Monday Already?!?!

My first Taiwan concert! It was actually a lot of fun despite not understanding most of the concert:) But the music was good - a mix between pop and rock for the most part! The main reason we went was to see Pei-An Yang, but there was another singer that was the other half of the show (don't have his name at the moment). But he's a pop star here as well and is actually blind. He was pretty good, a little more of what I would categorize as "Adult Contemporary" than "Pop/Rock" like Pei-an was.

A few things I found interesting (non-music wise... remember, my mind already wanders a lot in every day life - but it has even more random things to think about when I can't understand what they are singing or saying). They had a runner or mat set up on the stage for the 2nd singer to know where he was on stage and could move without fear of falling off or running into anything. It was neat to see him follow it. Think of a rubber mat with runners going in one direction that would be easily noticeable on the bottom of your feet. On the ends, and in center stage, the mat was different with more of a circular effect so he could again easily distinguish where he was relative to the rest of the action on stage. Was pretty cool and not overly noticeable. Another thing was the concert hall where the concert was - the acoustics were fantastic!! Granted it only held about 2000 people (probably more appropriate for a classical concert), but you could hear everything and understand everything (presumably) without the over booming effect that I am used to at concerts.

I was in fact able to hear 3 songs in English. Unfortunately, the first one made me cringe.... I come half way around the world and the first song that I recognize was FRICKIN' JOURNEY?!?!?!?!?! Yeah, the damn 5 intro chords of Faithfully started and it took me less than 5 seconds to realize I was in the middle of a nightmare. Then to hear most of the audience sing the "oh oh oh oh" part at the end was probably one of the worst experiences since I got here. A little later in the concert with both singers on stage, the stage hand brought the non-Pei-an singer a saxophone. He was fidgeting with it (obviously getting ready to play it) and I was thinking.... that's an instrument that you don't see a lot in pop/rock concerts. I know it was with Greenday or whenever you have a back up "band"... but the only song I can remember with an exclusive sax part was that annoying one by George Mi..... then they started with Careless Whisper much to my chagrin. The 3rd song I recognized was kind of interesting. He did a couple of songs done by other blind musicians, the first being in Italian with Bocelli, then of course Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say which was kind of cool (the only one I chose to sing along with).

I also got to go backstage and meet Pei-An with his bright red hair. He said this was his first concert with the bright red hair and he said it takes him almost 10 hours to get it that way so won't do it much longer:)

My cell phone is listed on the right for anyone that needs to get a hold of me in an emergency situation from the US. Otherwise, I check e-mail daily like a good little nerd.

New Taiwan President begins his term tomorrow. There is a big inauguration and celebrations going on all day - wish the US were that lucky:( But all in due time.

My washer works really well - my days of sitting on top of it to keep it from moving are OVER! He figured out how he screwed up the installation and all is really well now there!

New pictures posted on the right of my Thailand trip. Sorry, didn't have my memory yet for my camera phone so no pictures from the concert. I should have one with Pei-An coming to me and will post that when I get it!

And for your Monday morning entertainment:



And Journey for you sick-os.... won't let me embed it.