I am playing a show at the intimate music series Seeds in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn on Wednesday, April 25th at 8:30pm. I will be performing with a young Swiss bassist, Fabien Iannone and great ukulele/guitarist, Khabu Doug Young. Should be awesome. Hope to see some folks there. The Seeds series is located at 617 Vanderbilt Ave in Brooklyn.
2012
Posted in General on 01/10/2012 11:26 am by YoonHere it is, 2012. Wow! Already ten days in and it’s hard to believe that I have a toddler and I’m trying to get my music life back in gear. I think I said this last year but this year I’ve actually done something about it. My first show is happening on Friday, January 20th at Ibeam.
Yay for me!
A Minor Set Back
Posted in General on 01/14/2011 10:12 pm by YoonI was delayed in my 100 push ups, 200 squats and 200 sit ups this past week due to the “stomach flu”. There is no such thing as the stomach flu but I did have a viral infection that effected my stomach and put me in bed for about two days. To top off the illness, I also got a migraine for three days. Getting a migraine was the most disappointing of the two illnesses because since my pregnancy and after the birth of my son, I haven’t had a migraine for 18 months. I had forgotten how brutal my migraines get and I was completely useless for more than two days.
Now I’m back (90% back) and will be getting on top of my new exercise goals.
100 Push Ups, 200 Squats and 200 Sit Ups
Posted in General, Links, Odds and Ends on 01/04/2011 07:01 pm by YoonIt’s been four days into the new year and I’m trying to start it off right. It’s been tough getting to the gym. The snow cleaning in Brooklyn has been pretty sad and it makes traveling really difficult, especially with a baby. My doc says I need to bump up my exercise to get rid of the pre-diabetic status and to lower my cholesterol. I promised myself that I would return to the gym whenever the weather gets better (don’t care if it’s cold, just not snowy). To get me started on my new exercise regime, there are exercises that I can do at home that don’t require weights or machines.
Before I got pregnant I started doing the one hundred push ups. I was pretty good before the pregnancy (46 push ups in a five minute sitting). Now I am returning to the 100 push ups plus attempting the 200 squats and 200 sit ups. There are times when I think this is crazy but I am generally curious about what I am capable of achieving.
Today I did the initial test for the sit ups and yesterday I did the initial tests for the push ups and squats. Overall, I’m at an average ranking (thank goodness). Over the next several weeks I will increase my exercises and according to the plan, I should be able to do 100 push ups, 200 squats and 200 sit ups in six weeks. I think realistically it will be about twelve weeks. We’ll see if I have the will power to do this. I figure, if I can deal with hours of screaming from my son multiple nights in a row, a few push ups, squats and sit ups are a mere walk in the park. LOL
The Agony of Sleep Training
Posted in General on 01/03/2011 10:10 am by YoonI thought I had it together when it came to sleep training my baby. When he was four months old, he was sleeping six to seven hours in a row. Everyone was saying, “wow that’s great”. About two months ago, he was sleeping eight to ten hours which is awesome right? Well as he got older, the sleeping had changed and when he got sick, it all went to hell.
At this current time, my son is ten months old and will only fall asleep if you put your hand on his chest and whisper to him. I thought that this was easy but now realize that he can’t soothe himself and at 2:30am it can be brutal to try and soothe him every 10 minutes for over an hour period. So now, my husband and I are trying fresh and seeing if we can train our little boy to self soothe and fall asleep on his own. We have tried to let him “cry it out” for the past two nights. It is devastating to hear your little one cry so hard. He’s pissed off, sad and confused and all I want to do is hold him and comfort him with my touch. Last night he cried for almost 90 minutes before he fell asleep and then at 11:30pm he cried for 20 minutes and then at 2:30am he screamed for almost an hour. The one thing I think I should have done last night was to see if he had a soiled diaper. Maybe he was just letting me know that he needed to be changed before he could settled down again (my son is a pretty good eater and he always eats a big dinner before bed). I think tonight I’m gonna check his diaper if he wakes up at 2:00am again.
