6 March 2008

[ Dear students, I am very sorry about my tardiness in updating the blog with notes from our classes. I don't know why I have become so slow to do it the last few weeks :-( . I will be better next quarter! ]


10 students today. I've been really happy about the high number of students who have come to our discussion hour all quarter. I asked the class how many would like to continue the conversation class next quarter and all said "yes". I know a couple of people will be leaving BCC, so they will stop coming, but it looks like we will continue to have a lot of people for Spring Quarter.



Reminder: The last class of this current quarter will be Thursday, 13 March. We will have a break until the next class on Thursday, 3 April. And we will be in a new room, L100C, across the cafeteria from where we meet now. However, I hope to do an activity or two outside of BCC during the break.



One idea is to go see the band Nada Surf (bio) on Thursday, 27 March at the Showbox in downtown Seattle. I played a couple of songs for the class ("Whose Authority" [video, lyrics] and my personal favorite, "Concrete Bed" [fan-made video, lyrics]) but the class didn't seem very interested. Nonetheless, I recommend the class come with me to see this concert as it will be a great experience to see a very popular rock band's concert in Seattle -- a good cultural experience! Oh, and the show is an all-ages show, so all of the class can go!

I will send an email to the class asking who is interested in going to this show and then buy tickets accordingly.



The other activity I am organizing is to go see my friends' flamenco performance on the evening of Tuesday, 18 March. It starts at 9pm and since it is in a bar only people 21+ can go. Kaoru will return to Japan the week after so I hope she can come see this very special performance. Another of my former students, Hyunjin from Korea, will return to Korea at the end of March and she wants to come see the flamenco show, too. She has seen my friends perform before and she loved it! Any of my students who are over 21 years old are encouraged to come ot the Capitol Club (map) on Tuesday the 18th with us!


I started class with my standard question: Did anyone have any musical adventures this past week? No one had any tales to tell. I mentioned that I had been to a concert on Tuesday night: The Gutter Twins (bio, website). I explained what a gutter (definition) is and how the two main guys in the band (Gregg Dulli [bio] and Mark Lanegan [bio]) have histories of hard-living (especially drugs) and that their songs are pretty dark. The students said they would like to hear the music! I hesitated but I just so happened to have the CD of the band in my bag so I passed it around while I looked for a song.

I then mentioned that one of Nirvana's most famous songs is their version of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" from their Unplugged show (video, lyrics) in 1994. But what most people don't realize is that back in about 1988 it was Mark Lanegan who did a version of that song on his album The Winding Sheet with Kurt Cobain (then an unknown guy in the Seattle scene) playing guitar. Here's Lanegan's version.

Our theme for the day was "songs from movies and tv." The first pick was "The Crow" (video) by Brandan Lee (bio). The student who chose this songs said she likes the movie because it's a horror movie about love.

One of the other students in the class mentioned that Brandan Lee was the son of Bruce Lee (bio) and that he died in an accident during production of a movie. When the student mentioned that story I remembered hearing about that accident many years ago. Both Brandon and Bruce Lee are buried in Seattle.

The next song chosen was "Mondo Bongo" (video) from the movie "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (info). The student chose it because it reminds him of his first girlfriend. I wonder if she looked like Angelina Jolie...

Next song was from the movie "A Tale Of Two Sisters" (info). We watched "Epilogue" (video). But here is a version with more music. The composer is Korean.

Pinar wanted to find Samuel Barber's "Angus Dei" from Lorenzo's Oil, but we couldn't find a good clip so moved on.

Kaoru chose "The Godfather Theme" (video) because she like Robert Deniro (bio).

Next was "Before I Fall In Love" (video, lyrics) by Coco Lee (bio) from the movie "Runaway Bride" (info). I asked the guy who chose the song why he likes it and he said he likes Coco's voice. (I suspect he has more interest in Coco than just her voice!)

Next was a song (video) by Faye Wong (bio) from the movie Chungking Express (info). The song is actually a remake, sung in Chinese of the Cranberries songs "Dreams" (video, lyrics)! The director of Chunking Express is Wong Kar-wai (bio), who I had never heard of before, but was told he is a very famous, popula director across Asia. His movies are very intellectual. Every one he makes is a hit, even though they are not "light" entertainment.

Next up was another movie with Julia Roberts: "She" (video) by Elvis Costello (bio) from the movie Notting Hill (info).

Now I picked a song: "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" (video, lyrics) from the Monty Python (info) film "The Life Of Brian" (info). My choice was a flop (definition). But I still think Monty Python is brilliantly funny!

The last song of the day was "Don't Look Back In Anger" (video, lyrics) by Oasis (bio) from the movie "Arizona Dream" (info).

With that I reminded the students that this weekend the US set its clocks to "summer time" -- Saturday night everyone needs to "spring forward" by one hour.

Theme for next week's class is "Springtime". (However, since I am posting these notes so late, I don't know if anyone will bring Spring-related songs...)