Jim Brickman and Trans-Siberian Orchestra (an encore presentation)

I've been out of the country, so this week is an encore
presentation with two very different artists--pop instrumental
piano player Jim Brickman and Jeff Plate, the long-time drummer
for the arena rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra. When I
conducted these interviews in 2020, I was really interested in
how COVID-19 would affect two acts that have made holiday season
tours a meaningful part of their business. I could imagine
Brickman's music translating to a live-streamed show, but TSO
delivers sensory overload with four forms of fire (if I remember
correctly) and a lighting rig that itself moved like a
Transformer regardless of what the lights attached to it did.


I also interviewed long-time TSO musical director Al Pitrelli in
2018 during the first season of 12 Songs.