I attended the Chicago Fourth of July fireworks display tonight, and noticed one odd selection of the accompanying music: "The Imperial March" from the Star Wars films, otherwise known as "Darth Vader's theme." While the John Williams composition is surely memorable and majestic, I don't think it belonged sandwiched between "America the Beautiful" and "Stars and Stripes Forever." The irony wasn't lost on me, though -- celebrating the American rebellion from the British Empire by playing music associated with the Empire in Star Wars. I suppose it's not that much of stretch, considering that we also play Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, which was written to commemorate the Russian defeat of Napoleon in 1812.