that's me playing Chairman Jin, a kooky North Korean dictator who just wants some respect.
some of you might know that i used to have more of a stage/theatre career before i moved to chicago. now that i'm in new york, i'm reconnecting with my jazz hands. just kidding! i mean, there are jazz hands in the show, but they're, you know, purposefully lame.
so please come see me in "God Loves My People Best." the show is fun, great music and writing, and it's only 1hr 15min long! theatre with all the boring parts cut out!
CD release concert video and review
Current mood: grits
Category: grits Music
hey everyone!
if you made it to the cd release concert in new york, a heartfelt thanks. it meant a lot to me to have such a full house.
if you didn’t, you can catch a glimpse here:
..
the baruch newspaper also wrote a detailed review of the show. i’ll post it below.
now go and enjoy the gorgeous day! cynthia.
"BPAC scores a win with Lin" Frank Marzullo, The Ticker, Baruch College Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: Arts
Cynthia Lin is one of seven artists on the emerging artist roster this spring at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. But I suspect the audience came away from her concert sensing a singer-songwriter worth keeping on their radar.
Lin got off to an auspicious start with a gorgeous song of regret called "Eclipse," which remains unrecorded. She segued into a playfully ironic song, "Chemicals," in which she vowed to alter her brain chemistry with the right medication so that she could feel bliss again. "Blue and Borderlined," the title track of her 2005 album, is less immediate.
The abstract quotient is high - it wouldn’t exactly go in the crowd-pleaser column. I found it opaque and wanted to crack its code. Your reaction all depends on your desire to "fly away to where the water meets the sky." It had all the makings of artistry with Lin’s soaring and urging voice, but the listener may not climb aboard.
Thankfully, "Skipping in NYC" followed. Lin strummed her way right back into our hearts: "I was skipping down the sidewalk on Sixth Avenue. Everybody looked at me like I was looney tunes." Not even the dirty subway below could take the skip out of the enamored girl’s step once the realization of love kicked in. It’s a warm retro song, suitable for ballroom dancing, should you be so inclined.
She changed the vibe dramatically with "Microscope," a thoroughly modern song about showing one’s real self to their significant other. She offers to be our blanket and shelter in "Home." It’s a moving piece with a generous, vulnerable heart-opening about giving and receiving affection.
"I’m Shy" takes us back to a retro mode. The mellow guitar gives way, hinting at a woman who’s "got a big heart, but nowhere to show it." It’s a very soft sell to an oblivious guy, doggedly determined to make an impression. This and "Skipping" wouldn’t be out of place in an upscale supper club with patrons twice Lin’s age.
Her "End of the Line" is a depressing reminder of our economic malaise. It sounds like a folk version of Billy Joel’s "Allentown," bemoaning a time and place long gone. Here, town relevance is quashed by its inaccessibility by public transportation. It’s a bummer, but she holds a mirror up to life while her gentle voice buffers the bad news.
I was puzzled by Lin’s cover of Cyndi Lauper’s "Time After Time." Fans of the original will be disappointed. Lin and her band don’t reach for heights, they prefer to stay in their comfortable safe zone while issuing a pedestrian cover. Her "Fever" cover was also slightly bland.
"Doppelganger" is the title track of Lin’s latest CD, released in 2007, and the night’s highlight. She’s struggling to balance a split personality: "I told your exes about the web of lies, the other guys, the alibis. All your flimsy alibis." Her repetition of "the real you" is sublime. She could incorporate some movement on stage to spice the drama, but the song is a gem.
Doppelganger is German for "double walker." It doesn’t take a psychology degree to assume that Lin, a Princeton graduate in economics, is listening to her own doppelganger and unleashing the muse within.
I was enraptured by "Perfect," featuring exquisite cello work by Helen Chou. The obsessive quest for perfection consumes us, Lin argues. Olympic athletes should listen to this as they train. A modern dance choreographer should grab it. The song’s tautness expertly yields to a rapid, uncontrolled pleading.
If you see a petite Asian woman skipping down Sixth Avenue anytime soon, stop and say hello. It will be Lin, celebrating love and, perhaps, a record deal.
$10 tix for 3/29 CD Release concert NYC
Category: Music
yo yo get em while they’re hot! $10 tickets, only through Wednesday!
link with code ’10’ for $10 CD release show tickets: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/30621/prm/10
or call the box office and use the code ’10’: 646.312.4085 (i think there are no service fees for phone orders)
i’m really excited for the show, and can’t wait to see you all there! cynthia.
