Jodi Johnson

Ryan Bartlett

English 101

22nd February, 2012

Musician’s Abode

The time is 9:15pm and the event has been scheduled to last until at least 1:00am

the following morning. It is lively and people of all ages have come to visit the famous

music venue, but the down-to-earth occupants chat casually with one another as if they had

known eachother all their lives. Among the line-up of bands scheduled to perform however

is one that has a unique take on what someone would normally classify a rock band to be.

Outside the venue I meet a musician. He is probably in his early 30’s and a couple inches

shorter then myself, with shoulder length hair and a happy go-lucky personality. He

doesn’t seem busy, so I introduce myself. He’s friendly and doesn’t mind shaking hands. I

ask about himself and his band and he explains that he’s there with one of the band’s

performing from overseas. The band is what he describes as, “combinng the softness of a

falling feather with the heaviness of a hurricane”. He told me he would perform soon so I

waited inside and found other people to converse with.

The event lasted for about 5 hours. After meeting up with the member of one of the

bands to perform, I went inside and sat on a large red couch. It was the lounge area. After

ordering a drink I looked around and my attention fell onto the features of the venue. There

was an upstairs that seemed to be busy, but not as active as the floor down below where I

was. I wasn’t use to the culture of the venue so I stuck out like a sore thumb. Two guys,

probably around their early twenties, about the same height as my 5’ 4” frame approach me

and ask me where I’m from. I tell them I’m not from around the area and ask them their

impressions of the bands playing. They tell me about how celebritys come often and that

tonight they had heard a guest celebrity (a comedian) was scheduled to perform with one of

the ending bands.

After some time the guys left. Again I saw the man who had promised me a

interview after the live and he nodded in my direction. He was still busy. Helping with

unloading drums it seemed. Another hour went by. It was about 11:00 and it was probably

time for the band I was interview to go up. Sure enough I was right. The vocalist was a

petite female, around my height with a friendly personality. When the band performed they

were exactly as the man I had met described, “the softness of a falling feather and the

heaviness of a hurricane”. I assumed that the heaviness was the guitar and the falling

feather was the vocalist’s voice.

After their performance I asked people what they thought about the bands. I asked

first about the band of the man I had just met outside, it's name was Kazha. At first when I

asked they didn't know who I was talking about, then I clariefied that it was the band who

had come from overseas. The first guy's response was "They were pretty kickass." and the

response from the other was one of dis-interest, " The vocals were a bit different from what

I'm use to, but I wouldn’t mind see them again.".

During my observational visit I learned that people at the concert were genuinely

polite and friendly. I had never been to one before, so it was a new experience for me and I

think it would be for anyone similar to me. I was most surprised by the venue because it

was hard rock but I spotted about half a dozen elementary age young children there

(probably the children of the bandmen) even though it was a venue where it was 21 and

over. That was something I thought could be considered contradictory about the

venue.Something else that was a bit contradictory was that not many people were as wildly

dressed as I thought they would be.

After the concert had finished, it was around 12:40am and I stood outside, a little bit

nervous, and got ready to interview the band I had planned to interview. I was getting a bit

tired so I turned around to leave, but came back after thinking I should give it a second try.

I looked through the venue once more and felt someone tap me on the shoulder. It was the

man I met from the band. His happy-go lucky demeanor was the same as it was about 3

hours ago and I was quite impressed since it was almost 1:00am in the morning. He told me

that it was their first time performing in Hollywood and that he was from Japan, but moved

to the States about 3 years ago to build up his band. He’d been in a 27 state tour with the

band but had trouble telling me much else so he told me to wait. He came back with the

other 2 members of his band and we didn’t get to interview, since the vocalist said she’d

prefer doing the interview via e-mail so she could think about the questions, I still had a lot

of fun chatting with them after the concert. The vocalist, who’s name was Kazha Oda, was

very kind and gave me a copy of her album for free after we exchanged e-mails.

I think what made the concert extra-special that night was that celebrities came to guest-

sing with the vocalists of the bands, and the bands afterwards were very easy to talk to.

Overall it was a very relaxed venue and I would look forward to going back again.