Role Model Series #7: Lee Takasugi

[sandra]

Lee Takasugi of the Visiting Violette

after attending Lee's concert yesterday at the Japanese American Theater in Los Angeles, i decided that she has to be the next asian female role model in our series. not only is she beautiful and has amazing voice, she writes all of her lyrics and the vast majority of her music. in her first album, she wrote a song called, 'mars' - which illustrates the feelings that her parents had when they were released from the concentration camps. her music has been categorized as 'alternative rock'. finally - an asian american female artist that truly appeals to me - and i hope you guys will check out her music, too!

http://www.visitingviolette.com/2k2/images/sights_and_sounds/photos/big_pic1.gif
(on the right)

http://www.visitingviolette.com/2k2/images/sights_and_sounds/photos/big_pic5.gif

http://www.visitingviolette.com/2k2/images/sights_and_sounds/photos/big_pic6.gif
(rocking at the Manzanar Pilgramage)

"I first started singing in church when I was maybe, 9 or 10. Singing always made me feel as if I were at the right place at the right time...you know...sort of like a puzzle piece that fits exactly right somewhere. I think that's the best way to describe how I feel when I sing.

"The piano was always in my life because of my mom. She used to hold a lot back, but when she played piano, there was real joy there. I think hearing all that music inspired me to start writing my own. I still have her old 1930's Kirchner upright.

"I started singing and getting into a lot of jazz in college, but my first paid gig was as a gypsy singer for a traveling pop band in France. I would sing Whitney Houston covers. We wore these cheesy, tight-fitting costumes which I accidentally shrunk in the dryer...you know, first time away from home doing my own laundry and all.

"After college, I got reacquainted with Glenn at a party somewhere. I remember eating, laughing and talking a lot about all the different kinds of music we loved, and I think Visiting Violette just evolved out of all that. To this day, we still feel there's nothing more wonderful than being able to do something you love..."


Professional Profile
A graduate of UC Berkeley, Takasugi studied classically with grammy award-winning San Francisco conductor, Vance George. She also sang and competed for two years with the Berkeley Jazz Choir. Takasugi performed professionally in France for the pop band Denys Grey. Takasugi also recorded a children's album entitled, "Through Innocent Eyes" with Family Media Publishing and wrote and recorded, "Say It Isn't So," the theme song for an interactive educational CD-ROM. In addition, Takasugi wrote and recorded three songs which are being used in children's videos that are currently airing nationally on the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) for the next five years. She also co-wrote, along with Bindu Records producer Derek Nakamoto, and sang on the endtrack for the film "Cutting Horses," directed by the critically acclaimed photographer/director Larry Clark (Kids).

http://www.visitingviolette.com/main.html

[sandra]

http://www.tuningin.com/new/vv.gif

Biography of Visiting Violette
Visiting Violette (VV) is the poetry and unique timbre of vocalist, Lee Takasugi, the driving rhythmic strums of guitarist, Glenn Suravech, and the soulful, heart-tugging solos of guitarist, Shin Kawasaki. VV has been on a colorful musical journey for the past 10 years, sharing their eclectic blend of album-alternative rock, jazz and R&B with radio, television, and college audiences across the U.S. Along with club audiences, theater productions, festivals, and political, social and community events.
The band just launched their new CD to an audience of 500 at the Japan American Theatre in April 2002. Entitled, "A Hero's Day”. This first full-length CD was released on Bindu Records and produced and mixed by Derek Nakamoto (Keiko Matsui) and Steve Durkee (Prince). Particular about this CD is the simple and clean approach to each song, which enables the listener to hear every distinct part played and sung. The story telling of the record comes across with more sincerity and more true edge, rather than being about unnecessary noise, overplaying and volume. To promote the album and concert, the band was featured in a 30-minute interview on the "Global Village" radio program on KPFK 90.7 FM.

