So long Samoa. Fun times in Fiji. March 18, 2009

Where have you guys been?

In short, we’ve finished up our in Samoa with a second primary school concert. The kids were equally enthusiastic and just about as loud as the first group! We also got a chance to perform with our new friends from the Samoan National Orchestra, and it was enthusiastically received. Our final day in Samoa was spent enjoying the island beaches. Chad enjoyed another round of Golf and Mark even went snorkeling!

We’ve got plenty to say about Fiji, but our intenert access time is limited, so we’ll be posting our final two updates in the next couple days. After we return stateside we’ll be compiling pictures and adding general enhancements (and proofreading!) to our past posts. There will be plenty to share and plenty to see, so please keep visiting. While we won’t be overseas anymore, there are still plenty of adventures to be had in the Northwest. I’d like to think that “blog-grass” will catch on.

-Julio

Talofa! (Samoa, March 9-11.) March 14, 2009

After two days of travel which included an nine-hour flight over Australia, an overnight in Aukland, New Zealand, and a touch-down in Tonga, we arrived in Samoa around 10:30 PM, greeted by a quartet of Samoan musicians who made baggage claim a bit more…well…musical. It was a great touch, though I initially wondered if it must be tiring playing for every flight that rolled in. Our embassy escort let me know, however, that only two or three flights come into Samoa daily, so on second thought, it’s a pretty sweet gig!

We woke up on Tuesday, March 10th for the second day in a row (thank you, international dateline) for a day off which included a bit of venue scouting, sight-seeing, a few naps, and walks along the waterfront. Our hotel, Aggie Grey’s, provides a spectacular view of the ocean, mountains, and horizon. While I may be a bit iffy around spiders, I didn’t mind a few small lizards hanging out in the corners of my room, as long as they didn’t mind me sleeping there as well (In the bed, of course. Not the corner). Chad and Mark squeezed in a round of golf, and both agreed that it was the most beautiful course they had ever played on. Now this is what we call a rest day!

On Wednesday, our first show in Samoa ended up being our biggest show thus far! As we completed our setup, the students entertained themselves (and us) with some fantastic group singing. Recalling the musicians singing in baggage claim, we quickly realized that we’d have to be on top of our game vocally with this crowd. The show was mainly a performance, but included some presentation and Q&A time. We kept the emphasis on performance though, since not only was the crowd huge, they were LOUD! The combination of the staggering numbers (1000+ students) and the sheer enthusiasm of the students made for a “Yee Haw” from the crowd that was borderline deafening for us onstage.

In short: Great crowd. Great gig. Great time.

A government-funded organization to promote music education and lessons, the Samoan National orchestra consisted of some formidable violinists (with one doubling as a bassist!), a guitarist, a choir, and a musical director with big plans for the future. We conducted a short workshop with the musicians, read through some small ensemble arrangements, and stuck around to chat with the musicians and parents afterwards. As an added bonus, the show made the cover of the national newspaper, with a color photo of Liz jammin’ “La Cucaracha” with the local aspiring fiddlers.

We ended the day with a dinner at the Ambassador’s residence, where we had a chance to chat with some American military and Peace Corps who were also making Samoa their temporary home. We earned our dinner by playing a few tunes, and returned to the hotel to prepare for our upcoming TV interview and public concert the following day!

March 5-8 Jakarta March 9, 2009

My first impression of Jakarta was very similar to my first impression of Bangkok in many ways. It was a much larger and more modern city than most Westerns assume, and you have to sit in traffic for about an hour and a half to go just a few city blocks. No worries though – our schedualers took all of this into consideration, so there was never any having to rush to avoid being late.  Not to mention that many events in Jakarta work on “Island” or “rubber” time – meant to be stretched.

Our first show was at the famed Rolling Stone Magazine office/venue. We shared the bill with two local bands: The S.I.G.I.T. and “White Shoes & The Couples Company.”  The White Shoes and The Couples Campany in particular seem to be making a real name for themselvs. Their pop/rock/acoustic sound has earned them much local fame, American tours, and even a slot on the upcoming South by Southwest Festival. The Show went great – it started two hours late, we got to do a bunch of media interviews, and it was one of the most energeic and singing alongest crowds we’ve ever played for.

