Weekend (April 24-26) -- I

This was a good and busy weekend so I'll write about it in several pieces (so no one entry gets too long.)

Friday night I attended the concert of Dong Won Kim's new Korean jazz group, Chaosmo. It was held at a club in the Hongik University area, known for its night life for the young. As I exited the subway about 6 p.m., I felt incredibly old, engulfed in huge crowds of 18 to 25 year olds.

I met Young Il Kim (ostensible English "student"), and we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. I thought the food was good and the service okay. She was disappointed in both since she'd been there previously when both were better. It was a little strange. . . . When she inquired of the waiter whether we could change one menu item (have red sauce rather than cream sauce), he responded that the chef was supposed to have been there at 6 p.m. (it was now 6:40) but wasn't so no changes in the menu were possible. We were perplexed. -- Who was cooking? We giggled over the image of frozen dinners being hauled out and heated.

After coffee and a dessert waffle at a small coffee shop Young Il knew about, we went to the club which was in the basement, down some rather rickety steps. The place was full, that is all the seats were pretty much filled; the audience number was probably between 40 and 50. It appeared that a number of those present knew Dong Won and attended because of him although the others in the group may have had some followers as well. I met Dong Won's wife, whom he introduced as Julie; she is quite attractive and was very pleasant.

The other three members of the group played electric guitar, bass, saxophone, and keyboard, with some doubling occurring. Dong Won was the percussionist, playing janggu, buk, and jing, but in a non-traditional way, with different chae (sticks). He also did some vocals. The music was improvisational, new music. Some of it I really liked; some I endured -- but it was all interesting.