Yo Jessykins!,

Yes! We're already making plans to return to Las Vegas for 2009.

You can sign up to our mailing list to get all the ticket and pre-sale info as soon as it happens.

thanks,


Tommy

Tommy,
Is VGL expanding its repertoire to other venues? I recently went to a "Pops in the Park" concert by the California Symphony where they play movie, tv, and patriotic themes. One of their selections this year they called "Video Games Live" and played Kingdom Hearts, Civ 4 medley sans lyrics, and "theme from Hunter" (which was really the Advent Rising piece). Was this official or were they jumping on the bandwagon? Either way the music was awesome.
It was a pleasant surprise and a lot of non-gamers people around me really enjoyed it. Hopefully more symphonies pick up on the trend and start including VG music in their personal concerts!

Also, is VGL coming to the SF Bay Area again soon? GDC is not too far off :)

Finally, I must add the obligatory " 'Destinationz Unknown' needs to be the encore in the concert" comment since I mention every time we've talked since 2001.

Keep up the great work!

Hey Tommy,

let's hang out after the concert, it'll be the first time for me to experience your concert where there are so many positive remarks about your dedication and achievements!

Anyway, looking forward to Saturday and your show!

Hiro

Yo!,

Thanks for the message! What we did is... we gave a lot of our arrangements to Alfred Publishing (www.alfred.com). Alfred Publishing is the biggest provider of sheet music to schools and universities. They distribute to over 75,000 schools in the U.S. alone! With the publishers permission we gave them to Alfred FREE with the one stipulation that our name be attached as the Video Games Live arrangement. The game publishers & game composers receive the money... we just wanted to help spread video game music to the masses (and of course our name as well). Since doing this, they have sold literally thousands of arrangements to schools. They did drum corps, school symphony and marching band arrangements.

You can view the original press release here: Video Games Live | www.videogameslive.com

If you do a search on YouTube you'll find TONS of videos of schools and non-profit organizations playing Video Games Live arrangements. So although it's not our show... we're still helping to spread VG music to the masses and smaller towns around the world.

VGL will be coming back to San Fran in 2009. We're working on the exact dates and locations now.

Destinationz Unknown would be an AWESOME song to play in VGL! Not sure if many people would know it... but it would be really fun to play with the orchestra, choir and guitar!

Thanks!


Tommy

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Hi Hiro,

How long will you be in town for? I've been on the road touring for a month (just flew into Alabama from doing a few weeks in Brazil).. Our Alabama Symphony show is tonight then we fly directly to Anaheim for set-up and rehearsals). I live close to Anaheim so after the show I'll probably go straight home and sleep in my own bed for a change! Hahahhahaa... but would love to meet up with you at some point. Maybe sometime Saturday during the day? You could get a hold of me through Russell at Blizzard. We have a rehearsal before the venue opens (on Saturday) and then I'll pretty much be free until 5:30PM.

Please note... the performance that we'll be doing at BlizzCon is different than our typical VGL show. So although you may get a slight sense of the lights, video, music, etc. it isn't the same as VGL where we have a lot more things going on (including game diversity) and more time to inject fun, energy, interactivity and humor into the performance (which normally plays a big part of the VGL experience). That being said, we have a lot of very cool special segments, special guest musicians, etc. planned. We've created a really cool show with but it will be different than the normal VGL experience (if there is such a thing).

:)

See ya soon!


Tommy

Tommy Tallarico is really short in person.

Alright, I'm terrible at writing reviews, but I just got back from this and I'd at least like to say some stuff. Plus I told Tommy I would. I don't even know where to start. The whole thing was pretty damn awesome. And being in the second row was great, other than that light on the right side. We tried to get him to pick a friend of mine to do the Space Invaders thing, but Tommy was too easily swayed by cleavage. And of course that guy who yelled to kill all the people who think video games promote violence was epic lulz.

Let's see... The classics medley in the beginning was pretty cool. Certainly wasn't expecting anything like Dragon's Lair. The pianist was absolutely amazing. It's mind-boggling that anyone can move that fast and still hit the right keys. Considering how much Crash talks about it whenever it comes up, it was pretty cool when they started playing Baba Yetu. The Halo and Castlevania parts were pretty epic. As far as the ending, while I don't have anything against One Winged Angel, especially the guitar version, I would have liked to see something like Dancing Mad.

