Posts about Music
June 17, 2008
Old boy's night out
Tony was back in town, so Bryce, LK, Andy, and I hooked up for a needed boy's night. The first stop was JZ where Bryce got us a table to check out the Berlin deep house group Jazzanova. We were expecting a cool live music, electronica set, but it turned out to be a singer and a DJ. Kind of a live karaoke set. We stuck around for a few songs, until I turned to LK and Tony and said "This might be fun if I were 20 years younger and gay." They all got a kick out of that. Tony shot back with, "Hell, if it makes you feel better, if I were 20 years younger and gay, I'd do you." We all piled into LK's SUV turned on some good tunes and headed out to our next stop.
Moganshan is a cool place to see music. This place was a great indie venue, with Chinese drums and scrolls and vaulted ceilings. It opened up to a cool industrial vista of murky water and construction cranes reflecting in the ripples. A completely different vibe here, and we melted right in. We missed the first band, but The Retros were just starting and played a great set of dynamic trio rock and roll. This was the last song of their set and I think the most interesting of the evening. The crowd was young and into it and the drinks were cheap and the music loud. A good formula for an old boy's night out.
May 03, 2008
Mini Midi in Shanghai
The Midi festival was cancelled this year, another annoyance you can blame on protestors lunging for the torch. Wonder if those guys thought "By throwing junk at that Chinese girl in a wheelchair we are taking away the chance to see good indie music for the people who happen to live in China, and make if a pain in the ass to deal with visas." Guess not.
Yuyingtang sponsored a weekend of bands who were supposed to play at Midi. On Friday there were about 6 bands. Bryce and I met up with Rob, a concert promoter, and we sipped on Buds and watched a young crowd enjoying good loud music. A good Friday night thing to do.
Overdose's drummer, a mohawk clad tattoo covered Sid Vicious kind of character grabbed the mic and I was sure he'd say something offensive or at least a bit rude. But instead he said "I'd like to thank you all for coming here tonight....and I'd like to thank my mom who's in the corner....and all you guys should move around and get sweaty....we'll play some good music for you..."
Bryce looked over and gave me a funny look, "Wow, these guys are the polite punk bank from Beijing."
May 01, 2008
Brubeck Braid
Scott told us about this nice Sunday afternoon jazz concert with Matt Brubeck and David Braid. I thought it'd be cool to hear one of Dave Brubeck's sons play, while looking out over the Bund. Ran into JQ and Lawrence as well, so the Shanghai jazz contingent was well represented.
It was great just lounging there, enjoying this sort of jazz recital with like minded people who wanted to lounge around and enjoy something well done and nice as well.
Brubeck had a really cool carbon fiber cello set up that fed real well into the PA. Braid played a nice blend of Chopin styled jazz charts and tasteful solos. I liked the way they arranged their material to work as classical pieces and in an AABA (no not the Swedish pop group misspelt) jazz format with solos and a head.
There was one tune mid-set where a truck horn blared through the windows right at the perfect moment, a half step off.
Here's the head to the Monk tune, In Walked Bud.
Dizzie, he was screaming
Next to O.P. who was beaming
Monk was thumping
Suddenly in walked Bud and then they got into somethin'
Oscar played a mean sax
Mr. Byers blew a mean axe
Monk was thumping
Suddenly in walked Bud
And then the joint started jumping
Every hip stud really dug Bud
Soon as he hit town
Takin' that note nobody wrote
Putting it down
Dizzie he was screaming
Next to O. P. who was beaming
Monk was thumping
Suddenly in walked Bud
And then they got into something
April 20, 2008
Saturday night in Beijing
It took over an hour to get out to Haidian in Beijing to see some live music at D-22. Bryce hadn't been out there in 21 years, when he was teaching English at one of the colleges. A-Jie and Paul were along for the ride after some good Italian at Annie's. I'm the one who squeezed everyone in the cab since I have to see live music at D-22 whenever I'm in town.
We wanted to stay to hear Carsick Cars, but the bands didn't start until 11:30, so we petered out after the third band.
13 Dogs played the best set. At least it was loud and interesting and fun. They played short fast songs, the shortest being one a half measure, "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8, caonimadebi!" The other two bands, LABF and Fire Balloon were pretty hurting. LABF had a cute keyboard/accordianist, who was their real redeeming quality. Fire Balloon's lead singer had a killer afro but he couldn't sing, and between each song he kept reminding us "Wo ai guo" (I love my country), which means a lot if you've been keeping up with the anti-French, anti-Carrefour, anti-foreign news sentiment building up lately.
13 Dogs
Click here if you are in China and YouTube is blocked.
March 23, 2008
The Honeys in Shanghai
I'm still scoping out the live music scene here in Shanghai. After 9 years of owning a music club I guess it's in my blood. Tonight Jimi SMSed me about a show in The New Factories (Tonglefang) which is on Yuyao Lu, way north of where anyone really likes to go. The group was called The Honeys.
I was ready to go because this gave me reason to have a blue plate special at The Moon River Diner, and check out a new live space, and it was free. Who could say no?
Finding the space was a bit like feeling around in the dark since there wasn't any real directional signage. You just followed the rumbling window panes up stairs until you figured it out.
The room was cool in the sense that it was just a square simple gray brick lined space with a stage at one end and a bar at the other. Perfect for a rock show. The sound was lacking for all the equipment they had. Bit like sticking your ear into a bowl of reverberated oatmeal. They tried to phase the vocals in a weird way and forgot that there was no real need for long reverb in a room which was essentially a big echo chamber already. And as always at a Chinese rock show, the main instrument was the kick drum. The sound got progressively better the further away from the stage you got.
I think I was the oldest geezer in the room, but I had the hottest date (one of my wife's staff) which meant this time I was getting the "Why is that young chick with that old fart?" looks from the other guys. If I had a black Trans Am I would've parked it out front.
Click here if you are in China and YouTube is blocked.
