Incoming!

This is the latest Typhoon to set its sights on Korea. It is named WuKong which is a fairly menacing title for a storm. At this point, it is set to reach land on Sunday and is been classified a "TD" or tropical depression (insert bad pun here). Already we're having some wonky weather with sideways rain and really strong winds. It is a little unnerving to wait for a storm to hit you especially considering all of the damage that one did to China's east coast last week. Inverted umbrellas will abound!

More Band Pictures

More band pictures, I guess that is all that I have been doing. I am coming home soon, 13 days in fact. Hence my lack of introspection and embrasure (is this even a word?) of shameless self promotions.

Let me introduce my band, it'll make me feel less guilty about just posting pictures and not having anything to say about them...

This is Mike and Gino. Our singer and bass player. Mike is from Windsor and has been singing and playing in bands for years. He has a very dynamic vocal range and does Jim Morrison and Robert Plant in the same set with ease. In this picture he seems to be either a) lamenting the retreat of his hairline b) struggling with 3rd verse-itis, or c) wondering what the hell Gino is trying to play.

So there is Gino, definitely a man of many seasons. Heis actually a great guitarist who took the ultimate silver bullet in the heart, the final sacrifice any six string web slinger could make...he agreed to play bass in order to get into a band. You would never know by listening though, he makes it look easy. He also one of those guys who has somehow found the time to have learned 675% more songs than I have ever heard of.

And then there is this guy, Kevin...Kevin O'Shea. The rare drummer who actually listens while he is drumming. The funny thing I have learned is that musicians all do wierd things when they are nervous. And every musician gets nervous, if they don't they are either dead inside or they are too drunk to feel anything. Most musicians just get sweaty, I get clammy and rigid. I couldn't smile to save my life. With drummers though, they have a lot of work to do and they generally tend to slow down the tempo (or drop their sticks on the ground, maybe vomit all over the high hat...it happens) BUT Kevin speeds things up. The first two songs of our first set fly by.

It kind of helps me loosen up in fact.

Haeundae

This picture was taken at Haeundae beach last Sunday. It was the first dry weekend we've had here in a month and the crowds hit this beach with a vengeance. All the yellow tubes and parasols are rentals that literally coat the entire beach in coordinated rows of corporately sponsored shade.

The news reported almost 700,000 people had visited the beach over the weekend. We arrived around 11 in the morning and had some relative space around us, but these parasols went up like trees all around us and within an hour we were surrounded.

The funny thing is that there were these guys all over the beaches selling stuff. Just about anything, but the majority of them were selling fried chicken out of a box. They love their fried chicken here. They were also selling beer, coffee, hot dogs and hamburgers (The Korean equivalent, which is disappointing if you've been a hambuger junkie for most of your life)

The same beach in January

So there are all the parents, under their parasols eating fried chicken and drinking beer. And the kids are loving life in the water and getting knocked around in the surf and dumped off their yellow tubes by their older sisters.

Where was I? Eating chicken and drinking beer on my yellow tube of course!!

The Hermit Kings

This is the name of the band I have been playing with for the past month or so. We usually play Saturday and Wednesdays in a couple of local clubs. I'm not crazy about the name, but it is an improvement over the name we had last week which was "Heyday". Man, that was a crappy name. Naming bands is really difficult, maybe harder than putting an actual group of likeminded musicians together. It has to be memorable, simple, not too pretentious or contrived yet not overly cliched or original.

I was in a Jazz band in the spring. We had a great name! We all sat around one night drinking wine and "rehearsing". (this is where musicians just get drunk and talk about what they want to or should play, it is quite important for stage morale) We all wrote down 2 words on pieces of paper and then put them into a bowl. We took turns taking out new ones and the most interesting combo was "Shady" and "Playtoys"..."The Shadey Playtoys"! It was too bad there were only 2 bandmembers knew actually how to play Jazz.


Anyway, back to my new and less aptly named band. It is way more fun than Jazz, although I miss the prestige I felt when telling people I was a "Jazz musician"..."Reaaallly, what do play?...."Oh, ..strings". Great fun, but it involved hours of studying chords and writing out cheat sheets to tape to the back of my guitar. The new band plays almost all classic rock and 90's grunge. Loud and simple! No rehearsals, no arguments over key changes, just free beer and ringing ear drums.

What really gets me about this band is that I have to keep reminding myself that every guy involved, including myself, is a teacher. Our main mode of subsistence involves standing (or sitting for you lazy, lazy teachers) in front of a room filled with children and trying to either a) make them like you, or b) share something you yourself have studied for a long time.

wait a moment.....