Accommodations
It's still dark, but I can see sunlight start to hit the smokestack of a neighboring factory. Joe the rooster* is crowing from the bird park next door.
Finally, the band gets to play again this morning at 9.30. It's been a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday full of sight-seeing, shopping, eating, and trying to work out a performance that will make the festival promoters happier.
From my perspective the audiences look as if they're having a good time. They do wander away from time to time, but there are many distractions in the park. They've been interested but then I suspect they'd be just as interested in singing pomeranians jumping through hoops.**
So more effort is being made to introduce the band and explain this strange indigenous music of Los Angeles.*** And why not? After all, the conductor of the LA Philharmonic will often provide some context for each piece the symphony performs.
The band agreed on a set list that had the more pleasing mid-tempo numbers. They've worked in a little audience participation on "I'm a Bug"--the crowd can go "buzz, buzz." And clap along with "Surfin' with the Shah."
John wrote introductions to each of the songs and went over them with Haonan. They're straightforward and not snarky, ironic, surreal, or jokey. This is hard for John, but his kind of dry humor doesn't translate. So, for example, John explains that "Surfin' with the Shah" is a little instrumental that marries southern California surf music with Middle Eastern tones. (Haonon: "what's 'surfing'?")
Making these accommodations has been a huge source of tension all along, from Emily's request that John dye his hair to her suggestion that they include Rolling Stones and Elvis covers. This clashes especially with Art for Art's Sake and the punk "no sellout" ethic.
But here we are.
It looks as if it's another pretty morning. We had a norther blow through Wednesday night and yesterday--I don't know if it came from the north, but it was like a sudden Texas storm. It poured rain and the wind came up and shook up the willow trees. It blew all the crap out of the air. The blackbirds are singing in the bird park, I have a second cup of jasmine tea, and the Urinals are going to show Beijing a good time.
What's wrong with a little fun?
---
*"Joe" because he wakes you up like a good strong cup of joe. The bird park is a pleasant spot with pheasants and eagles in cages. I've found the absence of urban birds unsettling. There are some magpies and Chinese jays. I saw a peregrine falcon float off a highrise. I've seen a few domestic pigeon coops and some ducks. I understand that sparrows were eradicated in the 1950s because they ate scarce grains--it was that bad that people had to compete with sparrows for grass seeds, I guess, or it was part of the Chairman's lunacy. It turns out that sparrows eat insects too....
Come to think of it, I haven't seen that many bugs.
**I had an epiphany on a walk the other day when I realized that the dog an old woman was carrying was a Pekinese. "Look, John, A Peking-ese." He gave me a look like, duh, everybody knows this but you.
***By the way, when shop clerks or other people ask where we're from, Los Angeles is meaningless to them. California too. Maybe its our pronunciation. So we're just Americans out here. It's not like Europe where people hold this against you, so it's ok.
[I just realized that the Blogger time stamp has been PST all along.]
Finally, the band gets to play again this morning at 9.30. It's been a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday full of sight-seeing, shopping, eating, and trying to work out a performance that will make the festival promoters happier.
From my perspective the audiences look as if they're having a good time. They do wander away from time to time, but there are many distractions in the park. They've been interested but then I suspect they'd be just as interested in singing pomeranians jumping through hoops.**
So more effort is being made to introduce the band and explain this strange indigenous music of Los Angeles.*** And why not? After all, the conductor of the LA Philharmonic will often provide some context for each piece the symphony performs.
The band agreed on a set list that had the more pleasing mid-tempo numbers. They've worked in a little audience participation on "I'm a Bug"--the crowd can go "buzz, buzz." And clap along with "Surfin' with the Shah."
John wrote introductions to each of the songs and went over them with Haonan. They're straightforward and not snarky, ironic, surreal, or jokey. This is hard for John, but his kind of dry humor doesn't translate. So, for example, John explains that "Surfin' with the Shah" is a little instrumental that marries southern California surf music with Middle Eastern tones. (Haonon: "what's 'surfing'?")
Making these accommodations has been a huge source of tension all along, from Emily's request that John dye his hair to her suggestion that they include Rolling Stones and Elvis covers. This clashes especially with Art for Art's Sake and the punk "no sellout" ethic.
But here we are.
It looks as if it's another pretty morning. We had a norther blow through Wednesday night and yesterday--I don't know if it came from the north, but it was like a sudden Texas storm. It poured rain and the wind came up and shook up the willow trees. It blew all the crap out of the air. The blackbirds are singing in the bird park, I have a second cup of jasmine tea, and the Urinals are going to show Beijing a good time.
What's wrong with a little fun?
---
*"Joe" because he wakes you up like a good strong cup of joe. The bird park is a pleasant spot with pheasants and eagles in cages. I've found the absence of urban birds unsettling. There are some magpies and Chinese jays. I saw a peregrine falcon float off a highrise. I've seen a few domestic pigeon coops and some ducks. I understand that sparrows were eradicated in the 1950s because they ate scarce grains--it was that bad that people had to compete with sparrows for grass seeds, I guess, or it was part of the Chairman's lunacy. It turns out that sparrows eat insects too....
Come to think of it, I haven't seen that many bugs.
**I had an epiphany on a walk the other day when I realized that the dog an old woman was carrying was a Pekinese. "Look, John, A Peking-ese." He gave me a look like, duh, everybody knows this but you.
***By the way, when shop clerks or other people ask where we're from, Los Angeles is meaningless to them. California too. Maybe its our pronunciation. So we're just Americans out here. It's not like Europe where people hold this against you, so it's ok.
[I just realized that the Blogger time stamp has been PST all along.]
posted by Kat at 5:38 AM
1 Comments:
Chaoyang Pop Music Festival of Beijing on Show Excitedly
(Sohu May 8, 2004)
Chaoyang Pop Music Festival of Beijing was held in Chaoyang Park on May 1, with 53 performances and more than 230 scenes of popular music and sing & dancing show for a successive 12-hour for seven days. At the first day, the performance of Band "Da Da" aroused applause from the audience.
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