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Music

The Classical Rules... - My classical music chops aren't as cultured as they should be. I think I have two albums listed as "Classical".... March 7, 2010 11:50 AM

Mystery Songs - This past month I actually started doing something about my overflowing Gigs of random music, and cleaning up iTunes into.... March 4, 2010 11:52 PM

Ron Kirk's perfect embouchure - I'm convinced Ron Kirk must've been a sax player. I dropped my Wall Street Journal the first time I saw.... July 14, 2009 8:38 PM

This is just wrong - I was picking up some magazines for my flight and saw this... Keith Richards with a LV guitar case? LV.... June 26, 2009 5:32 PM

Lunchroom Band - Back in high school, our band pretty much got to do whatever we wanted. Somehow we managed to get.... May 2, 2009 5:33 PM

D.O.A at D-22, Beijing 1/14/09 - After a week of meetings and dinners, I took Avery out to D-22 to see a more interesting side of.... January 31, 2009 10:23 AM

Girls Are Waiting To Meet You at D-22, Beijing 12/08/08 - This interesting band played D-22 on one of my past trips to Beijing. I like the 80's let's-all-wear-red-something theme, except.... January 31, 2009 10:14 AM

The first cut - You know you're old when someone gives you 56GB of mp3s, and you spend a week going through each folder.... December 30, 2008 11:02 PM

Din and Tonics - The Harvard vocal troupe, the Din and Tonics, came through Shanghai as part of a 25 city tour. I called.... July 23, 2008 10:19 AM

我很不爽 - I was listening to a neat podcast by Zhongnanhai called "New Sounds of China." What was interesting was that a.... July 9, 2008 3:51 PM

Piracy is Brilliant - Joss Stone sure knows how to piss off her record company, EMI, and I so totally agree with her. Besides.... July 2, 2008 12:22 AM

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.... June 17, 2008 11:39 PM

Mini Midi in Shanghai - The Midi festival was cancelled this year, another annoyance you can blame on protestors lunging for the torch. Wonder if.... May 3, 2008 11:22 AM

Brubeck Braid - Scott told us about this nice Sunday afternoon jazz concert with Matt Brubeck and David Braid. I thought it'd be.... May 1, 2008 3:51 PM

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.... April 20, 2008 11:47 PM

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.... March 23, 2008 1:15 PM

Shay shay, baby! - I introduced Tim, who does the ushering logistics for Emma, to some colleagues who could work the VIP section for.... March 13, 2008 12:44 PM

The One Hundred Project - Marc Kets, a friend who now lives in Cape Town, wrote and told me about his latest project which sounded.... February 18, 2008 10:51 PM

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.... January 7, 2008 9:11 PM

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.... December 20, 2007 7:38 PM

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.... October 6, 2007 11:34 AM

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.... August 25, 2007 11:28 AM

This is worth a look - These guys want to do something at my club....... July 26, 2007 11:47 PM

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.... June 19, 2007 5:01 PM

Piano this - Here's something you don't really think about very often. Just how many piano manufacturers are out there? 1. Allen Organ.... March 21, 2007 11:25 AM

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.... February 6, 2007 9:49 AM

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.... December 22, 2006 10:12 AM

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.... September 27, 2006 1:45 PM

Day Tripping - I had some well deserved down time this afternoon, so spent some time with a guitar, Youtube, and Day Tripper..... September 9, 2006 11:07 PM

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.... August 21, 2006 1:34 AM

Little Gene Krupa - My buddy Chris's son, Colin, is definitely ready for his first drum set. Check out the movie..... August 16, 2006 10:55 AM

I can hear it - I can still hear it. Can you? In that old battle of the wills between young people and their keepers,.... June 13, 2006 8:29 AM

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.... May 30, 2006 9:37 AM

Just call it Nakashi - I was reading a podcast blog, the far eastern audio review, the other day and took a listen to this.... April 12, 2006 11:36 AM

Radio Taiwan International interview - A nice woman named Natalie Tso came to the Living Room a few weeks ago to interview me for Radio.... April 8, 2006 12:11 AM

Crybaby craft - I was in a small studio the other day recording some tracks for a friend's New Age album. He plays.... March 31, 2006 4:20 PM

Band dude - The other evening, I encountered a situation that only allowed me to ask "WTF??" A band member from a to-be-unnamed.... January 19, 2006 4:48 AM

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.... January 11, 2006 2:06 PM

