John Williams' Film Night at Tanglewood, Aug 2 and 3, 2024

[lkpat1983 4]

13 hours ago, Foxfan said:

Indeed if you're heading towards the Albany NY area, park in the Lions Gate Lot on the southwest side of Tanglewood, so you can turn left on Interlaken Rd through Stockbridge and State Line Rd and avoid the crowd that can expect to be stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic back to Lenox and Lee after the concert.

 

Or if you ARE heading East, aim for the Beech Lot and hop/run back to your car immediately when the show is over and leave before the crowds waddle back to theirs with their picnic coolers (but DON'T be those inconsiderate jerks that walk out on Johnny during encores).

This is SOOOO helpful! We are flying into/staying in Albany so thank you!

[Smeltington 1,440]

Yeah you need a car for Tanglewood. It sucks but there's no way around it, unless you're extremely stubborn and don't mind spending too much time and/or money to find one of the very few, not great, alternatives. There's NO Uber or Lyft in the Berkshires, and no cab companies. The only transportation I know of is a Peter Pan bus that stops in Stockbridge (not sure if it stops anywhere else nearby) just once a day, I want to say at noon, and takes like 7 hours to get to Boston. And then there are a few local residents who offer rides if you can find their contact info, and want to spend the money and also potentially ride in a car that wouldn't qualify for Uber service lol.

 

I agree walking from Lenox is legit though, if you're ok walking along the side of the road for that distance. Getting out of the venue at the end can take time, because Film Night draws a huge crowd, and lines form at the exits.

[GerateWohl 4,370]

Is anybody in the US riding bicycles?

[Smeltington 1,440]

Yeah, bikes seem to be more popular here than ever, but we aren't about to catch up to Europe. It's tough since the infrastructure is not set up for it. Biking is popular in Boston, and they're continuously adding more bike lanes, bike paths, even some bike traffic lights, so it can be a pretty efficient way to get around, depending where you are. But that's all in and around the city. Even if there was a bike lane from Boston to Tanglewood, I would not sign up for that ride haha.

 

Biking e.g. for a commute takes a lot of determination in most parts of the US, again due to the lack of infrastructure and having to share the road with cars. Biking for recreation and exercise is pretty common, and lots of rail trails are popping up everywhere these days, plus mountain biking.

 

So progress is being made, but at the same time, cars are so well established, and the country is just too big and spread out. New England is a bit more like Europe in the sense that a lot of cities and other destinations are closer together than other parts of the US, and there are actually more options for public and alternative transportation, but still Tanglewood seems to be an island unto itself.

[Thor 7,512]

I hate cars, I've never owned a car in my life and I hate driving in general (I think I've driven about a handful of times in the almost 30 years I've had a licence). So would it be impossible for someone like me to attend a Tanglewood event, should I ever get the opportunity?

 

Sounds absolutely insane, so I had to google around a bit on my own. About 3 km walking from Lenox to the compound. That's fine. So how to get to Lenox? Well, according to Google Maps, I can take a couple of bus alternatives from Boston. Takes about 3.5 hours, the quickest route. A long bus ride, for sure, but doable. Amazingly, there is also a direct Peter Pan bus alternative that takes the same time, from NEW YORK! And flying into New York is easier than Boston.

 

Getting back is trickier. No late busses from Lenox. So you'd have to be lucky and get one of the few available accomodation options there, for fairly steep prices. Or hitch a ride with someone, I suppose.

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

1 hour ago, Smeltington said:

Yeah, bikes seem to be more popular here than ever, but we aren't about to catch up to Europe.

Behold the train station in Oxford:

 

16 minutes ago, Thor said:

I hate cars, I've never owned a car in my life and I hate driving in general (I think I've driven about a handful of times in the almost 30 years I've had a licence). So would it be impossible for someone like me to attend a Tanglewood event, should I ever get the opportunity?

 

Sounds absolutely insane, so I had to google around a bit on my own. About 3 km walking from Lenox to the compound. That's fine. So how to get to Lenox? Well, according to Google Maps, I can take a couple of bus alternatives from Boston. Takes about 3.5 hours, the quickest route. A long bus ride, for sure, but doable. Amazingly, there is also a direct Peter Pan bus alternative that takes the same time, from NEW YORK! And flying into New York is easier than Boston.

 

Getting back is trickier. No late busses from Lenox. So you'd have to be lucky and get one of the few available accomodation options there, for fairly steep prices. Or hitch a ride with someone, I suppose.

 

Yes, getting there wouldn't be a problem I suppose. Getting back is the tricky part, because there won't be any buses after the concert. You'll have to stay in Lenox through the night, which is probably all right for semi locals, but if you're a tourist and have a hotel in Boston or NYC, having another one for a single day in between makes it rather complicated.

