eveninghawk’s links

五月天 is one of my more favorite bands here in China. They’re actually Taiwanese, but they listen to everyone here, be they from Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, or mainland China. Their newest music kinda saps out and attempts to sound like any of the “boy bands” out there, but I like a lot of their older songs, including my song of the moment: 温柔 (tenderness)

Actually, I found a pretty neat listing of the lyrics and a fairly rough translation, and if you’re interested in a band that always sings about a poor broken hearted guy, this is certainly the band for you!

We’re closing in on the one year anniversary of Nina Simone’s passing. Do you know who she is? I think you should. There are lots of people who we don’t know, don’t remember, don’t educate ourselves about.

Jazz and blues are movements I think that every American at least should bother trying to get some grasp of, if for nothing else than to have a modicum of cultural understanding… American music history holds ties to every major issue that has gone on in the history of the country, so while you can jam and listen to things you can also get a clue. I think this is important, and I think it will influence my choices in teaching at ESP in the future.

So today, my little thought is to spread a little knowledge of Nina Simone out there. Why? Because she was an amazing creator of music, she got fed up with the US and left, not only because of how people who were culturally “other” saw her, but also because of the way black people acted towards her. She was a civil rights activist, and a very smart opinionated woman who made an amazing amount of music. She’s somone we should learn from.

So, here are your resources for self education:

Nina Simone Web be careful, the home links in the pages don’t work

Nina Simone - The Official Web Site

Nina Simone: Break Down and Let it All Out

I have been sitting in an internet bar looking for a form of interesting auditory substance to support both my reading and writing and happened across a little nugget that I should have noticed much earlier.

6 music from the BBC is truly quite neat. I like the station a lot. All of the channels are quite worth surfing, in my opinion, since you could always afford to learn something.

I am listening to one of their programs called the

I really liked this tune called “Plastic Lions” from Eberg on a show called Freak Zone. The show I’m listening to is being guest-hosted by Paul Morley, and it’s very interesting. The fact that this is an Icelandic musician’s piece seriously has me thinking that there is something going on there that has a pull to me. I really like this, and I wonder if maybe there is something there that has a tie to a creative part of me.

My curiosity was piqued by an interview with a band called Scissor Sisters. I feel truly out of the loop when I listen to stuff like this, but their interview and musical tastes made me feel welcome all over again. It was a nice feeling, compared to the horrors of taking a look at the MTV website.

I really appreciate musicians who work hard and make a presence online. There’s something about it that I just find really appealing.

Aside from which I like good musicians who make it possible to listen to at least some of what they do while I am here overseas.

Today I followed a link to Terra Naomi’s work. It’s really neat, in my little opinion, and definitely worth checking out.

The other female performer online who amazes me is
Vienna Teng. Also most definitely worth checking out.