Wednesday, February 23, 2011

And this is why I won't be seeing MGMT

Its no question that I like my music.  One of the things I loved to do back home was check out some live music at a bar.  Once I came to Korea that part of my life dissipated.  I do try, however to search out local promoters to find music made in Korea, and while many places in Seoul and Busan boast great music, Daegu is a low-runner in that department. 
Local promoters such as Super Color Super and the guys behind Korea Gig Guide work hard to bring music acts to Korea like CocoRosie and Liars, but they also try to help support local Korean bands as well.  The issue with gaining exposure as an up and coming band when promoters are always looking to gain the extra buck with bigger acts is nothing new and it makes these local promoters essential.  In a city like Daegu where the live music scene is slim (but still there), I want nothing more than to keep these promoters' shows live and running.  Most recently, the Liars show caused great controversy resulting in the show being cancelled in both Seoul and Busan.
Straight from the Super Color Super website comes the following message:


Important news for everyone, a bit of death by commitee. KMRB, the Korea Media Rating Board, http://www.kmrb.or.kr/ contacted SuperColorSuper’s lead manager this afternoon that to put on the show will result in prison time and serious fines- in light of the show has been properly reviewed by this censorship board. The Liars’ were fully prepared to perform and did everything properly, this is no way reflects upon them. The blockade comes from down to us by way of government. Our co-promoter had heard a few days together that someone (not sure which) was set to interfere with our shows now since our grassroots/DIY work had been gathering support, and we had been researching everything we could to be locked and loaded. We didn’t expect this though. Unless there is a way found to make the process easier, this might mean some drastic changes in concerts in Korea.
We’ve gotten Media Rating Board approval for shows in the past when they were possible, but for most venues they are impossible to get because of zoning classicications- places that constantly run shows are not eligible venues for this board, as they are not licensed in the exact way. There are a handful of governement-acceptable place in Seoul, and they are nil in Busan, Daegu.
So why is this coming about now, in the midst of years of regular unapproved shows? When asking the board why they were only shutting down Liars’, they confirmed they knew of many other unlicensed shows happening the same night as Liars, but were only asking us to stop at the behest of a company who called them.

Now, what does this have to do with MGMT and why I won't be going?  Well, MGMT tickets are going for 99,000w (~$90) WITH no opening band.  This is ludicrous!  When MGMT played in Toronto tickets were $40.  I've also seen them play live at Lollapalooza 2010, and I wish I stayed for the entire set of Wolfmother instead.  As much as I would like to see music from back home in Korea, I wouldn't pay more than 60,000w to see them, and for a show with no opening act.  I also don't want to participate in feeding these bigger promoters for a show that won't last longer than an hour, which takes away from the integrity of the local promoters.  At least they try to support music in Korea, and I have the ability to hopefully see these bands come to Daegu. 

Just for the record, I have nothing against MGMT.  I think they're an amazing group and I do love their music.  This post is more of an awareness about the situation of what's going on with local music and my own personal protest.  If you were to give me a choice between only seeing International (to Korea) music in large venues and paying an arm and a leg, or see local music in small venues, hands down I would chose only seeing local music.  I just don't want this choice to be taken away from me at all.

Sites I use for music:
SUPER C۞L۞R SUPER
Korea Gig Guide
Daegu Pockets
Daegu Live (facebook group)
10 Magazine
HiExpat
Songkick

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

One more thing Korea is famous for something

And I'm referring to something other than the North and South Korean tensions (which is pretty much the only thing the Western world knows and reports on about Korea).

As we wake up and go to school we are faced with a challenge.  How on earth do we pass 8 hours where sometimes there isn't any work to do if we finish lesson planning and prepping for tomorrow's classes?  You can tell the slow days when everyone comments and posts stuff up on Facebook, others have promised themselves that they will try to learn Korean or start reading rather than live the mundane life of waiting for new Facebook posts or watching/catching up on tv shows.  Whatever people have chosen to make this deskwarming season more entertaining, I enjoy reading the links and posts people have found on the internet.  You know its interesting if it starts getting recycled through each person's page. 

Today's news story was Global Alcohol Consumption: Drinking Habits.
Apparently, from 2005, the World Health Organization reported that with all the alcohol consumed in the world it was enough to give each person 6.1 litres of pure alcohol.  Now, I've become weary of studies (even if conducted by the WHO), but nevertheless, Korea seems to be equivalent to the world's leaders of alcohol consumption- Russia.  In fact, it seems that Korea sets the drinking level as the highest in Asia. 
I can't say I don't agree.  There's not a day that I walk home in the evening that I don't encounter at least five different groups of drunk Koreans (guys and girls), and Monday mornings are the most entertaining/revolting walks to school as I try to avoid the puke stains made the night/couple of hours ago.  I also can't say that us expatriats don't do anything to decrease these numbers as I have never been exposed to being able to buy alcohol in convenience stores open 24/7, nor have been able to buy alcohol (meaning soju being almost comparable to vodka) for only 2,000won (equivalent to less than $2). 