[Smeltington 1,440]

Nice! Is biking also a thing in Vienna?

[Thor 7,512]

Biking is a thing in most of Europe. Here in Oslo, they even plan to have the WHOLE inner city free of cars in a couple of years.

[GerateWohl 4,370]

In Berlin we have two big issue with biking.

First, organized bicycle theft. But that is ok when you have a good heavy lock and you lock your bike to something that cannot be easily moved away like a lamppost.

Secondly, almost every few weeks a bicycle driver dies in traffic, very often hit by trucks turning right at street corners and not paying attention to bicycle drivers. It has become worse in the last ten to twenty years.

 

Apart from that it is a great way to explore the city.

[Smeltington 1,440]

I don't take it for granted after spending time in London, and trying a couple of day trips to other parts of England. It didn't seem like the city was set up for biking, and I was able to take trains to other areas, but sometimes still needed to find a cab to take me from the train station to where I was going.

 

13 minutes ago, Thor said:

Here in Oslo, they even plan to have the WHOLE inner city free of cars in a couple of years.

 

That sounds wonderful! I get the impression that Nordic cities are the furthest along of anybody with their bike culture.

 

3 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

In Berlin we have two big issue with biking.

 

 

Are there many protected bike lanes, or do you have to share the road with cars?

[GerateWohl 4,370]

10 minutes ago, Smeltington said:

Are there many protected bike lanes, or do you have to share the road with cars?

In the city very few protected bike lanes on streets. Traditionally the bike lanes are rather part of the sidewalk which leads to such nice situations where the bike lane is actually placed between the tram station and the sidewalk. So, when people step off the tram they get almost run down by bicycles.

 

There are initiatives for more bike lanes, but it takes time.

 

But mostly bikes are sharing the streets with cars.

 

Outside the city the situation is a little better.

[Smeltington 1,440]

Yeah it's tough to retroactively add these solutions to an old city, even when the desire is there. Boston has the same problem. There's only so much real estate available to divide the street up to accommodate different forms of transportation.

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

42 minutes ago, Smeltington said:

Nice! Is biking also a thing in Vienna?

 

Pretty much. Mostly what Gerate writes about Berlin also applies to Vienna, though luckily fatal accidents don't happen all the time (they do happen too often though, and too little is being done about it, especially with the truck situation), and I've (almost) never had a bike stolen (though that happens a lot, so a decent lock is a must, and insurance doesn't hurt).

 

Vienna has plenty of bike lanes, although they sometimes just vanish into nothing, or are blocked by trucks unloading stuff, or by pedestrians blissfully unaware of anything around them (including bicycle bells)… or slow/unskilled bikers. The main ones also tend to be overloaded on sunny days (partly for the latter reason). On regular roads, I'd often prefer to just ride on the road, but if there's a bike lane next to it, it's usually (though not always) mandatory.

 

It takes me about 30 minutes from home to work by bike, and pretty much the same using public transport. Vienna has a mostly very good public transport network with several subway lines, so I don't have and don't want a car. I used to take the bike for almost all my routes, including riding it to the office 4 times a week pre-COVID. Now we're working from home most of the time and usually only have an office day once a week, *and* I've gotten lazy (I have to change that).

 

One annoyance with bikes in Vienna is the Vienna Basin: The city is located in a basin, with the city centre at the lowest point… so most non-short distance routes will take you uphill in at least one direction. Often only rather slightly, and rarely really steeply, but it's enough to make me decide I'm too lazy more often than I'd like.

 

But overall I think a bike is an excellent primary vehicle in Vienna, and we should be able to get rid of more cars more quickly than we are.

[Brando 1,864]

I was stuck in traffic going there and leaving. And what sucks is when I left, I went the wrong way and ended up in a neighborhood and couldn't figure out where to go because the phone service there SUCKS, so try and download that area on Maps just to be safe. I did end up making it back to my hotel by backtracking, it just took a lot longer than it needed haha.

[Bellosh 3,419]

My current plan:

 

Hotel/Air bnb in Lenox, whether in town or just outside.

 

If far away from downtown (where the walk basically starts), I'll Uber to the downtown and tell my driver, again, same joke...WE WALK FROM HERE!  And of course walk back.

 

Someone said the Berkshires don't have Ubers at all though....is this true? Like ZERO? @Smeltington

 

I could legit picture the rich folks there banning it.  If so this will directly impact which hotel/air BNB I get 

[Smeltington 1,440]

30 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

Someone said the Berkshires don't have Ubers at all though....is this true? Like ZERO?

