This has been one crazy week. I've started back to school and have to say that I am absolutely loving the Grad school atmosphere...a novel idea when students are expected to have their readings done when they get to class! Being back on campus is a trip, and I'm still balancing it with coaching and getting out to play ultimate. In short, I have absolutely no complaints! But you must be complaining, because it's Friday and they're still keeping you chained to that thing you call a desk. So, between now and 5, here's 10 things you can think about to occupy your time.
1) Call it Propofl, valium, xanax, whatever...it appears Michael Jackson was sadly on a lot of it when he passed away. Of course, I guess that means it shouldn't surprise anyone that they found weed in his house.
2) So a girl goes missing when she's 11 and they find her now, 29 and two kids later. Turns out she's been living in a locked shed and having children for the couple who abducted her. No, this isn't that weird Austrian story...this is in California.
3) I don't know how Jerry Jones made his billions of dollars, but something tells me he should go back to school when he builds a 1.15 Billion dollar brand new football stadium and puts the scoreboard so low that it gets hit by punts. You did know they were going to play football in there, didn't you Mr. Jones?
4) History is being made by Matt Barkley. When he starts for the Trojans at quarterback in their opener against San Jose State, he will become the first true freshmen to start at that position in SC history.
5) Do you subscribe to the cognitive or transmission theory of teaching?
6) How many children might be left behind when NCLB entreats teachers to train for a government exam rather than actual student growth?
7) Jim from The Office is getting married. No, it's not to Pam Beasley.
8) Do you remember having an "Ah-Ha!" moment in your education career, and if so, how did it happen and who helped you?
9) Would you pay a $100 ticket to go to Outside Lands, knowing that the sound cut out in the middle of Radiohead's performance not once, not twice, but more than three times last year?
10) Would you rather be a Cabbage Patch Kid or a Garbage Pail Kid and why?
That's it folks, have a great weekend and remember: it's only Rum if it's 92 proof.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
10 Things to Think About on a Friday
What an amazing, busy and amazingly busy week. It started back on Sunday with a birthday party for my Mom where I managed to get my Grandma and Grandpa both to play a game of Beirut. Tuesday saw a disappointing loss in an ultimate frisbee playoff game, but I bounced back with a 6 mile run and ultimate frisbee game on Wednesday night, the very exciting class registration for Grad school yesterday, followed by an outstanding time out at Nightlife with Za (which included a stop at a bar afterwards as well as the crepe stand)...Now, I'm gearing up for a weekend that will be spent in the comfortable hands of the San Mateo County Fair. Might I say, "Banzai?" Yes, I might. But before you get into the comfortable hands of who or whatever you're trusting this weekend, here's 10 things to think about.
1) In terms of being pissed about something going on in the judicial realm, I think the freeing of the Lockerbie bomber this week is absolutely horrendous. This man put a bomb on a plane, killed over 280 people, got a life sentence, and has just been released from jail because he has prostate cancer and only three months to live, and Scotland wanted to show humanity by allowing him to die at home.
Am I missing something here? Did he allow the innocent men and women he killed to die at home? Did he offer them any compassion or understanding? No, he put a bomb on their plan and then took satisfaction when it blew up over Scotland. The man was given a life sentence (of which he served 8 YEARS) for this crime, which should mean his life. I don't care if he has cancer. He should die in prison, a tiny box that he can't escape from, just as he condemned innocent people to die 20 years ago. Worst of all? Upon returning to Libya, he was given a hero's welcome. How's that for compassion for the dead?
2) Wanna kill yourself without dying? How about trying out for the Badwater Ultra Marathon?
3) Gotta love this...swimsuits that jibe with the Muslim tradition of covering the female body.
6) What can it mean for music if Radiohead is "done" making albums and will only be releasing songs? It sounds interesting, but would Kid A really have the same impact piecemeal? To me, it was always the cohesiveness of the album that truly showed their brilliance as a band.
