Country Band Documentary

Video of Uncle Jeebers, Captain Corndog and Diamond Dave in a TV documentary about an enigmatic country band in Nanjing, China.

English translation:

The man with a long beard, Tao2 Yi4ran2, has been in China for ten years. Because of his job and many years' experience, his Chinese has a very thick Nanjing accent, which quickly brings us close to him. He says that he's not a real singer, that he works at two different translation firms, and that singing is one of his hobbies. His experience playing in several Chinese cities has made him discover that Chinese and American audiences are the same in that they are both enthusiastic [actually I said: I think that Chinese and Americans are different, Chinese can't sit still or stay quiet in an audience, so my idea of professionally performing classical guitar in China didn't work out, so I had to come up with something that involves the audience] "The Chinese are a bit antsy, a bit rowdy. So what should I do about it? You can only involve the audience and let them sing with you." ... He says that staying in Nanjing for ten years has just been a coincidence, that this city has let him be willing to settle down and get a feel for what its people are about. But out on the street, his appearance is the most apparent. His huge beard makes him immediately distinguishable from other Laowai. He says, however, that he used to be a man who shaves. "I had shaved for many, many years and suddenly my skin started to bleed when I shaved. So I thought, 'what should I do?'. I ended up deciding just doing the natural thing. If it wants to grow so much, just let it grow. Now my agent says that I'm not allowed to shave it because it's patented." It's said that music knows no boundaries, so country music isn't patented by Americans. The lead singer of this band comes from Australia, and his name is Luo2 Tai4jin4 (Captain Corndog). "I felt that I'd certainly want to become a permanent resident here. Only by working for a few years did I have the opportunity to experience a few years of life in China. I've already worked here more than two years." Now he has a Chinese girlfriend. Another member of the band David (Diamond Dave) has already gotten married to a Chinese woman. [Captain Corndog] "I was in his [Diamond Dave's] yogasana class when I heard that he could sing, so I went up to him and talked with him. Later on he became part of the band. Last year I met Tao2 Yi4ran2 [Jeebers] through a friend." ... They play in bars and for parties [correction, we never play in bars - this is a strict stipulation of my contract!] [Corndog] "I have many goals - perhaps too many! I'm a bit of a disgruntled youth. One is to get fluent in Chinese, and another is to sufficiently develop our music." [Jeebers] "China even more so has this tradition of singing with one's family at home. So if I sing at home it is chiefly with Chinese."

Again it seems as though the media is trying to connect me to bars and night life, though it's an impossible task.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• kentucky
• diamond
• dave
• uncle
• jeebers
• captain
• corndog
• nanjing
• music
• country
• band
• white
• men
• brotherhood