 

Literally zero when I've tried before. It's crazy. There's always the chance a driver happens to be in the area, but you should plan on them NOT being in the area, because that's much more likely. I don't think it's banned either, just not enough demand, probably not much supply either.

[Bellosh 3,419]

6 minutes ago, Smeltington said:

 

Literally zero when I've tried before. It's crazy. There's always the chance a driver happens to be in the area, but you should plan on them NOT being in the area, because that's much more likely. I don't think it's banned either, just not enough demand, probably not much supply either.

 

Ok that's what I ultimately figured.

 

Appreciate it so much!

[Jay 37,369]

9 hours ago, Thor said:

I was thinking more from Lennox, not from Boston. Presumably, there is a "hub" of some sort in Lennox?

 

Lenox.

[Bellosh 3,419]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

 

Lenox.

 

Exactly!! If he's gonna make fun of us Americans he better at least spell our towns and cities right!!! 😂

 

Jk thor 🫶

[Smeltington 1,440]

It's a town in Massachusetts, so it's probably named after a town in Europe anyway  

[Bellosh 3,419]

So roll call on this Friday show?

 

Who's going?  I'm excited to meet some of you if you're interested.

[Smeltington 1,440]

I'll be there Friday! Not sure yet how much extra time I'll have, but I'd love to at least say hi during the intermission if nothing else.

[Foxfan 128]

Friday as well.

[Andy 4,138]

I’m there Friday and would be happy to meet up. 

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

I read they decided to do two Film Nights with the exact same program in the hopes of alleviating the congestion that occurred last year.

 

Let's hope that's the case and nobody's stuck in their car for the first half of the show!

[Bellosh 3,419]

Wouldn't it be dope if Mike Matessino was at one of these concerts (basically the only ones JW attends) and they had him come out before a cue and explain the process of putting together an unreleased cue and then JW plays the cue/deep cut that is only available on an expansion.

 

I think it would be great way to market the amazing work that goes into these expansions and to show casual people there's so much more than 'throne room/end titles'

 

I know Dreyfuss has done this with a Jaws cue and Spielberg for E.T.

 

Idk just a thought.

[Brando 1,864]

I do know he usually attends the Hollywood Bowl concerts and that would be a cool idea.

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

That's basically what they did with the recent Superman LtP, isn't it?

[Bellosh 3,419]

if they did, then that's fantastic!!

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

Ok, I didn't read that thoroughly enough, re talking specifically about the expansion process. I don't know what MM talked about at the Superman concert.

[Brando 1,864]

3 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Ok, I didn't read that thoroughly enough, re talking specifically about the expansion process. I don't know what MM talked about at the Superman concert.

There's a podcast that will be uploading his talk I was told, I will share it in that thread when its released.

[Andy 4,138]

It would be really nice to call attention to the preservation efforts and bring some awareness to the “normies”.   And of course, Matessino would reciprocate and graciously acknowledge the importance of such work.   More general awareness would be a benefit to the projects yet to be futureproofed. 

[Brando 1,864]

10 hours ago, Brando said:

There's a podcast that will be uploading his talk I was told, I will share it in that thread when its released.

Here it is: 

 

[Joe Brausam 214]

I will be there for the Friday night show.

[lkpat1983 4]

For those of you who have purchased tickets that were mailed to you, when did they ship them? Just curious if I should be worried that mine haven't arrived yet. Thanks!

[Brando 1,864]

4 hours ago, lkpat1983 said:

For those of you who have purchased tickets that were mailed to you, when did they ship them? Just curious if I should be worried that mine haven't arrived yet. Thanks!

When I bought them last year they arrived no more than a few weeks after ordering, even after I emailed them, which I believe was the same day actually, but if you selected paper ticket delivery they will mail it to you. And as a fail safe you can always pick up a paper ticket at will call, I did that when I got my seat upgraded and it was too close to the concert time to send them out.

[BB-8 3,479]

On 20/03/2024 at 4:26 PM, GerateWohl said:

Is anybody in the US riding bicycles?

Let alone does anyone ever walk?

 

In 1845, Joachim Raff walked about 90 km from Zürich to Basel to hear Franz Liszt play the piano.

 

In 1705, J.S. Bach walked approx. 380 km from Arnstadt to Lübeck in search of inspiration.

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

2 hours ago, BB-8 said:

In 1705, J.S. Bach walked approx. 380 km from Arnstadt to Lübeck in search of inspiration.

 

Fortunately today we have more comfortable means of procrastination.

[Bellosh 3,419]

can i just say, i haven't been to the symphony in a few years.

 

one thing i can't wait for, is the sound of the musicians all tuning/warming up.

 

it still somehow creates this lovely sound of randomness