I feel like I have been sleep training my boy for the past six months. Every couple of months he changes and things have to be modified and we need to adapt to his change.
Isn’t parenting grand!
A New Year And Getting Myself Back To It
Posted in Cooking, General, Music, Odds and Ends on 01/02/2011 12:19 pm by YoonHappy New Year!!
It’s now 2011 and I am astounded at how much has happened to me in the past year. Both happy and sad events have affected my life. I lost a friend and colleague very unexpectedly in a tragic cycling accident, my husband changed careers and started all over again from scratch (so proud of him) and the most life changing event for myself and Chris was having our first beautiful, baby boy!
It has been challenging becoming a mother and I have loved being one but I miss parts of my old life especially my musical life and I am trying to make my return to it. This year will be the journey to return to some creative life outside of motherhood. I hope that writing about it will help me keep focused on my goals.
Another goal for this year is to get my health back into shape. When I was pregnant, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I was shocked and upset but hoped that the condition would go away after my son was born. Well, ten months later, I am still pre-diabetic and now have high cholesterol from eating too much meat and cheese (Atkins you suck!) So now, I am working my way back to the healthy life I had or maybe improve it even more.
Hope you will follow along and help me on my journey to a better me.
It’s Time For A Change
Posted in Books, General on 12/12/2010 07:52 pm by YoonI just bought the macrobiotic cookbook, Mayumi’s Kitchen. Going to try and detox myself. Joined my friends for a macrobiotic Thanksgiving and felt great. I was totally burnt out from turkey and I didn’t want to feel gross after gorging on Thanksgiving dinner. Will keep you posted on my progress. I hope to not only have more energy but lose a few pounds too!
I’m Back…Kind of…
Posted in General on 09/29/2010 08:51 pm by YoonThis is a notice telling anyone who reads my blog that I am starting to return to my blogging life. I was never a regular writer but I feel like its time to get back to it. A lot has happen since the last post and I feel like it would be good for me to write about. Hope you check it out.
Performing Monk Tonight
Posted in General, Music, Upcoming shows on 10/21/2009 01:29 pm by YoonThis is day three for my residency at Array Music with pianist Jacob Sacks. Jacob just completed two nights of solo piano performing all Thelonious Monk tunes. We complete Monk’s repertoire tonight. The audiences have been wonderful and Toronto has been great. Anyone in Toronto, come on down to Array!
Details:
Wednesday, October 21
8:00pm
The Music of Monk
Jacob Sacks – piano
Yoon Sun Choi – voice
at
Array Music
60 Atlantic Ave
Toronto, ON
$15 adults, $10 students/seniors/artists
Performances in Toronto This Week
Posted in General on 10/19/2009 04:21 pm by YoonSo I am finally in Toronto and totally psyched to be here. My friend and duo partner, Jacob Sacks and I are doing a residency at Array Music from Monday, October 19th to Friday, October 23rd.
Tonight Jacob Sacks will perform works by Thelonious Monk. Should be pretty awesome. He starts at 8:00pm. So anyone in the Toronto area, I hope to see you there.
Details:
Monday, October 19th, 2009
8:00pm
Array Music
60 Atlantic Ave
Toronto, ON
Jacob Sacks solo piano
The works of Thelonious Monk
$15 adults, $10 students, seniors, artists
Dan Weiss Trio in Toronto, Canada
Posted in General, Music, Odds and Ends, Upcoming shows on 10/16/2009 08:30 am by YoonMy friends, drummer Dan Weiss, pianist Jacob Sacks and bassist Thomas Morgan are in Toronto today doing an open master class at the University of Toronto today. If any of you have heard this trio and their compositions you should definitely take the opportunity to hear and see them. They are some of the best young musicians in New York. So you Torontonians get out there and check them out!
Details
What: music clinic
Where: Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto
When: 3:00pm
How much: free
Evolving Voices Series Tonight
Posted in General on 09/29/2009 09:00 am by YoonTonight I will be playing with my quartet at Local 269 in the east village/lower east side as part of the Evolving Voices Series. I’m really excited about this gig since it’s the first show since I got my green card (hurray!) I hope to see some friendly faces over there.