March 13, 2008
Shay shay, baby!
I introduced Tim, who does the ushering logistics for Emma, to some colleagues who could work the VIP section for him, and in return he scored me some free tickets to Harry Connick Jr. So I took Ker, the sax playing CEO, and Dave, the swinging Aussie, as my dates.
The show overall was lacksidaisical in that it didn't really move into anything. The big band sat for most of the time while Harry played some solos or trio stuff. The tenor player had a great sound and presence and was the most interesting part of the evening as he stalked around the stage in a gnome like way which as a horn player I found real amusing. I mean he was so far crouched over that his horn got down to within a foot of the floor.
Harry has a great voice and personable stage presence ("Shay shay, baby!" was his memorable foray into Mandarin) but it came off pretty much as an end of a nice day in Shanghai now let's get back to the hotel and eat sort of gig. I've had plenty of those kind of gigs, so understand how he might feel, but when tickets run from $60 - $220 you sort of expect more than what was delivered. I would've been disappointed if I had actually paid for the tickets. As the show was only 50% sold I think the promoters took a bath. No local people would want to spend a week's salary to see the show, so that explains why it was 98% foreigners.
The funniest part of the show was when Harry asked around in the all foreign audience - or Chinese as he was experiencing it - if they knew about 'Nawlins and the unusual food they ate there. Some weird and very excited guy from Canada hopped onto the stage to represent Shanghai and "the Chinese," but he didn't even know what Jinmao was (this is the landmark in Shanghai, the huge space-like tower in Pudong), and obviously knew less about Chinese food. Here's a minute or so of that dialogue...
February 18, 2008
The One Hundred Project
Marc Kets, a friend who now lives in Cape Town, wrote and told me about his latest project which sounded really cool. It's called The One Hundred Project.
His project is to invite 100 people he knows who are into creative things, and ask them a list of questions, and ask them to share some music tracks.
Definitely check it out (kumomusic.blogspot.com) Some very interesting people, and more to come. I'm on there at #12 which was my baseball AND football number when I was a kid.
As a side note: It's rare to find someone as into music as Marc. He can live for days in his record collection. And what a wide range of choices he has. I definitely look forward to freshening my ears through his new site.
January 07, 2008
Best jukebox ever
For those who need to know, here's the complete list of songs on Quentin Tarantino's personal jukebox which was used in the movie Death Proof.
1. Isaac Hayes - Theme from Shaft / Ellie's Love Theme (From Shaft (1971))
2. Barry White - You're the First, the Last, My Everything / Can't Get Enough
3. Bob Dylan - George Jackson (Acoustic) / George Jackson (Big Band)
4. Stevie Wonder - Lately / If It's Magic
5. The Chi-Lites - Have You Seen Her / Oh Girl
6. The THP Orchestra - Theme from S.W.A.T., Pt. 1 / Oh Girl
7. Stevie Wonder - I Ain't Gonna Stand for It / Knocks Me off My Feet
8. Bloodstone - Natural High / This Thing is Heavy
9. Don McLean - American Pie, Pt. 1 / American Pie, Pt. 2
10. The Sweet - Little Willy / Man from Mecca
11. The Isley Brothers - Take Me to the Next Phase, Pt. 1 / Take Me to the Next Phase, Pt. 2
12. The Miracles - Love Machine, Pt. 1 / Love Machine, Pt. 2
13. Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues / She Belongs to Me
14. Honey Cone - Stick Up / V.I.P.
15. Earth, Wind and Fire - Shining Star / Yearning, Learning
16. Amii Stewart - Knock on Wood / When You Are Beautiful
17. Honey Cone - Want Ads / We Belong Together
18. Kool & the Gang - Hollywood Swinging / Jungle Boogie
19. Bob Dylan - Band of the Hand / Theme from Joe's Death
20. The Sweet Wig-Wam-Bam / New York Connection
21. The Friends of Distinction - Grazing in the Grass / I Really Hope You Do
22. Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man / Don't Mess With Mr. T
23. Bob Dylan - Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again / Rita May 24. Pacific Gas & Electric - Are You Ready? / Staggolee
25. Donna Summer - Love to Love you Baby / Need-A-Man Blues
26. Michael Zager Band - Let's All Chant / Love Express
27. Santa Esmeralda - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood / You're My Everything
28. Jigsaw - Sky High / Brand New Love Affair
29. George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag / Pretty Little Dreamer
30. The Sweet - Blockbuster / Need a Lot of Lovin'
31. Eddie Floyd - Good Love, Bad Love / Things Get Better
32. Joe Tex - The Love You Save / If Sugar Was as Sweet as You
33. Bob Dylan - Gotta Serve Somebody (Long Version) / Gotta Serve Somebody (Short Version)
34. Dick Dale - Misirlou / Eight Till Midnight
35. Lee Williams - They Told a Lie / I'm Tore Up
36. William Bell - Formula of Love / You Don't Miss Your Water
37. Dinah Washington - Mad About the Boy / Stormy Weather
38. The Box Tops - Cry Like a Baby / The Door You Closed to Me
39. The Checkmates, Ltd. - Black Pearl / Lazy Susan
40. The Sweet - Fox on the Run / Miss Demeanor
41. The Delfonics - Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) / La-La Means I Love You 42. Brothers Johnson - Get the Funk Outta Ma Face / Tomorrow
43. Bob Dylan - Hurricane, Pt. 1 / Hurricane, Pt. 2
44. ABBA - Waterloo / Watch Out 45.
T. Rex - Jeepster / Life's a Gas
46. Melanie - What Have They Done to My Song Ma? / Ruby Tuesday
47. Commander Cody - Hot Rod Lincoln / Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar
48. Dean Martin - Rio Bravo / My Rifle My Pony and Me
49. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - Hold Tight! / You Know What I Want
December 20, 2007
Show me the money
Great article at Wired by David Byrne called "David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists ¡X and Megastars".