8) There's a lot of back and forth lately between proponents and opponents of the new health care package. I don't mind people feeling one way or another about it, but it seems that partisan politics and scare tactics have lead to a situation where not many people actually know what's REALLY going on with this bill. While this article doesn't speak to all of it, it does tackle some of the more commonly held myths surrounding Obama's health care push. My jury is still out until I see actual legislation.
10) Finally, because I love to eat and eat well, and have become increasingly concerned that one of my favorites, foie gras, might be disappearing due to the feeding techniques used to produce it (not that pigs, chickens and cows in this country don't all live in worse conditions), I was very happy to see this article about a man who has now won awards for free range, non-force fed foie gras. Wunderbar!
1) In terms of being pissed about something going on in the judicial realm, I think the freeing of the Lockerbie bomber this week is absolutely horrendous. This man put a bomb on a plane, killed over 280 people, got a life sentence, and has just been released from jail because he has prostate cancer and only three months to live, and Scotland wanted to show humanity by allowing him to die at home.
Am I missing something here? Did he allow the innocent men and women he killed to die at home? Did he offer them any compassion or understanding? No, he put a bomb on their plan and then took satisfaction when it blew up over Scotland. The man was given a life sentence (of which he served 8 YEARS) for this crime, which should mean his life. I don't care if he has cancer. He should die in prison, a tiny box that he can't escape from, just as he condemned innocent people to die 20 years ago. Worst of all? Upon returning to Libya, he was given a hero's welcome. How's that for compassion for the dead?
2) Wanna kill yourself without dying? How about trying out for the Badwater Ultra Marathon?
3) Gotta love this...swimsuits that jibe with the Muslim tradition of covering the female body.
6) What can it mean for music if Radiohead is "done" making albums and will only be releasing songs? It sounds interesting, but would Kid A really have the same impact piecemeal? To me, it was always the cohesiveness of the album that truly showed their brilliance as a band.
8) There's a lot of back and forth lately between proponents and opponents of the new health care package. I don't mind people feeling one way or another about it, but it seems that partisan politics and scare tactics have lead to a situation where not many people actually know what's REALLY going on with this bill. While this article doesn't speak to all of it, it does tackle some of the more commonly held myths surrounding Obama's health care push. My jury is still out until I see actual legislation.
10) Finally, because I love to eat and eat well, and have become increasingly concerned that one of my favorites, foie gras, might be disappearing due to the feeding techniques used to produce it (not that pigs, chickens and cows in this country don't all live in worse conditions), I was very happy to see this article about a man who has now won awards for free range, non-force fed foie gras. Wunderbar!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Farewell, McButter!
Last Friday night was a sad time indeed, as San Francisco and the rest of our crew had to bid adieu to McButter, one of my favorite dancing partners, as she moved away to New York. So crucially important to her workplace, McButter was transferred for the year to the East Coast so she could jump start a program and make it work. They say it's for a year, but I believe that the glitz, glamor and girls of New York might convince her to stick around a little bit longer.
In celebration, we had a going away party, and as with all good things that are devilishly bad, the party was held at 666 Post in the city. If you're ever looking for a good rooftop to crash and smoke some js on, this is the place (just find the top floor). Upon entering, the building looks like the Tower of Terror at Universal with all sorts of vintage architectural features. I left the apartment at around 9 with Sis and Short Round, a travel bottle of Rum and Coke in tow.
When we get upstairs, the place is pretty crowded already, and a 5 foot wide kitchen contributes to the first accident of the night...as I've just finished filling up my cup with Rum and Coke, Za makes a wild hand gesture and succeeds in flipping the cup out of my hand, end over end in the air. I look down and Rum and Coke is all over the floor, and I look like I've wet myself because it just had to land on my crotch. I think that damage is pretty bad, until the girl standing at the sink turns around and glares. It is then that I realize that while the floor got a good portion of my drink, she has it all over her back. Za is laughing and doesn't notice as the girl makes a sprint for the bathroom. Of course, I do derive a bit of pleasure from this incident as it forces Za to dab at my jeans with napkins, trying to get the drink out.