In addition to writing and performing its own original work, VV also contributes original music for film and video. VV cuts can be heard on two scores for PBS directed by Sundance Film Festival award-winning director Kayo Hatta (Picture Bride), and on the end credits for acclaimed photographer/director Larry Clark’s (Kids) film “Cutting Horses.”

VV has toured and played over 450 shows in venues throughout Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, San Jose and Napa Valley areas, in addition to playing many colleges and clubs in the Pacific Northwest. Notable performances have been opening up for A.J. Croce at Slim's in San Francisco and the Key Club in Los Angeles and collaborating with the Here and Now Theatre Company, at the Japan American Theater in downtown L.A. VV has also done collaborations with Taiko drummers, dancers, and television and theater actors.

After hearing VV’s first CD, one writer from Music Connection Magazine wrote, “Blending the essence of 10,000 Maniacs with a periodic hard edge, this quartet has some nice ideas and shows promise.”

In another review in Dialogue Magazine, the author wrote, “...Visiting Violette has been compared to early 10,000 Maniacs or The Pretenders ... throw in an edgy guitar, jazzy drums, and an occasional R&B beat, and you have something between the polished sound of The Cocteau Twins and the sweetness of Paula Cole.”

After seeing VV live, writer Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times wrote in an article titled Quirky Violette Pairs Eclectic With Eccentric, “(VV’s) polished music fused R&B and funk, folky pop and mellow rock, variously recalling 10,000 Maniacs, Sheryl Crow and the Motels ... Crooning quirky tunes about heartbreak, life on Mars and overcoming hardship in a girlish yet substantial voice, singer Lee Takasugi was a dynamic front woman ... The songs are put together well.”

In addition to those reviews, Visiting Violette has been featured in the L.A. Weekly, Downtown News, Celebrity Chronicle and Yolk Magazine as well as a number of college campus publications such as Campus Circle, Pacific Ties (UCLA) and Bamboo Offshoot (USC). On the Internet, VV was also reviewed and featured on Monkeyoil.com and Blacklava.com.

[sandra]

some of her songs:

Real
Words & music by Lee Takasugi

I'm not amenable sometimes / I'm not a bottle of sunshine / I'm not your goldielocks / Or a string of white pearls / I'm not a geisha in geta / But I know I'll never neglect a / Cry for some tenderness or a hand filled with joy

*Isn't it real when you hear? / I need to tell you honestly / Isn't it real when those words / Just come out with ease? / Isn't it real when you hear? / That things are gonna be ok? / Isn't it real when your heart beats complete?

I know you've been raised to expect that... / The easiest things you can win at / Will bring you true happiness / and a sense of savoy... / I know I don't shine with a price-tag / and my face, you won't find on some newsrack / But my heart is gold / and my tears salt like yours

Will you believe that there's solace / in things you touch, but don't polish / Sweet words on my breath / 'Just begging to speak / I'm not the pope in a white robe / I'm not angelically modeled / I've swum through some mud / But I can still see you clear!

Hi
Words & music by Lee Takasugi

Some things need reminding / Like a burst of raw hope / That leads you and fills you...up / And I'll tell you a story / of a man and his glory / and his search for that golden cup

*"No one can teach me a thing," he says / "'Cuz I've seen it and heard it before," he says / "I don't need you to show me a better place to go / "I've seen it and been there before," he says / And I've tried, yes, I've tried / And I've tried, yes, I've tried / To tell him, "hi..."

Some things need rewinding / Like the time when you laughed / Can you remember that far in the past / Well, I'll tell you a story / Of this man walking toward me / With his eyes staring straight through a mask!

[TyroneK(prettypretty)]

It's good to see an APA woman singing acoustic music and not going down that typical urban contemporary route. It's not really my type of thing, but she does seem to put a lot of thought into her work. She should use a drummer though. Music without drums doesn't really get to me much.

Actually, her band is a lot like A Grain of Sand, which was a prominent band that provided background music for the upswing in APA activism during the late 1960s.

