Rocketfuel’s Weblog

I think I lost interest in music around 2003. I pretty much boycotted rap and hip & hop because the whole bling-bling crap was redundant and overplayed. MTV and suits made mainstream artists look like carbon copies of each other. Pop stars are American Idol winners and edgy rock bands started incorporating that whole, “one guy rapping as the other guy angrily screams at you.” I just stopped listening to music in general. Even with K-Pop music I felt uneasy listening to a bunch of pre-teens being orchestrated by old men in suits who uses their sex appeal to attract a younger audience….so I stopped listening to it too.

For about 4 years, I’ve been listening to sports radio over music. I preferred it’s irrelevance, humor, and references to real life events instead of unoriginal songs and musicians who can’t even create a decent melody. Sports radio to me was a different transportation for news around the world that doesn’t solely focus on death, depression, and recessions. It fed my mind with information I could use to make references about life.

However, I did follow Korean pop-stars like as if they were NBA superstars, because in more ways than one…they are exactly that in Korea. They just don’t get paid as much but they have as much influence as Michael Jordan if he had chosen Coke over Pepsi. I guess that’s my guilty pleasure in life, while others need to know about Britney, I follow Korean pop-stars like rookies drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Ever since I joined the Kollaboration movement for 07-08, I’ve grown to appreciate music again, real music though. Acoustic guitars, young upstart lyricists, and people who actually make music rather than use it. It brought me back to high school when I used to listen to Tori Amos, a songstress whom I appreciated more for her piano ability than her vocals.

Music in it’s simplest form is a beautiful thing. I guess I prefer a good melody over anything else…lyrics are 3rd behind a good voice…

HOTEL CAFE

So…yesterday, I went to Hotel Cafe and watched the Ken Oak Band after I just started caring enough about them 2-3 weeks ago. They did a great job performing for a crowd that just started to trickle in and played 2 of my favorite songs, “The Biggest Problem” and “Slow Dance.” Since the venue only had a handful of seats, I had to stand up behind a pillar where I could barely watch them, but I didn’t really care. I just listened to the music and lost awareness of the environment I was in. Despite a few scratches I heard Ken make on his cello, they are a great live band. Ed Gorski, the acoustic guitarist looked a Jesus hipster and that’s pretty entertaining in itself…

Following Ken Oak’s set was another band called Lady Danville. I didn’t know who they were but I was expecting at least one girl in that band…and to my surprise there were 3 guys. After I started questioning the band’s name my friend tells me, “Bare Naked Ladies has ‘ladies’ in it, and they are all guys…” So….fair enough.

After starting off like the Brady Bunch fused with The Monkeys and John Mayer facial expressions, I started to get it. They were a band of 3 happily gay educational musicians at night and professional teachers by day…..I guess… Once I got over my barrier of uneasiness, they were really good and I enjoyed what I heard. One band member played the electric keyboard, the other an acoustic guitar, and the 3rd a box and cymbal to make drum beats with using his bare hands. They really played to the crowd, getting them excited and even managing to get half of them to sing along. Even though they had the 80’s Saturday morning cartoon vibe going on, where you learn your ABC’s and “hold each other’s hands”….the song “Anthem” was really good. They also did a cover of one of Lily Allen’s song…..but I have no clue what it was called despite recognizing it.

Anyways, that’s it…I have music back in my life….for now.