It pretty much says all there needs to be said about what an artist can do to make money these days.
October 06, 2007
What's happened to the music industry?
I used to be very active in the music industry in Asia. First as a recording artist, then as a record company exec, then as a producer, then as a manager/promoter, then as a new media tech company exec. A lot of people still believe the old industry exists, especially those colleagues still getting salaries for putting out acts. Many of them have bled their companies dry, funneling funds to their own artists, or taking the standard kick back to fund their personal clubs, lounges, restaurants, production companies, and other paid-by-the-major-label who-can't-control-the-situation-but-doesn't-have-other-options perks. It's been a grab it now while you can mentality.
People always ask me what my opinions are on file sharing, CD burners, pirate CDs, etc, and I often get into long discussions about how the artist is the last to get paid, the fate of the industry, parallel imports, hardware taxes, new formats, et al...
Today during the typhoon, I stumbled across this fantastic roundtable discussion on Freakonomics.com about the future of the music industry that says everything in a much better way than I could hiting all the points I kept arguing about with stubborn (and now out of work) record company execs 10+ years ago.
It's worth a read if you wonder what's happened to the music industry.
August 25, 2007
Everyone's a Winner at NP!
As a music producer I've been asked to do all sorts of musically non-cool things, many of which I've just had to say "No." Whoever produced this recently leaked corporate theme song for the law firm Nixon Peabody, apparently didn't know how to say "No."
From: Abovethelaw.com
July 26, 2007
This is worth a look
These guys want to do something at my club...
June 19, 2007
What do you get if...
What do you get if:
1) Someone slipped some acid in your iced tea
2) you went to a concert
3) you started tripping
4) you thought to yourself "what if Lin Chi-lin 林志玲 were 15 years older, could sing in Japanese, and performed with a big band covering a famous video game song which we all know, but never knew there were lyrics to?"
5) it all appeared on stage in front of you
6) then someone taped it as proof
You'd get this...
Lyrics:
Go Go Mario
Kyou mo genki ni Mario ga hashiru, hashiru
Piichi hime wo tasukeni ikuze, ikuze
Kyou mo genki ni Mario ga hashiru
Kyou mo genki ni janpu
Kyou mo genki ni koin wo sagase
Kyou mo susumeyo Ma?Pri?Po
Kinoko wo totte Super Mario daze
Furawa wo totte Fire Mario
Kuriboo da, Nokonoko da, Metto datte taose
Mario wa itsumo, genki de tsuyoi
[Spoken] Kinokotachi ni kakerareta mahou wo toku koto ga dekiru nowa Piichi hime dake desu
Demo, Piichi hime wa tooi oshiro no chika ni toraware no mininatteimasu
Aa, heiwa de yume no atta ano koro ni
Mou ichido ano goro ni modoretara
Piichi hime wo sukuidashi, futatabi heiwana Kinoko Oukoku wo kizuku tame Mario wa kyou mo ikuno desu
Kyou mo genki ni Mario ga hashiru, hashiru
Kuppa ichizoku wo yattsukeni ikuzo, ikuzo
Kyou mo genki ni Mario ga hashiru
Kyou mo genki ni janpu
Kyou mo genki ni koin wo sagase
Kyou mo susumeyo Ma?Pri?Po
Sutaa wo totte muteki ni narou
Hyaku Piichi wo tasukeni, ikou
Jugemu da Togezoo da, Pukupuku datte taose
Mario wa itsumo, genki de tsuyoi
Kyou mo genki ni Mario ga hashiru, hashiru
Kitaze, oshiro da, hanabi wa agero agero
Hanmaa Burozu hirarito, kawasu
Saigo no chikara dase, Ma?Pri?Po
Nagai tabi datta keredo mou sugu, owaru
Yattaze yattaze, Kuppa wo taoshita
Piichi hime ni thank you to iware
Mario no kokoro wa ookiku hazunda
Mario no bouken wa koko de owatta keredo
Mario no yume wa hattenaku tsuzuku
--------------
Go Go Mario
Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
Go save Princess Peach! Go!
Today, full of energy, Mario runs
Today, full of energy, jumping!
Today, full of energy, searching for coins
Today, keep going, Mario!
Get a mushroom - it's Super Mario!
Get a flower - it's Fire Mario!
Goomba! Troopa! Buzzy Beetle! Beat them all!
Mario is always full of energy and strong!
[Spoken] The only one who can reverse the spell that has captured the Mushroom People is Princess Peach. But Princess Peach is hidden underground, in a far-off castle. Ah, the days of peace... if we could once more return to those days... to save Princess Peach and bring peace back to the Mushroom Kingdom, that is why Mario is on his journey today.
Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
Go and beat the Koopa tribe, go!
Today, full of energy, Mario runs
Today, full of energy, jumping!
Today, full of energy, searching for coins
Today, keep going, Mario!
Get a star - become invincible!
Quickly, go save Princess Peach!
Lakitu! Blooper! Cheep Cheep! Beat them all!
Mario is always full of energy and strong!
Today, full of energy, Mario is still running, running
He's made it to the castle and gets fireworks!
Lightly sidestepping the Hammer Bros.
Show the last of your power, Mario!
It's been a long journey but it's nearly at an end
You've done it, you've done it! You've defeated Bowser!
Princess Peach says "Thank you"
Mario's got a great big heart!
Mario's adventure is over for now, but
Mario's dream lives forever...
March 21, 2007
Piano this
Here's something you don't really think about very often. Just how many piano manufacturers are out there?