The next day began with two very inspirational workshops. The first was at the Rawinala Foundation, where music is used as theropy for blind children. They played a great kind of music that was a mix of Western and Indonesian musics. So they had guitars, drums, keyboards, gamelans, and all kinds of cool instruments. We played for them, they played for us, then the workshop ended in a huge jam with all of us. We kept playing song after song as the staff and families danced along. The second workshop of the day was at Jakarta State University. There was a student group that once again mixed a lot of traditional music with Western, this time including beatboxing and even some freestyle rap. Very cool.

The next day’s workshop provided the most surprising moments of the tour so far. After we played and spoke for a while, we were followed by a group of Jakarta bluegrass musicians. Top notch at that. They knew all the standards, so of course there was a huge jam session at the end. Also, the event was at a park only a half mile away from where Obama went to school. Small world.

We were then rushed to the Java Jazz Festival. Over 65,000 people, over 1,000 musicians, and only one bluegrass band! As normal for any festival, there were crazy mixups about when we played and on which stage, but it was all worked out. It ended up being an excellent stage/time, because it was right in front of the entrance line, just a couple hours before Jason Mraz was to go on. So we had thousands of jazz and pop fans hearing us as they stood in line. I’m sure many of them wondered what kind of crazy new jazz they were hearing!

So after many many hours in transit (many!), we’ll see ya’ll in Somoa! (Many Hours.)

-Chad

Magic in Medan March 7, 2009

We’re about three fifths of the way through the tour, and I have a new favorite show.

In our first workday in Medan (we had the first day off), we performed two concerts. Our later show was poolside at our hotel, the Hotel Danau Toba. It went incredibly well and we had the amazing opportunity to jam with members of the Band Komunitas Jazz Medan, who joined us on drums and guitar for “Don’t Bring Me Down.”

The earlier show, was a “Street Jammin’” gig with Medan street performers. In attendance, were dozens of locals and easily over 100 young children. While the kids did not immediately warm up to us (As is normal for me, I smiled and waved and a few babies cried in response), they became more responsive when Mark started offering high fives and Liz took a couple enthusiastic fist bumps (*ouch*).  As the kids warmed up to us, we began handing out Student Loan bumper stickers. Immediately, several dozen children mobbed us to get their hands on them. We fortunately had enough for all of them, and in a matter of minutes Student Loan stickers adorned everything from walls and shirts, to foreheads and shins.

What started out as light rain escalated quickly to a smattering, a drizzle, a steady downpour, and eventually an absolute deluge. Our concert crew demonstrated some quick thinking and rather impressive acrobatics as they set up a tent to keep us dry, but the rain apparently took it as a challenge. Eventually the stage was set up and the street musicians began their short set. They sang an original song and an Indonesian traditional song, and we didn’t let leaky umbrellas and an unrelenting rain stop us from enjoying it. They were fantastic, and we would have been even more impressed if we’d seen what awaited us on stage.

By the time we were ready for our set, the rain had turned to a full-on downpour and there was nowhere for me to stand to keep my feet dry, leading to me abandoning my waterlogged shoes and opting for bare feet. We did our absolute best (with some degree of success) to keep the instruments dry, and the electric upright bass simply wasn’t going to happen. With microphone cables sitting in standing water, a leaky roof, a river up to our ankles running under us onstage, and myself on acoustic guitar, we gave Orange Blossom Special the best shot we could. It probably wasn’t our best, but the crowd immediately erupted in dance and applause, needing no prompting whatsoever to get into the spirit of things.

My guitar skills not being quite ready for more burinin’ fiddle tunes, we slowed it down and opted to follow with “Wagon Wheel,” and closed with what has nearly become the anthem for our trip, “Country Roads.” We managed to save the instruments from water damage, but keeping our clothes dry was a lost cause. Chad later said that there’s a certain point where the heavy rain turns from frustrating to fun. We had definitely passed that point. Soaked to the skin, we gladly stuck around for photos, high fives, “Obama bumps,” and pinky handshakes with what may have been our most enthusiastic and crowd so far. The adults and especially the kids had a great time, and we even had an entourage of excited attendees (mostly children) follow us to our vans.

Pure magic.

-Julio

Vietnam: Too short, but sweet! March 6, 2009

Note: We had some minor blog technical difficulties, and were also out of internet area for a few days. As you might realize, we’ve fallen a bit behind. In the next few days we’ll be updating frequently to catch up! Sorry for the delay!

Our late night arrival in Vietnam gave us our first taste of tour-enduced exhaustion. Up until now, we were flying high and having fun taking it all in. However, the two week mark came around (I believe two weeks is exactly the time Monak, our tour manager, gave us), and we all were starting to feel a bit weary.

