This Week in ArchuWorld
12.04.09
Christmas Tour, Random Spaceyness and a New Vlog
The much-anticipated Christmas Tour has traveled to seven cities so far, and David is doing his level best to spread ArchuLove and Christmas spirit from coast to coast.
The tour kicked off in a big way in hometown Salt Lake City. The elegant Abravanel Hall was the site for concerts on the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Special touches for the locals included a string section, a white-robed children’s choir and the surprise of mother Lupe joining him in a duet.
It was this mother-son duet of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas that made Perez Hilton spaz:
“This is so presh!”
Hilton invites us to “Watch the performance that makes us wanna hug our madre!!!”
The Salt Lake Tribune review on November 25th declared that he gave a “rousing performance.”
Whether singing in English, Latin (as on “Ave Maria”) or French (as on Bestor’s galloping arrangement of “Pat-a-Pan”), Archuleta showed not only a command of the material but an ability to connect with the audience with self-deprecating humor and sheepish but endearing half-waves to the crowd, which nearly sold out the symphony hall.
What was most impressive about the concert was that Archuleta and his team relied not on slick, overly produced Christmas music that would dull the experience, but on a real string section and a lean, stripped-down soft-rock sound that shows an authenticity to the teen, who is turning into a man in front of our eyes.
The Ann Arbor show on the Friday after Thanksgiving was unique in that David sang with a full symphony orchestra. He performed both his pop and his Christmas songs with the orchestra, including a slow version of Crush.
An articulate article by an 8th grader was printed in MLive.com, Grand Rapids Entertainment.
After Archuleta sang a superb “Ave Maria,” I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house- including mine. When David sang “Ave Maria” it really reminded me of why I fell in love with him in the first place. Although David can belt out any pop song you throw at him, when he sings a slower, more traditional song while backed up by a symphony, you can’t help but have tingles sent up and down your spine.
The tour bus then moved on to California, where David apparently enjoyed the warm weather as well as enthusiastic crowds. There were shows in Bakersfield, Santa Rosa and San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle published a short Q&A before the SF show. David gets zero radio play in the Bay Area, and there seemed to be a bit of a culture gap in the conversation.
Q: Are you already over this whole Christmas thing?
A: Christmas isn’t here yet.
Hip, cynical San Francisco meets non-ironic, tell-it-like-it-is David. SPLAT!!
But there were some nuggets revealed in the interview. His mother apparently is a big fan of Celine Dion and her songs are a big part of his Christmas memories. Also, he had a dream about Bob Dylan.
Q: What was Dylan doing in your dream?
A: I think he was singing Christmas songs. I don’t really remember my dream. It was snowing and his Christmas music was going on. I don’t know why. I guess he was on the back of my mind yesterday. I should Tweet about that.
Then on to Anaheim, to finish off the California segment of the tour. The Orange County Register had some kind words.
The last half of the night proved to be the most artistically satisfying, with the singer performing a song he co-wrote (“Melodies of Christmas”) as well as challenging classical material (notably “Ave Maria”) and numbers for which he sang in French (“Pat-a-Pan”) and Spanish (“Riu Riu Chiu”)…. Archuleta closed his show with a powerful and extended version of “O Holy Night” that served as another reminder of the power of his vocal ability.
Before David performed at a sold-out BYU-Idaho show on December 4th, he visited an assisted-living center and sang several Christmas songs, including I’ll Be Home For Christmas, to the delight of the seniors. He then apparently insisted on shaking everyone’s hand. What a sweet, sweet boy!
Random Spaceyness and a Vlog
A wrap-up of news is never complete without some tweets from David.
First up: dang it, no camera and something really weird to photograph!
I wish my camera battery wasn’t dead and that my charger wasn’t lost, because I’d take a picture of this GIGANTIC grape! It’s huge!!
Second up: David twittered happily that there was an Archie ice cream truck right next to his bus and twitpic’d us the photo.
The ice cream truck here! How ironic!
Oops, maybe David does understand irony.
He tweeted “Hi Murray. Bye Murray. lol” as the bus barreled through his hometown and sent us a vlog from the bus. There was not much going on to report. He was just hanging out on the bus, but he shares a cool view of Utah through the window.
Hi David. Bye David. lol! Those who have been fortunate enough to see the tour are missing you already. Those who haven’t seen you yet, can’t wait!
(Thanks to Jennifer Barry for photos.)
~ davidfanLIZ
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Reposting this from the previous thread:
BeeBee – thanks so much for sharing Tammy’s story in the previous thread.
WHAT.A.GUY.
Here’s David singing IBHFC @ the Elderly Home, thanks to TAMMY
http://vimeo.com/7992374
You can download the video here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/b3uxqo
LIZ -- Is this another case of culture gap (tweeted by np1107)
During VIP:
Q: Was fame everything you thought it would be?
DA: Oh. I was going to say I haven’t watched that movie yet. — lol!
