Dengue Fever’s “Cannibal Courtship” continues alt-rock Cambodian-influenced band’s evolution

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Dengue Fever

It’s a curious conceit of rock critics that we love being the early adopters who discover great new talent, but we want that talent to stay exactly as we found it, as if the music is some sort of archeological treasure, suspended in amber for the ages. We can’t imagine a musician might continue along an evolutionary progression and grow and mature artistically. Or worse, we dismiss artists we like when they become too popular, as if being adopted by a wider, mainstream audience taints artistic credibility.

I know I’ve been guilty of both. I dismissed Joni Mitchell past “Miles of Aisles” as becoming too arty (as if her earliest, brittle folk gems weren’t also arty to the extreme). I blew off Bruce Springsteen once he sold a bazillion copies of “Born in the USA.” The fact is, most music critics are snobs, and we’re proud of it. Over the years since I “retired” from being a full-time music critic, I’ve mellowed and accepted that I have biases (old-fart biases at that), and see how I blocked out good music by being an obstinate butthead.

So I was surprised when I realized I still fall back on snob instincts with new music from time to time. These days I rarely write about any music unless it’s related to my interests in Asian culture or Asian American community.

I’ve written in the past (here and here), for instance, about Dengue Fever, an alt-rock band from California that was formed by a pair of white brothers who fell in love with Cambodian rock of the 1960s, and found a Cambodian singer to help them meld that sound with surf and psychedelic music.

For years I’ve been intrigued by the band’s globe-hopping musicality and especially enchanted by singer Chhom Nimol’s slinky, elastic vocals, which snakes through melodies with the tonality and scale of traditional Cambodian folk and pop songs.

In a word, though I hesitate to use it because it’s such a loaded symbol of Orientalism, objectifying Asian culture and people, my attraction to Dengue Fever is in large part because of Nimol’s exoticism.

There, I’ve said it.
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ABC News swallows the Tiger Mom stereotype, spreads it around for viewers in a “What would you do?” segment

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This made me very sad. It proves that Amy Chua’s book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” whether meant as a semi-humorous memoir where she’s changed by the end and not as a mothering handbook (as she claims), has been institutionalized as the actual way Asian mothers raise their kids. The media have gobbled up the trope as accurate cultural fact, and spit it back out as theater, here in the form of an ABC News “What would you do?” segment during which an Asian “mom” berates her “daughter” (both are actors) in a restaurant for getting an A-.

I bet anyone who views this will nod their head and accept the stereotype as reality.

It’s a damned shame. If it weren’t taken so seriously by the bystanders and the reporter, John Quinones, and host George Stephanopoulos, it would be a comical scene. I hope that if this ripple effect truly wasn’t what Amy Chua meant by her book, she’s mortified by what she’s accomplished. (From Angry Asian Man via Jeff Yang)

Asian Americans eat unhealthy food and get supersized to fit in, shed their immigrant identity

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Quarter Pounder with Cheese: A Taste of American-style Heaven?Immigrants to the United States strive to gain the American dream…. and manage to gain American weight at the same time. It makes sense if you think about it: You want to fit in as a newcomer to the U.S., and you know the cliché, “when in Rome do as the Romans do” — you eat like people in Peoria or Poughkeepsie.

McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Fattburger, Inn-N-Out, White Castle…. and that’s just the burgers and fries. There’s pizza, shakes, funnel cakes, onion rings, fried chicken, tacos, burritos, hot dogs, brats, chips of all kinds and candy out the wazoo (though, to be honest, Asians eat a wider array of strange and wonderful candy than the typical American chocolate bar).

It’s not just the high-calorie, high carb, high-sugar diet of Americans, it’s that immigrants embrace this diet with gusto to prove their American-ness. According to an article on Futurity.org, “Immigrants get supersized in U.S.,” a study published in Psychological Science that compared Asian Americans with white college students found some facsinating data about their childhood food memories:
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A Colorado ramen roundup: Noodling on a theme

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Miso Chashu Ramen at Sushi Spot in Boulder

I was severely depressed a month ago, when I sauntered up University Hill from the University of Colorado campus for my semi-regular fix of ramen from Bento Zanmai, the fast foodish takeout counter aimed at the student population in a funky food court alongside a pizza joint and Thai, Middle Eastern and Nepalese counters, and found the ramen spot was closed. I was too upset to call Sushi Zanmai, the parent restaurant that also owns Amu, the super-fine izakaya.

But today, as I pondered lunch options I decided to find out whaddup with the demise of Bento Zanmai. It’s been closed, yes, I know, but what? Its entire menu is now being served just around the corner on the Hill at Sushi Spot, a slightly more upscale sushi restaurant that the Zanmai folks also own? Cool!

I should say upfront that although I love sushi, I’m not big fan of the crazy variety of special rolls that have been invented to entice and entertain Americans as sushi became mainstream in the past two decades. To me, even a California Roll (which I know is these days commonplace in Japan) is a mutant invention. I mean really, rice on the outside? Avocado? Come on….
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It’s not just P.C.: “Geronimo” was a poor choice for a codename for the bin Laden mission

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Geronimo, not Osama bin LadenThe message to everyone waiting with bated breath in the White House situation room was terse and to the point: “Geronimo-E KIA”: “Geronimo,” the Enemy, Killed in Action. Really? Osama bin Laden was codenamed “Geronimo?” Even if, as the White House later clarified, that “Geronimo” was the codename for the mission, not the target, the choice is ripe with symbolism that reeks of mid-18th century American imperialism and European American racial privilege.

I know I’m going to hear from the folks who screech at the thought of political correctness overtaking American culture and spoiling pop references that used to be commonly used but now can be offensive. I’m going to hear from people who thought I didn’t have a sense of humor when I got angry that Shaquille O’Neal, or Adam Carolla, or Rosie O’Donnell, or Rush Limbaugh pull out the “ching-chong” routine to mock Asians. I’m going to hear from people who think I’m over-sensitive about “yellowface” in Hollywood (the long and still-going history of white actors playing Asian parts) and the use of Asian stereotypes. I’m going to hear from people who defend racially offensive statements or behavior as OK because it wasn’t “meant” to offend — therefore leading to the non-apology apology that blames those who are offended for taking it wrong.

The fact is, if something is offensive to someone, it’s offensive. Period. It’s not about the motivation, or the intent. It’s about the impact.

And the impact of the U.S. military’s use of “Geronimo” — either as the codename for Osama bib Laden, or the codename of the mission that took bin Laden out — is definitely negative in the Native American community.
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