The party for the rest of the night bounces between the dance floor in the apartment and the unbelievable smoking rooftop. Of course, no party would be complete without someone being a complete and utter jackass, and we're given that at around 1 am. A man comes in and very loudly asks everyone to be quiet, commanding attention. He does it in a way that speaks of authority, so everyone shuts up and the music gets turned down. When he has everyone looking at him, he says, "I'm the landlord of this building, and I need you to turn the music up!!!" Now, he obviously did this thinking he was bad ass and very cool and we were all going to love him, but really people are just kinda annoyed that he made them be quiet just to announce that. It goes over even less well when he pulls the same stunt 15 minutes later.
And that's about the night of it. As the party winds down, McButter knows it's one of her last chances for crepes in the city, so her, myself, Za, Sis and Short Round hop in the car for yet another crepe run to end the evening. McButter is gone now, but thankfully in this day and age, New York is only an IM away.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Bayani Redux
{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}
I received an email today announcing the release of Bayani Redux. When I saw this, I was under the impression that we were going to get a release of B-sides and remixes for the sophomore album by Seattle based Blue Scholars, Bayani. For anyone who has followed Evolving Music for a length of time, you've seen the concert reviews and album reviews for the duo of Sabzi and Geologic (aka Prometheus Brown.) And yet, I still find trouble reconciling myself with how talented they are and how little mass exposure they have. Granted, some of the best music falls through the cracks and gets chewed up by the massive grinder of the music industry, but I hold out hope that the word of mouth on some of the best underground artists will reach surface and flip the industry on its head.
I feel like the music industry is caught in a bad dream. That dream where you keep running, turning corners, opening doors, all to get away from something, and yet you can't. Every time I turn on the television or flip through the radio dial, it's like I'm opening a door in the dream and finding myself in the same place, listening to recycled music from the past twenty years, sometimes infused with a new trick like auto-tune, sometimes not. But people keep buying, and therefore, labels will keep re-packaging. This is an old rant of mine, but one that came back to the surface after reading the release details for the second coming of Bayani.
When Rawkus Records released Bayani on June 12th, 2007, it was the second album from the duo and one that promised an enormous amount of future material based solely on the progression of the artists between it and their eponymous debut. However, in reading the re-release article, I come to find that only 20,000 copies of it have sold.
For the rest of this article with more details on the upcoming release, click here.
I received an email today announcing the release of Bayani Redux. When I saw this, I was under the impression that we were going to get a release of B-sides and remixes for the sophomore album by Seattle based Blue Scholars, Bayani. For anyone who has followed Evolving Music for a length of time, you've seen the concert reviews and album reviews for the duo of Sabzi and Geologic (aka Prometheus Brown.) And yet, I still find trouble reconciling myself with how talented they are and how little mass exposure they have. Granted, some of the best music falls through the cracks and gets chewed up by the massive grinder of the music industry, but I hold out hope that the word of mouth on some of the best underground artists will reach surface and flip the industry on its head.
I feel like the music industry is caught in a bad dream. That dream where you keep running, turning corners, opening doors, all to get away from something, and yet you can't. Every time I turn on the television or flip through the radio dial, it's like I'm opening a door in the dream and finding myself in the same place, listening to recycled music from the past twenty years, sometimes infused with a new trick like auto-tune, sometimes not. But people keep buying, and therefore, labels will keep re-packaging. This is an old rant of mine, but one that came back to the surface after reading the release details for the second coming of Bayani.
When Rawkus Records released Bayani on June 12th, 2007, it was the second album from the duo and one that promised an enormous amount of future material based solely on the progression of the artists between it and their eponymous debut. However, in reading the re-release article, I come to find that only 20,000 copies of it have sold.
For the rest of this article with more details on the upcoming release, click here.
Welcome Short Round!
