Aussie Floyd Concert and Uncanny Synchronicity

The plan was to spend the day in the yard but a steady snowfall through the morning and into the afternoon kept me indoors. I was in need of a lazy day so I was happy to comply.

Tammy and I went to see Aussie Pink Floyd at The State Theater in Minneapolis Friday night. They're an Australian band who play Pink Floyd covers. Pink Floyd has been a favorite for as long as I can remember and their lead guitarist, David Gilmour, is one of the coolest guys in rock.

I wasn't sure what to expect when we sat in our seats. The guy next to me said he'd seen them before and that we should expect an awesome show. He wasn't fooling. He also said the band has been performing together for about 30 years and that they were actually hired by David Gilmour to play at his 50th birthday celebration.

What a fun night! Here are some snippets of video I took of a few of the songs they played. There was so much more.



As we were leaving the theater we were greeted by some buskers drumming for dollars on the sidewalk. Impressive!



Speaking of Pink Floyd: if you've never seen the synchronicity between Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album and the first 43 minutes of The Wizard of Oz, you're in for a treat; at least I think so. I first learned of it from an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1999. How someone stumbled onto this I have no idea but they did and it's the coolest thing. I should mention that all of the band members, including Alan Parsons who produced The Dark Side of the Moon, deny that there was any attempt by them to intentionally sync up parts of their album with the film.

The album is around 43 minutes long but the person who uploaded the video (embedded below) lets the movie continue while the album repeats. There are some coincidences there, too, but they don't work for me nearly as well as just one run of the album.

See for yourself. I've listed several of the more notable coincidences below.

4:00: “balanced on the biggest wave, you race towards an early grave.” Dorothy balances on the fence railing before falling in time with “an early grave”. Notice the abrupt change in the tempo of the music as Zeke rushes to help Dorothy before experiencing his own distress.

8:00: The song "Time" begins with its alarm bells as Miss Gulch pedals into the scene.

8:45: Notice how well the drums and other instruments fit with the back and forth dialogue playing out between Dorothy, Auntie Em, and Uncle Henry.

11:20: As the song “Time” continues, the camera fixes on the advertising on Professor Marvel’s wagon which advertises psychic readings, “Past - Present and Future”

13:55: Professor Marvel gazes into his crystal ball while he describes images of Dorothy’s home and those waiting for her there as the song "Home" is sung.

14:50: The scene changes as the song "The Great Gig in the Sky" begins. Notice the tornado in the distance.

15:55: The vocals fit perfectly with the growing urgency of the scene.

17:05: The vocals reach a climax as the window behind Dorothy breaks, leaving her unconscious. The vocals and piano continue to provide the perfect musical backdrop for the scene as Dorothy drifts off into the Land of Oz.

19:30: This is where the film changes over from sepia to color. Notice the song "Money" begins right on cue with its cash register sound as Dorothy opens the door to Munchkin Land with the Yellow Brick Road all of the richness there.

27:35: The ballerinas appear as if on cue as the vocals in the song "Us and Them" begin.

29:10: The Wicked Witch arrives in a cloud of smoke just as the word “black” is sung.

29:28: “And who knows which is which and who is who” as the camera pans between the dead witch under the house, the Wicked Witch and Glinda, the good witch.

32:28: Glinda leaves the scene in her orb of light as the words “out … out … out” are sung.

37:20: The song "Brain Damage" begins as Dorothy is talking with the Scarecrow (who lacks a brain) while the lyrics, “The lunatic is on the grass/Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs/Got to keep the loonies on the path” are being sung.

42:35: The song "Eclipse" (the final track on the album) fades out with the sound of a heartbeat as Dorothy and the Scarecrow come upon the Tin Man who tells them he doesn’t have a heart.



That's all I've got.

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