For more info on an interesting subchapter in APA history, go to:
http://www.greatleap.org/grainofsand/PressArticles/northwest.html
http://chnm.gmu.edu/eoc/resources/art-cult/gos.html
http://www.bindurecords.com/music/grainofsand/

It's not a bad disc. Sometimes I play it when I need to mellow out.

[hooligan]

can someone upload an mp3 for "educational" purposes?

whoops: found it here http://www.visitingviolette.com/tunes.html

[sandra]

can someone upload an mp3 for "educational" purposes?

whoops: found it here http://www.visitingviolette.com/tunes.html

right. i was just going to say that you can listen to a sample of her music on that site. i also have her first CD. waiting for the 2nd one to come out. :)

[Faithless]

I listened to their tunes that they listed on their web site, then found this review:

http://www.tuningin.com/artists/visiting_violette.html
After seeing VV live, writer Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times wrote in an article titled Quirky Violette Pairs Eclectic With Eccentric, “(VV’s) polished music fused R&B and funk, folky pop and mellow rock, variously recalling 10,000 Maniacs, Sheryl Crow and the Motels ... Crooning quirky tunes about heartbreak, life on Mars and overcoming hardship in a girlish yet substantial voice, singer Lee Takasugi was a dynamic front woman ... The songs are put together well.”
However, I didn't find their listed music to be as funky as it was folky pop.

Do you think they can really make it with today's sexy-pop-star-tease industry? Or are they even looking to make it big? Because the sound didn't strike me as "big enough". No offense.

I wonder if Hiroshima would consider taking on Lee for a bit. They need a good female vocalist.

[sandra]

I listened to their tunes that they listed on their web site, then found this review:

http://www.tuningin.com/artists/visiting_violette.html

However, I didn't find their listed music to be as funky as it was folky pop.

Do you think they can really make it with today's sexy-pop-star-tease industry? Or are they even looking to make it big? Because the sound didn't strike me as "big enough". No offense.

I wonder if Hiroshima would consider taking on Lee for a bit. They need a good female vocalist.

actually, i think the second album is more funky. i don't know if they're trying to make it big. it's not really mainstream stuff, i know - but that's what i like about it.

what's hiroshima?

[sandra]

reviews:

Reviews on VV & "a hero's day"

"From the opening line of the first song, when Lee Takasugi sings 'Have you ever fallen in love with a woman who had pink hair?' you know you're in for a very cool ride. Visiting Violette, comprised of singer Takasugi and guitarists Shin Kawasaki and Glenn Suravech play a driving and undeniable form of alternative pop.

"Takasugi's voice calls to mind Gwen Stefani for its emotional dexterity and Natalie Merchant for its grace. Kawasaki and Suravech's guitars easily swing from muffled grunge to water-clear melodies and back. Songs like the title track bubble under and build until they burst in explosive choruses with melodies that shoot into the stratosphere. On the standout track 'Carnival,' Takasugi's vocals shimmer amid an arrangement that flutters from quiet acoustic guitar to full-band rock mayhem."

Clay Steakley, Performing Songwriter Magazine, Issue 70, June 2003

"(VV's) polished music fused R&B and funk, folky pop and mellow rock, variously recalling 10,000 Maniacs, Sheryl Crow and the Motels ... Crooning quirky tunes about heartbreak, life on Mars and overcoming hardship in a girlish yet substantial voice, singer Lee Takasugi was a dynamic frontwoman ... The songs are put together well."

Natalie Nichols, Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2002

"GenerAsian X gets 'Real' when Eastside meets Eastside at the Japan America Theater for a collaborative, genre-crossing music and theater performance. Silve Lake rockers Visiting Violette provide the tunes -- and much of the inspiration -- for East L.A.-based hereandnow Theater Company's look at Angeleno Asian-American Life ... VV's songs have a very contemporary flavor well-suited to hereandnow's movement-based staging ... Takasugi's songs about love, race and gender provide the basis for Real's vignettes, which focus on the personal experience of young Asian-American L.A. artists."

