Music

Stuck at the airport: travel tidbits for you

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The Stuck at the Airport team toughed out the last few days of the flight reduction/government shutdown disruption on the Big Island of Hawaii, hoping our flight home would be one those canceled.

It wasn’t. And good thing too, because while the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport (KOA) is a refreshingly open air terminal, amenities are slim and the WiFi service is not working.

Airlines putting their schedules back together

Air travel should be moving towards ‘normal’ in a few days, the airlines tell us. Let’s hope so.

Because our next adventure is opening day – Tuesday November 18 – at Pittsburgh International Airport’s (PIT) new terminal.

We’ll be checking out all the fresh new amenities, especially the art, and chatting with folks arriving or departing from the new terminal for the first time.

New exhibit at ORD Airport celebrates House music

“Chicago: Home of House,” is a new exhibit at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) offering a visual celebration of the Chicago-born electronic music tradition known as House music and one of the city’s well-known artists, DJ Lady D.

The exhibit is a collaboration between the airport, the Design Museum of Chicago and Vintage House Show and is located in the exhibition space in the Rotunda between Terminals 2 and 3.

Even better, this winter the airport will host more than 20 House performances across O’Hare and Midway scheduled throughout the holiday travel season, with DJ Lugo Rosado, DJ Maurice Joshua, DJ Lady D and others.

August line-up for DEN’s Concerts on the Fly

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Tickets will soon be released for the free outdoor summer concert series, Concerts on the Fly, at Denver International Airport (DEN).

The concerts will take place each Sunday from July 27 through August 31 and run from 1:30 – 5:30 p.m. on DEN’s 82,000-square-foot open-air plaza, located between the south end of the Jeppesen Terminal and The Westin Denver International Airport Hotel.

The tickets are free, but are limited and must be reserved in advance. DEN will release tickets for each show one week before each scheduled concert at the Concerts on the Fly site.

If you’re traveling through DEN during these dates or live in the area, this is a fun summer amenity offered by DEN.

Here’s the line-up:

July 27

DJ Al Your Pal

Opening Act: C2 Mass Choir

Headliner: Avery*Sunshine

August 3:

DJ KTone

Opening Act: Jakarta

Headliner: Kim & Kayla Waters

August 10:

DJ Kimani

Opening Act: Wash Park Band

Headliner: DOTSERO

August 17:

DJ Al Your Pal

Co-Headliners: Nelson Rangell & Pieces of a Dream!

Heathrow Airport has a summer soundtrack

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If you travel frequently, many of the sounds of the airport will be familiar and soothing to you and may signal the start of a journey.

That’s the idea behind Music for Heathrow, a unique ambient audio track that Grammy nominee Jordan Rakei has created for London’s Heathrow Airport.

The work incorporates more than 50 real Heathrow airport sounds, including boarding announcements, elevator dings, air traffic control chatter, the sounds of planes taking off and landing and more.

Rakei’s audio composition follows a passenger’s journey from check-in to take-off and is designed to “complement passenger journeys, stir up excitement” and let people “tune into their trip before the plane even leaves the ground,” according to Heathrow Airport officials.

Rakei recorded all the sounds for his audio track in and around Heathrow Airport and says his Music for Heathrow is an homage to Brian Eno’s 1979 work, Music for Airports, which is credited with launching the ambient music genre.

Like Eno’s work, Rakei’s piece is split into four compositions to reflect the airport journey.

Listen closely, and you may be able to make out the percussion created with the sounds of passports being stamped and bags hitting the baggage belt. Or the water fountain gurgle used for ambience.

Rakei also adds sounds from movie scenes, such as the tapping of passengers’ feet waiting at a gate in Terminal 2 in Bend It Like Beckham; the beeps of the security scanner that Sam runs through to catch Joanna in Love Actually; and the engines whirling on the tarmac where Die Another Day was filmed.  

“It’s all about building suspense and setting the mood for wherever you’re headed on your summer holiday,” said Rakei.

Listen to Music for Heathrow on Soundcloud – or at Heathrow Airport – and let us know what you think.

IND Airport (& Girl Scouts) welcome Swifties

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Indianapolis International Airport (IND) has rolled out the pink carpet for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, which has three shows scheduled in Indianapolis from Nov. 1 – 3.

To welcome concert-bound travelers, the airport is partnering with the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana to showcase Hoosier Hospitality.

Girl Scouts are in the airport’s public gathering area, the Civic Plaza, making and trading more than 3,000 friendship bracelets with travelers. Besides having fun, each participating Girl Scout will earn a custom patch for their participation in this community initiative.

In addition to the friendship bracelet exchange, IND is also hosting a full-on “Swift City” welcome theme, with a 30-foot-tall Taylor Swift image on the Indy airport’s pre-security Civic Plaza windows.

