Dave Matthews Band @ Staples Center, Los Angeles 8/19

在第一首歌結束後，從Dave Matthews口中得知再也無法親臨原汁原味DMB現場的壞消息──大衛馬修樂團的founding member之一，薩克斯風手LeRoi Moore在這天下午過世。主要原因還是六月底在農場的一起意外，導致19日傍晚時刻意外地離開了這個世界。當Dave Matthews在台上宣布這個消息時，我還一度認為自己英文太破聽錯了。





一大早起床先驅車前往Century City和一個craiglist上賣票的傢伙碰面，一開始高速公路還算順暢，直到接上10號整個堵到不行。他上班的地點位在兩棟很壯觀的摩天大樓Century Plaza Towers(沒記錯的話)，停車超級貴的沒記錯20分鐘就要十幾塊美金，還好他可以幫我弄到一個小時的parking permit。才一個早上就見識到了LA恐怖的交通和高消費。

當然大老遠來到市區畢竟還是要找機會走走，聽了Ivy學姐說有個叫做The Grove的mall頗特別。坐落於戶外而且很漂亮。於是用過簡單brunch後憑著絕佳方向感搭配手工地圖前往。果不其然相當美麗，類似舊城區的街道的風格相當舒適，裡頭店家的消費也是相當具水準。

出門在外最需要的就是網路。很幸運的這而有家Apple Store，便順手查了一下附近有啥地方適合打發演唱會開唱前的時間。結果當然查來查去最後當然是樂器行雀屏中選......

據說這家是全美GC的總店。姑且不論是否有此一說法，論規模日落大道這家真的比我去過的其他四間(San Francisco, San Jose, San Bernadino and Rancho Cucamonga)大上許多。而且別具特色的entrance更是和Hollywood中國戲院前那一片地磚相呼應!

為數眾多族繁不及備載，總之熱愛音樂的朋友相當值得一來! 會有很親切的感覺(這裡我認識的似乎比中國戲院前的還多一些)。當然門面氣派店裡也是馬虎不得。不但占地之廣大，最特別的是還有一個Vintage專區! 所有的樂器都是'70以前的老琴，以Fender和Gibson居多，也有一些RickenBacker。重點這些每把都動輒$4000以上甚至上萬的老傢伙，為數之多竟比全台灣大部分樂器行，所有的展示琴加起來還多! 每一把Telecaster的maple指板都是又黃又舊，卻各有不同的陳年風味。說是這兒是小博物館真的不誇張(而且這些老琴還可以親手來試!)

離開了吉他中心當然就是一路塞車塞到Staples Center。LA市區的交通實在恐怖，好像無時無刻都是heavy traffic。不過幸運的是我仍在六點左右抵達，並且找到一個相當棒的parking, flat rate $10! (停好車走出來馬上漲到$15，噗)

演唱會當然毫無疑問的相當棒。除了聽到台上宣布LeRoi離開大家的壞消息有點難過，整場演出Dave和其他團員依然賣力演出，像是想送LeRoi最後一程，讓他能夠在有音樂的伴奏下離開。今晚的setlist其實我個人覺得普通，因為我喜歡的一些曲子如#41, Jimi Thing, Warehouse和Gravedigger都是第二天才出現 orz 但是幸好還是有聽到久違的Ants Marching現場。


Dave溫暖的歌聲配上技巧高超的樂手們層次分明的伴奏，只能說完全就是比想像中還要好聽呢。更不用說現場每首曲子皆會加入出乎意料的即興，每首歌都Jam成原曲的加長版。這次tour也找來的Dave Matthews搭配已久的好友Tim Reynolds負責電吉他的部分，開場地一曲Bartender就是Taylor 和 Fender 的12弦琴互相交織著，聲音更加飽滿，後台的技師也直呼換弦好累 XD 值得一提的是舞台設計不算太特殊，但後頭的電視牆超級清楚解析度超高，就算不是最前面的觀眾也可以把樂手的表情看得一清二楚。

隔天這場gig毫無意外上了許多媒體頭條，足見LeRoi和Dave Matthews Band在美國人心中的地位。我想從團員的組成到音樂風格都充滿了diversity，也算是美國精神和文化的一部份。當晚代打LeRoi的Jeff Coffin(Bela Flack的樂手)功力老實說個人覺得有過之而無不及，但原汁原味的大衛馬修樂團也在今天走入歷史。想起多少場live演出的影片中，那個身影和熟悉的notes將無法再被重製。不過至少我確實參與到的歷史的一瞬間吧? 整場演出Dave的話沒有很多，一切的情緒都在音樂裡了。如果你也和我一樣在現場，相信一定也會感受到的。

Rest In Peace, LeRoi Moore.

Driver License

To get the driver license is one of the purposes that I am here in the states. Although I barely have chance to drive a car, since I don't have a one, it's still more convenient to have a driver license rather than just an ID card. I have driven a car before, so I don't think it would be a hard task for me. However, I did some driving practice after passing the written test, and found it's not as easy as I used to think.


