is it live or is it memorex?

"What's that? I seem to recall that was a 'mercial catchphrase, once upon a time."

So it was! Memorex was a brand of magnetic recording tape used for VCRs. 

"So, you've referenced an extinct type of recording medium that was used for an extinct videocassette recorder. Just where are you going with this?"

You're right, I'm showing my age, I guess. It's just that the advertising jingle popped into my head between the time I viewed a recorded concert on youTube and a live concert today. Both were performed at Asbury Memorial Church.

"Ah, now I get it. I'm sure you have photos from both? And that the purpose here is to determine which was from a time in the past and which was from today?"

Correct! Only, I won't make you guess. I'll actually tell you! Will that be okay?

"Sure, toots! You go right ahead."

Thanks, you're a peach. (smile!) Okay, this first image was snapped from the youTube source. This was the inaugural concert for SING, aka Savannah Inspiring Next Generation. That's the first song, "Yonder Come Day", which started with a solo, then became all voices. The concert was performed on January 26 of this year.

"That was after Enzo dumped snow all over town?"

"Correct again. However, that isn't the reason I missed the concert. I already had an event down at Tybee at the same time. No clone, so I went to the one at the beach, as I'd waited for it for several months.

"Oh, yes, the talk about shorebirds."

Yes. Now, notice a few things about that photo. First, there are no audience heads, nor is there sunlight seen in the windows about the group. None of that is from my editing of the photograph, but from the editing work of the recording crew. 

"Yes, I see that. Nice and tight editing, no extraneous stuff."

Here's where the difference really shows. I snapped this photo today of the Spectra Choir performing their annual International Women's Day Concert. Both concerts were 3 PM matinees, so in this photo, the afternoon sun is pouring in behind the group as they sing "What Happens When A Woman Takes Power". The heads of those seated between me and the stage are quite obvious, too.

"I see what your mean! The live shot from today is much more... 'now'... more vibrant... than the one from the recording. It's almost like the difference between an AI-generated image and a real picture."

I hadn't thought of it that way, but you do have a point. My 'live' shot is more... 'messy'... I guess one would say. There's a lot of extraneous stuff that detracts from the focus. Then again, all that messiness is what makes it feel more real, more fresh. Consider this of Teagan, one of the teen girls in SING, performing a Miley Cyrus song, "The Climb". One of the stage cameras was able to set up that angular shot to isolate her from the others.

"I see that. The folks in the audience would have seen only a sea of blue behind her."

Exactly. However, at today's concert, the solo singers came from the audience, not on stage, making them that much harder to see. I took that photo of Jayden Muncy singing Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good", and doing a mighty fine job of it, but it's clear that I could hardly see her.

"Good thing that she had that red-hued hair! Yes, I see what you mean. I'm sure you were singing right along, too."

You know I did! But once I knew the soloists were seated in the audience, I didn't try to take any more photos of them. I just sat back and enjoyed the music, as well as the poetry.

"Well, as you've noted before, all lyrics are poems."

I stand behind that assertion, too, but that's not what I was referring to just then. There were several in Spectra Choir who recited poetry today. Lila Miller was one of those, performing a piece she wrote called "A Masters Degree In Mirrors". After the concert, at the reception in Holliday Hall, she set up shop, so to speak, behind a manual typewriter, producing "poetry on demand". Simply marvelous!!! When my turn came, she asked what topic I'd like her to use and I told her the first thing that came to mind: baseball. She thought for just a moment, selected a piece of pale blue paper, and started typing as I watched. Incredible!!!

"Oh, wow!!! That's the most cool thing ever!!! What did she write for you??"

Sharp like the diamond

precise, soft but not

     yielding

RUNNING from point

                    to point

(as we discover

                the purpose)

 

     this game, this uniform

 

   smiles bats sweat

joy and rage and the

                    competition

 

     in baseball and life

             a homerun

                    for everyone

 

     and the thrill

            of the win