It's So Freaking Cool, Dana! You rock. It rocks. It's a whole lava field of rock.

Dana, you're in Houston, right?

Where and when is this performance? Dare I hope it's not completely sold out already?

Elessar update:

Now that I've tracked down the source (it's in the "History of Galadriel and Celeborn" section of Unfinished Tales), it appears that the story is a little more complicated than I outlined earlier. The Elessar was not created by Feanor; instead, the "original" stone was created in Gondolin in the First Age to capture the clear light of the sun, but it was green to represent leaves of growing trees. One tradition states that it was an Elf named Enerdhil that forged the Elessar, and another claims that Celebrimbor (who later guided the forging of the Rings of Power (save the One)) forged it. This fragment of story mentioned in Tales is the only known mention of Enerdhil. In any case, the stone was said to have healing powers and it passed on to Idril before the fall of Gondolin, and thence to Earendil and passed over the sea.

So how did Galadriel get the stone? Again, 2 stories are told. One has Olorin (Gandalf) giving the original stone to Galadriel when he appeared in Middle Earth around 1100 in the Third Age, so that she could use it to have trees and grass that do not die. Gandalf did say that she only had temporary custody of the stone until one came along to receive it. The second story has Celebrimbor forging a second Elessar in the Third Age, as a token of his affection for Galadriel. Celebrimbor could do this because he was either present at the creation of the first Elessar by Enerdhil, or he himself had created the orginal. In any of the traditions, Galadriel passed the stone to her daughter Celebrian, thence to Arwen, who gave it to Aragorn.

So all in all, no real relation to the Silmarils at all.

Dana -- that is just so exciting!!!

I am so very jealous even though I cannot carry a tune.

Thanks, Jeff! I wouldn't even be sure where to begin looking up a question like that.

Dana, do you get to keep your music?

Here is the an updated list of LotR concerts (nabbed from Howard Shore's website):

• 5/26 - Phoenix Symphony - Alexander Mikelthwate, conductor
• 6/3-5 - Atlanta Symphony (4 concerts!)
• 6/17-19 - Sydney Symphony
• 7/1-2 - Houston Symphony - Alexander Mikelthwate, conductor
• 7/13 - Philadelphia Orchestra
• 7/15-17 - Seattle Symphony
• 7/22-23 - National Arts Center Orchestra - John Mauceri, conductor
• 7/29-31 - Pittsburgh Symphony
• 9/18-19 - Hartford Symphony
• 9/21 - Hollywood Bowl Orchestra - John Mauceri, conductor
• 9/22 - London Philharmonic Orchestra - Royal Albert Hall

The website has links to places to get tickets.

I've got tickets to the Hartford showing! yay!

I didn't know tickets were on sale already for the exhibit in Boston. Yikes! Are there still some available?

FWIW, I got exhibit tickets through a friend, who is a Museum of Science member. (They're the hosts.) They offer (a very limited number of) tickets way in advance to members, and she offered me the opportunity.

As for this exhibit, I think that there is some thing where you have to still pay to get into the MOS, before you get into the exhibit. So look into, like, getting the subscription pass from your local library to get into the MOS, because the Museum is outrageously expensive.

Nutty, I was just teasing. Sorry if it sounded otherwise.

(No problem! I didn't take it that way!) The whole MOS thing is a rant of mine -- who goes to a museum that costs $15 to get into?? Only tourists, I think, and that's bad for the local population. So it's a good thing that local libraries have subscription season passes.

The question is, do they still need volunteers for managing the exhibit? Ellen sent me a link about that a while ago, and I should follow up.