Sandra Ross, LA Weekly, March 10-16, 2000

"Local trio Visiting Violette, augmented with guest musicians, has delivered their first full-length CD, 'a hero's day.' Annotated by the evocative and esoteric vocals of Lee Takasugi and the twin guitars of Glenn Suravech and Shinichiro Kawasaki, the group's arty mien serves to illuminate a sparkling songcraft."

Dan Kimpel, Music Connection, 7/22/02-8/4/02

"Visiting Violette defies easy categorization by effortlessly blending an eclectic mix of jazz, pop, and R & B"

Alex Luu, Yolk Magazine, Fall/Winter 2000

"Visiting Violette has been compared to early 10,000 Maniacs or The Pretenders. Throw in an edgy guitar, jazzy drums, and an occasional R & B beat, and you have something in between the polished sound of The Cocteau Twins and the sweetness of Paula Cole."

Howard Jonathan Hong, Dialogue Magazine, Spring/Summer 2000

"Lead vocalist Lee Takasugi has a very sensuous voice with good pitch and delivery. But her voice alone does not make the band -- guitarists Glenn Suravech and Shin Kawasaki combine forces to make a mature musical tapestry.

MO, CAKE Magazine, Issue #48, 1996

"... Visiting Violette has been compared to 10,000 Maniacs, but at times a better comparison would be Natalie Merchant backed by the Muppet Show's Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. The band members are hep cats. This is pop sensibility made interesting by a cool jazzy undertone.

Katie Glick, Campus Circle, October 2, 1996

"Visiting Violette's performance is an expression of love ... With grooves that draws comparisons to 10,000 Maniacs, Sarah McLachlan and the band version of Tori Amos..."

John Lai, Monkeyoil.com, Fall 2001

"... At the center of the album are Takasugi's vocals, which to my ears remind me most of Natalie Merchant -- oddly, I like Takasugi's singing but can't stand Merchant! Takasugi has a pretty voice and thankfully doesn't go for the current trend of overwarbling (I call it yodeling) that so many pop singers are guilty of. She can hold a single note and sustain it, which is refreshing.

"Takasugi also does most of the writing. Overall, 'a hero's day' is a solid showcase of the band's musicianship and songcraft -- I was waiting for the band to cut loose, though, and they show they can on track No. 7, 'Breezeby.' I also like track No. 5 ('Carnival') in which VV veers into psychedelia with studio effects like vocals switching channels and echo, a dynamic range that goes from acoustic to roaring, shimmering guitars, etc. Takasugi also put some heart into the backing vocals on that track.

"I'm a fan of classic pop songs -- ones that memorable hooks and melodies that stay in your brain, a chorus, harmonies, backup vocals and elements of call-and-response that build to a climax and key change, all in three minutes. I don't know if any of that is on VV's agenda, but I personally would like to see more of that on future releases. 'a hero's day' shows a band with lots of skill and potential -- I hope it's a herald of more to come and greater commercial success..."

George Toshio Johnston, The Rafu Shimpo, August 17, 2002

"The poetic lyrics and groovy, sometimes sappy, riffs of Visiting Violette's debut release, 'a hero's day,' showcase the trio's eclectic influences. The album is a dynamic blend of lead singer Lee Takasugi's jazz and pop background, and the funk-rock influenced riffs of guitarists Glenn Suravech and Shin Kawasaki.

"'Girl,' a golden track hidden between the standout title track and 'Carnival,' is an anthem for heartbreak that will make your eyes water. 'a hero's day' occasionally flirts with bubblegum pop, sugarcoating its sound with one too many shooby-doos. Fortunately, Visiting Violette's lyrics supercede any sounds reminiscent of fabricated teenage pop and preserve the integrity of the band."

Kham Lam, Yolk Magazine, Volume Nine, 2002 Issue No. 4

[amietron]

what's hiroshima?
hiroshima's a japanese american band. my dad likes them. they've been around for a loong time. their music is kinda jazz-ish. http://www.hiroshimamusic.com/