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#114444 - 10/16/05 01:34 PM Elton John : Guest on BRAVO, " Inside The Actor's Studio" Tonight (Sun-8:00pm ET)
Scottyee Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/99
Posts: 10427
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, CA, US...
One of my FAVORITE cable TV shows is "Inside the Actor's Studio, hosted by James Lipton. I believe he remains one of the best TV interviewer's of our time. He's not only insightful, but provocatively witty (funny) with an uncanny ability to get his guests to reveal secrets about their craft & what's behind their artistic success . Though the majority of his guests have been actors & actresses, on occasion (like the wonderfully insightful episode with Billy Joel) he'll interview a musician. Tonight promises to be another interesting legendary keyboard/vocalist musician interview of which I've been waiting for: Sir Elton John. I'll be watching this Elton John Interview episode for sure. I hope others here have a chance to watch/record this show as well.

Scott

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 10-16-2005).]
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#114445 - 10/16/05 07:04 PM Re: Elton John : Guest on BRAVO, " Inside The Actor's Studio" Tonight (Sun-8:00pm ET)
SemiLiveMusic Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 08/28/04
Posts: 2204
Loc: Louisiana, USA
Thanks Scott. It was great.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000
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Bill

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#114446 - 10/18/05 04:28 PM Re: Elton John : Guest on BRAVO, " Inside The Actor's Studio" Tonight (Sun-8:00pm ET)
Scottyee Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/99
Posts: 10427
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, CA, US...
Hi Bill, great to hear you enjoyed it, as I did as well. Due to the lack of response (from others) I assumed most of you missed it. That's too bad, because I found this show to be one of the most musically enlightening interviews I've ever seen in a long time.

James Lipton was up to form as usual in being able to pull from Mr John so many secrets behind his background, songwriting genius, keyboard (piano) composing style, as well as watching him play & sing his hit songs while accompanying himself solo on the piano.

In fact, I learned something PARTICULARLY INTERESTING to me personally: that his hit song "BENNIE & THE JETS" actually utilizes ROOTLESS CHORDS to give it that distinctive sound. Wow !

Other interesting things gleamed are that, Elton John prefers playing in flat keys vs sharp keys, and that even though Db & C# and Gb & F# are enharmonic equivalent keys, playing songs in Db & Gb is far easier. I totally concur.

Elton John is certainly considered one of the MOST influential & financially successful keyboard composers of our time, spanning several generations, and the rare opportunity to see him interviewed, and to watch him perform on the piano, in intimate setting (acoustic piano/vocals) was a treat. The closeup camera angle on the keyboard to see just how he accompanies himself, his chord changes, & how he voices his chords on his songs was particularly fascinating & revealing. It was like a Master Class taught by the MASTER keyboard player.

If the rest of you simply missed this two hour special, a repeat broadcast on BRAVO is scheduled for this Saturday, Oct 22, at:

11:00am ET/PT
10:00am CT
9:00am MT

Well worth taping. I plan to go back and watch, and learn.

Scott
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#114447 - 10/18/05 04:40 PM Re: Elton John : Guest on BRAVO, " Inside The Actor's Studio" Tonight (Sun-8:00pm ET)
GlennT Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/02
Posts: 1790
Loc: Medina, OH, USA
Quote:
Originally posted by Scottyee:
Elton John prefers playing in flat keys vs sharp keys


I always thought Elton John and Eddie (betweengigs) had something in common. Eddie likes Gb (or is it F#?)

Scott, thanks for the heads up on Saturday's repeat. I'll catch that one for sure.

Glenn

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#114448 - 10/18/05 07:39 PM Re: Elton John : Guest on BRAVO, " Inside The Actor's Studio" Tonight (Sun-8:00pm ET)
SemiLiveMusic Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 08/28/04
Posts: 2204
Loc: Louisiana, USA
It's two hours long.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000
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Bill

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