Nobody knew what the Shannon would be like for per…
Nobody knew what the Shannon would be like for performing. Dave had never been there, and the only kind of bands I’d ever seen there were over-amplified cover bands. Still it was the night before Christmas Eve, so we weren’t counting on a huge audience anyway.
I got a ride with Jojo and Sandy, a good thing since I was hauling not only my trumpet (the strad, not the poaquet), but also the washtub bass assembly. We got there to find Dave moving mic stands around and a handful of people sitting around. I met a couple of guys, both fashionably dressed. One of whom was the manager of the bar, but the other…well, I’m not sure in what capacity he was there. He acted like a manager or an agent, but as far as I know we don’t have an agent. He said don’t worry about the bill for the drinks, which was nice, though.
The show went pretty well, though I am still getting used to playing trumpet and bass, sometimes both in one song. We really need to organize who plays what, when and how. Playing the washtub takes a lot of concentration, but I enjoy getting actual basslines out of something that looks so bizarre.
The crowd seemed to enjoy the show; the second set went better than the first, as usual, but we only played for a couple of hours. Afterwards I was ready to keep on playing, but there were no convenient parks around to set up and play in, so we just hopped in a cab back to Xindian.
On Christmas Eve I went to a Christmas concert at the CKS Concert Hall with Darrell, Judy and a couple of their friends. At first I thought it would be a normal concert, but as the orchestra started up the entire place lit up like a karaoke bar, with lights flashing and strobing all over the place, including the audience. Periodically the lights threw strange shadows that made the back of the stage look like they had impaled a bunch of cockroaches on tinsel strands. I was expecting a disco ball to drop down at any moment.
The first piece the orchestra played was a warm up Christmas medley, and they sloughed over the jazzy part of Sleighride without the jazz. Then they played “The Polar Express”, which involved bilingual descriptions of every scene in the film and lasted longer than the actual movie. The woman in the seat next to me fell asleep; the guy next to Darrell pulled out a book and started reading.
Then the chorus came on stage and saved the director’s ass, they sounded so good. The director, to be honest, didn’t quite seem in control of the orchestra. You know that feeling when you’re sitting in the passenger side of a car driven by a teenage girl who just got her license? It felt like that, except I didn’t maintain a death-grip on the seat in front of me.
After the concert we retired to Darrell’s and Judy’s apartment, where we watched some videos amid the sea of canine activity that their abode has become. By the time we finished Chris Rock’s hilarious Bigger and Blacker, it was after 2am.
Christmas Day found me back in Jingmei for a delicious dinner including turkey and stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, several pies and a birthday cake, complete with embarrassing singing and candle-blowing. Judy made the cake, including the icing, herself. In case you didn’t know, Taiwanese cakes are all variants of sponge cake and involve inappropriate kinds of fruit, so real cake was a welcome change of pace. One of Judy’s friends had lost her voice (“teacher’s larynx”, I think they said) and spent the evening entertaining us with her Harpo Marx impression.
On Boxing Day, Sandy, Jojo and I went to our friend Ray’s apartment to help him with a video he’s making for a course. His place is across the river, not far from the Sandcastle. The view of mountains and trees almost makes up for the small size of his room. Later we went to Xiao Bitan station for a nice Chinese dinner and a look around the station itself, which is by far the nicest MRT station in the system.
So it was a nice Christmas weekend, all told. Next we have New Years and the last stretch before the real holidays, aka Chinese New Year, arrive.
About a week ago I found that my Yahoo password was no longer working. I tried to get a new one but they claimed my zip code didn’t match the one on my records, which is odd as I don’t think I entered one. Taiwan has area codes, but they’re not mandatory so I never enter them. I tried several times to actually contact a human being at Yahoo but all I ever got were form letters repeating that they needed the zip code. I answered all the other questions, even the “secret question”, but it’s not enough. I even contacted Ernie, who works at Yahoo, but he couldn’t help. Yahoo simply decided to change my password, locking all the items in my briefcase, denying access to services I’d paid for, and just leaving me hanging out to dry, with absolutely no customer support whatsoever.
Nice business model, guys. How’s your market share these days? Oh, good for you.