McButter describes her as "tiny," Marge is already taken as a nickname, and she doesn't want to be Carolina, so I'll now take a moment to introduce you to the new roommate, Short Round.Small yet feisty, this southern girl hails from North Carolina and has moved out to California to chase her destiny and work for the government. So far, I think she's liking one of those things. Her dad describes her as a "son that was a daughter," and I don't think I'd want to see her on a competition basis. She's addicted to Dr. Pepper and likes the folks on True Blood. Only in town for two weeks, she has already enjoyed some of Cali's finest scenery, visited Nini's, become addicted to the crepe stand and been invited to the Lake House. Not sure when this round of good will for her will subside, but for now, she's living it large.
Monday, August 10, 2009
25 Science Fiction Books
I was asked recently what I found to be the best Sci-Fi book. I find it an impossibly difficult question to answer. Science Fiction, in my eyes more than any other genre, is the hardest to limit in scope and parameter because there is no necessity to stick to any physical, logical or moral rules of Earth generally imposed on other modes of literature. For this reason, each universe, each future and future history, each technological leap or cataclysmic event is completely at the whims of the individual author.
For this reason, some Sci-Fi only takes minor steps of imagination on the part of the reader, should the author deviate only minimally from our current condition, while other authors require great patience and leaps of faith. You won't be able to define everything in a Sci-Fi book. You'll have to be satisfied knowing that there's something called an Armstrong Drive that lets you travel through non-linear space at a rate of several thousand light years per day, without having it explained to you how that works. (A Talent for War) With some authors, you might never know what a word actually means and have to settle for a vague description and general idea of purpose.
Some authors enjoy focusing on the philosophy aspect of Sci-Fi, asking questions about the morality and stability of the structures we've created by looking at future civilizations, while others simply write action stories set in outer space. The best are able to balance these and give you a portrait that seems utterly different from anything you've ever known while giving you a very clear window to look back and examine what you do.
For these reasons, I've tried to structure this list, not in terms of "worst to best" or vice versa, but rather in most accessible to least accessible. The books at the top of the list are ones that I would recommend to any reader as an introduction to the genre, while the ones towards the bottom are books I would only recommend to someone who wanted to delve deeper and had the patience to do so. Of course, this means that in most cases, I've enjoyed many further down the list a bit more than some of the surface Sci-Fi reads. All of them, however, are fantastic books in their own rights. Enjoy!
1. The Road to Science Fiction: From Heinlein to Here, Vol. 3, Compiled by Gunn (A collection of short stories and excerpts with corresponding descriptions of the stories and influences on the genre)
2. Ancient Shores, Jack McDevitt
3. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
4. 1984, George Orwell
5. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
6. Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card
7. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
8. Replay, Ken Grimwood
9. Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick (The author behind the movies BladeRunner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.)
10. As She Climbed Across the Table, Jonathan Lethem
11. Eternity Road, Jack McDevitt
12. A Talent for War, Jack McDevitt
13. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
14. The 5th Sacred Thing, Starhawk
15. Dancers at the End of Time, Michael Moorcock
16. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
17. Neuromancer, William Gibson
18. Virtual Light, William Gibson
19. The Color of Distance, Amy Thomson
20. Cornelius Quartet, Michael Moorcock
21. Time Enough for Love, Robert Heinlein
22. The Three California Trilogy (The Gold Coast, Pacific Edge and The Wild Shore,) Kim Stanley Robinson
23. Nova, Samuel R. Delany
24. The Fall of the Towers, Samuel R. Delany
25. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
As for my personal top 5? 5, 7, 19, 21, 25. Special emphasis on 21 and 25. Of course, you can read just about anything by Robert Heinlein and not be disappointed, most readers enjoy Orson Scott Card's ability to tell a story and in reality, what I know about Science Fiction pales in comparison to my Dad's knowledge on the subject. If I'm lucky, he'll concoct a list of his top 25 for me to post here as well.
