 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week 35 - Y2 (Oct 29th to Nov 4th) |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Sunday Oct 29th,
I finally found it! I went back to Dongdaemun Market
(the gigantically overwhelming one) and finally found
exactly what I was looking for in the first place: a
dark red velvet blazer. Done and done!
In other news, I have a slightly insane neighbour.
I've been practising in my apartment for months now
without any complaint whatsoever, until this week,
when she randomly started freaking out about my very
soft keyboard playing of all things. I've seen her
just kind of wandering around the building; always
looks like she's sleepwalking or something. Guess I
can't practise in my apartment anymore . . . |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday Oct 31st,
Mike Downes is here. This was the day of our big
concert in the PaekChe theatre, so Jae, Kenji, Ben and
I met Mike at school at 11am to choose tunes/rehearse.
We ended up selecting mostly originals ( a few by
each band member), and some songs that I written
lyrics for (a Tom Harrell tune and a Vince Mendoza
tune). Mike sounds great-- I had heard him play in
Toronto before, but this was my first chance to really
hear him play. Plus, I was really excited to finally
get to do a gig in Korea that wasn't just
standards/calling tunes. We had a good long
rehearsal, and then headed over to the Coex mall for
lunch, and then straight back to school for a
soundcheck/more rehearsing.
The concert itself went well; it was a lot of fun, and
of course the students were over-enthused, in typical
Korean student fashion. Mike thought it was hilarious
that we really get the rock star treatment from our
students-- you know, giggling when they see white
people (in a shy way, not a mean way), obsessing about
how beautiful we are, over-enthusiastic bordering on
totally geeky cheering after every
song/solo/introduction, waiting in a big huge crowd
for us to come out of the theatre after the show so
that they can give us another gigantic cheer. I guess
we forget that these things are not normal after being
here for awhile . . .
After the show, we went to a local bar. Mike's got a
lot of funny stories about Toronto musicians, and
having someone around fresh from TO made me kind of
miss home. Anyway, it was fun.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday Nov 1st,
Today, Mike had to do a masterclass and a workshop,
and then at night, we played a gig at Watercock (yeah,
I know, the name). The gig was fun,, but a little
weird. Jae forgot his music, so we were calling
tunes/shuffling around charts; thus making us appear
slightly disorganized. One of my favourite students,
Moon Young, came to watch the gig, so I was happy for
the chance to hang out with her outside of the school
context. What was funny was that Watercock was not
nearly as busy as it should have been for a show like
this, because Mark Ferber, a great drummer from New
York (and a good friend of Kenji's) was playing with a
trio down the street! I don't understand how there
can be absolutely nothing happening in Seoul for
months at a time, and then always, there ends up being
two awesome gigs on the same night. Anyway, after
Kenji confirmed with his wife that it was okay for him
to stay out, Kenji and I headed over to the other
club, Palm to hang out with his friends. (Jae, Ben
and Mike went home) We missed the gig, but we had a
really fun hang, and I met the owner of Palm, who
wants to give me some gigs. Hanging around with Kenji
and Mark REALLY made me miss home. It just reminded
me so much of hanging out at the Rex til all hours of
the night. We stayed out disgustingly late (Kenji,
you are a bad influence!), and headed home with barely
enough time for me to get a few hours of sleep before
getting up and going to Iksan.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday Nov 2nd,
Ugh. I'm exhausted and hungover.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friday Nov 3rd,
I had to teach 4 hours of makeup lessons in the
afternoon, but after that, I headed over to the train
station to catch the KTX to Daegu for . . . Ange's
birthday! We had a really fun night, involving fire
shots at Juillards, pretzels and terrible open mic
night at Thunderbirds, and dancing at Gypsy Rock-- a
vintage Daegu night for me. At Thunderbirds, Ange
met a really cute guy. Unfortunately his friend
turned out to be someone I kind of know and didn't
really want to see again-- this guy Richard hit on me
at a club about a year ago, and we actually did go to
breakfast when we left the club at 7am. However,
while talking to him without pounding music in the
background, I discovered that I really didn't want to
be talking to him at all. So I never called him. So
this weekend, when I saw him, I was kind of like, oh
damn it, it figures. And I promptly remembered all
over again why I never called him in the first place.
(Anyone who actually uses the nickname "Dickie" is
automatically questionable. And yet, somehow, the
nickname is oh so appropriate for him . . .)
Fortunately, it turns out that the guy Ange liked is
pretty new, and therefore hasn't had the opportunity
to meet cooler friends . . . until now that is!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saturday Nov 4th,
The weather was beautiful today, but our dispositions
were not. Our morning after haejungguk cure didn't
even work for Ryan. However, our shopping cure seemed
sufficient for Linz, Ange and I. We left Ry at home
and headed downtown to do some damage. Surprisingly,
I was on my best shopping behaviour and didn't buy
anything at all! (I know, it's like a minor miracle or
something)
Later on, we actually managed to locate the one Indian
restaurant in all of downtown Daegu (I had been there
before, but I had never been able to find it again),
and enjoyed some curry and naan. I've said it before,
and I'll say it again-- I really wish that Korea had
better options for international food. It seems like
the only good international restaurants in all of
Korea are located in Itaewon in Seoul.
After dinner, Linz, Ange and I headed over to Organ
Bar (minus Ryan, who opted to stay at home tonight) to
see Phil, Mike and Werner's final gig together--
Werner is leaving next week, thus leaving Daegu
drummerless. Plus Mike is leaving at the end of
November, thus leaving Phil entirely bandless! Poor
Phil. Anyway, that ended up being a really fun hang
too-- Charlotte, Evan, Ali, Jenny and Boo Young ended
up showing up, and since I hadn't seen any of them in
a good couple of months, I was thrilled to get to
catch up. However, I was exhausted from an already
too-long week, and I didn't last particularly long
before I called it a night. Next time! In fact, next
time will be my birthday/Ryan and Lindsey's going away
party.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|