Here’s the skinny:
Tuesday, September 29th (tonight!)
8:00pm
YSC Quartet
Jacob Sacks – keyboard
Thomas Morgan – bass
Vinnie Sperrazza – drums
at
Local 269
269 East Houston
at the corner of Suffolk Street
F train to Second Avenue
cover $10
Born To Run
Posted in Books, General, Odds and Ends on 08/09/2009 12:25 pm by YoonWhy do my feet hurt? Over the past eight months I have been suffering from what I think is plantar fascitis. Whenever I walk, jog or run any kind of distance my left heel is killing me and I can barely walk on my foot. A friend of mine advised me to stretch a lot and wear comfortable shoes. I have tried to do as much as I can (without seeing a doctor) to cure this injury but I am at a loss. Not only that, I’m very flat-footed, which probably doesn’t help.
All that said, I just recently finished a book by Christopher McDougall called Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. It begins with McDougall complaining about his foot pain while he’s running. He sees the top sports medicine doctor in the country and is told to stop running. Instead of taking his advice, McDougall went looking for another solution to his problem.
His search takes him to Mexico in the Copper Canyons where the greatest long distance runners live: the Tarahumara Indians. With the help from a mysterious loner named Caballo Blanco, McDougall uncovers the secrets of the Tarahumara and is inspired to discover the ultra-athlete within himself. McDougall speaks to sports coaches, athletes, doctors, scientists and biologists to find out more about human beings and their relationship to running.
This book is captivating and inspiring. Even before I got to the last half of the book I felt like going for a 10k run. The story is exciting, and the people that he writes about are fascinating, a little mysterious and very entertaining. The high point of the narrative is the 50 mile marathon in the Copper Canyons against the Tarahumara and some of North America’s best ultra athletes. There is no advertising, no sponsorships, no publicity or attention from the outside world—nothing except a group of individuals who love to run.
I found the discussions of running barefoot especially interesting. According to some evolutionary biologists, we started off as barefoot hunters running down our prey, a form of hunting still practiced today by some peoples, such as the Kalahari Bushmen. How did we come to believe that we needed $200 Nike shoes to go for a jog? Months ago I read an article about running barefoot that raised some of the same questions, and I was so intrigued by the concept of walking around barefoot that I still plan to experiment and hope that maybe I can get rid of this nasty pain in my heel. Whatever the case, I highly recommend this page turner. If it doesn’t get you off your ass to go for a little spin around the neighbourhood then I don’t know what will.
“Up”
Posted in General, Odds and Ends on 07/14/2009 02:29 pm by YoonLast week was my eighth wedding anniversary. As I write that down I can’t believe that I have been married for so long. I honestly have to say that it has been pretty awesome and I married the most amazing man (except when he leaves the cupboard doors open and I smash my head on them as I walk into the kitchen!)
Last week we had a wonderful dinner at one of my favourite seafood restaurants called Pearl Oyster Bar and I ordered the steamed lobster which was delicious.
Before we went Pearl we went to a movie at the AMC 25 theater in Time Square. This theater is absolutely massive and, as the title of the theater suggests, yes, there are 25 movies playing there (geesh!) We saw the new Pixar animated film “Up” in 3D and it was wonderful. I know this movie has been showing since June but I wanted to recommend it to anyone who wants to see a great little movie and to try and catch in the theaters while you still can.
This comedy-adventure is about 78 year old retired balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who fulfills his lifelong dream to travel to South America in an unusual way. His plans are perfect until he discovers an accidental stow away, an 8 year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. The movie is quite touching and the opening scene is a heart-breaker especially if you are a married couple celebrating an anniversary. Overall it is cute and funny and it makes you feel good. I especially liked the fact the Russell is Asian. It’s nice to see ethnic diversity in movies whether they are animated or not. There just isn’t enough of it in the industry. Go see the movie and you’ll have a good time.
Where Have I Been?
Posted in General on 07/09/2009 11:58 am by YoonMy apologies to anyone who has been reading my posts. I have not been around and I haven’t been the most loyal updater. I hope to change that over the next little while.
