Wow, I have been reading the stories and there seems
to be this common theme. While this was my first show
(Chicago, Nov. 26, 2002), I have owned CEAOS for
about 4 years now. I loved the CD but my husband
didn't quite "get it" until he saw the show. This whole
TSO bit is really an obsession for me now. Problem
is... I go to school and I have finals this week and all I
keep doing is trying to find stuff out about TSO (since
the show). I really need to study but everytime I go on
my computer, I am searching for things related to TSO
and Savatage. By the way, I am interested in buying
my first Savatage CD. Any suggestions about which
one to buy first. I am a newbie to this so pick out one
that will hook me.
-Kelly (kellywi8542)
**************************
I learned about TSO from an ICQ friend who sent me a short clip of one of the songs (the name actually escapes me) back in 1999. I was immediately hooked and bought CA the next day. My wife and I each have our own copy of each CD. Unfortunately, none of our friends are open-minded enough to listen.
-Joe (magseven)
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Christmas 1996... we are all in the studio working... we're a little stressed
with the custom works that people seem to think can be created in twenty
minutes... trust me, stained glass does NOT take twenty minutes to design
and create... the stereo is up but not terribly loud... Christmas Eve Sarajevo
12/24 comes on... every single person stopped what they were doing, the
volume went up on the stereo... not one single word was said... until the
end... I turned around and said " What was THAT??!!" Phone the station
out of Spokane, they say Trans Siberian Orchestra... uh huh... and like WHO
is that?? So the search is on... not an easy task... no one in Spokane has it,
try small town Canada... now you know it's not going to be found here... one
of my staff was back to Toronto for Christmas... and he spent two weeks
hunting it down there but came back with it as a belated gift for me and told
me I had to read the story. Who cared about the story, I loved the music, I
didn't want to read anything more, I didn't need to know more... skip ahead
to November of the next year... here comes Christmas and my Dad is dead...
I'm missing him so terribly much... now you have to understand... I was
abandoned my my biological parents when I was three... did the foster
homes... the whole nine yards till my grandparents took me and raised me as
their own daughter... these are my Mom and Dad... I know no others... my
Dad is dead... I'm struggling with the loss and we are travelling down to
Spokane to Christmas shop... the music is on and I'm bored in the passenger
seat so I pick up the liner notes and start to read... and before I know it, I'm
sobbing... I can't help it (and there are at this moment tears in my eyes) I'm
literally sobbing and can't stop and it was so cleansing and so reaffirming that
things are going to be okay in my world... different, never the same but I'm
going to be okay *sigh* It's hard to explain!
So to me, TSO is music of hope, it is music to remind me that there is
kindness in the world, that there are good people, there are good things...
As TSO says....
"If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbour
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask"
I was offered the greatest, the kindest, the most important gift I could ever be
given when I needed it most... I was given a place to belong, comfort, a
home, a bed to call mine and a Mom and Dad... I was given a "life" ...they
only just asked...
As I'm writing this and crying yet again, there is TSO coming through loud
and clear from another room in the house as my husband is listening to it.
TSO may never ever know how much they have impacted on me but I thank
them so very much... so very much...
Rest well my friends...
-Sian
(two more sleeps till Spokane)
*****************************************************
Okay...
I kept going to the store and seeing BLN and thought what the ** is this...
cool cover... Orchestra... na I will pass... went back to the store the cover
stood out again... I was like I really think this cover is cool... Okay I'm going
to buy it... I put it in my cd and thought Yeah I couldn't do that again... and
kept listening to it... and thought wow... what is this I wish I was Savatage...
who is in this anyways... then I looked at the back I may as well said
Savatage... LOL... this was right before I got a computer I got a computer
typed up Savatage... and went wow where the hay have I been look at all the
stuff I have missed...
So when some think Computers are bad... I don't think so... with the cool
cover or BLN and this internet... I found Savatage again!! I really loved that
band in high school... and then they seemed to have faded away... saw their
show... and now I can't get enough...
And same with TSO... they are all great musicians!! And how and what did I
listen to before this?? hmmm... good question... and how did I ever live
without this computer?? LOL
-Melinda
*****************************************************
O! O! Story Time... I can do this!
The first time I heard Christmas Eve Sarajevo was when a friend and I were
looking for the Q102 "Christmas Rock" (worth $10,000 if you found it), in
LV, NV. That was either '97 or '98... I forget which. It was in the middle of
the night and the radio station had played it several times, but they never
mentioned the name of the song or who it was by! Over the next few weeks,
they continued to play it and even had clips of it playing during commecials
for a party they were throwing. Then I began hearing it in stores and on other
radio stations. But again, I could never catch the name... It was driving me
crazy! Finally, I just went down to the CD store and tried to explain the song,
but seeing how it has no words... Needless to say, they had no idea who I
was talking about, but I think they really got a laugh out of my humming,
lalala, singing thing. I went ahead and taped the song off of the radio so I
could at least hear it all the time, but I still wanted that darn CD!
When I came home (to Ohio) for Christmas that year, to my surprize, I
found that Everyone here knew who TSO was! The radio stations were
playing CES almost constantly (if you kept the dial moving, anyway), and as
soon as I heard the name, I went to CC and bought my first copy of CEAOS!
It wasn't until I moved back here in '00 that I got to see my first concert, but
when I did, I was Blown Away! I've loved 'em every since.
-Liv
PS: We never did find that stupid rock, but that night, as we searched
endlessly --cold and tired and a bit annoyed at getting the car stuck in the
sand-- we found something much more valuable... we found TSO!
*****************************************************
OK, my turn... sorry this is so long, but...