1. Allen Organ Company (USA) IV-1
2. America Sejung Corporation (ASC) (USA) IV-5
3. Astin Weight (USA) IV-5
4. August Forster GmbH (Germany) IV-5
5. Australis Music Group Pty., Ltd. (Australia) IV-6
6. Bachmann Pianobau AG (Switzerland) IV-6
7. Bechner Piano Company (USA) IV-6
8. Beijing Heintzman Piano Co., Ltd. (China) IV-7
9. Beijing Xinghai Musical Instrument Co. Ltd. (China) IV-8
10. Bohemia Piano Sro (Czech Republic) IV-10
11. Borisov Musical Instruments Ent. Jsc (Belarus) IV-10
12. California Piano (USA) IV-11
13. Calisia Poland (Poland) IV-11
14. Carl Sauter Pianofortemanufaktur GmbH & Co., KG. (Germany) IV-12
15. Carl A. Pfeiffer GmbH & Co., KG. (Germany) IV-12
16. Casio Computer Co., Ltd. (Japan) IV-13
17. Charles Albrecht Piano Corporation (USA) IV-21
18. Chavanne (France) IV-21
19. Cunningham Piano Company & Factory (USA) IV-21
20. ED. Seiler Pianofortefabrik GmbH And Co., KG. (Germany) IV-22
21. Estonia Klaverivabrik (Estonia) IV-22
22. Fandrich & Sons (USA) IV-23
23. Fandrich Piano Co., Inc. (USA) IV-24
24. Fazioli Pianoforti Srl (Italy) IV-24
25. Ferd. Thurmer Pianofortefabrik (Germany) IV-24
26. Feurich Klavier-u.Flugelfabrikation GmbH (Germany) IV-25
27. General Music SpA (Italy) IV-25
28. Geneva International Corporation (USA) IV-26
29. Gibson Guitar Corporation (USA) IV-27
30. Grotrian-Steinweg GmbH & Co., KG. (Germany) IV-31
31. Guangzhou Auking (China) Co., Ltd. (China) IV-31
32. Guitar Musical Produce Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) IV-32
33. Hellas-Piano Oy (Finland) IV-32
34. Huapu Piano Co., Ltd. (China) IV-32
35. J. C. Neupert KG. (Germany) IV-33
36. J. Reid Pianos (UK) IV-34
37. Jaques Samuel Pianos Ltd. (UK) IV-34
38. John Broadwood & Sons Ltd. (UK) IV-35
39. Julius Bluthner Pianofortefabrik (Germany) IV-35
40. Kawai Musical Instruments Mfg. Co., Ltd. (Japan) IV-36
41. Ketron Srl (Italy) IV-38
42. Klavierfabrik Nordpiano GmbH (Germany) IV-38
43. Klima - Piano Manufacture Sro (Czech Republic) IV-38
44. L. Bosendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH (Austria) IV-39
45. Ladbrooke Pianos Ltd. (UK) IV-40
46. Lira Musical Instrument Manufacturing Complex (Russia) IV-40
47. Lowrey Organ Company (USA) IV-41
48. Markson Pianos (UK) IV-41
49. Mason & Hamlin Piano Company (USA) IV-42
50. Overs Pianos (Australia) IV-42
51. Pearl River Piano Group Ltd. (China) IV-43
52. Petrof Spol Sro (Czech Republic) IV-45
53. PianoDisc (USA) IV-46
54. Pianoeurope Sp. z.o.o. (Poland) IV-46
55. Pianofortefabrikanten Grotrian-Steinweg (Germany) IV-47
56. Pianos Chavanne (France) IV-47
57. Pianova GmbH (Germany) IV-48
58. Pleyel (France) IV-48
59. Polverini SAS (Italy) IV-48
60. QRS Music Technologies, Inc. (USA) IV-49
61. Rawlings Music Co., Inc. (USA) IV-52
62. Roland Corporation (Japan) IV-53
63. Rud Ibach Sohn (Germany) IV-56
64. Samick Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. (Korea) IV-57
65. Schimmel Pianofortefabrik GmbH (Germany) IV-60
66. Schulze Pollmann Srl (Italy) IV-61
67. Seidl Piano AS (Czech Republic) IV-61
68. Shanghai Piano Co., Ltd. (China) IV-61
69. Slam Grand Piano Company (USA) IV-62
70. Steingraeber & Sohne KG. (Germany) IV-62
71. Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. (USA) IV-63
72. Stuart & Sons Piano Australia Pty., Ltd. (Australia) IV-67
73. Stuttgarts Piano Centrum Matthaes GmbH (Germany) IV-67
74. Suzuki Corporation (USA) IV-68
75. Taiwan Yamaha Musical Inst. Mfg. Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) IV-69
76. The Shigeru Kawai Piano Company (USA) IV-69
77. Thuringer Pianoforte GmbH (Germany) IV-70
78. Velocepiano Co., Ltd. (South Korea) IV-70
79. W.D. Greenhill Ltd. (UK) IV-70
80. Walter Piano Company, Inc. (USA) IV-71
81. Weber Piano Company Ltd. (UK) IV-71
82. Wilhelm Schimmel Pianofortefabrik GmbH (Germany) IV-72
83. Yako Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) IV-73
84. Yamaha Corporation (Japan) IV-74
85. Yamano Music Co., Ltd. (Japan) IV-87
86. Yantai Longfeng Piano Co. (China) IV-87
87. Yingkou Northwest Piano Corporation (China) IV-88
88. Young Chang Company Ltd. (Korea) IV-89
February 06, 2007
What's up with the music in Beijing?
People back in Taiwan always ask me when I get back there for a weekend "What's up with the music scene in Beijing? Are they still into 80's metal bands?"
This article by Joshua Frank gives some insight into where the music is headed. It's a small scene, fostered only by a few venues, but it is very cool.
December 22, 2006
Colin "Cracky 2" plays the sax
My friend Christofu asked if he thought his son Colin would make a good sax player.
Judging from his perfect embouchure, I'd say he'll be giving guys like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, and Michael Brecker a run for their money.
September 27, 2006
She's 7, and I'm not
I'm progressing along on guitar at about the same level as cute little Helena Klein is with her rendition of "First Cut is The Deepest." She sings a bit better though.
