Gig at HBC Festival

Brigitte and I gave our first truly public performance this past weekend at the Hae Bang Chon Festival.

As the two of us have just started performing together and are relatively unknown in the Seoul ex-pat music circle, we were given a lousy time slot: the dreaded opening act.  We played at 3:00 pm at an event that ran until the wee hours of the dawn.  Needless to say, we didn't have a large audience.  And those who did come were almost all colleagues and friends.  At least it was full of friendly faces.

Now, the HBC Festival is mostly about music, but there are also comedians, actors, poets, and some dudes walking around in togas for no apparent reason.  Given the artistic milieu that is the HBC Fest, I suppose I shouldn't have been at all surprised when a caricaturist set up shop right beside our stage.  (And, taking advantage of the fact that there weren't many people in the bar, all three bartenders took turns getting their caricatures drawn.)

Here's a short clip of Brigitte and me performing a few verses of Johnny Cash and June Carter's classic, "Jackson."  (Victoria's new short hair cut makes its own prominent appearance, as well.)

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures from the rest of the fest because Victoria ran off to our friend Jin Soo's birthday party (Happy Birthday, Jin Soo!) and took the camera with her.

However, a few of the sets I really enjoyed included those by electro-indie band We Need Surgery, the very loud power trio Seoul City Suicides, and old-school folk and bluesman "Mississippi" Dave.

And the food in Hae Bang Chon is great!  Props to the burgers at Jacoby's -- best burgers I've had in Korea yet!