Drinking with my teachers and Principle always ends in a drunken state of chaos as everyone has drunk themselves to oblivion and made a fool of themselves (quite frankly, I can't understand why you'd chose to be the drunken mess in front of your superiors, but hey! This is the life here, and nobody's going to remember because everyone's blitzed!).  What I do like about the drinking lifestyle here is that it doesn't exclude women in the mix.  For sure, men drink far more than women, but its not uncommen to see drunk women stumbling the streets with not a care in the world.  I know that, back home in Toronto, you see drunk girls and you almost snicker to yourself as they make the fool of themselves (unless you are that drunk girl and then you have no care in the world, until you end up puking in an alley/car/yourself/your friends).  Maybe I don't see the casting down upon and the general bad looks from the elders/males in Korean society when women chose to drink themselves dry, but either way, below is the picture of the world's alcohol consumption.  Chose what you'd like to believe.




Yesterday's news story: K-Town
As well, I'm trying to figure out if this is a joke/spoof or real.  Much like Toronto decided to join in on the Jersey Shore success, apparently, the Asian-Americans want in as well.  The show's being called K-Town.  Although, not everybody is Korean, the show follows these young adults around LA's Korean Town to see all their sloppy and karoaking (noraebanging) madness.  Its humorous to me that the show's executive producer is model/actor Tyrese Gibson, although if he wants to incorporate the Blasian (I guess its too offensive to just say Black-Asian?), here's his venue.  However, the pilot's been shot but not picked up by any network.  But is it degrading to Asians?  Maybe, but we've seen the majority of America's youth depicted as shallow, ignorant and trampy as most MTV shows provide, so what makes Asians any different?  At least they're not being depicted as the stereotypical nerd, martial artist or piano superstar.  As one of the shows producer Mike Le says,
“A lot of stereotypes about Asians are good.  We’re smart, we play the violin or piano, we’re hard workers, great at math. Our cast is like that, too, except they’re also sexy, stylish, and have swagger. Those are things people don’t think of when they think of Asians in media. They think Asian guys are asexual, girls are docile, repressed"
As a fellow Asian person (although people love to say that being Indian is not Asian, more Southeast Asian, to which I respond, "Its still in Asia right?"), I would love to see the media show Indians as more than just taxi drivers, nerds, convenience store owners, Bollywood stars and traditionalists.  It may be a step in the wrong direction, but when nobody wants to change the stereotypes, at least there's somebody trying something new- and that's when change happens and its always interesting to see where the fine line is between stereotype breaking and stereotype reinforcing.


The cast comprised of four girls and four guys, include similar characters to the Jersey Shore.  "The Situation"-like character is Peter Le (who also has an x-rated website), there's a club promoter instead of DJ Pauly D and the Snookie-esque character is Scarlet Chan.  The others are Young Lee, Jennifer Field, Joe Cha, Violet Kim, Steve Kim, and Jasmine Chang.  It appears that their choice of drink is Korean beer Hite, and soju, it'll be interesting to see how many other things they do that are traditionally Korean/Asian.

Funny that an American would chose to drink Hite

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Cover Band Alert!

 Sometimes at work I sit in front of Youtube and find new music.  When you're only exposed to K Pop and pop/club songs, I sometimes yearn to find something new and original, and catch up on the music scene I left behind at home.

I was sitting in a waffle cafe the other day and I hear this song that reminds me of a hard rock song I know, and as I strained to hear the song and maintaining my conversation with my friends that I hadn't seen since before I went on vacation, I realized I was indeed listening to a French remake of "This is not a Love Song" originally done by PIL (Public Image Ltd), but I knew it as the cover done by Kerbdog.  Upon doing some google-ing and some youtube-ing, I've realized I've fallen in love with these guys.
Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux round up this French music collective and very much like Michael Buble, they cover songs in their own unique way.  Their name comes from a play on words of French new wave and Brazilian bossa nova, and I fell in love with Bossa Nova when I learned about it a couple of years ago but haven't found anything that I really liked.

In this age of music that lacks creativity and is reduced to covering songs with no originality, Nouvelle Vague is like a breath of fresh air.  Their ability to strip songs back to their acoustic arrangements and gather singers from around the world make all their songs unique and their own.  They've covered everyone from The Clash to Blondie to The Dead Kennedys and their albums are loaded with famous musicians. 


And then, in line with Bob Marley's birthday, I came across Playing for Change.  I thought the concept was amazing- you gather musicians from around the world and have them collaborate to popular songs.   Their soul, passion, and uniqueness draws you in, and I always find things more mesmerizing to watch/listen when you add incorporate world music to the mix.
From the website www.playingforchange.com (because I couldn't say it better):
The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.
 The wonderful thing about this Not for Profit Organization is that they have opened up music schools in Africa and India, and in 2009 they released a documentary "Peace Through Music" as directors Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls traveled and recorded clips of musicians from various places around the globe.  Yes, this is a major plug, but I only support causes that I believe really stand for something.





I've fallen in love with both these concepts.