February 27, 2007

It seems like I am now in the middle of what appears to be a concert pianist’s schedule. No way...could it be this challenging? After dosing up on “no-jet-lag’s” homeopathic remedy, I was off to Ottawa’s Parliament Hill (one day after Tokyo). The evening was called “Taiwan Night” and was hosted by the Taiwanese Economic and Cultural Organization of Canada. Being a proud Canadian, with Chinese and Taiwanese heritage, I am always delighted to play such cultural events. The hall was packed with MP’s, government officials and others. It was so jammed, we musicians ate dinner in another room. That was fun though, to meet up with cool musicians and speak Mandarin for a change.

The actual performance went really well. After I finished the Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise, there was a standing ovation. They really enjoyed the night, which was well-hosted by David Lin. Once again, I must bring up an important issue. Why does the government give money to kids playing hockey and not music? Prime Minister Harper, you should be careful...that’s why so many musicians leave your country. Despite the obvious lack of government support, musicians like myself and many others are trying our hardest to promote cultural excellence in this world. If we are defined by other countries soley as a place where people skate with sticks and a puck...we are in trouble.

Hmm, after that rant...here’s a picture of the great Asian-Canadian performers (D. Kai Ma, Ariel Lin and Shuni Tsou), along with distinguished TECO representatives:

We even made it into the “who’s who” of Mitchel Raphael’s column in http://www.macleans.ca/mitchelraphael !!! Here we are with whom Mitchel refers to as “Liberal Party whip”, Karen Redman.

After the concert, we all headed back to my hotel room to party! Looking back, I wondered how I was able to stay up late and have fun with all that jet-lag. I calculated the time change to be the equivalent of performing at 8am...only...I had been up the entire night! All in all, it was a great night, and I’d do it again. Here’s Shuni, David and Ariel (and you can see a bit of Kai)...let’s keep in touch!