My trip to Shanghai

Hi, I actually wrote this email on May 9th, 2007...but, I realized that I've been putting my blog entries in the comments section!  So...there are 2 blogs that never got posted!  prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

Ok....so.  I just want to say that computers can really suck sometimes.  I actually wrote this really long blog last week when I was still in Shanghai and somehow it got erased so I got frustrated and wasn't going to attempt to re write everything that I had written...so...who knows what I wanted to say last week.  

Anyways...I'm back in HK again.  My trip was very relaxing and it felt good to get away from certain things in HK that really stress me out.  So, let's see...what has happened since?   Well....I had a really good last week in prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /Shanghai.  I got to explore a little more of Shanghai and I decided that I really don't like it that much.  The streets are dirty and when I pass the shops people are always assuming that I don't speak Chinese and asking me to buy watches or purses.  

So...what keeps me wanting to go back? Well, besides my 2 adorable yet VERY naughty nieces and my cousin, Lawrence being there.....the music is what calls me.... the music life in Shanghai is much more appreciated than in HK.  And,  I have really become influenced by   Lawrence with Jazz music.  I spent most of my nights going to JZ club listening to all of the live jazz music.  The club is quite cute.  It's located in Pu Xi on Fu Xing Lu.  I became quite the regular there...hahaha...every night there is a different band playing.  

Ok, let's start with last Monday.  Scotty Wright had asked me to sing at his last show.  I ended up singing 2 songs during his first set.  It went pretty well.  I was kind of nervous even though there wasn't really much of a crowd.  But...I think with these little opportunities I will get the experience I need to have more confidence when I perform.  Scotty has really helped me a lot with my voice and I'm really hoping that he'll decide to move to Shanghai in a few months so that I can take more lessons with him.  He is now doing a gig in Japan at the "Lost in Translation" hotel .  For those of you who take trips to Japan..you should definitely try to catch his performance there. He is an awesome jazz performer.  So, after I sang my 2 songs...I stayed for a bit and headed to JZ where Lawrence was playing with this Canadian band.  

I actually met the band the weekend before so it was really cool being able to hear them perform.  The leader of the band and friend of Lawrence's is a clarinet player named James Danderfer.  I've never actually heard jazz performed on clarinet so it was a very good experience for me.  I really enjoyed it.  The guys were soooo good!  I sat right in the front row and tried to ignore the terrible smoke that seems to always linger at the club ....but, I guess I'll have to get used to that.  I was sitting with 2 friends for a bit but then they had to ditch me....so..left alone for a bit enjoying the music..when these 2 guys came to sit with me. They were extremely loud!  I could tell that they wanted to talk to me..but, I was trying to listen to the music and almost wanted to ask them to leave my table.  Well...after the final set was over, one of the guys made conversation and said "wow that was good"...inside I was thinking...you were so loud!  Did you even hear anything?   Instead..I sort of smiled and said, yeah....then he asked me if I was with one of the musicians...and I said, yes, the guitarist...hahaha..that shut him up.  oye!  no wonder guys think I'm a snob!  hahaha  

   So....after that night I went to a few of the performances at the Jazz Festival in Fu Xing Garden.  That was May 3rd, 4th, and 5th.  I got to watch Chris Trzcinski (who played drums at my cabaret show) and EJ Parker (who played double bass in my album.  It was pretty fun though it would have been more fun if I had some company.  My jazz piano/vocal teacher, Steve Sweeting sat with me for one of the shows.  I got to take 2 lessons with him when I was in town.  It has been very inspiring to take lessons.  My goal is to be able to get to performance level with my jazz piano...so....that is going to be my new aim at playing and singing jazz music.  Ok..that was a little side track.

   So, the last day of the Festival I ended up taking care of my nieces while watching Lawrence play in the JZ big band.  I love BIG BAND!  It was a lot of fun...Anyways....I see a lot of potential in Shanghai when it comes to learning more about music and improving myself.  I've actually decided that it would benefit me more to move over there.  This will be my time of learning and really taking action with music.  I think I've pretty much decided that music and performance is what I want to do..even if it means that I'll be a poor musician..hahaha....well, we'll see what happens...