Playing for an audience of ....zero! ha!

Arts & Sciences Arts & Entertainment
1

i finally did it! i managed to clear a whole pack of people in like minus 3 seconds! they were gone in a flash!

there’s a ‘save XXpark’ association that asked me to play for their signature drive. i had asked a week before if they needed anyone , and they said yeah. on sat, i went to do my show with my little Boss Microcube amp, guitar, and MP3 for my jam tracks pluged into the Microcube. micro was miked to their crummy PA. anyway, when i started on Bb blues (jazz style blues), people started clearing out, except for a few people who were obviously hip to jazz. i had a little circle of maybe twenty people. we were having fun. i finished all my songs, said a few words on behalf of the sig drive for the park. got good applause. TV people for our area were there and i got focused on. story at 10.
sunday, a reporter for XX town paper came out to interview me before the show. you know the scoop: “foriegner helps out with save XX park sig drive, introduces jazz to the masses” (threw that in). anyway, there were lots of performances first. all cute. college kids doing their thing. great time. they spent a whole minute intro-ing me in Taiwanese. when i hit the button on my tracks (we had some distortion, but they fixed it), everybody left. not one person was left. even after they got the sound okay, not ONE person came back.
i played Bb Blues, Blue Bossa, G blues Wes style, I Got Rhythm, and the only person besides the reporter and the misses was ME. and i was playing like A MFer YESTERDAY!!

i was just wondering though: if i were some kid squeaking away on a violin, they probably would have stayed. if i were some foriegner singing in his best foriegn accented Taiwanese, they would have stayed. if i had played koto, they would have stayed.
you oughta know not to come down here and force your western music down us Taiwanese people’s throats, ran the man.

maybe i should have played “Giant Steps” totally “out” and really fucked up their world.

2

Why assume some sort of racism or discrimination? Maybe they just didn’t like your music? Not everyone’s going to dig your stuff man, no matter how good you’re playing on any given day.

3

no not racism. lack of the “cute factor”. i should’ve got up there and sang some taiwanese songs in my really poor taiwanese pronunciation, strummed the guitar, and smiled like a dope.
around here, no matter how level you aim, you’re always shooting too high. taiwanese song, poor pronunciation, dopey smile, “goh ke ai, ba!” maybe i could make a record entitled “lao wai ai taiwan” which would sell zero copies but would make the news, letting taiwanese know just how important they are that even foriegners love them!(’:heart:’)
however you are right testuo. not everybody likes the same thing.

4

Hence the “or discrimination”.

5

Ran -
Your are bringing the Blues to those who have no idea what the Blues is all about. Educatin’ in the Blues.

“Preach Brother…Preach!”

6

discrimination? hmm. i’m thinking deeply, seriously.

you know, i think they hate white trash. it’s just a theory of mine. they consider playing it the way it was intended as being too raunchy. country music, jazz, , all this shit is blue eyed white trash soul. and they hate it. i’ve seen this kind of thing before. my dad used to get that in the baptist church. he played too “pentacostal” for them.

the reaction of taiwanese audiences compared to foriegn audiences in my case is 180 degrees opposite.i get dissed everywhere i go (politicians got up in the middle of my show in taipei, very big important show. that sat stil for everybody else, but i hadn’t gotten 2 chords off on the piano when they started doing that). it’s like they have to listen to everyone else but me. sometimes i wonder what i ever did to get treated this way.
thank you tainan for your encouragement.

7

I was at the show you did the other day ran and although I enjoyed it I honestly would not expect many Taiwanese to. It just isn’t their thing and that is something you will have to accept.

When I first started teaching English with movies I faced a similar dilemna in that I wanted to turn them on to all kinds of stuff that they just didn’t get. Gradually I managed to move on to films that almost everybody likes, including me. I don’t know if you’ll be able to work out the same sort of compromise with your music and I’m sure it’s a far larger challenge but I think it is about the only sane choice open to you.

8

Mando-pop with a Muddy Waters edge? :wink:
Keep your head up; you’ll find your niche when you least expect it.

9

If I were to get up, play a tune and sing, I could definitely clear the joint faster than you. Me. Sing. All kinds of wrong. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

10

Like the other posters said, and I agree: It’s not your music mate, it’s not you. Instead, it’s all about having the right audience.

No use playing country and western to blues lovers, is there?

