Tears in Pyongyang: Eric Clapton invited to perform in North Korea

by Justin Glow on

Would you know my name
If I saw you in Pyongyang
Will it be the same
If I saw you in Pyongyang
I must be strong, and carry on
Cause I know I don’t belong
Here in Pyongyang

According to the Mainichi Daily News, North Korean officials have invited Eric Clapton to perform a concert in the communist state. Apparently the son of Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Chol, is a big fan.

Clapton’s spokespeople, however, claim “there is no agreement whatsoever for him to play in North Korea, nor any planned shows there.”

Still, what a great show that would be. I hope it happens.

Forget Times Square, Go Jazz at Lincoln Center

by Iva Skoch on

For all the time I spend in NYC, last night was the very first time I’ve seen Jazz at Lincoln Center, at it’s “new” $128M home, the Time Warner building, at Columbus Circle.

The center moved here in 2004 from its digs a little further north, and, let me tell you, it is a terrific venue for music. Definitely worth the trip for tourists visiting Times Square for a show.

The mid-sized Allen Room is an intimate venue (less than 500 seats) where the audience faces a four-story wall of glass that gives you a 6th floor view out into the city, overlooking Central Park. It’s one of the most amazing backdrops for a concert you’ll ever see. Last night, the city lights lit up a bank of fog sitting up near the tops of the buildings. The reflected lights of the cars on Central Park South looked like raindrops cascading down the glass. And the big CNN neon sign cast red light down onto the stage. Wow.

And, and insider tip: get yourself a seat in row C, which puts you eye-level with the musicians. And sit back and enjoy.

Where on Earth, Week 41: Frank Zappa Monument, Vilnius, Lithuania

by Neil Woodburn on


Congratulations to Nuva and Oddsocks for correctly identifying this week’s Where on Earth.

It took a bit of wandering myself before I was able to find the monument featured in the above photograph, for the simple reason that government officials in post-communist Vilnius, Lithuania were hesitant to erect a bust of Frank Zappa in the center of town.

In fact, one must certainly wonder how a monument to singer Frank Zappa ever ended up in a city with which he had no connection and never even visited.

A few years ago, I had the good fortune to share some beers with one of the students responsible for this very odd monument. He explained to me in a dark Vilnius pub how he and his friends, caught up in the early 1990s euphoria of post-communist freedom, decided to honor one of their favorite American singers whom they clandestinely listened to during communism because authorities banned his decadent western music.
Amazingly, during a crazy time when all things seemed possible, the students were able to convince the city government of their worthy Zappa cause. Even more remarkable, was that the students commissioned local sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas to create the bust. Prior to this commission, Bogdanas sculpted only what the state told him to sculpt, which was mostly Lenin statues and other heroes of the socialist revolution.

So, if you happen to be in Vilnius, seek out this ironic monument and spend a moment with the underground hero of an entirely different revolution, one which communist authorities often tried to prevent by threatening to “beat the Zappa” out of unruly dissidents.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 6: Art and Culture, Pyongyang Style

by Neil Woodburn on

Infiltrating North Korea is a two-week series exploring the world’s most reclusive nation and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series, be sure to click here.

Like all communist regimes, the North Korean government considers art, culture, sports and education as integral parts of the socialist upbringing. From pre-1989 East Germany to present day North Korea, socialist leaderships have consistently provided free, high-quality education for the arts, as well as inexpensive access to performances and events. I remember spending the equivalent of a nickel to see a superb ballet in St. Petersburg in 1991. Today, North Korea has kept up this tradition despite limited resources and a waning economy.

Sports Facilities

The country’s commitment to sports, for example, can clearly be seen on Chongchun Street where, in the span of less than a mile, one can enjoy almost a dozen separate stadiums for soccer, handball, table tennis, tae kwon-do, weight-lifting, volleyball, basketball and swimming. In addition, the government has also built for its people the enormous Kim Il Sung stadium (100,000 seats), a permanent circus arena of over 70,000 square meters, a futuristic cone-shaped ice rink hall, and the May Day Stadium–one of the largest in the world with seating for 150,000 people.