Another group of friendly and helpful people met us at the chaotic Hanoi airport, and we grabbed our luggage and ventured off into the insane city traffic in our bus. And by insane, I mean crazy! The traffic in Hanoi cannot be properly described with words – you must experience it yourself to truly understand it.

Offer me $1,000 on a dare…I wouldn’t drive there. Granted, everyone has their price. But I’m not sure what mine would be.

***Julio’s side note***
We’ve seen more motorbikes in the last few weeks than we’ve seen in our lives. Perhaps more amazing is the surprising number of items being transported via motor bike/scooter. After seeing some particularly memorable ones in Hanoi, we stopped to recall a few.

Top 10 memorable items transported via motorbike:

• A family of five.
• An armoire (at least six feet tall)
• A live pig
• A television (balanced on the handlebars, powered off)
• A sizable bass amplifier
• A few dozen jugs of antifreeze
• Several bushels of bushel baskets.
• Approximately 50 cases of mangoes
• Lumber (10 foot slats)
• A full sized refrigerator

***Julio returns the mic to liz***

Thankfully, we were able to sleep in a bit the next morning, which alleviated some of the exhaustion we were all feeling. Our first (and only) workshop in Vietnam was at the National University for Art Education in Hanoi – art, music, and theater teachers in training. We got some really great questions from the crowd. Everyone seemed really interested and enthusiastic about bluegrass, which many people had never heard before.

After the workshop, we went over to the American Center and gave another short performance, followed by a very nice reception. I was interviewed by a newspaper writer who had never seen this kind of American music before. She seemed very appreciative that we were showing people a different side of American music, because most people are only familiar with rock/pop music. Julio was interviewed by Vietnam TV, which is a major television network in Vietnam! They asked really tough questions, including, “If you had one sentence, what would you tell the students about the purpose of your tour?” As Julio wrote in a previous blog entry…this was one of those “where am I?” moments.

As what seems usual on this tour, the people we met in Hanoi were gracious, warm, and friendly, and we met plenty of people that will be very hard to forget. But there was not too much time to process our day in Hanoi, because the very next day we were off to Ha Long City.

The drive through the countryside evoked some deep thoughts. Most of my knowledge assumptions of Vietnam come from my high school education of the war and pop culture references…not necessarily the best sources, not to mention that the war ended almost 40 years ago. However the images I had in my head were definitely realized during the drive: jagged mountains in the distance, rice paddies, palm and coconut trees, rows of farmhouses, big-horned cattle plowing the fields, and farmers with their distinctive conical hats. Along with these images, though, I had time to think about my experiences in Hanoi. Despite the country looking like I was expecting, I was coming to realize that Vietnam is an entirely different place than I thought it was. I believe our country’s perception of Vietnam is vastly outdated.

Ha Long Bay was gorgeous. We stayed in the tourist section of the city, which overlooked the water and the mountainous islands. I actually thought that the city was much smaller than it turned out to be, because the tourist section of the city is kind of split off from everything else. When we went into the “real” city for our show, we got a better idea of what Ha Long was like.

We played a show that night for around 200 people, who were all quite shy but seemed to enjoy it just the same. ☺  Then, back to our hotel, and then back to Hanoi the next day!

Our tour in Vietnam ended very well. We played in a beautiful theater that had an incredible sound system. The crowd was enthusiastic, with a couple of “yee-haws” and “woots” thrown in here and there. We got to meet some audience members after the show, which is always great…we love giving away free stuff and talking with people!

It seemed like our visit to Vietnam had ended just as it had begun. The first day we were there, I would hear “you’re in Vietnam,” but I would think, “…uh…Burma?” with some vague recollection of once being in Thailand. Everything is getting strung together in my head – I’m very glad we are keeping a blog (I’m keeping a personal journal as well) to keep it all straight. Our visit here was short – only three full days! It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t stay longer, but there is no time for lingering, and no time for regrets on this tour! Thanks to everyone who made the shows and workshops possible in Vietnam. It was a wonderful experience!

-Liz

To Mandalay and Back March 1, 2009

We’ve gotten a little behind here on the Student Loan blog so I will try to update you and hit the highlights of the last few days. Here we go:

We traveled to the city of Mandalay in Myanmar on February 23rd where we checked into our very nice hotel. They even had warm baths with rose petals in them for us when we got to our rooms! That afternoon we toured Mandalay visiting a shop where the handmake goldleaf for the temples, a street where all the shops are marble carvers, a local youth traditional music and dance troupe, and a school run by a kind and wizened Buddhist monk.