I ended up buying two copies of the Video Games Live Volume One cd, so hopefully my friend will pay me back for that soon. And a Video Games Live hat. Mostly because I'm still pissed that they were out of Rock Band hats way back when they had that thing at Best Buy. It took everything I had to keep myself from spending even more money on the Earthworm Jim cd (sorry Infernal). Ended up getting them to sign the back cover of the cd. I told Tommy that they should put in some Megaman and Earthbound music. I meant to also say something about Ace Combat. My friend said they should do Devil May Cry, and was promptly ignored for more discussion of Megaman (he says they're working on 2 and 3).

All in all it was a lot of fun and it was completely worth it to see. I'm looking forward to seeing it next year. Also that pong shirt (that was me that said something) and the Spiderman guitar were pretty ballin. Oh, and I took a picture with Tommy and my friend, so I'll try to post it when he sends it to me.

Hi Tommy,

Sure, I'll be mooching around the panels anyway, tell me a time after you rehearsal, we'll grab coffee or something on Saturday. I'm sure VGL X Blizzard can conjure up some very fantastic magic, will be looking forward to it!

Anyone else go to the Chicago performance? I just got back... pretty good overall!

Hey Big Tom!!!!

I bought tickets today for the Calgary performance of VG Live 2.0.

I'm pretty pumped i missed last year due to incredible procrastination and lazyness. This year however nothing could stop me. I brought 4 friends with me a few who are new to the whole video game music idea.

I just have to say props for such an amazing concert and such a good idea, it really lets me see that more people than just me like video game music.

Two questions however....

first off i guess will you sell DVD's of the concert as i would like to remember what went on without getting in trouble for bringing my camera... haha

Secondly are we going to see some anythign but tangerines? I personally love the song, i know you did it and honestly its just great.

TTalk to you later though keep up the amazing work i am beyond impressed from what i saw from other shows i look forward to 2.0 :)

I have enjoy this CD every since it came out this year. Hope to see the concert some day. Keep up the great work sir, still miss the old show you had on G4 TV.


http://rgonots-sylph.net/cpg1410/alb...vglcdcover.jpg

The BOK Center
 

Hey Tommy. :)

This is Lucas DeWoody from over at Kombo.com. Thought I would try to contact you from here as well. I wanted to point out to you that the new BOK Center opened this last fall in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's as big of an auditorium as in any other major city. It seats about 19,000+ people and is pulling in acts such as Celine Dion, Elton John, Billy Joel, and Walking with Dinosaurs. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra just played a show here a couple of days ago, and they had to open up the rafter sets because the show had sold out and there was still demand. The rafters sold out as well.

There's a whole mass of Midwestern gamers who starve for this sort of event but are isolated in this region because nothing ever comes to our area. Up to this point, we didn't really have a venue that could house something on the scale of video games live, but now the BOK Center has changed that.

So....how about paying a visit to us isolated gamers out here in the Ozark mountains? :)

-Lucas

Yo! Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the show. We're just finishing up MegaMan and I'm looking into Earthbound now. Anyone have any suggestions as to what Earthbound tunes would be cool?

Tommy

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I was there!

:)

T.T.

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Bus theme, Runaway 5 theme, Bike theme.

If you want real music, probably the theme of Onett.

Yo! Thanks for the support in Calgary! We love playing up there.

We're still looking into producing a DVD of the concert and the rights & licensing with all the game companies takes awhile. That being said... we don't mind cameras and video to be taken and posted. There are around 3,000 videos of VGL on YouTube. Sometimes the venue and/or orchestras don't allow them... but we're okay with it. I believe nothing replaces experiencing live shows in person... so watching a video on YouTube is only a good marketing tool in my opinion.

I'm working on an Earthworm Jim segment for the show for 2009. I've narrowed it down to about 5 possible songs that I want to combine and Tangerine is one of them. But I'm trying to keep the segment around 4minutes so I still need to cut. A section of that song will probably make it in though.

T.T.

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It's all about the ending medley, kid. That 8 Melodies arrangement is awesome.