--
show details:
Saturday March 29 2008 8 -10PM Cynthia Lin Doppelganger CD Release Concert @ Baruch Performing Arts Center as part of the 55 UnderGround Series http://www.55underground.com 55 Lexington Ave, entrance on 25th St.
featuring the band! Meena Cho ..o and vocals Tony Maceli on bass Ryan Vaughn on percussion/drums
and an opening set from Will Knox http://www.myspace.com/willknoxmusic
obsessions
Current mood: garlic and yogurt
Category: garlic and yogurt Music
i'm a music obsessor. maybe i'm an everything obsessor. but anyway, i mean that when i find a new album i like (which isn't very often - i'm so lazy about music discovery - i subscribe to some cool blogs that send me new music including one called musictowakeyou), i listen to the album on repeat until i literally know every word and sound and nuance.
my current album obsession is bat for lashes' fur and gold. can't get it out of my head! here's a cool vid that shows how fierce they are.
some other albums that have inspired obsession: poe's hello, air's talkie walkie, amy correia's carnival love, stephanie dosen's new album, of course joni mitchell's blue. everything fiona apple. nat king cole trio's jumpin at the capitol. louis and ella's duet album. regina spektor's soviet kitsch, that's a particularly yummy one.
sounds trite, but i have realized that music is my religion.
something old, something new, and something iLike
Current mood: macadamia nuts
Category: macadamia nuts Music
hey kids,
apparently myspace allows me to post 6 songs now! ah the magic that is myspace code. i uploaded a couple songs from the first album, a few from the second, and a newer recording of an unreleased song called microscope. come by and take a test drive.
if you have jumped on the Facebook wagon (more power to you if you're a hold out, but i love it, and i found a lot of old friends through it), i've also got my music up on iLike.
so, i really could not come up with a new year's resolution this year. probably because i couldn't even remember the one i had for last year. you're supposed to pick something that's "good" for you, right? like exercising or quitting smoking or (in my case) practicing more. it's never like, drink more, spend more money, be frivolous. well, maybe that's what i should choose. i will do one frivolous thing a week. ok then. i'll report back on how that goes.
doppelganger EP: pre-order CD and download now!
Category: Music
yes, finally finally - many ways to hear and own the Doppelganger EP!
* pre-order the cd now from the cynthialin.com shop * download the digital album from CD Baby and iTunes * stream clips on the cynthialin.com music page * listen to the entire album, all 7 full length tracks, at last.fm. and you can grab a free mp3 there too!
so, i've taken on creating the cd case artwork myself, and it's become a rather extended but exhilarating labour of love.
some of you may have read my post about jewel cases and how they basically suck. luckily i've found these awesome recycled cardboard cd cases that fold up like origami into a case, and self-close without any glue. they are called arigato paks, and they are made by stumptown printers in portland, oregon. they are genius.
<-here's a pic of the cases after the first print of white ink. i'll finish the other colors in the next couple of weeks.
here's the plate that it was printed from. my friend nelson designed the logo, and i carved it into a linoleum block (thanks to kapi for teaching me how). then i printed the block onto paper (thanks to meejin for teaching me how) and scanned the image in. after a whole lot of time spent in photoshop and illustrator, i sent the final designs to a company that makes these plates for letterpress printing.->
<- here's the press machine. the white things are the ink rollers (with white ink on em), and each case has to be hand-cranked through. the printing actually goes pretty quickly once you get the ink and plate set-up, but your arms definitely feel tired at the end of the day. thanks to dan at the arm letterpress studio for teaching me how to print and letting me use his studio!
the nature of the letterpress process guarantees that each cd will be one of a kind - and you can know that my hard work went into not only the music on the disc, but the artwork on the case as well. pre-order now, and the cds will be delivered by early december - as soon as it's dry off the presses!
austin - chicago - nyc - doppelganger!
Current mood: bbq!
Category: bbq! Music
dear reader, i am shamefully behind in my communication. apologies. this summer i was captured by a horde of mucousy monsters like the ones in that commercial except that they were purple. and they took me to their mucousy lair, put a mucous crown on me, and made me dance a marionette dance for their amusement. i finally managed to escape by riling up the purple critters with an especially vigorous dance, all of which triggered a tickle in the nose of the great creature we were inhabiting. we heard a distant howling, and the lair began churning with the anticipatory inhales of a sneeze. the walls of the lair started to crumble, and there was much praying and wailing from the mucous mothers. i couldn't keep my footing on the stage anymore, so i threw myself on the ground and rolled from wall to wall in hopes of further agitation. all of a sudden, the shaking stopped, and the mucous wailing became exaltations to the merciful mucous god. my hopes were dashed. but that was the calm before the atchoo. with a sudden exhale, the mucous lair exploded like a champagne supernova in the sky, and i was expelled to gooey safety.
and so i found myself in new york city.
it's quite a big change, moving from chicago to new york. i'll always be a midwestern girl at heart (what can i say, i like nice people), but new york is my drug, and it is just what i need right now. the air is charged with creativity and urgency. i am truly spent from all the activity.
so this week i leave the big apple for a sunnier clime (it is hot as hell in austin) followed by a visit to my old neighborhood in the south loop in chicago. and then back to nyc for a show in chinatown. please check out the tour schedule and join me where you can.
i've got the new Doppelganger EP with me. it's not available for sale online just yet. still getting that all set up. but check out the recordings on myspace, and you'll have a copy in your eager little hands before you can say doppelganger.
trying to add me as a friend?
Current mood: feist
Category: feist MySpace
so i changed the setting to require my last name to add me as a friend. this is not a trick question. my last name really is lin. if you're having issues with it, write me a message, and i'll add you.