September 09, 2006
Day Tripping
I had some well deserved down time this afternoon, so spent some time with a guitar, Youtube, and Day Tripper. (Youtube is great for learning old songs, because unlike today's videos, guys actually played instruments in music videos back then, so you can watch how they play.) I was trying to figure out how to position the dom7 chords like the original, and it took me a while to understand that Lennon was using his thumb over the top rather than playing the standard barre chord with his index finger. That revelation made things a lot clearer for me.
Then Tony called and told me to walk over to the park and check out the Beijing Pop Festival and the cool snowboarding exhibition they were sponsoring. So I packed up, threw another shirt on (it suddenly got nice and chilly in Beijing - feels like football weather) and started walking.
A half hour later I'm in the park watching guys do flips off of a huge Burton and Motorola sponsored snowboarding exhibition, complete with tons of shaved ice, when I see a guy with a familiar scraggly beard. I tap him on the shoulder, and it's Dave Fraiser from Pots Magazine. I think he was kind of surprised to be tapped on the shoulder by me in a huge park in the middle of a huge festival in the middle of Beijing, but that's the way things always seem to work. I didn't bother looking for Tony because we'd find each other eventually by osmosis, and sure enough two minutes later Tony walks over, hands out some VIP stage passes, and we're all off to see Placebo perform on the main stage.
I was really impressed with the stage set up, the lights, and especially the sound. It was excellent. They really spent a lot of effort to get it right, and I don't know if other people noticed, but I did, having heard enough crappy outdoor shows in Taiwan. I could hear every nuance of the cymbals, a nice crack and reverb on the snare, different effects on different songs, great solid chest thump on the kick, clear snap of the bass strings, and nicely compressed and crystal clear vocals for once. I guess there were three thousand people milling about, but my attention was on sound quality, the light show, and the 75+ year old guy in front of me who was the only person near us who was dancing around in a combination of tai chi and the cha cha to good grungy rock and roll. He arrived in a wheel chair, and was having a great time. He even had a flag on a stick that he swung about.
I'm so old I had no idea who Placebo was, but they put on a great tight show, showing local rockers how to sound like a rock band.
August 21, 2006
Learning Guitar with Jon Scott
For my first song on guitar I thought I'd play Paganini's 24th Caprice. Here's my teacher showing me how to do it via YouTube.
August 16, 2006
Little Gene Krupa
My buddy Chris's son, Colin, is definitely ready for his first drum set. Check out the movie.
June 13, 2006
I can hear it
I can still hear it. Can you?
In that old battle of the wills between young people and their keepers, the young have found a new weapon that could change the balance of power on the cellphone front: a ring tone that many adults cannot hear.
In settings where cellphone use is forbidden ¡X in class, for example ¡X it is perfect for signaling the arrival of a text message without being detected by an elder of the species.
"When I heard about it I didn't believe it at first," said Donna Lewis, a technology teacher at the Trinity School in Manhattan. "But one of the kids gave me a copy, and I sent it to a colleague. She played it for her first graders. All of them could hear it, and neither she nor I could."
Rest of the NY Times article here...
May 30, 2006
Live at the Forbidden City
This came through my inbox today from a musician friend who had a very cool gig at the Living Room a while back. Damn, so much for that book idea.
Dear friends and interested parties,
I'm pleased to announce that, at long last, my book Live at the Forbidden City: Musical Encounters in China and Taiwan has been published and is now available for purchase online at iUniverse Online Bookstore.
The book is initially available through my publisher, iUniverse, and within 4-6 weeks will also be available through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books-A-Million.com, and other major online booksellers. It can also be ordered by any bookstore through the Ingram Book Group and Baker & Taylor wholesale distribution channels. Please spread the word to anyone you might know who has an interest in world music, Chinese and Asian culture, or travel writing ¡V thanks! I'll be setting up several author events in the Pacific Northwest (local residents will receive details) and hopefully in other regions as well.
See below for a brief description of the book; for more information, please visit www.dennisrea.com/forbidden.html
Many thanks for your interest, and to many of you for helping to make
this a reality!
Dennis
------------------------
"Live at the Forbidden City offers a singular look at the rapidly evolving Chinese popular music scene, as seen through the eyes of one of the first progressive Western musicians to perform extensively in both China and Taiwan.
"In the 1980s and 90s, American author and musician Dennis Rea was an unofficial musical ambassador to the East, playing concerts in venues ranging from sports arenas to illicit underground nightclubs to TV broadcasts viewed by millions of Chinese -- frequently under bizarre circumstances and the constant threat of harassment by Communist Party authorities. Spiced with informative reflections on Chinese music and culture, Live at the Forbidden City interweaves vivid, often comical depictions of Rea's musical adventures with an insider's look at China's emergent rock music phenomenon, richly descriptive tales of travels in China's ethnic minority regions, and an eyewitness account of the violent civil uprising that broke out in the city of Chengdu at the same time as the world-shaking events at Tiananmen Square."
"Live at the Forbidden City is at once a witty and engaging memoir of an adventurous musical life, and a unique document of an unprecedented era of political tumult and cultural transformation in China" ¡X Andrew F. Jones, author, Like a Knife and Yellow Music
April 12, 2006
Just call it Nakashi
I was reading a podcast blog, the far eastern audio review, the other day and took a listen to this group called Red Chamber, "an ensemble of masked players and dancers who throw down the Asian surf sounds of yesteryear."
The podcast talked about the "tightness," the "mystery," the "musicianship," but they never just came out and called it what it really was - a Nakashi band.
In 1992, I recorded a completely different kind of nakashi album, reworked in an LA studio with top session players. Guys like John Pena and Dave Garfield. Here's what happened to that album.
April 08, 2006
Radio Taiwan International interview
A nice woman named Natalie Tso came to the Living Room a few weeks ago to interview me for Radio Taiwan International, which is run by the Central Broadcasting System (who used to use these old U47 Neuman tube mics for voice overs that I would kill to get my hands on now, which are probably sitting in a file cabinet somewhere being ignored until the day I eventually break into their offices, crawling through the air ducts, wearing night vision goggles, to rescue them), the national broadcasting system of the Republic of China on Taiwan. We sat on the steps outside and she asked me all about how I started, my feelings about the music industry, and pretty much allowed me to ramble on for the entire show. Ask a guy to talk about himself, and he will do it for hours.