It's December 1997… I'm tooling along, on the Beltway around Baltimore,
on the way home in the late afternoon after some Christmas shopping…and
suddenly this MUSIC is coming through my car's speakers… it's so incredible
and so moving I have to pull over to the shoulder and stop and listen so I can
concentrate… I'm totally struck by the sound, by the guitars, by the
orchestration… it's beautiful, POWERFUL… I know it's the Carol of the
Bells, but it's like nothing I've ever heard before… who is this? WHAT is
this? "Trans-Siberian something or other"… I start the car back up, pull back
onto the Beltway, and drive right to Record and Tape Traders in Towson…I
rush in, go to the desk and ask for "Trans-Siberian…?" and the clerk hands it
to me… "One left," she says… "They are flying out of here." No doubt!
Well, I ripped the cellophane off, pushed it into the CD player in the car, and
voila! I became a lifelong fan of Trans-Siberian Orchestra… I listenened to
that CD over and over and over… I voraciously read the story at stoplights
on the way home… I took the CD to my brother's house for Christmas that
year… I read the story to my brother and sister-in-law by candlelight after
dinner, while the kids were of in another room… That CD changed me, but it
certainly took a while, LOL... the next year, I again went searching for
holiday TSO offering, and I found A Christmas Attic… the whole time, I
knew that there was a band behind all of it, called Savatage, and that they
were a metal band, so I never pursued it further (LOL!!! That is true but
those of you who know me now will find that VERY funny!!!)... that year
(1998), in December, I even saw the Fox TV special, and I STILL didn't
look up TSO or Savatage on the Internet (I know, I need my head examined,
LOL!!! I had been online at that point for about 5 years already!!!) ... it
wasn't till the fall of 2000… I started looking around for a third TSO holiday
release, and to my dismay, there was none… BUT… I did find the TSO
website AND I did find Beethoven's Last Night! But the real kicker was
going to see the show in DC on 12/20 and doing the meet & greet
afterwards… FINALLY I hop onto the Savatage site… that was January 6,
2001… I read a LOT, I chat a bit, one by one I get the CD's... then I get tix
for the show at Jaxx… I'm hooked on TSO and Savatage for life, no
question! Saw Savatage 6 times in 2001 and TSO 4 times... this year I've cut
back, LOL, and will only get to 3 shows. Ah well, s'ok...
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everybody!
-Mare
*****************************************************
O.K.
Here is my TSO journey so far. Let's go back to 1996 shall we?? :o) I see a
video on VH1 right before Christmas. I immediately thought it was Savatage
(a previous to that fan of the band). I am assuming most of/all of you have
seen the video. You really don't "see" anyone very well as far as a band goes
in this vid. I was LOVING it! Thinking to myself I didn't know that Sav had
anything Christmas out. Vid gets to end. "Trans-Siberian Orchestra". What
the???? Totally threw me. Confused as all heck. I saw the video a few more
times that year and was loving it. Then at some point I found something in
print about it. AH!! It WAS members of Savatage(whoo hoooo, I'm not
NUTS!)and others.
By then the season was over, but I vowed I would get the CD the following
holiday season (pre puter or Amazon.com et al options) 1997 comes. I kept
forgetting to get the CD. By the time I am searching hard it is now where to
be found. Sold out EVERYWHERE. Seems the record company really didn't
think they were going to move that many units and only produced like
100,000 units. Boy were they caught with their pant around their ankles on
that one... No CEAOS for Kerry that year either...
Never dreamed I would be seeing that material in concert. Don't know why, I
just never thought it was something that would be toured with. It was, after
all, a collaboration of artists, the touring window for it would be pretty
small... Then in 2000 I see an ad in our local weekly entertainment news-
paper that Tran-Siberian Orchestra was going to be here. HERE!! The venue
scant blocks away from where I lived. The AD said presale tix were already
on sale. CRAP! NOOOOO I missed the beginning of the sale. I quick log on.
Get in. Pull up three tix. Somehow I managed to get third row, in the
ORCHESTRA PIT! Whoo Hooo!! My first concert experience for TSO and
we were practically sitting on the STAGE!! It was magical. After the show I
was so bummed because I wanted to see it again soooo bad. I couldn't
imagine having to wait until the following year (assuming they would be
back). Well they WERE back. And it was as incredible as ever. This year's
show was no exception. Though I missed the intimacy of Northrup
Auditorium, the Target Center Arena experience wasn't as horrible as I
thought it might have been.
It has been amazing to watch the size of the audience grow over just the last
couple of years. In 2000 Northrup was MAYBE 3/4 full. That might be
stretching it. There were probably only 20 or 30 people that hung around
after to talk to the band. In 2001 it was sold out. The amount of people that
stayed after to see the band doubled, maybe tripled. This year the crowd at
the Target Center was pretty big. Obviously it wasn't full, but it was definitely
a way bigger crowd than the year before. The line for the after show M&G
was OFF THE HOOK!! Wow!! It was really cool to see the anount of people
who stuck around to say "hi" to the band.
On the East vs West thing. I have only seen West. I have to say I am rather
attached to my West Coast group. That doesn't mean I think the East is any
less talented, fun or cool. The groups are definitely going to be different.
There is no way the shows could be identical. Music is about personality as
well as sound and talent. These are big casts and there is a wide range of
personalities all coming together to put what ever spin on the performance it
will... The West group has just become MY TSO. I would love to check out
the East group at some point. I have to say though, if I had them both set in
front of me and was forced to choose, I would definitely pick my West Cast
friends... :o)
To all of you lucky enough to still have a TSO show or two on the horizon
this season. Have a blast! That is one of the things that kind of sucks about
being the first show of the tour. It is over WAY too soon.:o) No traveling
options for me this year to try and catch more than one show. Maybe next
year.....
-Kerry in MN (strumroxx)
