Like any other Westerner in Korea, I’m completely amused, and unsurprised, by the way 비/Rain’s so-called “World Tour” is turning out to be a collossal failure. (Inadequate stage setup? I have trouble buying that, as do many others.) World popularity isn’t a nationalist-netizen-driven thing, as Rain and his promoters — and hopefully the Korean pop music industry, is painfully realizing. But there are Korean musicians who are world-class, and one of them is Kim Sun Wook, whom Lime just mentioned to me. Here’s an article on him from 2006, at KBS GLOBAL: Eighteen-year-old pianist Kim Sun-wook has won the 15th …
Tag: MUSIC
Joe Sample & Randy Crawford
Quite a while ago, Lime discovered that the Seoul Jazz Festival was happening (I blogged about it here) and asked me what show I’d like to see. IF you look at the program, you’ll see that it’s dominated by Japanese jazz fusion and Pat Metheny (whose music I despise), so the sensible choice was to see whatever else didn’t fit that category. She ordered the tickets, and that was that. Well, the other night, the day finally arrived, so we went and saw Joe Sample and Randy Crawford, who were accompanied by Joe Sample’s son Nicklas Sample on bass and …
서울 재즈 페스티벌
While the selection of shows is disappointingly small — cheesy Pat Metheny, cheesy Japanese jazz-fusion, or a potentially cool concert with Joe Sample — those of you in Seoul might nonetheless might be interested in seeing something at the upcoming Seoul Jazz Festival. One interesting thing is that some of the local opening acts actually look better than some of the foreign ones. I’d much sooner see a show by Bae Jung-Eun’s trio than see her open for a trio show by Pat Metheny. But I guess I can see a Bae Jung-Eun show anytime, right? Right? Anyone know? I’m …
They Didn’t React As Expected
In this fascinating piece titled Pearls Before Breakfast is discussed an experiment conducted by the Washington post regarding how people perceive music in public spaces. What happens when one of the best classical musicians in America puts on a baseball cap and goes busking in Washington, D.C.? The article raises some really interesting questions about American culture, about art, about contexts for art. It brings to mind a question that’s been bugging me: is the blog a good context for writing to be presented? I’m beginning to think it isn’t.
Night Music, With David Sanborn?
Remember that show? Man, I was so into that show, but I never saw Bill Frisell on it. Damn! You know, for all that the 80s were a sad, embarrassing joke of a decade, you couldn’t have a TV show like Night Music anymore… when it’s all just about having music shows on TV. Of course, you shouldn’t need it in a vibrant culture — there’d be interesting live music everywhere — but living in Saskatchewan, and being into this kind of stuff, being crazy about saxophone and creative music — different music! — and never getting to hear much …
The Wrong Guy
I’m probably the wrong guy to be teaching about punk rock & the Sex Pistols. The most wrong guy that could ever be found, perhaps. But I’m doing it anyway, and boy am I grateful that I ordered that Greil Marcus book Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century. And that I didn’t get rid of it the first time I tried (unsuccessfully) to read it. I may actually meander my way through the whole thing sometime soon. It’s interesting, if a bit circumstantial at points. UPDATE: As if on cue, I came across something at Antti’s site, …
Do You Know This Song?
Sounds like it’s form the 70s, but that could mean it’s new. It’s sung by a woman and she sings off-key. There are strings in the accompaniment. She sounds a bit like Nico, and she’s singing these lines over and over that are vaguely like, “Yesterday is a day like any other day”, or “Yesterday was a day like everyday…” but I can’t remember what exactly. It’s very melodramatic and it was just very amusing and strange, and I’d like to hear it again. If anyone knows, please do comment. I heard it in a taxi the other night and …
Tune the Damned Thing
While I have been trying to rest my eyes, one of the things I’ve noticed is that trying not to look at anything too long, or in a way that strains your eyes, leads to you noticing more about your aural surroundings — the sounds that surround you. This morning, I woke to what I think were magpies — black birds with blue and white patterns on them. Someone upstairs hollered out his window at them, in English: “Hey birds! I can’t concentrate!” I can see why. They were really dreadfully loud, and their “call” sounded a lot like electric …
eclexys » Tunes (with me in ‘em)
Seeing that Dabang Band CDs seem to be all sold out, and seeing that as far as I know, we have no outstanding legal responsibilities to Cavare (the label for the Product CD, who’s never disclosed how many CDs sold or how much money was made, or any other contractual stuff since the contracts were signed and disappeared) I’ve gone ahead and updated this site’s “Tunes (with me in ‘em)” subpage to include all tracks from the first two Dabang Band CDs. I’m going to confirm with the other band members and then if they’re okay with it, release it …
I would like some milk…
I can’t believe that I’ve had this Aphex Twin CD (Richard D. James Album, I think it’s called) for over four years — my friend Jack gave me a copy only a couple of days before I left Canada — and in all this time, during many listenings, I never made out exactly where Mr. Aphex was saying he would like some milk from. It’s quite perverse, and it’s only NOW that I understand why Jack commented about the album something along the lines that the artist was a rather twisted fellow. I just can’t believe I never noticed he …