公告
- New album _Inland Territory_ available now!
http://www.scarabcart.com/cgi-bin/viennateng/item.cgi?id=172
Check out the new video for Gravity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8nypWKa_aU&fmt=18
BLOG
-
hello Monday
2008-02-12 9:15AM / 標準BLOG / 會員可以看
Working on Sid Arthur this afternoon and getting stuck. Setting meditation sessions to music is tricky business. Rehearsals for a reading begin tomorrow, so I’m hoping this traffic jam clears up soon.
Meanwhile, I’ve stumbled upon this:
There are thousands of different definitions of religion. But I like to think of three main ways of understanding it. The first way—and I think almost all of us are religious in this sense—is to define religion as concern about something of ultimate importance. This was Tillich’s broad definition: Religion is ultimate concern. Even the atheist who says that science is the only reliable road to truth, and nature is all there is, is setting up something that’s ultimate. It’s like the top stone of a pyramid that conditions everything else in the pyramid. In our own lives, we all have something like a top stone.
- Theologian John Haught, in an interview with Salon.com
Last week in New York was a good one: two songs that’ve been stalled since last summer finally decided that they want to be finished. Or get to the 90% mark or so, at least; I think the remainder will fall into place when we start in on production. Four or five others are coming along as well, and hopefully will be presentable by March. They’re like fiercely independent preschoolers, these songs, you want so much to just tie their shoes and spoon-feed them their cereal and get them out the door already, but no, they have to do everything themselves, discover their own methods, stumble and backtrack and try again and get their fingers all grubby, and you know it’s better this way, they’ll be stronger for it in the end, but boy is it frustrating when you’re running late for work and one of them is still in his PJs with toothpaste all over his forehead…
所有BLOG 更多BLOG >
-
intake
2010-03-09 10:45AM
-
Slow Q&A 2009: The Kaoru Questionnaire
2009-10-15 7:57PM
-
compass
2009-09-26 2:39AM (1 個評論)
-
archive of Twitter Q&A, 15 Aug 2009
2009-09-03 2:00PM
-
Slow Q&A 2009: The What Is That? Edition, pt. 2
2009-08-31 3:21PM
统计信息
- Q: Who are your influences? ...Q: Who are your influences?
A: My parents' record collection: Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Mozart and Beethoven, 60s Mandarin pop. That's what I started with and it'll never leave me. Later on, pianist-songwriters: Elton John, Billy Joel, Tori Amos. These days I'm influenced by whoever intimidates me. I hear them, I'm astounded by them, I think daily about quitting music because I'll never be able to do it as well as they do. Then I try to steal from them without imitating. A tricky thing.
Q: How would you characterize your music?
A: Oh man, I don't know. I've taken to saying "chamber folk" or "singer-songwriter" to some people. "Somewhere between folk and pop, with a bit of classical and jazz," if they look confused after that. It's frustrating that I have no succinct phrase to offer; at the same time, I think it also means I'm doing something right.
Q: How long have you been playing piano?
A: Since I was five.
Q: Did you study at a conservatory?
A: No, just one-on-one piano lessons until I was 17. Changed my life, though.
Q: How did you learn to sing?
A: In the shower, and in school choirs. I took some voice lessons here and there, which amounted to paying $40-150 a week to be told that I was doing it all wrong. I don't think we fixed anything. So maybe I haven't learned to sing, actually.
Q: When did you start writing songs?
A: I think I was six when I decided I could cobble my own piano piece together. As for songs that I still play in public, the earliest ones are from high school.
Q: How long does it take for you to write songs?
A: A long time. Sometimes months. Occasionally over a year. I don't revise all that much; it just takes that long for all the pieces to form and assemble.
Q: Who arranges the songs for live performance?
A: It's a collaborative process. My bandmates generally compose their own parts as we work through a song in rehearsal—sometimes they're based on the studio recordings, oftentimes not. Sometimes they have cool ideas for my parts, too.
Q: How old are you?
Q: Is Vienna the name your parents gave you?
Q: How do you write your name in Chinese?
A: Wikipedia knows all. And is reasonably accurate, though I don't know why it has photos of me wearing a knit hat and playing guitar onstage, two things I almost never do.
Q: Is it true that you used to be a software engineer?
A: Yes. I got my bachelor's in Computer Science at Stanford University, and went to work for Cisco Systems for two years. These days I remember exactly enough to crash whatever computer I'm working on.
Q: Is it true that you went to/dropped out of medical school?
A: No. Can't imagine paying off med school loans and funding an album...
Q: What was it like being on Letterman?
A: Surreal. Pretty much like how it'd be for you if you got called to play on the Late Show. I still think I dreamt the whole thing. Except the studio was very, very cold, and my dreams aren't often cold.
Q: Which of your albums is the best one, in your opinion?
A: Like anyone, I'd hope that the most recent is always the strongest. I think I'm getting better as I go...
Q: Does constantly talking about yourself ever make you feel like an egomaniac?
A: Yes, yes it does. Makes me wish I were in a band sometimes.
Q: Are you going to release a live album?
A: We do have a live DVD out now. For sound-only recordings, there's always the Internet Audio Archive.
Q: Do you ever reply to emails?
A: No, and I apologize. It's not a policy or anything; I'm just not good at staying on top of it. I promise that I do read everything, and that I'm grateful. - 職業: 樂手 , 歌手 , 作曲家
- 性別: 女
- 查看: 130,071
BLOG評論