The E-String Residency Begins Tomorrow
Posted in General on 05/08/2009 07:36 am by YoonTomorrow night is the first night of my residency at I-Beam in Brooklyn. I’m really excited to finally get a bunch of shows in this month and work on some new music. And the end of the residency I will be doing a concert recording over Memorial weekend. I just got together with the guys in the band and they sound awesome as usual.
If you are in Brooklyn tomorrow night stop by I-Beam and share in the experience. Also, my friend Justin Kellar will be performing before and he writes some sweet songs. Check it out!
Saturday, May 9th
8:30pm
Justin Kellar
9:30pm
E-String Band with yours truly on toy piano and voice, Jacob Sacks (melodica), Thomas Morgan (guitar), Khabu Doug Young (ukuleles) and Vinnie Sperrazza (percussion)
at I-Beam
168 7th Street
Gowanus, Brooklyn
Yeah Yeah Records And Friends Festival Week 3
Posted in General on 04/17/2009 07:40 am by YoonI’m looking forward to tonight’s performance at I-Beam. There will be solo ukulele, a piano, trumpet duo and a woodwind, bass and drums trio. All really different and fantastic. I hope to see some folks there.
Friday, April 17th
8:00pm Khabu Doug Young (ukuleles)
9:00pm Jesse Stacken/Kirk Knuffke (piano/trumpet)
10:00pm Andrew Bishop/Chris Lightcap/Matt Wilson (woodwinds/bass/drums)
at
I-Beam
168 7th St (between 2nd and 3rd Ave)
Gowanus, Brooklyn
Yeah Yeah Records And Friends Festival Continues
Posted in General on 04/10/2009 08:05 am by YoonSo I dropped the ball on my own gig last week and forgot to post that I was performing. Geesh!!
Tonight will be a great show with Dan Weiss performing solo drum set. If you haven’t seen this show you must! After, Jacob Sacks’ Quintet will be playing and closing the night will be the trio OK/OK. Last week was a wonderful success with lots of people and incredible music. I hope you can come by and support our little event.
Yean Yeah Records and Friends Festival at I-Beam Music
8:00pm Dan Weiss (solo drum set)
9:00pm Jacob Sacks Quintet with Jacob Garchik (trombone), Ben Gerstein (trombone), Dave Ambrosio (bass) and Dan Weiss (drums)
10:00pm OK/OK with Kyoko Kitamura (voice and laptop), Khabu Doug Young (ukuleles) and Mike McGinnis (woodwinds)
at I-Beam Music in Gowanus, Brooklyn, 168 7th Street
Quebecite in Pennsylvania
Posted in Cooking, General on 02/16/2009 01:27 pm by YoonThis Wednesday I will be trekking over to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to perform D.D. Jackson’s jazz opera, Quebecite at Moravian College. It has been about four or five years since I performed this music and this time I will have some friends performing in the band. Thomas Morgan (bass) and Shane Endsley (trumpet) will be performing with us which will be really fun. Also, there will be two new vocalists (Martin Sola and Meetu Chilana) joining myself and Dean Bowman so it should be fun and different.
It will be a bit of a long day since we will be driving at 11:30am, dress rehearsal at 2:30pm and the performance is at 7:30pm and then we drive back to NYC at 9:30pm (ugh!)
I’m glad that it will be nice driving weather because nothing sucks more when you’re on the road than crappy weather. Looking forward to it.
Imagination CD, Best Vocal and Tribute Release of 2008
Posted in General on 01/04/2009 02:49 pm by YoonHappy New Year!
I know it’s already four days into 2009 but I’m already a little behind.
I was very happy to see that in All About Jazz- New York my newest release “Imagination” with pianist Jacob Sacks was chosen as one of the best vocals releases and best tribute releases for 2008. Jacob and I were quite pleased when we received the news. Jacob and I are doing a residency at I-Beam Music in Gowanus, Brooklyn for the month of January and we are very excited to start venturing into new material as well as continuing to find new Joe Raposo tunes.
A happy new year to everyone!