Our upcoming spring break trip to...

...Singapore and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

We'll visit Abigail's cousin, Mahalee, her husband, Benoit, and their new child.

We'll spend most of the time in Chiang Mai relaxing, hiking around the mountains, eating the excellent cuisine, and taking a two day photography class.



If anyone has been to either of these places and has any suggestions for cool things to see or do, send me an email or post a comment.

maybe see a few of these guys

Another nice feature of big city living...

Park Ho Jung Violin Recital

Seoul International School's orchestra teacher, Mrs. Ryu, while away on pregnancy leave, was replaced by Ms. Ho Jung Park, an excellent violinist. Since we share a hallway and I would often here her performing while we were both at school in the evenings, when the opportunity to see her perform at Seoul Arts Center came, I jumped at it. Now, needless to say and without regard for the previous blog entry, I'm not a very musically inclined person. I'm more shoot-from-the-hip and less practice-for-hours-to-be-perfect. Ask my parents about how many hours I practiced the coronet in the basement. I'd say less than ten, and it showed in the performances.

That said, I can appreciate someone else's performance. So, away we went with a large group of teachers to the very grand and humongous Arts Center. She performed three pieces with piano accompaniment, two of which we stayed for (we had a ski trip planned the next day and needed rest).

I wanted to write about this concert for a few reasons. First, it wasn't at all what I expected. The second piece, Prokofiev's Sonata for violin and piano No.1 in f minor, Op.80, was really amazing. I'm not sure, but the composer died in the early fifties and I assume that the piece, due to its somber mood and discordant sounds, is what would be called in the art history world "Post-War." Far from the polished and graceful sounds of the piece before, a Beethoven piece, this one seemed to carry the listener to some very transcendental places, at least it did for me. Mainly, the combination of a very slow and odd piano with the discordant sound of the violin created a bit of a frightening feeling. Also, she used a mute of sorts to distort the sound of the violin, and this made the violin both difficult to hear and in a struggle with the piano, which was quite loud during this part.

Another surprising aspect of the concert (at least to me) was the interaction between the Ms. Park and her pianist, who also deserves a bit of credit. Often, the pianist would watch Ms. Park's movements very carefully in order to determine when to continue her notes or to stop. At the end of the piece, Ms. Park looked a little bit exhausted, as I'm sure the stress of performing in a venue as prestigious as the Seoul Arts Center added to the pressure of being flawless might be.

All in all, for my first solo violin performance, this event proved to be as engaging as any of the rock shows that I've been to in the past few years. Hopefully I'll be able to hit up a few more of these concerts in the near future.

Eric Clapton and his Band

On the 23rd of January, Abigail and I saw Eric Clapton and his band. The show was great, and more to come on it later, but first a little background information. Abigail has taken up the guitar, under the tutelage of our friend and excellent guitar player Jason Melgaard. So, when the chance to see Clapton came about, Abigail, Jason, and whole bunch of other people were pretty excited. I was not so excited. I've seen a lot of music in the past few years, and the best shows I've seen have been by newer musicians (The Constantines, Les Savy Fav, Cursive), while some of the worst have been by old timers trying to relive the glory days (The Rolling Stones, The Allman Bros. minus half the original band, and so on). Of course, there are a few who, as they've grown older have maintained some relevance. I'm reminded of Dylan and Tom Waites, both of whom have created grammy winning albums in the '90s and 2000s.

So, I assumed that Clapton would come to Seoul and do a greatest hits concert plus the "Unplugged" album with a focus on "Tears in Heaven"-type music. Plus, at 90,000 and 120,000 won ($95 and $125, respectively) I thought the price was to much to bear. Abigail and I, headed by my headiness, decided to save the money.

The day of the show, some of our colleagues called and offered us their tickets as their daughter was sick with pneumonia. So we went. It was awesome. In addition to Clapton on guitar, Derek Trucks, the son(?) of one of the Allman Bros. The concert was full of old blues songs and some pretty hard rocking stuff. One of the things that I appreciated the most was that Clapton brought along some new talent with him instead of filling the stage with a bunch of old guys who he could easily outshine. Clapton, Trucks, and Bramhall all had their own specialties, and Clapton never stole the glory or hogged the stage. It was really cool to see the three of them playing together. Far from being a bland, tiresome throwback concert, Clapton and the band tore it up and looked like they really were having fun. Additionally, I think he was surprised at the reaction from the Koreans, who really seemed into it.

Here's a link to a review of the concert plus the lineup and and the set lists, if you're interested.