Anyway, for anyone interested in the Corbett Wall story, you can listen to the stream here: 
There was something in the Taipei Times as well a few months ago. You know you are getting old when they start rehashing your past. Sigh...
March 31, 2006
Crybaby craft
I was in a small studio the other day recording some tracks for a friend's New Age album. He plays electric guitar and guzheng (¥jºå) at the same time. Anyway, this got me thinking about what it is musically that excites me these days. People are always asking me why I stopped playing professionally, and I'm running out of things to say. All I can muster, is "I just couldn't do it anymore."
Like this morning, I woke up to an album my wife put on of a 15 year old pianist named Austin Peralta. Peralta is signed to my friend's jazz label at Sony, and is backed by Ron Carter and Billy Kilson. You can't get a much better platform to start your career. Sony, Ron Carter, 15. Yet, beyond the chops, I couldn't feel anything he was playing. He wasn't saying anything meaningful to me, and I woke up grumpy, discombobulated, and thinking about what I would say if I was still making music. Would I be saying anything meaningful?
I think it's this - Once you've been through the entire process, the entire value chain of the music industry, you realize that the energy and time and passion you pour out to create and perform music and develop your music career is about as important to Mr. Average Joe Blow consumer who picks up a copy of your CD as is the type of aluminum used in the machine which produced the soap he showered with today, or the cans per minute the dog food canning processor machine can squirt out his dog's food ration, or the time it took a team to design the injection mold used to form the casing on his ergonomic cellphone.
I think as a musician, more so than playing music, you want to matter to someone. You want people to understand your pain, you want people to delve into your art, appreciate your years of effort, respect your talent. So music is actually a very selfish crybaby craft.
I find it refreshing to see people who are wrapped up in their music. The engineer who tracked the session was so proud to have been in Japan with Jay Chou, and in HK with Richie Ren. He had his MI (Musician's Institute) sticker proudly displayed on his mixing console, with stacks of Sound Recording magazine next to the sofa. It seemed all so distant to me.
But it got me thinking again, and maybe thinking about music will get me motivated, and maybe the motivation will lead to something else. As long as it says something to someone.
January 19, 2006
Band dude
The other evening, I encountered a situation that only allowed me to ask "WTF??"
A band member from a to-be-unnamed band comes up to me and tells me how rude it was to have asked his girlfriend to pay the $150 ticket that night to support the three bands playing the show. "Her name was on the guest list, and she already supports us a lot, man. She even bought a train ticket to come see us, and I can't believe you would ask her to pay to see the bands as well. You are so rude, dude, blah blah blah..."
Then I tell him, "Well, sorry I insulted your girlfriend over $150. I didn't insist she pay it. I just asked her to show her support. For your information, that is money I was trying to collect for YOU GUYS, since our policy is to give 100% of the door to the bands. There are so few people tonight, and you have to split it three ways, so I thought I'd ask everyone (even girlfriends) to support you guys by purchasing a ticket anyways."
This then turns into a 20 minute showdown at the cash register.
Band dude: "I just can't believe you would do that. What makes you think you can do that? Blah, blah..."
Me: "Dude, that money goes into your pocket, not mine. I don't benefit at all from asking. Why don't you ask someone to stand here all night collecting the tickets for you. Then you can let them all in without paying. I'm just trying to support you. I think you should ask people to support live music, not always expect it to be free."
Band dude: "That is so rude. Totally uncalled for. Completely out of line. And I can't believe you make our audience buy two beers as well. Beers are super expensive here. We can buy them at 7-11 for NT$50."
Me: "Hey, you are always welcome to go perform in front of the 7-11. There's one across the street. Go ask them to set up a stage for you. But if you want to perform here, on a weekend, on our stage, using our equipment, enjoying our air conditioning, enjoying our free band drinks, with a nice place to sit and hang out, with sofas and a clean toilet, then we have to ask people to buy at least two drinks, or we can't stay open. What's so terrible about that? We charge about the same as anywhere in town, even less. So I don't understand your problem."
Band dude: "Blah blah blah..."
By now I'm starting to lose my patience, so I just smile and keep my mouth shut.
Band dude: "Blah blah blah... and fuck you!"
Now I'm thinking why do I have to deal with this crap. Why do I even try to support bands like you? Why should I build tube amps for you to play through? Why should I worry about affording Zildjian cymbals? Why should I keep this place open? Why am I standing here listening to you?
So I grab him by the neck and slam his head hard against the cash register three times breaking his glasses and his nose as well. Then I throw him through the glass door onto the street. I grab his piece of shit guitar, walk through the door, and whack him with it until the neck breaks, and toss the whole mess with all the strings dangling out on the sidewalk.
"How's that for rude?" I ask the band dude.
Well, not exactly. But that's what I was thinking.
January 11, 2006
Tube quest - Part III
I've finished my latest tube project. A killer bass amp for the club. It's a very cool looking late 60's Ampeg.
Done up in a stylishly gauche leopard skin ensemble...
November 25, 2005
My most recent gig with...
This is pretty funny. ICRT wanted to do some wacky commercials for the morning show, and asked me to come in and play "romantic" sax for one of them. I'm paired up with my dream night of music at the Living Room.
November 17, 2005
Two geniuses discuss breakfast through jazz
My wife is sick, so the best remedy is a good massage, which means the massuer comes over at 1am, and I just want to go to bed since I'm damned tired and cranky, but I feel weird sleeping in a room with a guy I don't know who has his hands all over my wife, so I end up wasting time surfing the internet since the TV sucks sooooo bad in Taiwan.
And what do I find? I find this perfect combination of two geniuses...
