LOG - 19

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28 January 2004 - Got a call from someone who used to live in DC and now is in grad school in Chicago. She wanted to pick my brains about Asian American radio. I'm not sure what she was planning to do with all the stuff that gushed outta me. (Hey, I'm always ready to talk about Asian American radio at the drop of a hat!)
  I supposed she was gathering background for an eventual paper or thesis. (Hmmm. Reminds me that, back in November, a student at the Univ. of Md. asked me some questions about the Asian American music scene around DC and in general. Wonder how she did on her paper...)

7 February - Toshi Makihara, Audrey Chen, Naoko Maeshiba, and Andrew Suseno at the Red Room in Baltimore

8 February - early this morning, turned on the radio and couldn't find anything worth listening to on FM, so switched to shortwave and came upon Radio Korea Int'l's K-pop show (9650 khz) hosted by Sue __?__... Saw Vienna (Teng) in Vienna (Virginia) at Jammin' Java ... Afterwards, popped over to the Jaxx rock club in Springfield, Virginia. The Speaks, a local Pinoy band (from Ft. Washington, Md) were shooting their first music video. Unfortunately, by th time I arrived, it was all over... Rafe (Raphael), the vocalist, recognized me and filled me in on what was going on. Their film/video should be ready in a couple weeks.

22 February - About an hour ago, I attended a recital by clarinetist, E. Michael Richards. He's on the faculty of University of Maryland, Baltimore county (UMBC), as is his wife and accompanist, the pianist Kazuko Tanosaki. (In fact, I'm writing this at a computer in the school library.)
I'd expected all contemporary compositions, so it was a pleasant surprise to find out that the first piece was from the 19th century, variations by Donato Lovreglio based on Verdi's opera, La Traviata. It was also surprising to notice that at the end of the piece, Richards seemed to run out of breath a couple times. (These occurred during some fast and furious embellishments of melodies.) His gaps weren't terribly noticeable, as Tanosaki had a very active accompaniment (she was playing a duet with him at times, with her right hand, if I recall). But I suspect he may have been a bit nonplussed by this seeming technical problem, as he quickly exited after taking his bow. (Or maybe there's no way to avoid catching one's breath and missing a few notes during extended passages.)
As usual his playing of contemporary works (by Fabio Ciardi, David Jones, Linda Dusman, Eve de Castro-Robinson, and Helmut Lachenmann) was superb...

26 February - Deposited the $13.86 check I received last week, my share of the Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation settlement.

28 February - Miyumi Project, Meyer aud., Freer Gallery, Wash., D.C. - Tatsu Aoki (bass), Jonathen Chen (violin, electronics), Hide Yoshihashi (taiko, perc.), and Mwata Bowden (reeds, dijeridoo)

29 Feb - interviewed Tatsu at his hotel, just before he and his group left for the airport

7 March - brought my old turntable (Dual CS 606) over to a friend's house, to see if he could help fix it. It has a bad hum coming outta one channel.
But we couldn't figure out how to open the unit up. It appears to be sealed tight... unless there's some way of getting at the innards thru the top by unscrewing various screws... but it was not clear, that once you did that, you could put it back together... Maybe the easiest solution is to buy a new ttbl.

20 March - Toshi Makihara (percussion), Audrey Chen (voice & cello), Katt Hernandez (violin), and Evan Lipson (bass)... Red Room, Baltimore

21 March - Odessa Chen (guitar & voice) & Rich Douthit (percussion)... WMUC 88.1 FM, South Dining Hall, UMCP, College Park, Md

22 March - Carol Bui (rock), La Gorda (alt punk), and Exit Clov (pop/rock)... Velvet Lounge, DC

24 March - Jenny Choi, Forget the Girl, and Francis Kim band... All Asia Cafe, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

25 March - first day of Asian American studies conference in Boston... learned about bad samba danced by Jpnz Brazilians in Jpn.

26 March - Stephanie Dunson from U Mass (Amherst) talked about Orientalism in early 20th century, American popular songs from Tin Pan Alley... Fred Ho stated his opinions about current hip hop, art as labor, the major drawback of the non-profit organization, and more... Met Jocelyn Clark, who plays kayagum in an Asian zither trio called, III Z +... At an Asian performing arts showcase in Dorchester (Boston neighborhood that contains a Vnmz. community): Kesana Ieng (Cambodian hammered dulcimer), Melissa Li (singer/songwriter), and VariAsians (a capella)

27 March - had lunch with Susan Asai (ethnomusicology prof. at Northeastern). She's researching a book project on JA music making... heard Kevin Miller (UCLA grad student) talk about Bollywood music incorporated into mainstream hip hop and other popular music.. He also mentioned the efforts of Rukus Ave. records... Saw Vivek Bald's documentary film, "Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music". It was pretty fascinating, since he traced the rise and fall of the Asian flava in popular UK music (and tied it current events). One major problem was that a number of the interviewees were often untelligible. Couldn't understand what they were saying. (Not sure if it was due to inadequate miking, slurred speech, or both.)

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