For this reason, some Sci-Fi only takes minor steps of imagination on the part of the reader, should the author deviate only minimally from our current condition, while other authors require great patience and leaps of faith. You won't be able to define everything in a Sci-Fi book. You'll have to be satisfied knowing that there's something called an Armstrong Drive that lets you travel through non-linear space at a rate of several thousand light years per day, without having it explained to you how that works. (A Talent for War) With some authors, you might never know what a word actually means and have to settle for a vague description and general idea of purpose.
Some authors enjoy focusing on the philosophy aspect of Sci-Fi, asking questions about the morality and stability of the structures we've created by looking at future civilizations, while others simply write action stories set in outer space. The best are able to balance these and give you a portrait that seems utterly different from anything you've ever known while giving you a very clear window to look back and examine what you do.
For these reasons, I've tried to structure this list, not in terms of "worst to best" or vice versa, but rather in most accessible to least accessible. The books at the top of the list are ones that I would recommend to any reader as an introduction to the genre, while the ones towards the bottom are books I would only recommend to someone who wanted to delve deeper and had the patience to do so. Of course, this means that in most cases, I've enjoyed many further down the list a bit more than some of the surface Sci-Fi reads. All of them, however, are fantastic books in their own rights. Enjoy!
1. The Road to Science Fiction: From Heinlein to Here, Vol. 3, Compiled by Gunn (A collection of short stories and excerpts with corresponding descriptions of the stories and influences on the genre)
2. Ancient Shores, Jack McDevitt
3. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
4. 1984, George Orwell
5. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
6. Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card
7. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
8. Replay, Ken Grimwood
9. Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick (The author behind the movies BladeRunner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.)
10. As She Climbed Across the Table, Jonathan Lethem
11. Eternity Road, Jack McDevitt
12. A Talent for War, Jack McDevitt
13. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
14. The 5th Sacred Thing, Starhawk
15. Dancers at the End of Time, Michael Moorcock
16. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
17. Neuromancer, William Gibson
18. Virtual Light, William Gibson
19. The Color of Distance, Amy Thomson
20. Cornelius Quartet, Michael Moorcock
21. Time Enough for Love, Robert Heinlein
22. The Three California Trilogy (The Gold Coast, Pacific Edge and The Wild Shore,) Kim Stanley Robinson
23. Nova, Samuel R. Delany
24. The Fall of the Towers, Samuel R. Delany
25. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
As for my personal top 5? 5, 7, 19, 21, 25. Special emphasis on 21 and 25. Of course, you can read just about anything by Robert Heinlein and not be disappointed, most readers enjoy Orson Scott Card's ability to tell a story and in reality, what I know about Science Fiction pales in comparison to my Dad's knowledge on the subject. If I'm lucky, he'll concoct a list of his top 25 for me to post here as well.
Friday, August 7, 2009
10 Things to Think About on a Friday
You won't believe this, but today just got more Friday. As we watch the summer fade away with the last weeks of August (and how nice it'll be to have all those little urchins back in school), we sometimes must reflect. Personally, I like to reflect on the kind of insanity that has existed in the world this week. This weekend is sure to be interesting as I'll have a new roommate to introduce to y'all (be nice now), and we'll be working on getting her settled in and ready to live in California (like it's really that hard.) So, before you go drowning your workweek memories in booze this weekend or start making copies of your face on the printer, here's 10 things you can think about as the day drags to 5.
1) Well, looks like the Military is taking great concern with the possibilities for enemies to use Twitter feed to gain intelligence. Therefore, they've banned it. What I'd like to know is why the NFL feels the need to do the same. Shouldn't players be allowed to connect with fans on any level that will help raise awareness of the game? Mr. Cromartie of the San Diego Chargers decided to tweet that the training camp food was bad, and that got him a $2,500 fine.
