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Wednesday, July 30, 2008 The King of Fruit It's the world's smelliest fruit. In Southeast Asia, it's actually banned from hotels and public transportation. And it produces strong reactions. To its detractors, it smells like rotting onions, dead cats, or skunk. To its faithful lovers (and there are many) it smells sweet, at least when it's fresh. Victorian naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace once wrote, "To eat durian is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience." And I agree. But then again, I grew up eating this stuff. Durian is grown in Southeast Asia, and due to its short shelf life and potent smell, it's rarely exported to the West in whole form. Exported durian usually consists of the edible part of the fruit removed from its husk, boxed, and frozen--the texture is rather off-putting. But every trip I've taken to Singapore since I moved as a kid has involved at least a couple of expeditions to roadside stalls where most of my family (my brother and one uncle despise the fruit) would take in piles of durian and open them with help from the seller, who was always known by some family member as "his" durian seller. It's my favorite fruit--you might call me an addict--because when else can you eat something with the texture of custard and consider it healthy? (I've also decided that while the taste will probably never grow on someone who hates it at first bite, it becomes progressively more addictive to those who do enjoy it. It's not called the King of Fruit for nothing.) So imagine my surprise when I saw fresh durian in the Asian grocery store. Incredible! After making my purchase (a rather steep $37--but then again it's cheaper than a ticket to Singapore) I called my parents to tell them the news (and ask for advice on how to open the thorny husk, a feat I'd always left to the durian seller or some other, more experienced family member). After some tricky maneuvering involving a knife, towels, and a bottle opener (as a lever) outside so that my apartment wouldn't smell, I was treated to the best example of durian I've experienced outside of Asia. It was good enough that I'm craving more. The verdict from Americans? Bryan found it surprisingly palatable given the smell and his misadventure with durian ice cream in Singapore (durian-flavored items tend to taste rather terrible, in my opinion--you have to eat the fresh fruit, preferably slightly chilled), but my roommate thought it tasted like old onions. Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods is happy eating roasted bats, raw frog hearts, and lizard blood cocktails--but the one food that defeated him utterly? You guessed it. Yum! Labels: Asian culture, food, Singapore ^ Top | 12:38 AM | | | 
Monday, July 14, 2008 The A-List TV Wow, this has been my longest break from blogging in six years. But it's over now, and I have a treat for you: video of my last Chicago concert, combined with an interview with the lovely Janelle Mascarenas from A-List TV. The A-List is a Chicago-based web TV show highlighting Asian-Americans, fashion, music, nightlife, and film. Check it out! Labels: Asian culture, Chicago, performing ^ Top | 1:21 AM | | |
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Promoter's Ordinance Tabled! Great news! The Promoter's Ordinance is being pulled and will not be voted on tomorrow--it's going back to committee, but apparently they're going to ask for more input from the entertainment community this time around. Thanks to anyone to contacted their alderman and the 6000 people who signed the petition at Save Chicago Culture, and the various venue owners who met with City Council members. So for now, the ordinance is something we don't have to worry about, though it'll be worth keeping tabs on. What a relief. Labels: Chicago, music industry ^ Top | 1:34 AM | | |
Monday, May 12, 2008 Save Chicago Music In short, the City of Chicago is planning to rush through an ordinance on Wednesday that will severely damage the live music scene (and theatre and DJs, among other things) if passed. In summary:
Very, very few performers would be able to afford a $500 license fee (much less one for every venue they play at!), and few small venues could afford it either. If you live in Chicago, please contact your alderman before Wednesday, when the City Council will be voting. Click here to find your alderman. Labels: Chicago, music industry ^ Top | 11:25 AM | | |
Sunday, March 23, 2008 Randomness Turns Six Back in 2002, hardly anyone knew what blogging was--when I mentioned starting a blog, one of my friends asked, "But why would anyone want to read about what you're doing?" Flash forward six years, and it's rare for anyone not to have--or tried to have--a blog, probably allowing it to die within a few posts (in 2004, the best stats I could find indicated that 26% of blogs were abandoned upon creation, and 40% abandoned within 126 days). So it's a belated bloggy birthday. In fact, I nearly missed it myself. As of February 28, Randomness is officially six years old--not a bad amount of time to be writing. Labels: blogging ^ Top | 5:04 PM | | |
Thursday, February 28, 2008 Encores Performing in cafes you don't ever expect your audience to demand an encore, but last week at the Heartland Cafe I played for a fantastic crowd that wouldn't allow me to leave the stage. The first encore was quite a surprise, and after asking for a vote I played another song on the guitar in honor of my roommate--she's always asking me to play the "French song." Though now there are two. The second encore was on piano, at the request of the the lovely Annah Zaman, who played before me: "You have to play another one on the piano, because I wasn't in the room just now." After two additional songs, I thought the encores were getting a little ridiculous--not so much that people wanted me to play, but rather that I didn't want to overstay my welcome, so to speak--and I had to pay my food bill, since my server was leaving. Annah, however, volunteered to pay the bill if I played another song on piano. Realizing that she was serious, I played number three. Then I ran, because it would have been strange to become another Evgeny Kissin (if I had half his piano chops I'd be thrilled, but I was once at a concert where as an audience we kept clapping just to see if we could make him keep playing--he played six encores that night). Thanks so much to everyone who came to the concert--you were a fabulous audience, and I hope to see you again soon! Labels: performing ^ Top | 1:23 AM | | |
Sunday, February 17, 2008 Tidbits It may be due to the fact that I'm an English geek, but the SPOGG (Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) blog is rather amusing. March 4th this year is National Grammar Day--the first one, I believe, of its kind. Anyone want to celebrate with me? I've been listening to the soundtrack from Once for the last seven hours. Last week I was fortunate enough to get comp tickets to the CSO's performance of Ainadamar, a work that hovers somewhere between opera and modern musical theatre--in Diana's words, "I'm on stage for about 90 minutes (of awesomeness) with 14 other Symphony Chorus ladies, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a flamenco singer and flamenco guitarists and percussionists, a laptop musician, and an opera cast lead by Dawn Upshaw." While the performance reminded me of why actors are always joking about how opera singers can't act, the music was simply stunning. At a couple of points, a gypsy singer appeared on the balcony--and just a few notes were enough to steal the show. I would love to sing like that. ^ Top | 1:52 AM | | |
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