Yes, this is the right eye of Robert Coates. (I hope he forgives me for posting it... I only have one photo of him that I took a couple of years back while we were still working together but since I don't have his permission to post it, I'll just show you an eye. In any case, one would hardly recognise him from the photo I have. He has grown his hair long.)
My friend Robert Coates realesed his new album W Beestrum yesterday. It is downloadable from his website. (Please consider making a donation.) Robert is an excellent guitarist. This latest album is also exceptionally well done with a wonderful (typically Robertian) variety of sounds. (I'm not saying this because he's my friend -- it's just a fact.) You will hear flavours of Blues, Folk, Jazz, Southern rhythms and even some African vibes -- at least, I think they are African. Definitely an album with an alluring array of grooves. Robert writes thoughtful lyrics; seemlessly weaving a deep sensibility and even spirituality into everyday topics.
Robert is currently finishing his doctor's degree in Jazz guitar from the University of Southern California.
On a more personal note, I met Robert the first time I came to Korea; we worked at the same branch of a famous Language Academy. To me, he felt like the only other "normal" person at our job. Of course, to everybody else, both Robert and I probably seemed somewhat odd. We had some very interesting conversations after work at night, standing on the roof of the building where we worked, looking out over the night lights of Kangnam.These are some of my fondest recollections of my first couple of months in Korea.
In my years in Korea I have very seldom met people with whom I could have deep conversations. Most people I meet seem somewhat superficial -- and I say it in the kindest way. This leaves me often with a feeling of loneliness, even while surrounded with people. Robert was one of the few people that I could talk to and not feel like I could just as well have left my brain at home. It was not really a matter of our conversation being about unusually intellectual topics; rather it was the types of topics that determined the quality of the conversation. The topics themselves had a measure of weightiness about them -- at least in my opinioin. Other people may find sports a very weighty matter.
I still hope to work with Robert one day in some collaborative project -- him writing the music, and I writing the ... uhm ... I'm not sure yet what I'll write. Nevertheless, I look forward to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment