Balance

Rock Sculpture at San Francisco Maritime Park

Radio Hues Now Broadcasting

1st Rule of Rock: Bigger is Louder and Louder is (always) Better

Over the past week, I've been 'facebooking' with some old friends. 

Those old friends know me better as a musician than as a teacher.

Sometimes, I think that the stage has changed but the song remains the same.

It's all about communication, storytelling, and audience participation.

I'm never too far from music. 

I collect music from around the world. I collect musical instruments from around the world.

And I try to get in an occasional jam session with local musicians.

The shot above came from the Japan Drum Museum - very cool place.

Anyway, today I set up a music page on my website. 

You can hear 10 of my songs at huesmusic.

Learning Culture Through Music: the brilliant green

One of my favorite ways to learn a culture is through its music.
In California, where all of my classes are multi-cultural, it's a great ice-breaker to have Hindi-pop or Okinawan folk music pop up during a break.

There's a lot of disposable pop made in Japan, but there is also some very good music.
The Boom, Cocco, Chara, and Nagabuchi all rank high on my list, but the brilliant green is right there as well.
Time magazine named them one of the best bands in the world a few years ago.

the brilliant green answers the musical question, "What would happen if you combined a Japanese girl raised on The Bangles with two Japanese guys raised on Seattle Grunge?"

So, you might ask, how does watching this video help to learn culture?
Here are some reflection questions... feel free to post your responses!

1. Would the title "Ash Like Snow" have resonance with a Japanese audience? Explain why or why not in 500-750 words.
   
2. Read this previous post on Japan's culture of 'kawaii'. Identify at least three 'kawaii' aspects of this video. 
   
3. Can you identify a band or artist in the US that would offer parallels to the brilliant green?Compare /contrast the brilliant green with US performers in 750 - 1000 words.
   
4. the brilliant green are also known to their fans as 'buri-guri'. Discuss the brilliant green's use of English, using their band name as one discussion point.
   
5. Extra credit for question 4 - Discuss the phrase, "I'm feeling myself again" from the video "Tsumetai Hana".

 

Metaphors and Learning

As I just finished the book "i never metaphor i didn't like" (see review below), I decided to write a few metaphors to stretch my muscles.

• "Learning is to teaching as eating is to cooking. You can't fully appreciate the former without having done the latter."
• "The Arizona desert is a kaleidoscope of rock, sky, and cloud".
• "A blog is like a journal, people regularly appear there, and it should change each day.
  A website is like a tombstone. People visit once a year, and the contents are unlikely to change."

Write a few and post them!

Learning Through Music: Deli Spice (from South Korea)

Since I'm heading to Korea in the morning, I thought I'd give you a taste of my favorite Korean rock band.

The name of the band is Deli Spice.
I've been listening to them since about 2002, when they caught my attention with a weirdly captivating cover of "Bette Davis Eyes".

Here's a video for their new song, "Missing You".



If you're curious about the video, it's from the Japanese movie "Mazon do Himiko" (available here at DVDAsian, my favorite source for Asian DVD's).
I recently bought it, but I haven't watched it yet. I'll post a review after I do see it.

The film features a couple of Japans biggest stars - Shibasaki Kou (who was in two of my favorite Japanese films; "Battle Royale" - watch the trailer here to see why it wasn't released in the US - and "Go") and Odagiri Jo (who's also doing pretty well for himself).