Warner Bros. Presents Bugs Bunny @ The Symphony

I think it’s fair to say that a massive chunk of my music knowledge from before I was born can be chalked up to the wacky, glorious nonsense that was “Merrie Melodies” and “Looney Tunes.” “(I Dream of) Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” most of the work of Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, a billion standards, any major song from a motion picture during the Golden and Silver Ages of cinema, opera selections like “The Barber of Seville” or Wagner’s oeuvre and, my personal favorite, the factory-evoking “Powerhouse.”

Then there’s Carl Stalling, the main composer for the Warner Bros. shorts, responsible for over 600(!) scores over his career. Just a few mere notes of his playful, well-researched and incredibly referential work immediately puts you in a trance, as nearly a century of this country’s greatest slapstick races through your brain. Because if there’s one thing we can all agree on when it comes to U.S. entertainment, it’s that “Looney Tunes” is as much a gas for preschoolers as it is for people pushing 90. It’s good for the whole family, is my point.

Match these songs and scores up with a wascally wabbit, and you’ve got the latest pop culture offering from the Seattle Symphony. Put on your rabbit ears and head to Benaroya Hall for more than a dozen Bugs Bunny shorts projected onto their big screen (happy 85th birthday, Bugs!), while conductor George Daugherty and a heap of game musicians carry you through a couple hours of hijinks and high art.