For example, American people, especially the drivers in the suburb of California, are used to a smooth traffic flow. They will not expect that accidents happen so often like Taiwan and always drive pretty fast. If I can't get rid of the driving habit of Taiwan, which people called,"defensive driving", I'll fail definitely. In California, you can't drive too slow, or use brakes that often! Anyway, it's a part of the culture, I have to get used to it. Therefore, even I already know how to drive, taking some driving lessons is inevitable.

The coach is the same guy who taught my brother and mother, (He told me that's why I got some discount. God knows!) and both of them passed the driving test at the very first time. So even the fee is pretty expensive, I still take four-hour lesson from him. Throughout the classes, I have to say there's a lot differences. If I did not learn these tips from him, it's impossible to pass the test so easily and get such a high score. After leaving DMV, it took me only 10 mins for the test and then we head back to the base. Maybe I changed lane only two or three times. My officer was an nice Indian lady, thanks her for trusting my driving skill. Finally, thanks all the support from my uncle Tom, who gave me lots of useful advices and opportunities to drive. After all, Practice makes perfect.

number of errors：1 (check the upper right side of the sheet)


“Now you got something that the whole world recognizes. It's a California driver license. Cool, huh?” The Coach said.

Admission

Dear Wei-Lun,

On behalf of CSE's graduate admissions committee, I am pleased to inform you that we plan to recommend you to the Graduate Division for admission into our M.Sc. in the fall of 2008 without financial aid.

The final decision on the offer will be made by the Graduate Division, but history shows that they usually follow our recommendation. The offer is also contingent on submission of all required documents. You should hear from the Graduate Division by email in a few weeks.

Congratulations! We have received more than 450 applications this year but could only make a limited number of admission offers. I'd highly encourage you to consider our department seriously, visit our homepage at www.cs.ucr.edu to see the exciting activities in the department. We are a young but fast-growing department with diverse and dynamic research areas. FYI, the department has about 120 graduate students. Many of our M.Sc. and Ph.D graduates have found faculty jobs in academia (including UC Irvine, University of Arizona, Case Western Reserve University, North Eastern University, George Mason University, University of Massachusetts, etc.) and RD jobs in well-known IT companies (including IBM Research, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Yahoo!, CISCO, Qualcomm, Oracle, etc.). Many of our faculty members and students have won the best paper awards at international conferences and various prestigious awards and fellowships such as the NSF Career Award, Air Force Young Investigator Award, ACM Fellowship, and IEEE Fellowship. Our faculty is highly visible in research communities (many of us serve on the editorial boards of multiple leading journals in our research areas) and very successful in winning research grants (our new research grants in 2007 were about $5M). Moreover, Riverside is a small, vibrant city close to Los Angeles (60 miles west), San Diego (90 miles south), the pacific beaches (70 miles west), high mountains with multiple ski resorts (4 within 60 miles), and the desert (Palm Springs; 45 miles east).

Please feel free to email me at any time if you have any questions. I'd also be appreciated if you could keep us promptly updated on any change of your status. In particular, should you decide not to accept our offer for any reason, please let us know ASAP so we can consider the next person on the waiting list.

I look forward to seeing you in Riverside.


Tao Jiang
Professor and Chair of the CSE Graduate Admissions Committee


Also, the hard ticket just arrived.



The tickets sold out in just few minutes. Seats in orchestra cost more than $200 per ticket. I feel so lucky that I can buy it with face value.


Welcome to bay area, Eddie!!

米國第一發！

Hard ticket in hand!!!




經過craiglist上數度周旋以及尋找，終於找到一個不算太扯的scalper，約在Mountain View面交。這位開著紅色FordExplorer的大叔本人也頗nice(電話中覺得頗恐怖的)，還問我喜不喜歡Marilyn Manson，說這場也是sold out但他手中還有票噢，我回說因為初到貴寶地交通不便唱太晚的只得割愛 blahblahblah...

Foo Fighters也算是高中以來就一直都滿喜歡的團。特別是前Nirvana的鼓手，現在的主唱兼吉他Dave Grohl，根本就是熱血搖滾的代名詞，an excellent frontman。大學時也和朋友應邀在新光三越和某個中壢文化祭表演過他們的My Hero，當時就是看了這段影片(當然不是在youtube, 那時候還沒有哩)然後抓歌copy



值得一提的是貝斯手先前的團Sunny Day Real Estate（晴天不動產）也很好聽。此外我也很喜歡鼓手Taylor Hawkins，陽光金髮加州帥哥，punch很夠力，打起鼓來氣勢十足，渾身帥勁。可以看看他和Dave兩人合作的Stairway to Heaven：



看了這兩段影片覺得年輕的Dave真是青澀...


Foo Fighters的MV常充滿詼諧(Long Road to Ruin)，有時也有著自省對話式的片段(Everlong, Times Like These)，不過都會保持著正面積極面對人生的感覺，實在很喜歡他們的作品。這次終於能夠親臨現場，也算一償宿願。


See you next weekend, Dave!