Recycling ideas

I've posted this one before, a long LONG time ago I think, but since I'm using the idea again (that's right, I'm recycling activities from Kagoshima), I thought I'd mention it.

The lesson: Fruits and vegetables, "I like," "He/She likes"

I draw a man's face on the board.

"This is Jack. He likes fruit."

I draw a woman's face on the board.

Jill? Nope.

"This is Diane. She likes vegetables."

Of course, I'm probably the only one at work who gets the joke. Probably a good thing, actually.

"...Oh yeah, life goes on..."

Music of the '80s...

...but not as you remember it.

See how quickly you can spot this one:

のど自慢, the epilogue

Remember that singing contest that I tried out for a few months back? Well, last night was the のど自慢 contest of champions, where a large number of winners from last year duked it out for the title of "2007 のど自慢 Grand Champion". They were all really, really good. The winner from the show I tried out for was on, and did a good job, but didn't win.

The show is coming near here again in August. Should I make another attempt?

Pearls Before Breakfast

Just read this, and even though it happened over 9 months ago, I think it's too cool to not share.

Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, was asked the same question. What did he think would occur, hypothetically, if one of the world's great violinists had performed incognito before a traveling rush-hour audience of 1,000-odd people?

"Let's assume," Slatkin said, "that he is not recognized and just taken for granted as a street musician . . . Still, I don't think that if he's really good, he's going to go unnoticed. He'd get a larger audience in Europe . . . but, okay, out of 1,000 people, my guess is there might be 35 or 40 who will recognize the quality for what it is. Maybe 75 to 100 will stop and spend some time listening."

So, a crowd would gather?

"Oh, yes."

And how much will he make?

"About $150."

Thanks, Maestro. As it happens, this is not hypothetical. It really happened.

"How'd I do?"

We'll tell you in a minute.

"Well, who was the musician?"

Joshua Bell.

"NO!!!"

So I went to a concert last week

So I went to a concert last Sunday. (I got the ¥500 ticket for free.)

It was billed as "Blues Live Concert" (ブルースライブコンサート). Turns out that the name of the band is actually "Live". They were mainly an Eric Clapton cover band, with a few songs by other people as well.

The band consisted of a vocalist, a lead guitarist (not even CLOSE to Clapton quality), a bass player (actually a better guitarist than the lead) and a drummer. The rhythm guitar parts, and various other things like keyboards or horns, were covered by a CD player. They were neither insanely great nor insanely awful, but...

Why is it that the odds of an amateur band playing in a small auditorium (around 500 seats, I think) having a competent sound guy so close to nil? IT'S A TINY ROOM, DAMMIT, YOU DON'T HAVE TO CRANK EVERYTHING TO 11!

I also wondered why the bass player wasn't playing lead guitar. They played three sets, and the middle set was the bass player, solo, playing acoustic guitar and singing, and he had some serious guitar chops.

The lead guitar player, on the other hand, was merely adequate. When they played Hotel California, he didn't even bother trying to play the intro, instead just letting the CD of whatever canned MIDI box they used play it, while he played random noodling over the top. (But he did do a halfway decent run on the guitar part for "Long Train Running," go figure.)

I finally ended up leaving in the middle of the third set, when they swung into a far-too-electrified version of "Tears in Heaven."

Still, this wasn't the worst concert I'd seen in Japan.

The WORST concert I've ever been to in Japan was this guy in Kagoshima. He was just about to return to America (I think he had been a JET or something; I don't really recall.) Anyway, he thought he was hot stuff, and he rented a fairly large auditorium for a "farewell concert." In order to improve the appeal of this show, the guy (whose name I seem to have blocked out) arranged for a Latin dance group and a local acapella group to perform as well, and they were pretty good.

The guy himself, though....

As I recall, the tickets were on the pricey side, and this guy was really promoting himself as an up and coming new talent to justify this. Now, what with the hype and the price and all, I expected there to be a live band backing him up. Nope! He was using, and I am NOT making this up, karaoke CDs. What's worse, he didn't even bother using the karaoke pitch function to put the songs in a range that he could sing.

Don't get me wrong, he had a great range between F# and G...he couldn't stay on pitch to save his life. Coupled with the overacting histrionics -- the man thought he was Seal, or R Kelly, or something -- and it was all we could do to not start laughing. Lots of cringing, though. When he started doing the grand arm sweep to throw it back to his back-up singers CD player, I had to leave the auditorium before the laughter escaped.

On top of that, he pulled a real jerk move in the middle of the show that made all of us go from amusement to annoyance.

When the acapella group came out, they started with "Good Ol' Acapella," if I recall correctly, which was very well received. (After the GUY, anything that would have stayed in the correct key would have been lauded, and these guys were GOOD.) Then, the leader went into banter mode, and introduced the rest of the group. He was cracking jokes, and the small crowd was enjoying it -- finally, something entertaining!

Then they went into their second song, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Now, apparently the banter went long, and the GUY was fuming that the acapella group was actually way more entertaining than he was...so he turned the lights out on them.

They kept singing. In the dark, the GUY came out to argue with the leader. Finally, the leader cut the song short, and left the stage -- but with a loud ovation from the audience.

At the end of the show, the dance group came out for a final bow with the GUY, but the acapella group was nowhere to be seen...Go figure.

YouTube - 花(すべての人の心に花を)-夏川りみ

...and this is what the song sounds like.

(I'm doing a different arrangement; both the original and this version are way too high for my voice.)

Hana (Flower)

Lyrics check!

This is not a professional translation; far from it, actually. Still, I hope I got the gist of it correct. Or something...

川は流れてどこどこ行くの
人も流れてどこどこ行くの
そんな流れがつくころには
花として　花として
咲かせてあげたい

The river flows, where does it go?
People also flow; where do they go?
That kind of flow at a certain time
will bloom as a flower

*refrain:
泣きなさい、笑いなさい
いつの日か、いつの日か
花を咲かそうよ

Go ahead and cry, go ahead and laugh
for someday, the flower will bloom

涙流れてどこどこ行くの
愛も流れてどこどこ行くの
そんな流れをこのうちに
花として　花として
むかえてあげたい

Tears flow, where do they go?
Love also flows, where does it go?
That kind of flow within you,
In that direction will rise

*Refrain

花は花として笑いも出来る
人は人として涙も流す
それが自然のうたなのさ
心の中に，心の中に
花を咲かそうよ

The flower, for the flower's sake we can laugh
People, for people's sake the tears flow
This is the song of nature
within the heart, within the heart
the flower will bloom

泣きなさい，笑いなさい
いついつまでも、
いついつまでも
花をつかもうよ

go ahead and cry, go ahead and laugh
For forever
we will still use the flower

(Not sure about that last bit)
(Or, in fact, most of of it)