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.... November 25, 2005 4:31 PM

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,.... November 17, 2005 2:54 AM

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.... October 3, 2005 5:06 PM

The Retrosexuals! - Here's a picture from a recent show..... August 29, 2005 10:40 PM

Interesting train ride - Last night what normally would have been a relaxing gig, turned into an interesting train ride. I can sort of.... August 27, 2005 3:33 PM

Cranky Old Man - In my heart I want to support the local bands that play at my club. I like giving them a.... August 24, 2005 1:19 AM

Hits - Running into a lot of old music industry types lately for some reason, and I couldn't help thinking of this.... August 11, 2005 2:49 PM

Swedish Mopeds - A Ring Tone of a Moped Outsells a Hit Song By THOMAS CRAMPTON International Herald Tribune Published: May 30, 2005.... May 31, 2005 12:59 PM

Summer Jazz - This is quite cool. I'm playing with David Sanborn, Kenny G, and Spyro Gyra in Thailand. Well, sort of..... May 30, 2005 9:27 AM

Consumer electronics - I've been trying for at least 6 months to eek out enough time to transfer, mix, edit, and master the.... May 27, 2005 1:56 AM

This guy is psyched - Larry Appelbaum, a studio engineer at the Library of Congress, with a recently discovered Voice of America tape of.... April 29, 2005 10:34 AM

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.... April 12, 2005 7:51 PM

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.... March 30, 2005 12:16 PM

Geeksta Rap - Rajeev Bajaj has produced an album called "Geek Rhythms" which is a rap album praising the coolness of engineers..... February 13, 2005 9:25 AM

An impromptu jam with Sadao - Today was a pretty cool day. I got a call from Sadao Watanabe's promoters a couple weeks ago to help.... December 20, 2004 11:45 PM

Famous Grouse or Johnny Reb? - SL called me up a week ago to play some funky sax on a track he was trying to finish.... December 6, 2004 1:31 AM

Thai release - This is kind of cool. I just had my last Sony CD released in Thailand. As they say in Thailand,.... November 28, 2004 7:27 PM

Damn, if you don't learn something new every day - For some reason this sound geek stuff completely appeals to me... Lately I've been experimenting with a "near coincident.... September 27, 2004 1:56 PM

Where is the happenstance? - I'm reading this book on the history of Soul music, and I forgot how much I really like music. As.... September 19, 2004 3:43 PM

Betty the groove - We did another Vita-Soul gig last Saturday, which is always a treat, and regardless of how little we practice, we've.... August 13, 2004 5:05 AM

Rick James Memorial Haiku - There is some pretty funny stuff posted on rec.audio pro... My faves: Smoking crack daily Pass me the pipe.... August 8, 2004 7:53 PM

The karma is working - ... Tom Waits. Rick Wakeman. T-Bone Walker. Joe Louis Walker. Junior Walker & The All-Stars. Corbett Wall. Bennie Wallace. The.... June 20, 2004 8:56 PM

Wo Mayo Tai Tai Blues - Some Taipei American School teachers stopped by the Living Room last week to hear Stevie and Black Sheep perform. It.... May 21, 2004 2:14 PM

Vote for our band name! - We can decide on the music, but we can't decide on the name. Vote now!! Help us choose a.... May 20, 2004 3:26 AM

A suit in Taiwan? - Tonight we're playing outside the club for the first time. The guys are pretty psyched. Turtle's doing some fancy function.... February 27, 2004 9:55 AM

Say Come on Fhqwhgads - Just when I think I'm starting to understand things, I'm pushed to the limit by fhqwhgads... Whoa..... February 23, 2004 1:19 AM

Mr. DJ - I was just reading through a Pots magazine tonight, and marvelled at how much seemingly interesting music nightlife was going.... February 14, 2004 3:55 AM

The Unnamables Live - We're still unnamed, but we're starting to sound like a band. Here's a recent bootleg from a Living Room Friday.... January 31, 2004 2:41 AM

My music personality - 4 hrs of sleep, need a coffee, and I'm sitting here taking this dumb test. What's wrong with me? Apparently,.... January 30, 2004 5:11 PM

Oh oh, I got a visit from the RIAA... - Saw in my logs that I had a visit from the RIAA yesterday. Wonder if they'll bring down a lawsuit.... January 22, 2004 12:57 PM

Digital pain - We need to appreciate that we no longer have to use Win 98. Here's a shortlist of an entire evening.... January 19, 2004 2:58 PM

