Seoul brothers come home (and other musical happenings)

If you've ever been abroad for a long spell, you know that once you return home, the most familiar things can take on a surreal character. Good pal Andrew Morgan described this splendidly in a recent blog post, which I'd like to quote from:

There are blue jays, cardinals, doves, and woodpeckers gathered around the patio birdfeeders, and the grass is half-covered with snow & dead leaves. I keep poking my head out the door to breathe in the crisp, clean air and get a look at the ever-changing sky. It's been eerie & incandescent at night, and a fast-moving assortment of transient metallic colors during the day. All of this seems a miracle to me after having been away.

Andrew's back in Kansas after quite a few months in Korea. He's got some new songs up on his MySpace page from his album, Three Months in Cook County, which will be out sometime this year. This is a picture of Andrew taken in Seoul by his Seoul-mate Kyle Hopkins.


Speaking of Kyle, he'll be coming back this week as well. If you haven't had a chance to read any of his posts about life in Korea, he's got a nice blog as well. A few of my favorite posts of his include this recollection of moments from the big city, a list of the seven words you can't say in Korea and other stories of cultural misunderstandings at their most amusing.

Here's a picture of Kyle with his students last Christmas. I can't tell you which one he is, though.


If you're in the Kansas City area this weekend, you should definitely stop by and check out Snuff Jazz at Jardine's around 11:00 or 11:30. Jardine's is a little jazz bar near 45th and Main. It's probably the exact opposite of the kind of jazz clubs that existed back when this town was rollicking its way through prohibition. It's not particularly smoky, the crowd is almost entirely white, the jazz is that of the dinner variety and if you get up and dance with anything less than the utmost restraint you'll be told it's a fire hazard (because of the candles) and asked to sit back down. So I'm excited to see what happens when Snuff comes to town.



If you're in the mood to hear some great local music but don't want to leave the comfort of your computer, then watch the most recent episode of the Turnpike, which features Suzannah Johannes. In this broadcast, the trio of Suzie, Josh and Dave perform at a retirement home (of all places), except for the last clip, which shows Suzie performing in front of a campfire with some kind of skeleton totem thing in the background. It's sweetly chilling. Or perhaps chillingly sweet.

And, as always, there's lots of great stuff for consumption at www.rangeliferecords.com. Though my favorite is probably still the video for the "Say My Name" remix of White Flight's "The Condition." In addition to being a great song, I have a soft spot for the video because I spent much of last summer in the same room where the guy locates the Space Kitty. I can only hope I absorbed some of that stardust.

Love,

LDHW