Pops Goes The Rapper: Do Not Miss This

I want to paint a picture for y’all:

I’m tired. I just got off from work at a large department store since 3 pm- it’s almost 1 am now. Before that, I got up at 7:30 am to work on my VERY LAST PAPER OF MY UNDERGRADUATE CAREER (assuming I don’t f it up) then I got my daughter (10:00 am), took my son’s lunch to school (12:00 pm), went to Mercer to meet with next year’s Founder’s Day Speaker (12:30-1:45), got lunch (2:00 pm), went to work early to shoot out an email interview (2:30 pm- and did it from iPhone cause wireless was being screwy) and then worked. And yes I just scared the bejesus out of myself when I looked at the time on my computer and it said “Thursday” and I really thought I had lost a whole day and that when I woke up it would be Friday. Oh by the way did I forget to mention I went to bed at 3:00 AM?! Because of the aforementioned paper. Yeah. I’m exhausted.

And yes I am up blogging right now as well. Sure it’s partially because I can’t find my cell phone charger and the battery is dead so it’s charging in my car and I need it charged because it’s my alarm but honestly I would be up anyway because what I am about to tell y’all is important:

Music makes us live.

That’s “live” as in what allows us to breath and truly appreciate life. I’m on this topic because I think many times we take for granted the things we are offered in this town. For instance- how many of you are going to the Macon Pops Orchestra event Saturday night? I’m sure a lot of you are because I saw many of you at the last one- but also how many of you have told your friends about it and invited them to come?

I had the chance to interview Steve Moretti and Matt Catingub – the brains behind this project- over email today. There’s a chance some of you have read about this project before, but in case you haven’t I wanted to ask some questions that might shed some light on this project and the concerts.

MIWM: Hello gentlemen! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. Assuming we have people reading here who don’t have a clue what the Macon Pops Orchestra is- can you please first explain the difference between a “Pops” Orchestra and a Symphony Orchestra?

Matt Catingub: Macon Pops is a slightly smaller, but more contemporary version of a regular orchestra. Because of our more up-to-date instrumentation we are able to offer music with a much more contemporary spin and are able to offer evenings of eating, drinking, and dancing to a large orchestra. It’s a big nightclub atmosphere!

MIWM: Why have a Macon Pops Orchestra? Why now?

MC: The history of pop and contemporary music in Macon is well documented. There is not a more appropriate place than Macon to launch a new pops orchestra, again with a much more contemporary direction then that of a standard symphony. Why now? Because we believe that live music is the one thing that everyone still needs, and is wanting more and more of, in this age of easily accessible downloadable and streamable electronic content.

MIWM: How exactly did this come about? What sponsors did you have to line up and what are the other bare bones of pulling this together?

Steve Moretti: To give you a little backstory, I’ve been matt’s drummer for 16yrs now. He’s the reason, first and foremost for me getting involved in the symphonic pops idiom. As we have been touring all around the world, and as matt has started two other orchestras (Hawaii Pops and Glendale Pops in Los Angeles), we though, why not do one in Macon? In part, i wanted to bring what i do around the world with matt, home.

I approached some folks who became our board, who have been instrumental in getting Macon pops the resources we need to get off the ground. From there we all pitched in seeking sponsors. We have also been grateful for all the media sponsors we have (thank you, Molly!). They are spreading the word about Macon pops! We also garnered new sponsors after our first concert. I do want to mention that we have an anonymous donor that will match dollar for dollar up to $50,000!!!!!! That’s how much they believe in what we are doing.

MIWM: Tell me about how a day of the performance is laid out, I understand everyone flies in the day of?

MC: Our musicians come from all over, most of them from the southeast and greater Atlanta area. But some from greater distances. We rehearse only for a couple of hours on the afternoon of the show, and perform that evening. That’s how good the musicians need to be, and fortunately we have all of them in our ranks!

MIWM: How do you get these performers together and how do you get them to buy in to doing this in Macon?

SM: All of the performers are handpicked. I’ve spent many hours reaching out to various musicians, putting together the right players. A lot of them are familiar with matt’s writing, so they are eager to want to participate. Matt is one of the premier arrangers, composers and pops conductors in the world, so it was really easy getting musicians on board.

MIWM: What are your long term goals after this season?

MC: We are of course just starting out with just our initial three performances for the 2013-2014 season, but hope to grow this number as each season progresses. In addition to our orchestra series of concerts we also will be presenting different configurations and series moving forward, also even getting involved with educational aspects of the community presenting events that will involve music programs throughout the southeast.

MIWM: How far along are y’all in terms of funding to make sure this can happen for another season?

SM: We had a little surplus left over from our first concert, which is going towards our December 7th concert, which is great! If we sell out our concerts, that revenue can pretty much cover our expenses i am confident as word spreads of our product and what we bring to the community, the funding will follow. That’s precisely what is happening with the match. If we can meet that, we will be in good shape for next season. Keep in mind that we are a not for profit organization, so your contributions are tax deductible. 🙂

MIWM: What can the public do to help?

SM: Come to our concerts, listen to the highest artistic quality pops concerts you will find anywhere, see how huge the demographic range is and how people can forget about what’s going on outside for a few hours as they let go and completely soak in the performance.. Macon pops is not just a concert, it’s an event! The more people can come to our shows and spread the word, the longer we will be around.

Y’all- seriously I cannot stress how much fun I had at the first concert. You can go to my YouTube Channel to see a clip here. That first event was a Dancing Through the Decades performance and I was SO wishing I had someone to swing dance with me but one of the best parts was when the Conga line started up and my friend Roger Riddle, who was kind enough to invite me, stood up and practically ran to join the line. I can’t remember who it was who said this, but someone near me said “oh my God that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen him move”. You can see in the below picture that Maryann Bates took of us that we were having an amazing time:

This performance will featured my good friend Floco Torres performing with them, one of my favorite songs of his is featured in the video clip shown in this post. I’m totally curious to see how a rapper is going to perform with a Pop Orchestra. It’s going to be beyond cool that much is guaranteed.