Dr. Suess meets Thelonious Monk. Cool.
October 03, 2005
Tube Quest - Part II
I sort have fallen into a new hobby...building tube amps.
For those of you interested in geek things, here's some photos.
Amps like instruments and girlfriends always need a name, any suggestions for my new amp? Best name wins a beer on me.
August 29, 2005
The Retrosexuals!
Here's a picture from a recent show.
August 27, 2005
Interesting train ride
Last night what normally would have been a relaxing gig, turned into an interesting train ride. I can sort of describe it as a train ride that's speeding down a steep mountain pass, lurching over to one side on the corners, while we all hold on and scream wondering what will happen.
So this is where a bit of hard earned stage experience comes into play. Just play your way through it.
All the musicians agreed afterwards that it was one of the most interesting artistic cooperations any of us had in a long time.
Here's the scenario: My band is called the Retrosexuals. We play have-a-good-time, funky jazz tunes from the late 60's. During that time you had influences from funk, rock, go-go, and of course jazz. Most of the groups were organ based, and generating a funk was the most important aspect of the evening.
Anyway, last night we had a couple guest players, all very strong musicians. Gilles from Paris sat in on keys, and Mark from Toronto sat in on second guitar. Gilles and the bassist, Ashley were on my right side, while the two guitarists were on my left. Gary on drums was behind me, so he got a good view of all the mayhem.
The interesting part come later, after a few drinks, and when the songs got a little harder. Mark (on the left) had charts to all the tunes, and was following them to a tee. So he and our main guitarist, Greg, were locked tight. On my right Ashley often started tunes in a different key, and a lot of the times took the change to the 4th like a blues, but a lot of our songs don't do that. Gilles was following the bass, but knew something was completely amiss, so being a fantastic musician, he created an independently foreign "Gilles space" deciding to play whatever he thought the song "should" be, regardless of what left or right side of the stage were doing.
Now this left me with a bit of a dilemma because I was standing in the middle. What the hell key was I supposed to play the tune? If I played in the original key, it wouldn't fit harmonically. If you're a musician, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Nothing sounds right. So I just sort of plundered ahead in the key that felt right at the time according to the pallate of sounds presented at any given moment. This often was quite amazing, as we all headed for the same musical ending from different places, and remarkably got there at the same time. That was some serious listening.
Image the left side is in F, but the right side is in G, this creates an interesting suspended sound in the tonality, and when Gilles heard this, he might alter it to be something like Eb/C, just to make it out there. So everything is related harmonically and this makes for interesting possibilities on the stage to play solos and do weird stuff.
I glanced up in the 2nd set to see an audience that was either totally into it or looking like we stepped on their cat.
But we definitely grooved the place.
August 24, 2005
Cranky Old Man
In my heart I want to support the local bands that play at my club. I like giving them a cool stage, I like lending my experience, and I like to help them put together a better set. So I don't mind doing their sound, putting up with dumb requests, or digging up the cables they always forget to bring.
But the past two gigs pushed me to my cranky old man limit. I realize that Chinese kids (in Chinese terms, this is someone who is 18-23, but acts 13-15) only react when you yell at them and act like an asshole.
Case 1:
"Guys, you DO NOT need an hour for sound check. 20 minutes is enough time to plug in a guitar and set levels."
No, this is not a rehearsal studio. If you want to rehearse, schedule a time in advance, or go to a studio. THOSE are audience members."
"Guys, now that you've taken 90 minutes f*@$ing around, you've taken up all the time of the other 2 bands. YOU tell them why they can't get a sound check."
"Now that your gig is over, please don't continue banging around on the drums. No one appreciates hearing you practice."
"I thought I told you to stop banging around now that your gig is over."
"Hello?? Are you deaf?! Didn't I just tell you to STOP?"
"Are you going to get off those f*@$ing drums or do I have to...??
Case 2:
"What the hell are you doing?? You can't just start pulling all the cables out of the mixer!"
"How many inputs did you say you need? 12?!"
"Please just stop randomly pulling the cables and moving the equipment. You are f*@$ing driving be CRAZY!"
"I said STOP!!"
"STOP!!!"
"Ok, first, let me explain. 1) This is not your home. 2) This is a stage. 3) There will be two other bands playing immediately after you and the reason things are set up like this is so that everything works like it should, and everyone can get set up FAST. I am NOT rewiring the entire stage just for your 20 min set."
"How does it sound? You sound like an entire wash of midrange. The snare is a wash. Your loops are a wash. You guitar is a wash. Everything sounds like a messy pool of noise. Is that what you want? Are you sure?"
"Do you remember I told you before you started to MOVE YOUR STUFF out of the way to the side so the other band can get set up while you pack all your gear? You remember that right? Ok, so why are you on your knees packing up stuff in the middle of the stage, While everyone else is WAITING!!?"
**Sigh**
August 11, 2005
Hits
Running into a lot of old music industry types lately for some reason, and I couldn't help thinking of this line from last year's DJ Format feat. MC Abdominal which pretty much sums up the woes of being an artist:
May 31, 2005
Swedish Mopeds
A Ring Tone of a Moped Outsells a Hit Song
By THOMAS CRAMPTON International Herald Tribune
Published: May 30, 2005
PARIS, May 29 - A mobile phone ring tone based on an imitation of the sound
of a Swedish moped is expected to become the leading music single in
Britain.
Through Friday, the ring tone "Crazy Frog Axel F," the first tune created
for mobile phones to cross into mainstream music charts, was outselling the
new single of the group Coldplay by about four to one, the Official UK
Charts Company said.
The original sound for the ring tone came from an imitation of the
high-pitched revving of a two-stroke motorcycle recorded by 17-year-old
Daniel Malmedahl in Sweden nearly a decade ago, said Sue Harris, a publicist
for the song.
The single was expected to sell 150,000 copies in the seven days ended
Sunday. In many weeks, 50,000 copies can win the top place on the charts.