3) In the opening of Gattaca, the time frame is given as the "Not-Too-Distant Future." Well, it looks like it's partially here already as China has started providing genetic breakdowns to parents as guidelines for hobbies, interests and future career paths. Whatever happened to growing up naturally?=
4) Those Russians are tough. Bush goes out into the woods with a chainsaw on his ranch and tries to look rugged. Putin? That guy goes out to Siberia, does the butterfly in the river and then walks around bare-chested. Who is the leader of men now?
5) California, in an effort to reduce over-crowding and free up financial resources, has decided to release 40,000 inmates from prisons throughout the system this year. No word yet on whether Charles Manson will get to be one of them, but my guess is more than a few stoners. Which is sad, because when you think about it, what is the overall cash swing when you exchange their 5 years in prison on tax dollars with the tax revenue we would have been bringing in were marijuana legal and taxed and they were smoking for those 5 years?
6) Here's an idea I can't get enough of...Ridley Scott, director of Blade Runner, bringing his vision and direction to a big screen adaptation of Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World.
7) In some bizarre tales, check out this father and daughter who disappeared together 10 years ago and have still not been found. Tragic regardless of their fates.
8) If you're a Bay Area native, what do you think the first few things the new roommate should do to get acquainted with the area?
9) If you had to choose only one album to listen to on repeat for the rest of your life, would it be Radiohead's Kid A or Portishead's Live at the Roseland Ballroom in New York?
10) Finally, my thoughts are on the sad news yesterday that John Hughes, who I most fondly remember for his direction of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, passed away due to a heart attack. Directing Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Uncle Buck and Weird Science, his movies helped define 80s youth and pop culture, as well as providing some of the more memorable quotes for a generation. Also passing away this week was Budd Schulberg, the screenwriter responsible for Marlon Brando's breakout performance, On the Waterfront. "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody."
That's it folks...next up, some more going away parties, new roommate and Madre's birthday next week. Until then, remember to tie your shoelaces.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Mariah Carey: Battle Rapper? Survey Says No.
{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}
A few words of advice: if you want to pick someone to have a battle with, I highly recommend you stay away from Eminem. He's shown himself to be a brilliant lyricist, a scathing social commentator, and absolutely unafraid of putting out every negative thing about himself as long as he still gets his shot in at the intended target. When someone has such a complete lack of disregard for his own reputation, you can only imagine the lengths he's willing to go to to take someone else down. But, apparently, the lighthearted mentions of Mariah and Jessica Simpson, the feuds with other rappers and the absolute lambasting of Insane Clown Posse that Eminem has indulged in in the past wasn't enough to convince Mariah to leave the situation alone and be happy he wasn't doing worse. No, she had to go and mock him.
If you haven't heard, Mariah's new single is called, "Obsessed," and while it could be viewed as a general assessment of any over the top fan, the video instead makes a fake Eminem the target of the label, showing him groping at her album covers, following her through town and in other ways being generally creepy. And on listening to the lyrics, there's no mistake that she's directing it at Eminem, mentioning how lame he is, how he's lying about having sex with her and he's chilling in L.A. while she's in the A. with Jermaine. Wrong move. It didn't take more than a week for Eminem to write, mix and release his answer to her video, and it absolutely slams. Eminem is at his best when he's making fun of himself while also taking shots at others. Here, he gets to do that in one take based on a former relationship, and he does so with typical rhyming flare. He doesn't just go after Mariah, he spends over 3 minutes going after everything from her house to their sex life (or what sex life there was), and throwing Carey's boy-toy, Nick Cannon, into the mix for good measure. Now, this song is so scathing and so aggressive, that my only hope is that Mariah doesn't try to escalate this further, because, really, she's already lost, and if you think Eminem doesn't have more to say, you just don't know Eminem.
For the videos to these, click here.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Kero One Interview
{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}When it comes to DIY, it doesn't get much more do-it-yourself than Bay Area born and bred Kero One. When he dropped his first album, Windmills of the Soul in 2005, he made it completely at home, charged up his credit card, released it on a self-made label, Plug, and became a hit when one of his original 50 copies found its way to Japan. Earlier this year, Kero One released his sophomore album, Early Believers, and I sat down to chat with him about his upbringing, musical history and thoughts on the evolution of the music industry.
