admiration

i've reviewed a lot of concerts before, but here comes probably the biggest feat for me to review.  my moms concert. it's probably impossible  for me to give a fully subjective view because she is, afterall, mom.  i've seen her perform my whole life.  in vegas, ac, singapore, hong kong, etc. in front of packed stadiums, charity conferences, karaoke parties, tv shows, plays etc...and i just took her powerhouse of a voice and superstar showmanship for granted.  a guaranteed standard, high quality everytime, anytime, anyplace without any thought at all.  but i guess it;s been hard for me to revel in moms full vocal abilities because as the jekyll mom seduced fans, the hyde mom was fighting the turmoil of supressing her stardom into a spartan housewife.   so as that 'e' over high 'c' cut through the audience during the encore, the undertones of a scolding shrilled down my spine at the same time.

"i looked down at my watch and saw 10.30pm and thought, whoa, that would mean she's just done a two and a half hour solo set"

there is absolutely no one in asia that remotely comes close to what mom brings to the table vocally.  and at her age, i don't think there's anyone anywhere that can still resonate accruately like she does.  this show, a live dvd taping, i would say, was a huge success and the people who organized did a laudable job coordinating it.  there are always a lot of conditionals in hindsight, but in comparison to some of the other shows i've seen, this show was well coordinated and ran smoothly.  this could prove to be the second coming and the stamp on yang yen's career.  (and even bigger if she coat tails my career, ha ha).  with her voice, i want her to get big, the audience should want her to get huge, represent asia, represent taiwan, a golden beacon of true vocal talent. something that has been lacking in the industry for years, stifled by pop icons and the inability to grasp music progression.  obviously we're gonna have to work on some contemporary music and modern marketing, but with this new wave of stardom...it could be fueled into something big.

the hk culture and arts center had awesome acoustics.  an intimate, 360 degree orpheum of shlacked natural oak foundation with a huge pipe organ floating in the back wing.   i got the chance to stand on stage post show and listen to myself make noise on stage and even simple stomping noises echoed a ripple vibrato around the room, just imagine that operatic.  the room was packed with 2k+ of moms, dads and octogenarians. youngin's under 6 not allowed as it said on the ticket, and i was probably the youngest there, not counting the reporters.

mom was nervous.  the thought of the dvd taping must have spooked her out a bit.  or it was the fact that she had to sing as the intro act as well as the finale.  she complained of her dress being too tight for the first set, which explained why she took her shawl swung it around in the air lasso style and flung it on the floor during the third song.  woman in the red dress with boobs so highly pushed up, the HK reporters had a field day with it afterwards, mom replied "it's the style these days".  only a select few would have noticed that the first set came off a bit awkward.  dialogue in btwn songs came staggeringly rehearsed and the songs lacked the regular vegas flare mom is used to bringing. 

the overall complaint was that there wasn't enough time to rehearse new musical arrangements with the band.  jazz arrangements posed timing issues with a free form singer.   and the addition of  songs outside of my moms staple 6 hits also arose lyric memorization issues which turned out fine, but obviously didn't allow her to fully develop her persona into those tracks. 

A change of outfit brought new life to the second set.  slammin the first song "yi duo xiao hua" with the usual acapella intro and fluidly transitioning into the rest of the songs flooded a guest showering of flowers.  u could tell that she was settling into her comfort zone, her element was about to begin.  her voice just got louder and more dominantly playful from that point on.  moving away from the old school stand and sing aura of the 70's, the concert timeline went into an interact and mild side-2-side dance sequence.  by the third set, she had the mojo fully going, absolutely KILLIN 'edelweiss', even i was impressed by her pronunciation of english lyrics.  then came 2 of her newly written songs, which i've heard about 100x but only just realized the power of its lyrics "xiang ju bu rong yi", new school just doesn't write proverbial lyrics like the old school.  then came the powerhouses.  'wang zao jun' for the finale and 'ping guo hau' as the encore.   these are the songs people came to see, and with mom belting out her notes in full comfort it gezzo'd any flaws and lag points in the past hour....a success.....

with mothers day on sunday and both me and mom going on stage to present flowers and speak a few words, its due cause for a nice publicity frenzy.  pictures snapped at me, my grandparents, at me....at me...at me....i loved it. i can't lie.  but i was nervous.  very nervous.  but im not the nervous person.  do you guys believe in pedigree power?  well....it makes me nervous.  will had a field day with that one too.

this post took me friggin long to write.  its 10am and i've been jotting down notes since 5am, why? CUZ I HAVE BAD ALLERGIES AND I CAN"T SLEEP AND NO ONE IS AWAKE AND I JUST HAD 2 COFFEES.  so...i no longer worry about taking notes during concerts...beause i now trust my writing prowess to somehow think back and recapture the moments...i do worry about missing points..but somehow they always come back..not to mention..the immediate reaction and the day after feelings are a bit different.....sometimes u want to let the concert seep in to rake over the pebbles and grab the big rocks of emotion evoked from the show.

if u know me - this is as perfect of a love-hate post as u're gonna find....

the posters on the street were really coool.....the big posters in the front of the concert hall were really cool. but THIS is the COOOOLEST.  the BACKSTAGE PASS.

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uncle choi, tai-woo, x.o. - will u missed out.  thanks for coming to the concert.