Land of the Morining Calm Photo Series

This is an assortment of shots from early on in my time here in Korea. I've been here for a little over a month now and still taking so much in. It's been one of the hilights of the last seven months. I mean the UK was wicked. Ghana was intense. Cairo was ancient. India was beautiful. But there are just some things in Korea that I've never come across. I'm also seeing things I've always wanted to see. These are just a few pictures from the archive.


So the first week Jacke and I got in, we met mom in Incheon Airport. She came out to see us for a week. As part of her introduction to Korean culture, Jackie and I took her to Jiri-san("san" is a sufix for mountain) -a mountain in the Jollanam province. It was beautiful. Jiri-san has one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the province. So we had a little hike, made one with nature, and got to know some of the monks.

. . .pilling up rocks is a way of wishing for things like good health or good luck on tests (the only thing kids here in Korea do is study for tests). What are these two praying for? Who knows?

. . .this was the monk guide Jackie picked up. Cool guy. Very Buddhist.

. . .ancient buddhist trash can.

After Jiri-san we headed for Seoul by train. It is nothing like the Amtrak back home in the states. This is first class luxury at bellow Amtrak prices.

. . .an egg. Jackie likes taking pictures of food.

. . .Wax Poetics in Korea. It's the vinyl junkie's bible.

. . .this old dude was a character. He sat on me two times, dropped soda and got my bag wet, and lost his chestnuts (literally). In the end though we decided he was cool. Jacke thought he was cute.
. . .here comes the first class service. The food comes to you on Korean trains.
. . .this little one wouldn't sit still. For four hours she was up and down and all over the train.

Mom didn't get to spend too much time in Seoul, but we did get one night out on the town.

. . .two random Puerto Ricans on the Seoul metro. . . .and a radom nerd trying to crack this cube.


Since I've left home I've come to really appreciate open markets. In fact, if I could do it over, I might have done my Watson on markets instead of music. From the UK to Ghana to India to Korea, open air markets have been everywhere. They remain the best place to score cheap and good fruit, to see intersting people, to meet some of the most badass hustlers, and a never ending source of quality images. These pics...not so quality. But they're a few that I've shot while in the markets here in Korea.

And now for those miscellanous shots that don't fit anywhere...but need to be shared. These all come from Seoul.

. . .global crack doughnuts. So bad...yet so good.

. . .no, not a riot. Just an intense display of nationalism.

. . .Korean game shows. I have no idea what they're saying...but it's funny.

. . .finally...Mr. Hollywood sees the light.

Crate Raid-Korea

This story was too good not to tell.

So two weeks ago, I was near Ewah Girl's Univeristy in Seoul, Korea. Jackie and I were just chillen' looking for a cafe to sit in on our last night in Seoul before we headed south to Mokpo when all of a sudden we find this place.

at first it looked like it was nothing but CD's, but my sixth sense kicked in and we found some vinly in the back of this tiny shop. As I start pulling shit out I'm realizing that this stuff is vintage 60's-70's. So I'm like wicked...jackpot. I pull a few out and walk over to the shop owner and he's like...whoa..I need to price these. I'm like...hu? He pulls out his laptop and goes to this Korean site. He gives me a grin and is like...you ready for this shit? I'm like what? He's like...this one here...it's 150 bucks, this one here 400 bucks...ect..ect. I'm like..chill. So then I settle for a few dinky ones and say...I'll be back my brother. And then he says..cool...you can check out the other 25,000 records I have in the basement. I was like..what?!

so then I come back...armed with my trusty portable and some cash. I'm like...this is going to be off the hook. And it was.

jackie and I went throught the upstairs just to pre-game for what was downstairs. But then...

we get down there and I'm like...this man wasn't even playing. I'm overwhelmed by all the random shit this dude has.

he's got Baekdoosan the Kings of Rock'n Roll...

he's got the Bunny Twins...

he's got John, and Paul, and George, and Ringo...

he's even got some quality Korean hippie music.

then I come accross these funky Korean soul brothers. He 6. I've sampled it. I've heard it. I'm like..I gotta have it. These kats are genuine Korean Funk. This record has covers of some of the baddest funk around. Basically these hip kats know wasup. So I hand it to the store owner...he looks it up...and laughs at me. I'm like...what? He says. This here my friend is 150 bucks. So i'm like....no sweat..I want this shit. And he's like...say what?! And i'm like..yea man...Watson sent me out here to grab up shit like this. If I walk away from it...i'm not doing my job. So he's like...respekt. And I'm like...word. He sees I walk the walk and is like...ok my brother. Here take this and this (he hands me some traditional korean vinyl)...and I'm like....cool. I'm down with this. The he says that there is more where this came from...next time I'll let you near the real good shit. So I'm like...wicked.

But the story gets better. I take this tasty LP home. Throw it on and am so bugged out by it I check these kats up online. The kicker is that they were Korea's second favorite pop band. I search a little deeper. Find out that their lead guitarist is the prez at Seoul Academy of Jazz. A day and a phone call later and I'm speaking to the man himself. He says...you like my music. Cool. Come seem me Saturday. I'm like...wicked. So I'm meeting this man Saturday. Now this is what the Watson is about.

Perfect Beat....

Still haven't found it. But here are a few pictures from my quest. May not have found it. But i've heard some pretty divine rhythms. Enjoy.




...djembe and talking drum lessons from master drummer Nii Alabi, Nungua, Ghana

...Chan Gu drums used in traditional Korean mask dance...the make some wicked cool sounds.


I'll be throwing some more up soon. But these will have to do for now.

Diggin' Deeper

I've been meaning to throw this one up for a minute...but I've been on the move lately. I said goodbye to the sunny days in W. Africa to the colder days of Korea. But along the way I was sure to stop in Cairo and Mumbai. While in Cairo, I had little luck finding vinyl...although I was able to score some belly dancing music and pick up a compilation of the latest Egyptian pop music. It wasn't bad stuff...although I'm not sure if I'm about to start dropping belly dancing music in the middle of my Latin Funk sets.

I was lucky in Mumbai however. A friend tipped me off to a hot site in Chor bazaar before I left UK, back in October. Lucky for me there spot was still there. I was able to pick up some oldschool Bollywood LP's (Bollywood for those who don't know is the movie industry in India). I haven't had a chance to throw it on my table yet, but I'm sure it's golden (all Bollywood music is badass).

I've also been able to find a few shops here in Seoul (by accident...but those are the best kind of vinyl finds). I walked into a shop the other day were the kat had some super rare (which means super expensive) Korean vinyl. After looking through the first 100 vinyl that he had upstairs, he proceeded to tell Jackie (who translated to me) that he had another 25000 in the basement of his tiny ass shop. Unfortunatly, I didn't have my portable table...and I didn't have 2,000 Korean won on me either. But you better believe that I'm going back to that spot.

It's been pretty wicked to travel the world and see the different places and different types of people that have collected vinyl. Most people are shocked when I walk into a store and start asking for 12" or 45's. Most of the time people look at me like I'm crazy. Every now and then I'll get someone who's pretty fascinated that I'm looking for that kind of stuff. I almost never find someone who knows what I'm talking about. Each time I've found vinyl it's been out of sheer luck or someone put me on to the place ahead of time.

I realize now that it would have been a good idea to sit down with some of these kats and asked them how they came about their vinyl. I think the reason why I haven't done it in most places is either because there is a language barrier or I've been in a rush. In any case, it's something to think about for the next have of this adventure. And it's a good shift in the focus of my project. For now, I'm on a mission to get into the 2500 records that are sitting the basement of a small record shop in Seoul.