Yo!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad that you're enjoying the CD. I still film the TV show every once in awhile when I have the time... but was only able to do about 6 episodes last year. The show still airs... we just pulled it off of G4 in the U.S. because we were unhappy with the direction that the network was taking. G4 in Canada however ROCKS! And is a lot like the old Tech TV. Our shows still run on the Canadian G4 network. Just not in the U.S. version. The Electric Playground is now a daily show and Judgment Day uses its original name "Reviews on the Run". Here's the Canadian line-up of shows:
G4techTV.ca . | . G4techTV Shows . | . Games, Gear, Gadgets & Gigabytes


Tommy

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Awesome! Thanks for the info. I will definitely look into it.


Tommy

Allow me to say that I do have something against One Winged Angel: It's been in every VGM concert I've been to, and I'm tired of hearing it.

Allow me to say to Tommy: I'm humbly requesting that you include a track from the Ace Combat series. I would recommend either "The Unsung War" from Ace Combat 5, or "Zero" from Ace Combat Zero.

Sounds cool. Is there a name for that piece of music?

I never played Earthbound so I need some help here.

Thanks,

Tommy


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The one thing to remember about "One Winged Angel" is although a lot of hardcore game music fans are "sick" of hearing it, please remember that about half of our audiences around the world don't even play video games and have no idea what Final Fantasy even is. So to them... they are hearing it for the first time ever.

Also... it's THE single most requested piece of music by leaps and bounds on our website. Nothing even comes close. Mario, Zelda & Halo are way behind it. We recently changed our arrangement of it within the past few months and now do a more hard rock Advent Children type of version. So although you may have heard it a gazillion times in the past... we try to give you something that you've never heard before.

I guess it would be like going to a Led Zepplin show and them NOT playing Stairway to Heaven. The hardcores may be sick of hearing it, but most of the audience would be extremely disappointed if it wasn't played.


Thanks for the Ace Combat info. I'll make sure to listen to all those tunes you suggested. I've played a lot of the earlier Ace/Air Combat games and thought that I remember the music to be somewhat guitar & orchestra based? Is that the case with these tunes or is it more orchestral or some kind of hybrid?

T.T.


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Additional Spam:

We've just announced Oakland at the end of February... it's during WonderCon. Pre-sale tix are going on-sale to our mailing list this Thursday. Please feel free to sign-up. Tix to the general public go on sale on Jan. 11th.

T.T.

The soundtrack has a pretty long ending medley just called Theme of Ending, Credits, something along those lines I guess depending on how it's been translated.

There's a recurring melody in Earthbound called Eight Melodies that's pretty important to the game's music in general that is arranged in the ending as well. I guess it's probably a large part nostalgia, but it might just be my favourite vgm piece ever.

I'm sure you're probably pretty busy, but if you have the chance I'd recommend giving Earthbound a playthrough. There really isn't anything else like it.

As an aside, I checked out the Vancouver show recently; awesome stuff. I was so happy to hear a Castlevania medley. And Metroid too, man. Killer.

Looking forward to the Calgary show. Though I'm with Diss, TT. You've got to take some time off and blaze through Earthbound. Quirky sense of humour alone makes it worth it.

Does anyone have any .mp3's or links they can send? There seems to be a TON on YouTube. But which ones are the most revered by the fans of the franchise?

Tommy

Additional Spam:
Would this be the one to play?
YouTube - Top 100 video game music: 8 Melodies from Mother 1-2 #64

Very cool but a little little slow throughout. Is all the music like that?


Tommy

Not even remotely. Meet the bus theme, TT: YouTube - Get on the Bus: Earthbound Music

Meet the Runaway 5: YouTube - Earthbound- Runaway Five

Meet the Runaway 5 again: YouTube - Runaway Five Left the Building: Earthbound Music

Meet the Onett theme: YouTube - Onett Theme: Earthbound Music

I can't find the end theme on Youtube (granted I didn't look super hard) but if you've got AIM or something I can hook you up.

The ones Deni's mentioned are all pretty big with fans of the game. The Onett and Fourside (which are towns in the game) themes are both pretty iconic.

This is the song Diss was thinking of:

Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:

It is. I prefer the ending theme arrangement, but the melody is pretty important to the game as a whole.

You must be thinking of Ending Ballad (nine minutes and 30 seconds long) which contains Smiles & Tears. I'd upload it to my site but my ftp seems to be borked right now. :mad: