httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LTLEVC-sfQ
This is what happens when someone sings a song phonetically in English, but doesn’t actually speak any English. A sober reminder to the rest of us that have tried to learn a karaoke song in Mandarin or Cantonese and think that we’re “pretty darn close”.
Bulgarian Idol 2 female vocal audition sings the song Without You – Mariah Carey.
Wednesday June 16 is the 2010 Macau Dragonboat Festival. Macau is already starting to see lots of tourists coming in from Mainland China. At the Venetian Casino (where I currently work) we noticed a lot of activity Monday night. The official holiday is Wednesday but the entire week is a holiday period (does this qualify as a “golden week”, hmmm…..not sure about that.)
I’ve lived in Macau over two years now and I still haven’t seen the Dragonboat races! Because I work in entertainment, we’re always doing extra shows during the holiday periods so we don’t get to partake as much as we’d like.
The Dragonboat holiday, or Duanwu, is a very old one in China but was denied official recognition under the People’s Republic of China established in 1949. The Chinese government has re-adopted the holiday and it was officially recognized again starting in 2008.
The short story: a famous poet drowned in the water so people throw food to the fish so the fish will be fed and not eat the poet’s body. That’s the story I’ve heard from local Macanese. More details posted below.
Here’s more info on the Dragonboat festival and water races:
Continue reading “Macau Dragonboat Festival – 端午節 – Duānwǔ Jié – Tuen Ng Jit”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2FQodVKbBA
Watchmojo dot com interview some of the creators for the Cirque Du Soleil show Totem. And I’ve been told the musicians are beginning to record the Totem soundtrack album – should be wonderful!
Totem is about the evolution of man and animals, explores some creation myths and touches on man’s aspirations to go into space.
I have a friend who is an up and coming director and also a Shakespeare aficionado. They told me a few years ago, “I’m very sorry to tell you this Conrad but I have to be honest. I absolutely hate musicals.” He then went on to tell me how it just makes no sense that people break into song on street corners and an orchestra breaks in to support them.
I have to agree it’s absolutely ridiculous. And when we say “musical” we are really referring to the “American musical” phenomenon started on Broadway, the “Great White Way”. However, it’s the fact that it’s so ridiculous that makes me love it so much.
I love the television series “Glee”. I didn’t think much about it until I saw a friend post on Facebook “Is there anyone who actually likes Glee? It’s the worst show ever made. I don’t think anyone actually watches it.”
Well this is certainly a trip. A friend showed me this photo of a Freddy Fender memorial sign in Lucerne Valley, CA. And I guess it’s just a sign out in the middle of the California High Desert but to me it has much more significance.
Continue reading “Freddy Fender Memorial – Lucerne Valley, CA”
Email question received about synthesizer for the AIDA Broadway musical:
Hello:
Do you know what keyboard model was used for the original production of “Aida”? There are sounds listed (Pyramiding Glints of Dawn, Royal Bam, Punch) that I have no idea what they sound like.
I was going to wait until the uploads were finished to announce this but Google is already indexing my audio – so you can download audio I’ve written and produced at http://www.ConradAskland.net
It’s the “dot net” version of my name. The site you’re on now is “dot com”. I split the downloads into a new website because this one is already getting really bogged down with traffic.
And since I’m at it I’ll let you know that my forum which I never told anyone about is at:
http://forum.ConradAskland.com
I’ll keep doing uploads as I can and then come back here to make all the navigation between the different areas more user-friendly.