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Grand People’s Study House


Perhaps the most pleasant building in Pyongyang is the Grand People’s Study House, a 30-million volume library and study hall built in 1982 and designed in classic Korean style. We spent more than an hour touring the facilities and learning about the “high-tech” system which delivers books to the librarian along an automated track. The stacks aren’t accessible and all books must be requested in such a manner–including the few Western ones available such as Huckleberry Finn and select works by Hemingway and Steinbeck.

Despite not being able to personally access the books–something actually quite common in Western Europe as well–the Study House was still rather impressive. Its 600 rooms serve as reading areas and lecture halls and naturally, every single one is decorated with portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. The lectures are free and open to anyone. Frankly, it’s a great concept in my opinion, like a free university where just anyone can drop in.

We poked our heads into a handful of lecture halls but there was only one where I could understand the language spoken: the music appreciation room. In this room students could request CDs and headphones from the librarian and then sit back and listen at one of 30 desks topped with a boombox. What was truly entertaining, however, was the example of western music the instructor proudly played for us: Chim Chim Cheree from Mary Poppins–certainly a classic of western music!

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Mangyongdae Children’s Palace


The Children’s Palace is a younger person’s version of the Study House. But instead of lectures and book reading, the palace serves as a type of after-school activity center where students can take classes in tae kwon-do, ping-pong, calligraphy, needlepoint, painting, computers, and a variety of musical instruments. The building is massive. It has almost 700 rooms, 103,000 square meters of space, and, according to my copy of Pyongyang Review, was built in a semicircular shape “to emphasize the warm embrace of the motherly Party which takes loving care of all students and children.”

I had low expectations when told we would tour the facilities, but was pleasantly surprised to discover it was one of the highlights of the trip. Our guide led us from room to room where students either performed for us (see the video at the top of this post) or allowed us to look over their shoulders as they strung beads, embroidered, or performed some other type of hobby.

Although I was a bit disappointed to learn that only boys could take computer classes, I was nonetheless blown away by the extraordinary talent we witnessed throughout our tour.

I still had to keep in mind, however, that the packed classrooms and perfectly choreographed performances had been carefully arranged for our visit and was just more of the propaganda continually fed to us during our trip. I therefore wondered just how busy this place was on a regular basis-although something tells me it’s probably not too different than what we witnessed.

The grand finale of our tour was a show in the palace’s 2,000-seat theater where the most talented students sang, danced, and played music for us. I’m usually not impressed by such displays–in fact, I’m always disappointed by how woefully terrible young students normally sound at talent shows. But this one was different. Every single student seemed to be a child prodigy who performed way above his or her age, breezing through each performance without a single mistake. The only slightly disturbing thing about the performance was the tightly regulated structure of play. Every guitar player, for example, sat in the same erect position with the same stoic face and played in the same robotic fashion as though rigidly choreographed by the army. There was no spontaneity, individuality, or squeezing more play out of the notes. On the other hand, some of the dancers and soloists certainly exhibited their share of personality and spunk, especially the spry girl featured in the video above.

Overall, the afternoon spent in the Children’s Palace was a real, unexpected treat. I’m sure it was all just another part of the smoke and mirrors intended to portray North Korea in a positive light–although I could be wrong–but it was entertaining nonetheless and I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance.

Yesterday: The Sexy Traffic Girls of Pyongyang
Tomorrow: The Mass Games

Band on the Run: Rockin’ Out in Buffalo’s Allentown

by Ember Swift on
Ember Swift, Canadian musician and touring performer, will be keeping us up-to-date on what it’s like to tour a band throughout North America. Having just arrived back from Beijing where she spent three months (check out her “Canadian in Beijing” series), she offers a musician’s perspective on road life.

We drove over the border yesterday to a sunny early evening in Allentown, a Buffalo neighbourhood that was the location of our gig last night – a bar called “Nietzsche’s.”


Allentown is cool. It’s got the vibe of a community of artists, preservationists, historians, antique-lovers, and good chefs. The latter was easy to peg via the smells of incredible cooking coming from several local restaurants and taunting our hungry selves when we really needed to be unloading equipment and setting up for sound check.

