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4 September 2010 - Thee Michelle Gun Elephant (TMGE) tribute, Windup Space, Baltimore...
TMGE was a bluesy rock band in Japan (1991-2003). They were signed to a major label, Nippon Columbia, around 1996.
The evening consisted of a TMGE video/movie screening followed by performances by 2 hakujin bands, The Electricutions (punk) and Geisha Lightning (TMGE covers). There was also an exhibit of TMGE cd's, posters, illustrations, and a timeline.
Geisha Lightning played over 20 TMGE songs. (You can see the set list.) There were 2 lead singers who would alternate. The one not onstage would be manning a laptop and scrolling through the romanji lyrics for the one onstage. (You can see the singer looking down at a screen propped up on a monitor.)
11 Sept - Kollaboration DC kickoff party, K St. Lounge, DC - bunch of mostly Asians mingling, drinking, and a bit o' dancing... possible performances and announcements were cancelled, due to ? (club management wouldn't allow it, I was told, by one event organizer)... due to my unfamiliarity with the street signs, I got a $50 parking ticket. (Ouch!)
(more pics to follow)
22 September - Infantry and Columbus museums, Columbus, GA
at the Infantry museum, I came across this example of music during WWI
at the Columbus museum, I found these radio artifacts:
25 Sept. - Kollaboration DC, Lisner aud., Washington, DC
from left to right: intermission, final bow, and outside (after the show)
30 Sept. - Yuko Fujiyama & Lisa Sokolov in Baltimore... Visiting from NY in a torrential rainstorm, they performed (in an improvised manner) a variety of solos and duos, works by themselves or Wm. Parker.
14 Oct - Vijay Iyer interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air, NPR syndicated talk show on culture and entertainment
22 Oct - the other day, "Like a G6", hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It's the current single from the recent release, Free Wired, by hip hoppers, Far*East Movement. I saw them do a little of their stuff last Xmas.
Researching them, I find that they've changed management this year, from Carl Choi (Plan C) to Ted Chung (Stampede/Doggystyle/Cashmere). Here's a pic of the latter, from a while back.
26 Oct - There's this news, all of a sudden, about Walkmans (the original audio cassette-playing kind) becoming extinct, as Sony has purportedly planned to stop making them. The actual situation is not so dramatic. (More on that later.) Nonetheless, the news reminds me of the machine that I still have, so here it is:.
As you can read, it's a Malaysian-made model WM-F2015, (circa '91).
(Come to think of it, I also have some broken "prosumer" recording models (e.g., WM-D6) lying around which might be worth photographing and posting.)
If you want to see cassette Walkman's (Walkmen?) as sonic "instruments" in live performance, go to this page and scroll down to the December 6 entry showing Aki Onda (and Alan Licht on guitar & electronics).
7 Nov - La Roux, Far East Movement, and Francis and the Lights, Rams Head Live!, Baltimore... Of the 3 acts, Far East Movement (FM) was easily the most explosive. The opening act, Francis and the Lights, was better matched, in musical style and performance-wise, to La Roux. Definitely a La Roux crowd, but FM had fans, there, amongst the almost 500 folks.
From where I was standing (balcony, hard stage left), it was often hard to hear the music, due to poor orientation to the sound system. It was a little less of a problem with FM, only because they're such a boisterous bunch and so entertaining to watch.
Visible in the first photo is Kanobby on keyboard and vocals. A guest female vocalist, Tamar Kaprelian (I'm guessing), isn't visible in any of the pictures.
I remarked to a neighboring attendee, during the FM gear set-up, that having mikes with cables might prove a problem. The way they scampered around the stage was better suited to wireless mikes. Sure enough, in the middle of their set, J-Splif lost his mike and it fell to the floor. One of his partners must've accidentally stepped on his cable and prevented his mike from keeping up with his romping.
Overheard a remark behind me that La Roux had an 80s style of music. That reminded me of those hallmark 80s songs by Brit synthpop and new wave groups like Flock of Seagulls and Human League. Once I made the comparison in my head, I decided it was no contest. From what I could hear (of the general shape of La Roux's songs), I'd rather listen to the old hits.
The opening act, Francis & the Lights were just 2 guys. The music had some promising moments, but unfortunately the singer couldn't capitalize on them because he moved about the stage like he was dancing in his bedroom (for the most part).
19 Nov - Jason Kao Hwang's EDGE + guest musicians, Meyer auditorium, Freer Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, DC... They performed JKH's work called "Burning Bridge". (4th time it's been played). (pics to come)
20 Nov - Sulu DC anniversary show, Artisphere, Rosslyn (Arlington), VA... includes Nen Daiko, PaperDoll, Phil Good band, Fay Chiang (NY), Gayle Isa (Philly), Reggie Cabico, etc.
Red Baraat, Artisphere
4 Dec - Vienna Teng, Sun studio sessions, PBS -tv... I think this was recorded a year or so, ago. She was playing this spinet-type piano, which usually sounds pretty awful. Not sure how it was modified or miked to produce a satisfactory sound.
(pics to come)
7 Dec - music of Ken Ueno, Metro gallery, Baltimore... Couldn't make it until the latter half of the program. Briefly interviewed Ueno afterwards. He's on his way back to Berlin to resume his residency at the American Academy... Forgot to take a picture of him (!!) OH well, here's the one from the program...
(more pics to come)
Thirteenth Assembly Trio, Windup Space, Baltimore - just a couple blocks up the street from the Metro gallery... Mentioned to Taylor Ho Bynum that I'd been at the Ken Ueno gig, and he remembered he'd been on a review panel, once upon a time, that had judged Ueno's application. (He got the award or funding.)
(pics to come)
19 Dec - Giana Nguyen, Quincy Surasmith, Sue Jin (+ Skim), Tony T. Nguyen (+ Kristine Sa), Connie Lim, Andrew Figueroa Chiang, and Jane Lui at Cha and Cafe, El Monte, Calif.
This was the 2nd event (this year?) masterminded by Tony T. Nguyen to present a bunch of singer/songwriters and have them talk about their songs before playing them. Most of them had pretty good voices. Tony had the roughest voice, but he compensated for that with a live string ensemble (a handful of violins, one or two violas, and a bass) to accompany him. (Almost seemed there were more string players than audience. LOL!)
(more pics to come)
2x Dec - I was channel surfing on cable and came across a documentary on NHK World about the redesign of the audio cassette Walkman (WM-2). Here're some promotional pictures taken from the show:
(Left) promoting new (circa 1981) model; (Right) various Walkman designs featuring Akio Morita (the late Sony co-chairman) and another guy (who?)
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