Re: Jean Michel Jarre (Houston, 1986)

[Rev Fever <revfever@ubergadget.com>]

As a LONG time fan of JMJ, I was very fortunate to have been at the  
huge outdoor show he performed as his *only* USA show ever,
and in (literally) downtown Houston,TX. on April 5th, 1986. ALL of  
the downtown area of Houston was used as his "backdrop"
for image projections, large skyscrapers constantly changing colors,  
fireworks, and more, and starting from near the large,
multi-tiered stage, there had been *large stacks of PAs* set up every  
1/4 mile or so, extending all the way to near the Southwest Freeway!
The show was also broadcast on the local radio stations and also, via  
satellite, broadcast to many radio stations around the world!
Truly a "global" experience! There may(?) have been some television  
transmissions as well to other parts of the world,
but I cannot confirm that at the moment.

A truly *mind blowing* experience for me and millions of others. Too  
many details to go into about, and much of the history can
easily be found on the web, but it was one ofthe *most memorable*  
experiences of my Life, and one that still resonates with me today.

Of course, he later went on through the many following years to  
perform even bigger and more elaborate  outdoor shows,
mostly in Europe, and with the largest so far in St. Petersburg,  
Russia (6 million people!) but at the time, this one in Houston,
and the sheer *size* of it etc was something mostly unheard of,  and  
a *real* stunner, especially for the type and caliber of music
he was know for back then, and still is today.

Also, JMJ was and still is a big fan of NASA, which is why Houston  
was chosen, and he was also close friends with  Ron McNair,
one of the astronauts who tragically died when the Challenger space  
shuttle blew up, and in January of 1986,
just a small few months *before*JMJ's big show there.

Originally, McNair, who was also a sax player, was going to perform  
the *first* ever sax *solo*, via radio transmission from *outer space*
for the April 5th concert!  No kidding. JMJ had already written the  
song especially for Ron, and they had planned it out, and then the
horrible tragedy happened before it was performed. Truly sad.

I am also happy to say that JMJ and I still have a "common  
connection" between us, since we both still own
and use the very *wonderful* ARP 2600 synth! :-)

All the best,
-Rev.Fever


On Oct 5, 2008, at 2:19 PM, Per Boysen wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 11:02 PM, Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>  
> wrote:
>> I enjoyed watching this vid of Jean Michel Jarre walk through his  
>> roomful
>> (no lie) of vintage key equipment. Note the Loopstation sitting on  
>> the
>> two-manual keyboard (Eminence?). Nice to see the inside of the  
>> Mellotron
>> too, and his explanation of the 7-second loop. I love those sounds.
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_E8aGx777Q
>
>
> Yeah - nice to see a non-laptop guy coming out like that!  ;-)
> Awesome! Love his sounds!
>
> -- 
> Greetings from Sweden
>
> Per Boysen
> www.boysen.se (Swedish)
> www.looproom.com (international)
> www.myspace.com/perboysen
> www.stockholm-athens.com
>