Blackbird - After 30 years of playing the saxophone, I finally decided to dive into another instrument - the guitar. I've been.... December 23, 2003 9:34 AM

Funky Sax caught live - Hamish has a tiny little tiny voice memo recorder and caught me jamming at a recent Living Room jam session..... December 19, 2003 7:47 PM

African crotch grabbing - Steve invited me to go see some African drummers from the Congo at the National Theater. These guys were a.... December 17, 2003 10:41 AM

I'm a Mod? - I took the Indie quiz. I'm a mod. Hmmm. "You're a Mod. You dig expensive things, like suits and speed..... December 11, 2003 7:54 PM

Funky - So I've gotten back into it. Didn't stay away too long. I've just started a new group, and we're working.... November 28, 2003 9:04 PM

Bare Naked Ladies live in Japan - I got backstage passes to see The Bare Naked Ladies live in Japan, and was surprised to find their lineup.... November 25, 2003 11:09 PM

Unused Hip Hop names - 1. Puff Dragon 2. M.C. Escher 3. Capitalist P.I.G. 4. Black Ice* 5. Run EXE 6. Lil' Red Caboose 7..... November 7, 2003 2:05 AM

Watch her go! - Can you believe this? Watch this little three year old N. Korean xylophone player go!.... November 3, 2003 2:11 AM

You choose: Lingerie or CDs? - The music industry in Taiwan is pretty much on it's last leg. The market has been declining about 30% a.... September 18, 2003 11:14 AM

Funky shark - This is one funky shark video by DJ Format. (Requires Quicktime plug-in).... September 14, 2003 3:02 AM

Mini Elvis - I knew Elvis was still around. But I didn't know he was shrinking..... August 20, 2003 12:00 AM

Band name of the month - The perfect name for an 80's rock band? You decide....... July 1, 2003 8:35 PM

This is why I don't watch VH1 - Vh1.com has released it's 100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years... Here's what they think was the Top 10:.... June 15, 2003 1:56 AM

Yes the funk is alive in Taipei - DJDJ just sent me this little reminder that funky cool shit still happens in Taipei. You wouldn't believe it listening.... June 14, 2003 2:39 AM

The pop idol color this season is green... - Rudy has reserved a special mirrored fitting room for us, and all my new clothes are nicely laid out on.... June 9, 2003 11:29 PM

DJ Colin Powell - See Colin spinning some old school on a Technics 1200SL..... June 9, 2003 1:14 AM

And who gets paid? - The lawyers of course...and the guy who wrote the article...and maybe the sys admin guy who ratted on the geeks...and.... June 7, 2003 1:09 AM

Check out the chicas - This will brighten your day and make you feel tall and tan and young and lovely. Oh baby take me.... May 14, 2003 11:37 AM

Poor Simply Red - Some breaking news for all you Simply Red fans out there..... Mick Hucknall was arrested for having sex with an.... May 5, 2003 9:03 AM

How to write hit songs? - I wrote a cheeky article about this a while back, and now I see that there's even a site: www.writehitsongs.com.... May 1, 2003 3:11 PM

Let's see what happens with this iTunes thing - "Apple's competitors dismiss the iTunes Music Store as a niche product. How, they ask, can Apple have any impact on.... April 29, 2003 9:17 AM

Billboard Top 20 brands - And you thought brand names were important for Mr. WASPy in his Rangerover from Darien, CT? Yo, you be freakin'.... April 24, 2003 9:15 PM

Tiff is learning guitar - We got her the black Ibanez S620x with the double edge bridge and Piezo pickups as well as a Marshall.... April 20, 2003 9:25 PM

Strange inconsistencies in Taiwan jazz - ...We are all impressed with the grandness of the production, almost as much as his elaborate hand movements. It's a.... April 13, 2003 4:47 PM

A great article - "Media is a word like "content" which makes art sound like a business..." Sounds like music to my ears. more.... April 10, 2003 8:45 PM

Shooby Doobie Who? - I have a weird private indulgence. I like to scat. Mainly because it's easier than taking my sax out of.... February 7, 2003 1:59 PM

Tom Jones Syndrome - "Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'" "That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome." "Is it common?".... January 24, 2003 11:44 AM

Where the blues is buried - Playing the blues makes me sad. Finding out that Robert Johnson is buried in a bunch of different places makes.... November 20, 2002 9:37 PM