Vienna Teng

A month or so ago I received the standard email flyer for my local artistic venue. Among the offerings was a one-day appearance by Vienna Teng, the computer science major cum folk artist.

The billing was superlative (as would be expected), and intriguing. So I quickly Googled her, discovering that she was a relatively recent phenomenon and very highly praised both critically and popularly. 

I plunked down a few hard earned dollars for two tickets and patiently waited to hear this beautiful pianist and singer.

A cellist, Ben Soliee, began to play what might be considered a traditional asian tune on the strings, drawn on and on melodically, if indulgently (frequently recurring pregnant exhales of bow crawling along string). Then, after a heavily pregnant pause, the sound lept into a strange bluegrass tune complete with country-folksy lyrics - and I suddenly had to ask if this was going to be a night of Yo-yo Ma pretension. The first two songs, completely light hearted life-reflecting tunes, turned out to be mere precursors for his true musical purpose, as EVERYTHING that followed was political or sociological commentary.

[I later reflected that the beauty of this opening act for Vienna Teng was that she gets to hide behind the cellist making his (and her) political commentary while remaining aloof herself.]

It seemed as though every song was written to point out that the world just isn't what it was supposed to be, was dreamed to be, what was intended to be, and so on. What a letdown life must be for this poor man.

And in an excellently clever ironic twist, the final song was 'Just Another Song' lecturing about how much the world really should change but his was 'just another song'. For this song, Vienna arrived in a pre-revalation of herself, sitting primly with dark art-deco glasses as if to play the royal princess who really just wants to be a child and doesn't take her future crown seriously at all. She did this for the all important responsibility of chiming in to the deep and substantive chorus "just another song". As if her very presence gave a raw significance to the tune.

Among the rarified commentaries made by this astute political and life observer (known by day as a cellist) were the following:

In America they'll bury you with your car but I see a row of windmills turning and some out there are farmers and some will vote

Isn't it sad it's so ingrained that boys don't cry

In America the politicians don't get elected they choose themselves and you talk to me about Democracy

Beside me, two women literally began to stifle laughter through the repeated sermonizing of this stringed oracle, and when his set was done, the one beside me confided that had it not been potentially quite rude to wade through feet, she would have freed herself from the punishment by walking out. 

Mercifully, the presentation for which we actually paid our hard-earned money was almost absent political commentary. Note, I am forced to say almost.

Vienna rather effectively merges an incredibly well-controlled, dynamic, and glass-smooth voice with piano that seems to have a personality all its own, and a percussionist who seems to know the very soul of every instrument he picks up, and exactly how all of those philosophical souls speak to one another. 

Almost immediately there seemed to be a chorus of voices one might imagine upon stepping into a busy pub or an overly active coffee shop. They all seemed to be interested in themselves and the world around them, speaking into and around themselves as if in a neverending, spirited but friendly debate. 

Although her tunes did seem to have one of only two overarching personalities (16 year old girl musing beyond her years or philosophical princess thinking about the little people), nonetheless, listening to those two personalities is fun, like reading the blog of a girl who really hasn't yet learned that other people in the world have already loved and lost and lived through it, or that greater minds than hers have considered what it's like to be poor. She exudes true thoughtfulness about things that have all been thought before. And we want to hear her think it anyway.

One particularly bright spot was the percussionist's song, written by the vocalist in his project 'The Paper Raincoat', called In the Creases. He sang this pensive, ironic, lost love song with a very effective melancholic reflection. It is one of the more original songs I think I've heard in a long time.

Vienna said they would progress from old to new and after Ben Soliee I couldn't help but wonder if politics would emerge as the artest progressed from obscurity to popularity..Thankfully the only overt example of such was one of the last songs - one that she suggested was 'not necessarily political' entitled 'No Gringo'. The song teaches us egocentric Americans to think about illegal immigration from the other side. How would it feel if we were fleeing from Chicago but were blocked by a 'No Gringos' sign on a fence to Mexico? Deep. Very Deep.

All told the experience was worth the cost, in spite of being dampened by our new politically correct reality. Thankfully politics were overcome by the richness of the music, the raw talent on display, and the passion exuded in virtually every song. 

Achieving the impossible

Kausfiles : More signs of the Gran Salida of Illegal Immigrants: Emergency room visits are dropping

Kausfiles reports:

In Arizona

In the Maricopa Medical Center in Arizona, the director of the ED commented that 45% of adults and 80% of children seeking ED care at the hospital emergency department are Hispanic. The economy in the area is getting worse and the hospital believes that many of the patients that usually come to the ED have left town

Does no one recall the constant strains of "what are you going to do, kick them all out?" or "You can't just deport them all!" only a couple of years ago?

First, this may be both legal and illegal immigrants, but it is most likely illegals who are leaving since they don't have legitimate (read: legal) access to the social support system in Arizona or elsewhere. Somehow, we are affecting the change that supposedly could not occur had we attempted simple enforcement of the laws.

And how are we affecting that change? A downturn in the economy: jobs have dried up, so illegals are leaving.

The claim for years was that if we prevented them from getting legitimate work, illegals would begin a sort of civil unrest - unable to work, unable to access benefits, they would suddenly become a destructive force (a classical marxist argument that money dictates everything about us). Thus we could not enforce the laws, or we would create criminals.

But here we have evidence that restricting access to employment causes illegal immigrants to leave the country - that people can actually behave responsibly in the face of difficult circumstances - and go find legal work. Perhaps claiming that much of the illegal immigration problem could be resolved through strict enforcement of laws wasn't just a convenient way to 'hate' on Mexicans.

Then again, maybe the economic downturn was actually created ON PURPOSE by Dick Cheney and Karl Rove - because they knew illegals would suffer the most.. hmm...