AC: So you talk on Early Believers about your parents moving to the Bay Area. Where did they move from and was it a big culture shock for them?
KO: Well they came from Korea originally; and then they came here when I was...zero. Probably in 1978 or so. From what I understand, it's a little bit different, of course, but you know, they adjusted. What I talk about on “Welcome to the Bay,” it's just some of the experiences that I witnessed when we were in the South Bay growing up. I talked a little bit about that and also, I guess just a little bit about their adjustment in terms of, they're used to a whole different lifestyle and obviously like different types of food and things like that. But, yeah, I mean, it was different, but of course they adjusted. And then we grew up in the south bay, and you know, I've obviously lived there for pretty much all my life.
AC: Whereabouts down there, San Jose?
KO: San Jose, Los Gatos, Santa Clara
AC: So how has your family played a role in the music that you've created?
KO: Well I'd say they made me take classical piano when I was really young, so, in the sense of being forced to take piano lessons, that was a pretty big role because, even though I hated it back then, I'm pretty thankful for it because I use it a lot in my music now. And other than that, not that much because really, they didn't push me to do music; I mean, they're kinda traditional Asian parents in the sense that they wanted the more, “education thing is a big deal,” and going to a good college and getting what they understand is a good job, whether it's an engineer or doctor or something like that. So, they were really pushing for that, and, you know, honestly, when I told them I was rapping, I mean you can guess what their reaction was. Which is understandable, I guess, but now they're fully supportive.
AC: You talked about learning classical piano. That was maybe the first of many instruments you learned; did you go on to learn any others, or was that the only formal training that you had?
KO: Yeah, that's the only one I had formal training in, and I did that for 10 years almost. Technically it was probably like five years because the other five, I was kind of not really there. I hated classical music, but, when I was in middle school, I was really into punk, and I got into Primus and a little bit of rock like Red Hot Chili Peppers, and we all know, Flea and Les Claypool, ridiculous bassists. That inspired me to pick up the bass, and I started messing with the bass a little bit. So, other than that, it's just bass, piano and I play a little bit of percussion; so those are my three things right now.
AC: Do you spin?
KO: Yeah, and I DJ as well. I got into scratching quite a bit when I was in college, so I was into the whole turntables thing, try to beat juggle, flares. I DJ out mostly in the city, one off events and sometimes I go out and DJ internationally, but, yeah, right now I'm just trying to focus on the live stuff.
AC: Do you play your instruments live in concerts?
KO: Well, actually for the last show, what we did was I incorporated a little bit of live keyboard and a little bit of live drumming, but something that I've always wanted to do was play some instruments and rap at the same time 'cause I've never seen anybody really do that. I've seen people sing, but not really rap, so that's what I'm gonna be doing on my new show; just a little bit of that, and incorporate, I got a guitarist, I got a singer, and so we're definitely bringing in like the live element to the live show, 'cause a lot of the stuff on my album is actually played out, it's not samples, so it seems pretty natural to have live instruments.
AC: Out of all those instruments that you're playing, which one are you enjoying playing the most?
KO: I'd say probably the keys. I'm not stellar player in any of the instruments, but when I do play the keys, it's definitely fun when you can come up with a nice chord progression or some good solos, I’d say the keyboard.
AC: So you were talking about Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers; what are some of your other musical influences and what are you listening to now?
KO: Man, I pretty much am influenced by everything from Mobb Deep in the early 90's to John Mayer to Daft Punk, I listen to it all. Probably the only thing I don't really get influenced by is country -- I mean everybody says that, right -- country or like folk, or something, or obviously classical music. But yeah, I listen to pretty much everything; like I grew up listening to really being into the early 90's hip hop stuff, classic stuff.
AC: What was the first rap album you really got into?
For the rest of this interview, click here.
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