Chang Cheng-Yue @ B.B. King's

I just got home an hour ago. Jean was nice enough to let me crash on her couch. Last night I met up with her and Patty at B.B.King's to catch Chang Cheng-Yue with MC Hot Dog on their first U.S. tour. They had arrived from Washington at 5.30pm and went right into rehearsal; they were stuck in the Holland Tunnel for three hours. You wouldn't be able to tell from their show. They rocked!

The crowd was almost all Asian, and it was funny walking around the club and hearing only Mandarin spoken. Dennis met me at the door and as we wandered around the club, Lillian bounded out of nowhere to grab me and say hello. When I came across Jean and Steve, Steve said it was probably easy to find them; he being one of the few caucasians in the club. A DJ was playing as we waited, and suddenly Patty appeared before me. We hugged and began to catch up as the band took the stage. There was a roar and the music started.

The first set was a lot more energetic and funky than their albums suggest. The guitars chugged, the drums kicked in, and they were rocking just this side of Rage Against the Machine at times. When MC Hot Dog took the stage, there were shouts from all sides as he rocked the mike hard. Patty turned to me and said she thought that Chinese was perfect for rapping since it was all monosyllabic. She then told me about a friend of hers at a San Jose newspaper who, upon hearing Hot Dog, was thrilled to finally hear a good Chinese rapper. (After the show, Patty explained that MC Hot Dog's name is a lot more crass in chinese as MC is slang in Taiwan for a woman's period—generally the lyrics ran on the crass side. She also told a story about a soundcheck in Anaheim where the soundmixer said he didn't understand a thing until they started cursing in English during one song).

After a 20 minute intermission, the band returned with an acoustic set. The first song apparently was their radio-friendly single as all the girls in the audience started shrieking and singing along as they grabbed each other to sway in time with the music. When they picked up their electric guitars, I was in for a surprise as they sang Tarcy's hit "Ya Tze" from a few years back. It was the first song I had heard when I arrived in China, playing out of a barbershop in the hutong we were staying in, and I grabbed Dennis in shock. I pogoged wildly as I sang along with the chorus.

After the show we all sat for a moment, exhausted by the energy of the show and the band. Patty had to move merch and so Jean and I waited around for them to tally up. As the band was packing up we hung out on the curb and chatted, the musicians seemingly shy as they talked about their tour. We were right beside the Sanrio store and so Patty decided we should take their pictures as they posed in front of the Hello Kitty sign (the tour was Christened the Kill Kitty Tour) and they gamely played along. A few die hard fans who had lingered asked for autographs and posed with the band.

We left 42nd street and took the subway to Brooklyn. Patty and I were exhausted and Jean was starving and so the three of us ate at a Greek diner by Jean's house. We chatted about her upcoming wedding, about the show, and I don't remember what else. Patty was disappointed I didn't join her in a milkshake. You put the idea in my head, she told me.

The F train wasn't running by the time we left the diner and so Jean let me sleep on her couch. I was too excited to sleep. Snatches of the concert kept returning to me and I lay on the couch, my ears ringing. Midway through the concert, Patty had told me she was incredibly proud because the music made the audience so proud. I grinned and nodded and danced around like a fool.

Pictures can be found on my new digitfotoblog three.2. Posted by eku at October 18, 2004 2:32 PM