George W Bush: Orchestral Conductor!! (Not a joke!)

[stopbush]

There's an old joke in the orchestra:

Q. What's the difference between an orchestra and a bull?

A. With a bull, the horns are in the front and the asshole is in the back.


George Bush Tries His Hand at Orchestra Conducting
By Matthew Westphal
14 May 2007

JoAnn Falletta was conducting a 400-piece orchestra in The Stars and Stripes Forever yesterday in Jamestown, Virginia when she noticed someone standing behind her gesturing for a turn on the podium.


It was George W. Bush — "smiling at me kind of devilishly," as she told the Associated Press.

So she gave him a turn, and he conducted the Sousa march for about two minutes — rather successfully, by all reports.

The occasion was the celebration in honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in what was to become the United States,. The music was provided by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (which is based in nearby Norfolk and has Falletta as its music director), augmented by student musicians from all 50 states.

During The Stars and Stripes, which was Bush's exit music following his speech at the ceremony, he walked toward the conductor's podium. "He didn't say anything," Falletta told the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. "He gave me a wink and made a little gesture like he wanted the baton. It was an unbelievable experience. "It was also "a complete surprise," she said, not planned in advance. (One wonder what the Secret Service made of it all.)

Something else was a surprise: "We didn't expect him to know the score so well," Falletta told the AP afterward. "He was very musical," she told the Virginian-Pilot. "He was cueing the brass; he was cueing the percussion. He kept the tempo going."

Shortly before the march was over, he turned to the maestro, kissed the top of her head, stepped off the podium and left.

http://scena.org/brand/brand.asp?lan=2&id=43487&lnk=http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6485.html

[EnviroBat]

1. Putting on his little show...

For the 30%. What a fuckstick.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. That's fuck-baton, honey.

:evilgrin: <---veteran of numerous orchestras and conductors.

[madinmaryland]

2. Here's a picture...

The Orchestra sure looks lost!!1!!

[LibertyLover]

4. ". . . kissed her on top of her head . . "

Ewww. That's just gross. Why did he have to kiss the maestra at all? Just to show that he could? He is always invading personal space for silly things, like rubbing heads. If he wanted to kiss her, how about a polite salute to her cheek, not the head, which is demeaning. I hope she went to the restroom afterward and washed well.

[1monster]

5. Having played in a high school orchestra, I can tell you that a well

rehearsed orchestra can play well without a conductor... All that is needed is a Concert Master (First Chair, First Violinist usually has that honor) to start the piece.

All Bush had to do was give the downbeat and the orchestra would do the rest. These are professional musicans and they would be able to give a professional product with a dunce for a guest conductor (as this incident proved).

[AllegroRondo]

7. Having done the same thing

it can be done even without a downbeat from the "guest".

During my years in the Army Band, we would often do the "guest conductor" thingy for important visitors. The trick - the "real" condoctor stood off to the side, and would raise and lower his eyebrows to give a downbeat. Once you have that, the rest is just autopilot. We could play "stars and stripes" in our sleep.

[Lobster Martini]

6. It's like he's trying to find new ways to look like an idiot....

The effort really isn't necessary. He looked more graceful when he fell off his bicycle.

[stopbush]

8. After six years of misconducting himself, GW Bush stepped in front of...

:)

[AllegroRondo]

9. What do you do with a drummer too stupid to play?

take away one of his sticks and make him a conductor.

[malaise]

10. Yeltsin #2

In 1994 after a particularly liquid lunch with the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Yeltsin snatched the baton from the conductor of a police orchestra, and pretended to conduct them while blowing kisses to the crowd.

WTF?

[Javaman]

11. You know what makes me sick about this?

it's his* over inflated ego based on nothing that makes him* believe that he* can do anything. What he's* failing to understand is, it's not him* that people do things for, it's his* title. once the dunce* is out of office, he'll* have trouble conducting a comb and tissue paper orchestra.

what a fucktard*.

[Virginia Dare]

12. Every day is one big frat party to him...

it was clear that he was drunk and or stoned off his ass the whole time he was there. Nothing new, all the while the press pretends it's all normal.

[muffin1]

13. I live near Jamestown

and the local paper has given the event quite a bit of coverage. Disgusting, really. A bunch of rich assholes acting like they were about to orgasm at the thought of seeing him. One woman was quoted as saying, "He's SO cute!"
I think I would have rather have had a colonoscopy and a root canal simultaneously than suffer that fool for a moment.x(

[RedStateShame]

14. I thought the only song he could lead was "Taps."

[Virginia Dare]

15. Georgey the chimp, King of the World...

the world is his shitcan to do with as he pleases because he can, party on dudes....:argh:

[jollyreaper2112]

16. blech

Sounds like "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector."