addictive, though I must say that the altissimo register was not used at all, probably due to the fact that the main purpose of the instruments were to accompany the singing.

And after the enchanting Latin American beats, the next group that I went to see was the Balmoral Highlanders.The line-up this year was different from last year; there was a distinct lack of highland dancers. There seemed to be an emphasis towards promoting the pipers and the competitions, with the announcement of yet another competitive team while presenting the pieces. Also, one of them is a CMU frosh, which I find to be interesting:Here's a picture of the more ``senior'' pipers of the band:Notice that the location was still the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, as seen by the background.

After soaking up all that cultural music, it was time to hit the streets. Literally. The Highmark Central Stage was located off the Highmark building, which was on Penn Avenue itself. The location itself was more cramped than before, and the crowd was just a little on the overbearing side. Also, look carefully at this picture of the main stage:Do you see the ``Free Hugs'' sign? I'm not sure if this was from the Free Hugs Campaign or if it was just some folks who want to spread the joy and cheer by their own initiative. Even though I felt that I needed a hug (I've not had one for almost a month!), I didn't want to squeeze through that throng of people to get some free hug, and thus I abstained. The band playing that night was the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and I must say that they sounded pretty good. They played till midnight, where the fireworks came on.

Unfortunately, I was a lazy bum... and was busy having fun with my War horn (same horn as the one last year) making a big noise. But here are two shots that I felt were not too bad, considering that capturing fireworks was something that was not too easy given zero set-up time.And here's the other:I know it looks funky, but I assure you, it was pretty darn good.

Compared to last year, this year's proceedings felt rather muted. I think it was because of the fact that last year was also the 250th Anniversary of Pittsburgh, which probably meant that there were more funds (and events) to commemorate the big event. But unlike countdowns and first nights elsewhere, the one in Pittsburgh was completely orderly---something about the family-friendly aspect of the event I think. The organising entity for the event was the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, which pretty much ensured that all the activities involved were wholesome cultural events.

Which explains why I returned to the event one year later.