This district of Buffalo is one that we’ve been in many times. I always feel comfortable here. It’s an area of the city that borders the downtown and seems to embrace diversity. There are rainbow flags and biker bars, gourmet restaurants and late-night snack stands, funky modern galleries flanked by dusty bookstores.

One of the bookstores also sold music and had displays of their used cds and cassettes in old-fashioned kids’ wagons out on the sidewalk. Love it!

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Historically, I learned last night that Allentown was named after the original settler to this land, Louis Allen, who bought the land in 1822 (around 29 acres) and used it to farm cattle. It is said that this very street, Allen Street, was his original cow path for transferring his herds from one edge of his property to the other. In 1832, he sold his land to the encroaching city and it was developed into both residential and commercial structures. Now, the Allentown region stretches 36 blocks or a half a mile squared.

After the gear was hauled in (thanks to some friends and Kenny, the resident and helpful sound guy), I stood on the street and just looked left and right to take it all in. I imagined a bunch of cows in place of the pedestrians and cars. I wondered how they’d react now to the pavement, the bright colours, the sounds of a nightlife hub starting to come alive in the early evening. Maybe they’d just graze the leaves of low-hanging trees and ignore us all. Maybe they’d leave their paddies expertly deposited on the sidewalks in disgust and wander away to greener parklands.

I wandered a block or so to truly appreciate the paint job on the local bar called “Boddington’s.” (At least, I think this is the name of it, although I know that’s also the name for a beer. Does anyone know?) It’s painted purple and decked out in rising flames as though it were a motorcycle or hot rod. They’re beautifully painted – must have taken forever! – and the neon beer signs in the windows were like the feather in the artist’s cap.

When I came back in a few minutes later, the gear was already half set up and I had to hustle to catch up to everyone. I unpacked my guitars and pedals plugging everything in while simultaneously chatting with Kenny about his last six months or so since we’ve been there last. He asked me about China and I asked him about some good artists he’d mixed lately.

It’s always nice to come to a place and actually know the people there. I always feel welcomed at Nietzsche’s.

This venue is definitely a rock room. The old wooden stage and banisters have the faint stench of stale beer and cigarettes (although it’s now non-smoking in there.) Maybe its name has inspired proliferation, but the bathrooms are home to so much graffiti that it takes a long time to pee, I find. I can’t help but read peoples’ philosophical outpourings. (It’s all well-placed, I’d say!) There are also great installations of paper mache artwork hanging in the room from the ceiling and a wonderful busted and slightly crooked ceiling fan that hangs right in front of the stage. I always laugh inwardly at the notion that at least there will be one fan, crooked or not, that will be in front of the stage when we play.

Kenny also has a collection of small tinker toys and dinky cars that are permanently stationed at his soundboard. I asked him if he ever finds some have disappeared after the shows he has in there. They’re fairly visible and my pessimistic self figured there’d be some drunken theft here and there. He said, “Yeah, of course. But, they all just appeared anyway so it doesn’t really make a difference.” I smiled at that idea. I liked the image of these little toys just coming and going as they were meant to, not permanently attached to his sound board or to the decorative role they are temporarily playing. Sort of like a toy liberation movement. People as pawns.

After the show, we hung out for a while in the parking lot with friends before pulling away from Allen Street and staying just a few blocks away, still in Allentown. We rarely stay over in Buffalo since it’s often just a one-off show that enables us to return to friend’s places in Toronto after we play, but the tour rolls on today into more U.S. cities.

I woke up this morning having dreamed about cows and toys taking over the city when the people have all disappeared. Buildings crumbled, trees growing out from broken windows and grass taking back the asphalt.

I guess we’ll never know.

Until that day, Allentown‘s worth a visit. In fact, a spontaneous night out to Nietzsche’s will probably introduce you to a great band you’ve never heard of. They have music every night and sometimes even a late and an early show.

When was the last time you did that?
Ignore the listings. Just take a stab.

Arrive.
Order a drink.

See what happens.