The singles chart, begun in 1952, is based on sales at 5,600 retail shops
across Britain.
Sales over the Internet via digital download have been included since April
17, but almost all sales of the "Crazy Frog Axel F" came from retail stores
selling the CD single, said Paul Clifford, operations director of Official
UK Charts, a joint venture of the British Association of Record Dealers and
the British Phonographic Industry.
The story of the song is a tale of Internet collaboration over time and
across international borders among people who have never met.
About five years after Mr. Malmedahl sent an e-mail message containing his
moped MP3 recording to friends, it reached another Swede, Erik Wernquist.
Mr. Wernquist used the noise as a sound track to a cartoon that featured a
blue frog with a goofy grin, motorcycle helmet and leather jacket. Nearly
two years later, the sound was picked up by a company specializing in ring
tones, Jambal, and became their most popular download, known as the "crazy
frog" ring tone.
This year, two German club disc jockeys, Reinhard Raith and Wolfgang Boss,
mixed the noise with "Axel F," the instrumental theme from the 1984 Eddie
Murphy film "Beverly Hills Cop." They released it last week as a CD single.
May 30, 2005
Summer Jazz
This is quite cool.
I'm playing with David Sanborn, Kenny G, and Spyro Gyra in Thailand.
Well, sort of.
May 27, 2005
Consumer electronics
I've been trying for at least 6 months to eek out enough time to transfer, mix, edit, and master the stuff I've recorded for some bands at the Living Room. And I'm not even that anal about it. Levels sound about right? No annoying eq glares? Doesn't hurt my ears? Finished. Done. Next. So finally I've made some headway, and today was the big get-it-all-transferred-to-CDs-so-I-can-pick-out- the-best-tracks day to whittle down each performance to one CD. This takes a lot of listening time, so I usually end up doing it on trains, in parking lots, waiting for my wife to buy groceries, whenever, and have to pack a bunch of CDs with me to get through it all.
Simple solution. Just buy a huge stack of CDs, and burn them. Yeah right.
It turns out that my boombox won't play the same CDs that my club CD player will. And my car won't play whatever the boombox plays, and the home CD players don't read the ones that can play in my car. This was infuriating enough, until I tried to isolate what type of CDR to buy to actually work on all players. Ha. I've tried over 20 brands with different surfaces by different manfacturers, and the results are as varied as my moods. I had to even map out a matrix to work through the permutations:
Now I know why they call it consumer electronics. It doesn't work, consumes all your time and patience, and eventually you go out and buy new electronics.
TDK yes no no
Mitsubishi yes no yes
Ricoh yes yes no
Sony yes yes no
Cursor no yes yes
Foxen pro no yes no
R. Data yes no yes
Imation no yes no
Melody yes no no
Phillips no yes yes
So since this was obviously getting no where, I was convinced it was my software. Different software, same result. Aargh. So it must be a hardware thing....so 30 seconds before I was about to run out and buy all new gear, I remembered that there were about 12 different speeds to try.
Experimentation, coffee, lots of swear words later....
It turns out that CDs burned at speeds which includes a "6" in it (36x, 16x) do not work on Panasonic boomboxes for some bizarre reason, but sometimes will work on Sony boomboxes. And it also turns out that the club's CD player will only accept CDs burned at 12x, but only some of the time, for some types of CDs, so basically it's all completely random.
So, screw it, I decide to re-burn everything at the lowest possible speed to bypass all this compatibility BS, which on my machine is 4x, and screw trying to make it cross-platform. As long as it works on one damned CD player consistently. So, a bajillion hours later, the CDs are all finally burned, and I'm duping them on a dedicated duping machine so other people can also listen to the same stack and give their feedback. Then the duping machine starts rejecting CDs. C'mon this is impossible. I can draw zeros and ones faster than I've burned them. So I go back and spot check, and the entire stack is corrupt. [long complicated expletives deleted]. They're all screwed up. Total digital crackle. Won't play on any machine, even on the computer drive that burned them [.........].
It turns out that I can't burn CDs at such SLOW SPEEDS. So I've just wasted another day, and have to start all over again tomorrow.
Sigh.
April 29, 2005
This guy is psyched
Larry Appelbaum, a studio engineer at the Library of Congress, with a recently discovered Voice of America tape of a 1957 concert featuring Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane.
From the New York Times.
April 12, 2005
Vitasoul at the Living Room
Hey, don't miss our upcoming gig at the Living Room. We've been off for about 4 months. This will be a good show.
Keisha said she want to join in for a few tunes. So we added these to our repertoire... This, this, and this.
Don't miss the show!
March 30, 2005
Tube Quest: Part 1
As if I don't have enough to do already, I'm throwing myself into another wangdoodle project. Now I'm building my own tube amp for the club. For those music geeks in the know, it's a 1959 Fender Bandmaster clone, 35W, 3 x 10" speakers, with original circuitry. It will hopefully look something like this when it's done:
So I'm learning all about how to read circuit diagrams, how to solder, how not to electrocute myself, how to test capacitor loads, and way too much about transformers and the differences between AlNiCo and ceramic speaker magnets on guitar acoustics. Fascinating stuff.
Rather than go the easy road and buy a kit with all the parts in a bag from some custom amp shop in the US, I thought it would be more meaningful to go down to the little one man parts stores littered around Taipei, drink tea and pick the tubes, capacitors, and resistors out of rows of boxes on a shelf, next to the standard issue photo of CKS. Maybe even have some guy actually roll the output transformer to my specs, and let me have a couple cranks on it as well.
All this geek stuff leaves me wondering...
I'm wondering if using local parts/transformers will really effect the sound "so drastically" like a lot of these tube geeks say.
I'm also wondering if I really have to use Sprague/Vishay Atoms for the filter caps and orange drops for the other circuitry?
And I'm really wondering if I really have to use the standard issue EI core transformer rather than maybe a toroidal transformer?
But these are things I'll never know until it's finished.