No use playing classical opera to a stadium full of hip-hop loving English teenagers, is there? :noway:

It’s like me playing heavy metal to a bunch of 60-year olds in me hometown. Believe me, they would probably burn me at the stake because I’m a “bastard devil-worshipper”. :astonished:

Ran, take it easy mate. Don’t be too hard on yourself and the locals. Like I said, it’s all about playing for the right audience. :slight_smile:

Stanley

11

i think the reaction would have been different say, on a college campus. one thing that gets me is, if this is so, why i’ve been banned from ever playing at witch house. not that i care, but it’s wierd. but i’ve got other stuff to do i really don’t care about one bitch’s pub.

i have two shows that I’ve been asked back to do at the NTU coffee in Nov. i take the park shows to be practice for these shows, so they were really a Godsend. i now know i can solo outside my practice room( i used to pick it apart way too much, but thanks to tigerman, i’m just having fun with it now)!(’:wink:’)

“taiwan ko wei” (taiwan flavor): i wish i could make TW people see that though i don’t put TWese elements in my music, THEY INSPIRE ME. their friendliness inspires me. the rhythm of life here inspires me.the scenery inspires me. the deep philosophical treasures of their many sayings inspires me. okay, women inspire me too, but in a good way. like time standing still. looking across the racial “divide” and seeing love , real love. these things inspire me.
but they want surface: “hi, i’m a foriegner, i lovey dovey wovey taiwan, yes i do and now i’m gonna sing taiwanese songs in my best foriegner taiwanese just for your amusement”.
it’s like they NEED to be shown how important they are to the world. everything here is politics.
i can say they didn’t like the show, which i believe is the case, but nobody heard more than 2 notes. 2 notes and they were gone. couldn’t even allow me the courtesty of at least listening like they did for the dance groups. who made mistakes and had to start over even.
that’s why i like Alleycat. that guy is hardcore too. he apparently doesn’t care about “taiwan ko wei”. he just makes Italian food. of course a lot of of Alley’s patrons are foriegn, so what does that tell you? the restaurants that have a lot of locals all change to “taiwan ko wei”.
i do however, think the situation would have been different 8 years ago. but now the music industry has locked their tastes thru rigorous taste formation. just MHO.

12

How did you get banned from playing there? Just curious.

13

thanks stan. or is it… SATAN!!!
just joking. you remember the church lady, huh (dana carvey)?

funky,
the singer i used to work for asked me to go to witch house and do a solo set. when i got there, i found out it was the wed. open mic night. not just an open mic, but a competition. i don’t like competetions(wierd thing i always come in second and i don’t think music can really be a competition. everybody has thier own thing).
anyway i did my song. i got second place. like i cared. i left before the rewards were announced and heard it when i got back.
anyway, bi sexual bitch asked me to come play a show for her. she was really happy and hoped i could do a concert at her pub. that’s what she told me.
so when i came back one afternoon to chat with her about doing a show, bitch said, “oh i’m sorry, i need to hear a demo of you first”.
“but you asked me at the contest.”
" i couldn’t really hear you that well"

so like a fool, i sent her a demo. a month went by. i came back:

" when …"
" oh, i’m booked up til…"
" but my demo was here a month…"
" oh, your music dosen’t impress me"

“fuck this lesbian bitch”, i said and we left.

well i had to play bitch’s place again with my old boss. i thought about it and decided to say sorry for the fuck this lesbo bitch part.she said “forget about it.” i was sincere and helped out in the pub, setting up and all. i even took down for her. i don’t mind taking a step back. i did this every show.

well a couple of weeks ago, i went back and asked her:

“i’m sorry, i don’t like your music”.

she likes EVERYBODY ELSE’s though. but i know the connection:

my old boss told her not to. i believe this 100%.

wanna know about Eslite?:

eslite asked me to play a really important show. then they canceled when they found out from XX record company that i’m not a local.
’ im sorry. we want to let a taiwanese do this kind of show first, then foreigners".

that day, i swear, i fucking snapped.

XX record compnay had promised me a lot and didn’t do it too. i called big bitch at XX and cursed her ass. and she’s someone that, as an engineer told me, nobody but ran dared to curse.

14

I tend not to swear and curse at prospective employers. I find I get a lot more work that way. And less stress.

15

They probably shouldn’t have booked you in the first place. We’ve gotten turned down to play gigs countless times just because we play punk rock music. This is without anyone ever hearing a demo, which I really don’t have that much of a problem with. It sucks having people walk out on your set(it also sucks being in a punk rock band playing 199 miles an hour and the audience is sitting down on the ground politely clapping their hands), but it happens sometimes. Just keep on playin’ and choose your gigs wisely from now on.

16

yeah cursing never helps. at least now we have Page One, so down with Eslite!

i’m choosing these gigs carefully from now on. maybe choosing a new country(US) where i don’t have to be so “ke ai”. and guess what:

I’M JOINING TAXI!!! you know, the A&R service?

17

Ran, that’s a shill for star-struck kids! Can’t you see that? You better send them some SERIOUS emails and get some SERIOUS replies before you shell out 300 bucks a year for that. I’ve never heard of ANYone getting anything except US$300 poorer off those guys.