This doesn't seem to have received any publicity anywhere that I've seen, but.... since the show's in quite a small venue, that's probably a good thing.
I discovered this in a happy moment of serendipity last weekend at an art exhibition opening which was part of a series of events being organised this week by an outfit called Booey Lehoo. No, I've no idea what the name is supposed to mean (and the website doesn't very clearly explain what the organization or the event is), but it's apparently a promotional initiative from APSA (Americans Promoting Study Abroad), collaborating with the 100,000 Strong Initiative and the Jackie Chan Foundation in efforts to broaden the social profile of young Americans coming here to study Mandarin.
The 'main event' is supposed to be a big concert this Saturday at the National Indoor Stadium (wherever the hell that is - never heard of it!) - but the 'headliner' is a rapper called will.i.am, so that's of absolutely NO INTEREST to me.
No, the thing that's got me hopping around in excitement is that tonight they're putting on a much more intimate show at CD Blues - with a diverse bunch of blues and jazz musicians, most of whom hail from the Chicago scene and seem to have some pretty awesome resumés. [Not that any of this appears to be on the Booey website! If I hadn't happened to pick up the little booklet about their week of other arts events supporting the main concert, I'd be completely in the dark about this likely gem of a show. Aha - here it is on the website. Very well hidden!]
Apart from hotel bar residencies and the occasional mini-festival, we don't really get any significant jazz performers coming here. And we don't get visiting bluesmen at all. Harp player Charlie Musselwhite was probably the last one, and that was nearly 4 years ago.
This is my Christmas present come early. Thank you, Santa!
3 comments:
"Booey Lehoo" is someone's idea of a cute mispronunciation of 不亦樂乎 ('bù yì lè hū' in modern Mandarin reading; probably something like "*pu iek rauk xuo" at the time Confucius spoke, but of course we've all got to pretend that everyone has always spoken Mandarin). It means "is [that] not also a joy?" -- part of the famous opening passage in the Analects of Confucius: 有朋自遠方來，不亦樂乎, "Is it not also a joy to have friends come from far away?"
Sounds like it will be a joy indeed. I'll be far away -- the flight leaves in a bit less than six hours -- and that will also be a joy.
Happy Christmas, Weebs. When will you be back?
It was indeed a hell of a show. Junior Boy Jones brought the house down with the late blues set, and the supporting musicians were pretty awesome too. Possibly the best upright bass player I've ever seen!
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