linguitar.com Blog

Thanks to Laura Cipriano for setting up a little library presentation at Taipei American School during my most recent Taipei visit!

I had a chance to share my experiences and to talk about being a guitarist in the US with my young counterparts. TAS has changed so much since I graduated in 1999. Everything is different. Just about everything. The same are: the students, mostly Taiwanese, are very quiet, though they’re that combination of Western + Asian. I still get the sense that everyone is hard-working as ever.

In any case, Laura also had some string players read through Vivaldi’s Guitar Concerto in D with me and here are some pictures.

I think I’m over my jet lag now — 2 weeks was too short a time to be in Asia, so I hope to go back soon. Taipei was fantastic, as always. Food, congestion, family, friends, and new experiences. I thought the concert with the Taipei Chinese Orchestra went well; conductor Lee Ying was lots of fun to work with, and all the staff at TCO were super friendly. More importantly, I made some new friends and found a bunch of Chinese music and CDs to listen to. It’s time to listen to the music from my past.

I only had 3 days to spend in Manila, but they were three fantastic days. My concert was hosted by “Guitar and Friends”. Incidentally, Eliot Fisk has a group of the same name in Salzburg. Guitarists are friendly; what can we say! The concert took place in a beautiful room in Intramuros. There were paintings of the past priests of the church, and the room reminded me of playing for Oscar Ghiglia’s master classes at L’Accademia Chigiana. Again, I made many friends. This was my first time in Manila, but I certainly hope it’s not the last. The flight was only 2 hours from Taipei; of course, with flight delays and immigration, the whole thing comes out to be a bit longer.

Oh, and I ate balut. Fermented duck eggs — with a partially formed duck inside. My verdict — tastes like egg; I’ve eaten stranger things; don’t eat the hair/feathers. I’ve done it once — good enough. There are tons of other delicious things to eat in Manila. Say coconut and mangos.

Yay! We got a nice writeup on Taiwan news for our 2/14 Taipei Chinese Orchestra concert!

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=863164&lang=eng_news

The thing every musician fears — the airport terminal gate keepers say to you that you need to check your instrument. Every time I have to fight. Every now and then I lose. JetBlue was one of those times. And the guy was seriously rude. And there was still room in the overhead. JetBlue used to be cool. Sorry, but one sour face is all I need, because at this point, many airlines offer much lower fares than JetBlue.
Now on to China Airlines. Most of these big 747s have little closets for coats and whatnot. Every single time I’ve been able to stow my guitar in said place (like on Eva Airways). The manager on duty wouldn’t budge. On top of that, he was the most stubborn, most rude, most disrespectful agent I have ever encountered. After most people had boarded, another more compassionate lady came to offer another solution — to see if there was actually space in the little closet, and to see if the flight crew would be willing to accept it.

The head attendant was by all accounts very understanding. Thanks so much to both her and that other lady.

As for that guy Henry. Man. I wouldn’t be blogging about this if it were just myself, but scores of other passengers, some going to Cambodia, others to Vietnam, still others to Thailand — tons of carry-on items were gate checked because they didn’t fit the 7 kilo weight limit or the tiny carry-on size restrictions. Fine. We’ll follow rules. But every one of the staff — every single one of those three — was rude. Just rude, and pissing off travelers. They offered no communication, no explanation, not a single complete sentence, no confirmation, no answers, nothing. Just the worst kind of attitude. Simple as that.

It’s the kind of attitude you’re willing to overlook at your local gritty neighborhood pizza joint or bar or hang because the food is so damn good. But that kind of attitude isn’t going to *ahem* fly for an airline.
I know that customer service and satisfaction are important to businesses in Taiwan because the flight attendants on the plane delivered the quintessential Asian hospitality and warm smile. It’s hard to understand why those people on the ground had to be such major douches.