Neil Conway in Daejeon

A Canadian singer songwriter, Neil Conway, gave an intimate concert in Jeff and Maddie's apartment last Saturday night. Neil is on a tour through Asia, and stopped by Daejeon because he wanted to visit someone, though his tour got pushed back so she has actually since left the country and my provincial city of 1.5 million somehow stayed on the itinerary. Mr. Conway has a broader range of musical interest and playing styles than anyone I've ever heard of. He mostly played humorous folk music for us, which was to my liking, but when he has a band with him he also plays funk, metal, reggae, rap, and hip hop. He is from Newfoundland, and so are two of the English teachers I know here, so it was funny to see the three of them interacting, since even other Canadians think that Newfie slang and expressions are weird.

Some of my favorite lines of the evening were:

"This next song is a sing along... it has a Satanic chant that we can all do together."

and

"I ate the president, tasted like chicken... my favorite dish is Republican pot pie..." (there were a lot of songs about American politics, particularly about Bush).

I also enjoyed a song where the refrain is about being broke and eating crackers and sardines. If you ever saw one of the packages I got from my eccentric grandmother you understand why this struck close to home. I lived on kippered herring and crackers for my last month in Portland since I wanted to eat the food that I had rather than buy new food, and my grandmother sends odd (but greatly appreciated) care packages.

The song with the greatest resonance for me was one about vainly trying to make a new city feel like home.

After the concert we all chatted for a few hours and then went to a Noraebong (Karaoke room) for an hour. Having a professional musician in attendance surprisingly did not change the experience much, though Neil did freestyle over a few songs, which we certainly don't usually do. After that I biked home. Thankfully this weekend was less involved and less photo oriented than the last one. I don't think I could handle another post of that length.