Oh David LOL!
Between the sweet performance with his mom, and his visit to the ALF David continues to fascinate and inspire. He is amazing.
Thank you Liz, for catching me up on everything. I was randomly going through Christmas videos a couple days ago when I stumbled upon the first David-Lupe duet. Agh, how sweet it was, and Lupe fighting back tears!! Those two are so close and it’s so great to see David with such a great mom!
JR -- thanks for bringing over that Tammy video. Oh my, that gave me chills right through the tiny screen. Total sweetness. And yes, the “fame” quote is just perfect David.
rae -- yes, this young man is something to watch. He is a generous, loving soul.
ronald -- as a mom of a musician son, of whom I am immensely proud, I can tell you that the mother-son connection is one of the purest and strongest loves there is.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wpa/MRSS/topalbums/sf=4403441/limit=209/rss.xml
CFTH is #18 in iTune’s Top Album. Cool.
David did an interview with the Pioneer Times in anticipation of the Waukegan, IL show.
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/vernonhills/entertainment/1912420,entertainment-lake-archuleta-120309-s1.article
An excerpt:
Archuleta was just 17 when he put out his first album; he’s more comfortable with the process now.
“I’m getting a lot more involved this time,” he said. “Last year I was just so confused. I didn’t know what the process was — how you found songs, writers, did promotion.”
His New Year’s resolution for this year — to write once a week in a journal — has helped him organize his thoughts.
“I’ve always been someone who doesn’t know how to say things. This year I’ve been able to know what I’ve been thinking about,” he said. “That’s how a song starts — just with a thought.”
LIZ/RONALD/MARLIE/RASCAL & other admins involved -- I don’t think I have mentioned it but the ArchuWorld Weekly is a brilliant idea. I just love it!
For those who have been in the archuvortex of any kind, it gives context to what transpired during the period concerned. While for those who were away, the weekly recap is a neat way to be up-to-speed with anythingdavid.
In the long run, it is also a very nice documentation of David’s growth.
Thanks a ton for this!
{{ JR }}
{{LIZ}} right back at ya!
Finally some videos from IDAHO! REXBURG TOUR PAGE is up.
http://www.thedavidchronicles.com/2009/10/rexburg-idaho-december-04-2009/
So far, we have:
FOG cr frejul10:
MY HANDS partial cr frejul10
HYAMLC partial cr frejul10
MOC partial cre frejul10:
Was a sold out concert and the audience were insane according to tweets!
DA talking about being in Idaho cr frejul10
Banter in between songs cr frejul10
TFN cr frejul10
He/she has 18 vids
but YT uploading is very slow
DA introducing the band
JR #6
I just checked Itunes. CFTH is now at #16. It’s moving up!!!
On ice cream and irony--perhaps David was referring to the fact that dairy is anathema to him?
BIANCA -- that was also my understanding
ASCPHIL -- isn’t it great? A while ago it was #17. I bow to the tenacity of arch angels!
Re updates on Tour Pages:
ANAHEIM & SANFRAN are now complete.
Meanwhile, REXBURG is halfway complete but hope to get more full length recordings.
bianca -- there are layers and layers of meaning in that simple phrase: “How ironic!” LOL!
{{ bianca }}
Saw this posted by Janey of Snarkies and meant to post it at thye SF Tour Page. But I think it is worth sharing in the main thread:
“We’ve talked about it. We’ve witnessed it. But in SF I felt it. There was a young man right in front of the stage. Some of his actions were a bit distracting. We twirled something in front of D’s face a lot. He was awkward. He had Down’s syndrome.
When David started to sing Silent Night the young man sang too. A little too loudly. I’m not sure if it’s because of where I was standing but it almost seemed like the mic picked up his voice a bit too. The young man knew every word. He never took his eyes off of David. Someone standing next to him gently asked him to not sing so loudly. The request was not met.
David returned to sing O Holy Night. Again he was accompanied by the young man. I have to admit, initially I too wanted him to sing more softly, or even not at all. But then I saw the look on his face, the pure joy, the connection. He was showing what we all felt. He was in the moment and there was nothing that could separate the two of them. There was nothing that could separate any of us, from each other, from David.”
Talk about universal connection… mind blowing.
JR -- I noticed that man in SF, standing at the rail, front and center. I was far enough away to not hear his voice, but I saw his face. Full of joy and completely connected to David. He was indeed showing what we all felt.
You guys are in the wrong thread if you are looking for the main thread. Please go here to post other than ArchuWorld comments:
http://www.thedavidchronicles.com/2009/12/david-taking-control/
About irony… I think the traditional definition of irony is something clashing with something else. But the word is often used nowadays to denote times when it is its opposite -- when something is fittingly coincidental. It has replaced “What a coincidence!”
[/word geek]
I think am the only one lost Marlie, haha! Part of the hazards of having more than 10 tabs open
I love word geeks!