Musical performances are taking place all weekend. Restaurants in the airport are presenting concert-themed menus and specials. And Swifties can also take home some limited souvenir giveaways – like Taylor Swift-themed photos and postcards.

Sounds like fun!

More Swift celebration: at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis


There’s also a big dino welcome for Taylor Swift over at the fabulous Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

Suitcases can sing at Munich Airport

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Wheeled suitcases are favored by travelers for their maneuverability.

But during Octoberfest season, a Munich Airport (MUC) installation is proving that wheeled suitcases can also make music.

Sponsored by German brewery Paulaner, the SoundTrack installation between Terminals 1 and 2 at Munich Airport is a walkable track made of acrylic glass with milled grooves.

If a traveler walks along the track with their wheeled suitcase and sets their stride to a strip of lights, the tones made by the wheels on the track will ‘play’ the melody of the well-known Oktoberfest song Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit. During Oktoberfest, whenever the tune is heard, festival participants are supposed to raise their mugs.

The installation works a bit like a record player, with the wheels of the suitcase serving as the ‘needle’ that reads the grooves on the record.

Click on the video below to see how the Suitcase Soundtrack was made and how it works.

Museum Monday: PHL celebrates The Sound of Philadelphia

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PHL exhibit honors Philadelphia International Records (PIR)

An exhibit celebrating and highlighting the 50th anniversary of Philadelphia International Records (PIR), a record label dubbed “The Sound of Philadelphia,” is now on view at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), near Terminal A-East.

The label created by songwriting duo Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, along with collaborator Thom Bell, released hits by artists such as Teddy Pendergrass, Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls, The O’Jays, and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.

Chuck Gamble, the nephew of PIR co-founder Kenny Gamble (first photo), was on hand for the ribbon-cutting, as was co-founder Leon Huff (below, in the checked shirt).

Airport Amenity of the Week: SFO’s Golden Gate Park ‘activation’

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San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has an ongoing program celebrating the city’s neighborhoods and cultural events.

The newest activation shines a light on the rich history of live music performances in Golden Gate Park with a photo essay, live performances, and a photo station in Terminal 3, Boarding Area F.

“From Jimi Hendrix in the 1960s to Lizzo in the 2020s; from the Summer of Love to Outside Lands and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Golden Gate Park has long been a Bay Area epicenter of music and culture,” SFO reminds us.

The new activation, SFO Celebrates: Music in Golden Gate Park will feature live music performances on August 26th and September 1st & 2nd.

On a stage near the F Food Court, there’s a two-sided backdrop where travelers can put themselves into the picture with the Grateful Dead in the 1960s or with Billie Eilish today.

And there’s a photo Exhibition in the F Concourse along the moving walkway, featuring photos of memorable performances in Golden Gate Park that have taken place over the past 60 years.

Live music & cool tunes returning to airports

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Live music and cool recorded playlists have always been on the top of our list of airport amenities we love. And during the pandemic, live music was one of the amenities airports had to discontinue.

But it looks like many of the live music programs at airports are coming back.

And: Airport Spotify Playlists

We were in the McCarran Airport this week for a few hours and enjoyed hearing many of these songs from their “Voice of Vegas” Spotify playlist.

An opera about being stuck at the airport filmed at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

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Like so many arts and cultural organizations, the Seattle Opera has gotten pretty darn creative with finding ways to bring its productions to the people.

The newest production is a great example of that and will be of interest to opera fans and avgeeks alike.

Courtesy Seattle Opera

For the 2020/2021 season, the Seattle Opera was planning to present a performance of “Flight.” The three-act opera was written in 1998 by composer Jonathan Dove and librettist April De Angelis and has been performed around the world.

Here’s the story of the opera:

“An omniscient air traffic controller watches over a departure lounge bustling with relentlessly cheerful flight attendants, an excitable couple on vacation, a mysterious older woman, and a diplomat and his expectant wife, all of whom must spend the night to wait out a storm. At the heart of the show is the Refugee, a character inspired by Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris for almost 18 years.”

The pandemic means that the Seattle Opera can’t perform the show live. But rather than pass on the opportunity to present it, the Seattle Opera teamed up with Seattle’s Museum of Flight and filmed the opera there.

Brilliant, right?

The live stream of the Flight runs April 23-25. And tickets are just $35.

Below you’ll find a trailer for the opera and a pre-flight/pre-show talk full of tidbits on how the project came to be.

There’s also a fun interview with Museum of Flight curator Matthew Burchette sharing some of his favorite aircraft in the museum and talking about the control tower exhibit, which plays a role in the opera.

Enjoy!