The school was (for me anyways) the best part of the day. The monk (I wish I remembered his name!) started the school many years ago and it has since grown to fill a much needed void in the local community. There are 10 monks at the school, 100 monks in training, 250 teachers, 7000 students, and 400 orphans who call the place home. There were 5 computer labs (how many schools in the US still don’t have computers?) and a health clinic that serves 100 people a day. They can even do eye surgery there! It was a very moving experience and it was amazing to see what one dedicated monk with a desire to help others could accomplish.

The following day (Feb. 24th) we did a 3 hour workshop with the Myoma Mandalay Music Group. This was a really fun group and they were filled with all sorts of questions about our style, instruments, playing techniques, etc. We also listened to some of them perform which was a fun treat and then spent a bit of time after the workshop meeting people, taking photos, and so on. It was a great time!

That evening we were scheduled to have an outdoor performance for about 300 people. The local government would neither grant nor deny us permission to play (nobody wanted to piss off the higher ups) so there were a few question marks as to whether or not the concert would actually happen. We had a security attache’ who had several meetings with government officials and in the end the concert took place as scheduled (although we never actually got permission to have it). This was the first performance by a western group in Mandalay in over 40 years and everyone was very excited about it. As we began playing the crowd grew larger and larger until we had well over 450 people inside the venue and several hundred more who stayed outside and watched through the fence for fear of government retribution. They loved us! As soon as we finished playing we were mobbed by the crowd who were grabbing us for pictures, hugging us, shaking our hands, getting autographs and just generally ecstatic. We spent well over an hour meeting people after the show. All in all a huge success and a wonderful day.

On February 25th we traveled back to Yangon and did an unscheduled performance at the American School there which was fairly short and unadvertised but still managed to have at least a hundred people at it. We had dinner at the home of our guide from the embassy and then returned to our hotel to spend our last evening in Burma.

Burma/Myanmar was a fantastic country to visit and way above any of our expectations. The view we get of Burma in pop culture (Rambo 4 anyone?) was not at all what we actually experienced and while it was quite obvious that the government is paranoid and overzealous, we found the Burmese people to be kind, warm, friendly and just generally wonderful. Add to that the beauty of both the landscape and the Buddhist temples (which are everywhere and some are as much as 3000 years old) and Burma is one of the greatest places on earth. The morning of our departure arrived with sun-up on the 26th and we made our way to the airport to travel to Vietnam and the next chapter of the tour.

-Mark

The Loan gets interest… February 23, 2009

Yes, we hate verbal puns as much as the next person, but we just had to say it. Someone said it here and we just couldn’t keep it to ourselves.

Our D.C. interview/promo video has been posted to the U.S. State department’s cultural exchange page. You may view the video at:

http://exchanges.state.gov/multimedia/studentloanvideo2.html

You’ll see a few clips from our interview and performance at the National Geographic Society. It’s quite well done, coming in a close second behind our music video.

More updates coming soon!

“No. Thank you.” February 22, 2009

Greetings!

While the reality of what we are doing is finally sinking in, we still feel an immense gratitude for the opportunity to be sharing our music with all of these people and communities. Our gratitude for this opportunity, however, pales in comparison to the gratitude of our audiences, many of whom have never experienced bluegrass, let alone a live show of American music by American musicians. We aren’t simply music ambassadors, we are bringing something entirely new, and at the end of the shows and workshops, the sheer excitement of our audiences often leaves me speechless.

Our workshop at the American Center with local music students involved a lot of music, some extensive Q&A, and even an impromptu jam session with an exceptionally talented local guitarist. “I want to know if this song is bluegrass,” he asked, and we invited him up to share. Before we knew it, we were having an old fashioned bluegrass jam, doing our best to follow along as he sang a Burmese(?) folk song. If it wasn’t bluegrass, it certainly was now. Following the workshop, he approached me and asked if I could jam a little jazz with him, and I happily obliged. He along with many of the others shared their varying degrees of knowledge about Western and non-Western music, and we chatted it up afterwords with them on every subject from Hip-hop (“I like Timbaland and Kanye West.”), to digital recording studios (“What mixer would you recommend for my digital studio?”), to American popular music (“Nickelback!”).

