by Dennis Rea | Apr 21, 2017 | Dennis Rea, Live at the Forbidden City, Music, USA
Blue Ear Books ringleader Ethan Casey recently asked if I had any thoughts to share on the current North Korea crisis, given my modicum of empirical expertise in things East Asian (see my BEB title Live at the Forbidden City). My initial reaction was “What do...
by Dennis Rea | Jan 4, 2017 | Dennis Rea, Live at the Forbidden City, Music
(* a nod to the tune of the same name by the late, brilliant songsmith Kevin Ayers) As the calendar advances to what is perhaps the most ominous new year of my lifetime to date, a look back at my musical activities over the past few years reveals a somewhat unsettling...
by Dennis Rea | Dec 7, 2016 | China, Commentary, Dennis Rea, Live at the Forbidden City, Music
A while back I released the album Views from Chicheng Precipice, a sort of audio counterpart to my Blue Ear Books title Live at the Forbidden City, both being end results of my experiences within Chinese culture. Hoping that Chinese listeners might take interest in my...
by Dennis Rea | Sep 17, 2016 | Dennis Rea, Live at the Forbidden City, Music
Much to my delight, Blue Ear Books’ 2014 republication of Live at the Forbidden City: Musical Encounters in China and Taiwan seems to have triggered a spate of musical experiences similar to those described in the book. While any tangible connection is tenuous...
by Dennis Rea | Jul 1, 2016 | Dennis Rea, Live at the Forbidden City, Music
Before heading off to England to play the Sonic Rock Solstice festival with Nik Turner & Flame Tree – and especially after learning that an additional London date had been canceled on short notice – I found myself asking what kind of fool would spend a small...