Class started with discussion about the Chinese New Year (which was this past weekend), which is apparently celebrated throughout Asia except Japan. I asked if anyone has been to a concert in Seattle yet and only one, Jin, has. He saw local heroes the Presidents Of The United States Of America (PUSA) over the weekend at the Showbox. The Presidents played three nights in a row and the Showbox is my favorite place to see music (only the Paradiso in Amsterdam comes close): I'm sure it was a great show and an excellent Seattle-cultural experience. One of the local Seattle newspapers gave the concert a rave review:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/304190_presidents19q.html
And this blogger liked it, too:
http://librarian-chroniclesof.blogspot.com/2007/02/presidents.html
Speaking of good music coming to Seattle, there are many excellent shows coming up. Lots of British bands. Here's a whole list of concerts in Seattle. I am for sure going to see Kaiser Chiefs at the Showbox on April 25 (I read a rave review of their new album). One of my favorite live bands, You Am I from Australia, are playing the Crocodile Cafe on March 28. Their live show is like watching The Who back in the 70's.
For those willing to invest a whole weekend, in early May there is the Sasquatch Festival (what the word "Sasquatch" means, info about the festival) at the Gorge, 2.5 hours away from Seattle. This year's lineup of bands is great and the venue, set above the Columbia River is in an amazing setting. I have never gone over for the festival as I don't like dealing with such big crowds, but the quality of bands is so high that I think I will go this year.
Speaking of Jin, it turns out he played in a band back home in South Korea. So we started by listening to his band: "locking on Heaven's Door". Heavy music! Jin plays bass on it. I asked what the lyrics are about. He said it is about society not being open to all people, that the chorus says "open it up to all!".
For the next song one of the students wanted to continue in a rock music vein. But he likes rock music that is a little more even in its beat: not too fast but not too slow. He picked "Behind Blue Eyes" (video, lyrics) by Limp Bizkit (bio, website).Nara didn't like the song because she said it's too sad. She doesn't like sad music because it affects her mood too strongly.
The class did not know that this song was originally written/performed by The Who. So I played some of the Who's version. Nara felt this version has much more energy and isn't as sad. It's true that the Limp Bizkit version doesn't have the energetic middle section. And of course Fred Durst can't sing like Roger Daltrey!
The next student wanted to hear "Cry On My Shoulder". I don't know a song by that name so I wasn't sure which song he meant. We searched on that name on YouTube and found this animation, which he says has the song he was thinking of as the background music. I still don't know who does the song. And I was a bit confused by the animation, as it seems to tell one story with the subtitles which don't match to the song. But the class enjoyed watching the animation.
Next up Izumi chose "Carnival" (video, lyrics) by the Cardigans (bio, website). I asked her why she chose this song and she said the style of the song reminds her of traditional Japanese songs.
As the class was coming to an end one of the students asked to hear a Sarah McLachlan (bio, website) song. I am not very familiar with her songs and had a devil of a time spelling her name so wasn't able to find many choices on YouTube. We ended up watching a video for "In The Arms Of Angels" (video, lyrics) but I think it's a video a fan put over the song.After class was over I stopped by the library for something else and noticed a Sarah McLachlan dvd there. I picked it up and will bring it to class next week.
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