Our show at the International School in Yangon was extraordinarily well-attended, with an eager audience that applauded solos, songs, and sometimes just for the sake of getting involved. Their sensitivity to the subtleties of the music was astounding, and responding to the energy of the audience had me nearly exhausted by the third tune! We called up our friend from the workshop, and he joined us onstage to perform his newly ordained (or confirmed, I guess) bluegrass tune. We had the pleasure of meeting our audience following the performance, and got caught up in that exchange that has become almost routine by now (“Thank You!” “No. thank you!” “No, no. Thank you!” “No, no. Thank you.”). When it means more to our audience, it means more to us. Is it possible to be literally overcome by gratitude? I’ll let you know when I pass out on stage.

We love hearing from everyone back home, so please leave comments.

Je-su- tem-ba-de! (That’s my attempt at saying “thank you” phonetically in Burmese)

-Julio

R&R in Rangoon February 22, 2009

What do you get when you mix one part Julio’s birthday, one part crazy new country, and one part first day off after four exhausting days of touring overseas? February 21! After hearing so many wonderful things about Myanmar, we finally got it; it has all the charm and culture of Thailand, but you can get across town in less than two hours. In fact, it only takes about five minutes.

The day started early enough: 5am lobby call in Bangkok, hour and a half flight, Myanmar hotel by 10. Then it became ever-so relaxing. Our host CoWinston (Co being the Burmese equivilant of brother, and Winston being the British-given name of a Burmese diplomat) was the happiest, most pleasant person known to man. He was kind enough not only to show us around, but to take time off work to make sure we had food, rest, and the best currancy exchange rate in town!

So after a day of eating twice at a cafe specializing in Asian, American, French, and Italian food (I recommend the calzone), we were able to get in a little sightseeing, a rehearsal spotted with with power outtages, and a late night toasting of Julio’s 26th in the hotel bar (soccer on three screens!). It will be hard to get enough sleep for tomorrow’s workshop and concert, but we’ll manage. It’s the Loan way.

Mingela Ba!

-Chad

Our first last day. February 20, 2009

Our final day in Thailand brings a unique mix of feelings. One one hand, we’ve only been here four days and that’s hardly long enough to start calling the place home. On the other hand, between our car, bus, and plane rides and two amazing shows, it’s a bit difficult to accept that it’s time to leave the first stop on our tour. We’ve learned the basic phrases (“Hello,” “Thank You,” “An ostrich ate my television,” etc.) developed eating habits (I highly recommend the garlic beef from the grocery deli across the street), and made a few friends.

Then again, we still had one more performance to check off the list, and for this one we must return to our hotel in Bangkok. We check out of our hotel in Phrae (“Praaaaagh”), our gift pillows from the governor in hand, and enjoy another two-hour bus ride through the countryside. The airport is small, check-in is quick, but the flight is delayed arriving from Bangkok, so we opt to do some shopping at a market area nearby for a couple hours before heading back for our hop and skip back to Bangkok. With the flight delayed and the notoriously bad Friday traffic in Bangkok, we have about 15 minutes to re-check in, as opposed to the three we had planned for. We drop our luggage off in our rooms before loading back onto the van and diving back into traffic. You think you know bad traffic? Three blocks, 45 minutes, every Friday.

In spite of the traffic, we make it to our venue with plenty of time to spare. Set up is quick and easy, which gives me time to take in the venue. We’re in a plaza cradled between two immense shopping centers, with a small audiene space in front of the stage, a collection of vendors behind them, plenty of foot traffic, and the trains shooting by on the Skyrail above. The setting is unlike any I have performed in before, and it tells volumes about the urban life in Bangkok. We perform for 90 minutes, and attract a rather cosmopolitan audience including a few Americans clearly surprised to see an American group performing in a Bangkok shopping center. We stick around for an hour to chat, take photos, and bid farewell to our U.S. Embassy Cultural Affairs contacts who have been outstandingly helpful. After a quick bite to eat we head back to the hotel to prep and pack for an early (5:00am) morning call.

While our stay in Thailand has been brief, we’ve experienced a wider spectrum of the culture than I would have ever thought possible. If this were the extent of our tour, it would still take me at least a few days to really digest the experience. We ‘ve still got six more countries to visit, I haven’t got a few days to digest (and I won’t have them for a while), but somehow I think I’ll manage. Anyways, I’ve got musicians to connect with in Rangoon!

We’ll catch up soon. Peace!

-Julio