MCing Day 1

I MC'd a neo-traditional concert this weekend at Deoksugung Palace in Seoul. Let's just say, the first day of MCing was not the best moment of my life. You know how, sometimes, when you are very anxious about something, it seems to color the entire day? Well, that was Saturday. The day started out rainy and cool and just got rainier and colder. Nothing seemed to go right, including trying to go to a wedding earlier in the day but having to turn around after fighting traffic for an hour because, if we had continued to try to go to the wedding, I would have been late for the concert. Then, picking Dahin up from school was a mess. She's part of the school choir (more on that later...) and they told me rehearsal was to go until 2 pm that day when I went to get her at 12:30. Man! We just went home and another parent brought her back home when she was done. I decided to get to Deoksugung at 2 pm, but was 20 minutes late. The concert was to begin at 4 pm. I should have gotten there earlier because it was not enough time. The dresser was there and it took an hour to plaster makeup on my face, do my hair, and get into the many layers of the hanbok. I was a nervous wreck, as well, considering this is the first time I have ever MC'd anything, and now I would have to do it in Korean. I had made cue cards and had practiced, but it was not enough. The text they had written was immense. I only had two minutes to make comments at different intervals and the text was too long; plus I had to include some English comments, as well. Not to mention the fact that, when I got there, they changed a lot of it --oops. I was not ready for that. The audience was incredibly kind and I got through alright, but messed up some things like the name of the pavilion we were holding the concert in ( a change of venue on the Deoksugung grounds due to the rain; the concert was now in the favorite relaxation pavilion where 'emperor' Kojong welcomed many a guest during the waning days of Choson). Most of all, it was my nerves that got to me. When I first started, my hands were visibly shaking. I could see them shaking and knew that others could see them shaking, too, but couldn't stop. The thing that made me less nervous was hearing the first act: Cheong Minah Band (http://blog.naver.com/hastweb/80059463541). Check out her music; wonderful stuff. They were so awesome; really calmed my nerves. Plus, there was a radio personality from the local traditional music station there who was a trip: dressed in a red track suit, he yelled out comments to my comments that really made me, and the audience, laugh. I was grateful for his warm, supportive presence. I tended to do better when I forgot the cue cards and just talked to the audience. They seemed to like it better as well. All I can say is, the good thing with not doing such a great job the first time is that it gives you determination to make it right the next time. That's pretty much how I work anyway. I have to learn from experience. The next day, I cut much of the text they had written out for me and changed the font for the cue cards to a larger, bolder and clearer font. More on day two next posting...

The second picture down from the top is a detail of the hair, and the one here is a photo of me in the beautiful hanbok we had picked out for the first concert. The people running the concert series are borrowing the hanbok from a woman who specializes in dressing people in hanbok for special occasions. On her walls were photos of some well-known traditional music artists and writers she had dressed. The woman doing my make-up and hair is from the hanbok place. She's very professional and really does an amazing job. The makeup is a bit much, however, but I guess it needs to be a little heavy for the stage. She gave me a 'natural' look, which basically means false eyelashes and tons of foundation, powder, brow pencil and eye shadow with skin-toned lip stick. I think that the next time I MC I'll ask for some color on my lips. Because it was raining, I was very worried about messing up the silk hanbok. We had to walk from the dressing room outside through mud puddles, dodging rain drops and pine trees heavy with rain to get to the pavilion. A Luce Scholar that I trained at a Korean culture workshop in San Francisco and who is now wrapping up a year of science research in Seoul came with a couple of friends. I had announced the concert on Facebook and he said he'd go to the concert and he did. It was good to see him.

Because I insisted that Jack and the kids not come due to the rain, I had no one to take pictures for me with my camera. There was someone from the production company taking photos there, so I'm sure I'll see some eventually. Well, there was one online I found tonight as part of a news blurb about the concert: http://kr.news.yahoo.com/service/news/shellview.htm?linkid=13&articleid=2009051621474598180&newssetid=85

The photo is at the top of this post.