For the past month, at least three days each week, the path to my destination involved a short walk along which I crossed the Charles River. Until this week, the river’s flow has been trapped under a sheet of ice. And every time I cross and look at the sight, I think of the Faust song, Picnic on a Frozen River.
It’s strange that something—music especially—can have such an incredible impact on us. Music can trigger immensely powerful memories and vivid emotions… similar to the effects that scents can have on us.
Several years ago, I went to China for the first time. I was on a study abroad trip, and our dorm room was furnished with a TV that mostly had poor reception. But there were a couple of channels which came through clearly, and one of them—Channel V—was sort of the Asian equivalent of MTV.
I had Channel V on a lot, especially when doing my homework. I rarely watched it though…. As much as the Asian pop songs were amusing, few were really enjoyable to me. But, at sporadic intervals, there would be a block of “Western” music videos. Strangely enough, it wasn’t all the worst of American pop (like the Backstreet Boys and so on-which, granted, there was quite a lot of) but they showed videos by artists and groups like Bjork, Radiohead, Tori Amos, and Nirvana.
One day, in the middle of it all, I quietly heard the unmistakable sound of a Nine Inch Nails song. For those of you who don’t know, NIN is one of my favorite bands. Anyway, the new NIN album had come out just days after I had left for China, so I knew that, unfortunately, I would have to wait months to get it. Yet, here I was, being teased by the video for We’re in this Together. And it was damn good.
I saw the video a couple of more times, hunted for the CD all over China and Vietnam (but the bootleggers hadn’t gotten their hands on it yet). I finally found it at a Tower Records in Thailand. And whenever I get to the song We’re in this Together, I can feel my head lifting from my textbook to look at the TV screen, and my fingers on the remote, turning up the volume. And for about seven minutes, I’m back in China.
But that’s not all that Channel V has done to me. Upon returning to the States, I found out that one of the TV channels we got, the International Channel, periodically aired Channel V programming. Somewhat nostalgically, I often found myself watching Channel V while doing my homework. One evening, I fell asleep with Channel V playing. The following morning, I was taking a leisurely stroll with my roommate and his Chinese friend, hunting for the perfect goyza stand, and dodging the many bicyclists… We walked past the block with all the mechanics, and as usual, I managed to splash some unidentifiable slushy grayish liquid on my shoes. We saw a few of our friends going into the internet cafe. Eventually, we found our goyza and ate it, and it was delicious.
Needless to say, I wasn’t very hungry when I woke up.
No related posts.
Picnic on a Thawing River
For the past month, at least three days each week, the path to my destination involved a short walk along which I crossed the Charles River. Until this week, the river’s flow has been trapped under a sheet of ice. And every time I cross and look at the sight, I think of the Faust song, Picnic on a Frozen River.
It’s strange that something—music especially—can have such an incredible impact on us. Music can trigger immensely powerful memories and vivid emotions… similar to the effects that scents can have on us.
Several years ago, I went to China for the first time. I was on a study abroad trip, and our dorm room was furnished with a TV that mostly had poor reception. But there were a couple of channels which came through clearly, and one of them—Channel V—was sort of the Asian equivalent of MTV.
I had Channel V on a lot, especially when doing my homework. I rarely watched it though…. As much as the Asian pop songs were amusing, few were really enjoyable to me. But, at sporadic intervals, there would be a block of “Western” music videos. Strangely enough, it wasn’t all the worst of American pop (like the Backstreet Boys and so on-which, granted, there was quite a lot of) but they showed videos by artists and groups like Bjork, Radiohead, Tori Amos, and Nirvana.
One day, in the middle of it all, I quietly heard the unmistakable sound of a Nine Inch Nails song. For those of you who don’t know, NIN is one of my favorite bands. Anyway, the new NIN album had come out just days after I had left for China, so I knew that, unfortunately, I would have to wait months to get it. Yet, here I was, being teased by the video for We’re in this Together. And it was damn good.
I saw the video a couple of more times, hunted for the CD all over China and Vietnam (but the bootleggers hadn’t gotten their hands on it yet). I finally found it at a Tower Records in Thailand. And whenever I get to the song We’re in this Together, I can feel my head lifting from my textbook to look at the TV screen, and my fingers on the remote, turning up the volume. And for about seven minutes, I’m back in China.
But that’s not all that Channel V has done to me. Upon returning to the States, I found out that one of the TV channels we got, the International Channel, periodically aired Channel V programming. Somewhat nostalgically, I often found myself watching Channel V while doing my homework. One evening, I fell asleep with Channel V playing. The following morning, I was taking a leisurely stroll with my roommate and his Chinese friend, hunting for the perfect goyza stand, and dodging the many bicyclists… We walked past the block with all the mechanics, and as usual, I managed to splash some unidentifiable slushy grayish liquid on my shoes. We saw a few of our friends going into the internet cafe. Eventually, we found our goyza and ate it, and it was delicious.
Needless to say, I wasn’t very hungry when I woke up.
No related posts.