I’ve been wanting to post this for awhile. Meet my really good friend Andrew Young. Andrew is an amazing musician, among other talents, and I love sharing his music with other people. This song was really special though. He actually kept it under wraps and nobody got to hear him play it until his bride, Emily, was walking down the aisle on their wedding day.

I hope you enjoy this video, which was made when he replayed the song after the wedding for friends to hear again.

Andrew Young - More Than Yesterday from Daniel Chin on Vimeo.

It’s been awhile since I blogged, and I have this humongous blog coming up with pictures of all this stuff I’ve been working on the past 3 weeks or so… but until I get that together, I just want to share some clips of Lauren Hill. I really miss her music. I realize she feels like she has bigger and more important things to take care of in life, but it doesn’t make me miss her any less. There videos are live performances, since live is generally regarded the a more true display of talent.

I can’t find it on YouTube, but there’s an amazing version of her doing Killing Me Softly with the Fugees on Dave Chappelle’s Block Party.

The American conceit has taught me that everything worth learning was discovered or invented in America by Western Civilization (white folks mainly, be them European or American). I am slowly unlearning that. I somehow always forget that many European avant-garde artists over the centuries drew heavily on the influence of Asian art. It’s very strange to me that so few, if any, of those influences ever get their own space in the art history books.

I am not Korean, and I don’t understand more than maybe two phrases in the entire song, but it’s a beautiful visual concept paired with a pretty song.

Say what you will about Kelly Clarkson, I really like this video. I’m not sure I would like the song if not for the video, which makes it even more compelling to me to share. I don’t know that a concept like this has been done before in a music video, and even if it has, this is the first time I’ve seen something like it. Plus, I like her hair in the video (her clothes, not so much).

This video actually got me thinking about a plethora of concepts and ideas about creativity, art and entertainment. I have far more questions than answers, and they start out with something like this: Is music still an art just because it’s music? What is the line between art and entertainment? This video concept is clever and creative… but is it art? You can be creative without being an artist, but can you be an artist without being creative?

Any thoughts about this?

Ah, since I posted about Sandra, I thought I might as well share Derek Webb singing “Ten Thousand Angels” live also. And while I’m at it, I’m going to plug their first EP together, Ampersand.

This gets me thinking too, about art. I actually just watched Dave Chappelle’s Block Party on hulu.com last week, and even though it made me feel really white, I couldn’t help but appreciate the art. Chappelle’s genuine love of the music and the artists, combined with his own gift of bringing people together really made something beautiful and real. Anyway, I just went from folk music to hip/hop, which confuses even me, but I guess that’s just how the world looks from this side of my eyes.