By David Lau

Charlotte Kemp Muhl and Sean Lennon share the stage at the legendary Troubadour in West Hollywood. Photo by David Lau.

Unusual things have happened at West Hollywood’s Troubadour nightclub, explained Sean Lennon, frontman of indie duo The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.

“Elton John made his debut here … my dad [former Beatle John Lennon] got bounced out of here for heckling … and now The GOASTT has done a cowbell solo on this stage.”

Charlotte Kemp Muhl, the other half of GOASTT, agreed: “There’s so much history here … I think I saw Jim Morrison’s puke upstairs. Framed.”

With its dry wit and avant-garde songwriting, GOASTT made its own mark on the Troubadour Sunday night.

Fans ranged from gray-haired hippies to teenage hipsters, the former old enough to own the Beatles on vinyl and the latter young enough to first hear Abbey Road on iTunes.

Yet Lennon’s band moved beyond any Beatles-clone preconceptions and played its own brand of indie-folk.

When Lennon and Muhl took the stage with guest multi-instrumentalist CJ Collins, each member settled into a nest of microphones and instruments. Within the first five minutes Lennon was tap-dancing on kick drum and hi-hat pedals, harmonizing with Muhl and strumming his acoustic guitar.

The bearded Sean Lennon looked very similar to his Abbey Road-era father, while guest horn player CJ Collins resembled the Mad Hatter. Photo by David Lau

Each song took the audience on a new sonic adventure, from the delicate guitar arpeggios of “The World Was Made for Men,” to the upbeat accordion swing of “Jardin du Luxembourg,” with Collins’ horns alternating between smooth melodies and sharp blasts.

Weaving Muhl’s breathy soprano with Lennon’s strident tenor, GOASTT managed to put beauty and emotion into eccentric lyrics like, “Now the peas speak Chinese/and the moon’s made of American cheese” (“Dark Matter”).

The music traversed equally eclectic ground, meandering into jazz chords and Middle Eastern scales without losing its pop sensibility. Lennon demonstrated a penchant for sonic experimentation–perhaps inherited from his mother Yoko Ono, with whom he has toured– and he even incorporated an accordion/guitar interpretation of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” into his set.

The band rounded out its set with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country,” simultaneously paying tribute to GOASTT’s folk roots while adding a glockenspiel twist.

Download a free song by The GOASTT here.

The Troubadour’s small, intimate setting served as a perfect venue for the duo as they traded jokes with fans and shared stories from their tour.

Lennon’s deadpan delivery complemented Muhl’s laughter as they described everything from their diets (“While I’m eating a sandwich, Charlotte says ‘Hold on!’ and looks for an animal to slaughter”) to their creative process (“This is the first song we wrote together, back when we made weird music in our pajamas … actually, it was one pajama that we shared”).

Muhl showed equal skill on bass, glockenspiel, accordion, melodica, and vocals. Photo by David Lau

Just as their songs exuded a strange beauty, Lennon and Kemp exuded a peculiar friendliness. It was as if they were playing a house show instead of at a historic nightclub.

They even eschewed the typical exit-and-encore ritual of most musicians, saying, “We don’t need that pretending business… we’re glad to be here.”

As the concert ended and the crowd spilled onto the sidewalk, conversations buzzed with words like “surprising” and “not what I thought.” Those expecting a John Lennon tribute band were pleasantly surprised to find that The GOASTT pioneered its own musical trail.

By Ivana Banh

Velina Hasu Houston, a talented, passionate playwright and professor at USC, believes that life should be enjoyed in the best way possible despite troubles and obstacles. She illustrates her mantra of living in her play, “Calligraphy,” a story about the reunion of two aging sisters, their daughters and a collision of cultures.

“Calligraphy” chronicles a pair of Japanese, 60-something single mothers. Natsuko, the older of the two, is an angry, bitter widow living in Japan with her free-spirited daughter Sayuri. Noriko, Natsuko’s younger sister, is also widowed and living in the United States with her obedient, respectful daughter, Hiromi.

The sisters have not seen each other for years, ever since Noriko married an African American man despite Natsuko’s disapproval. Decades later, Natsuko is fighting to keep her health, while Noriko is battling an intensifying case of Alzheimer’s. The sisters still refuse to speak to one another for more than several minutes and never seem to agree on anything.

Their daughters, Sayuri and Hiromi, decide to reunite the aging duo before it is too late. Upon hearing about the reunion, neither Noriko nor Natsuko is pleased. However, when the sisters meet in Japan, the situation takes a turn for the better. At last, the two sisters restore their relationship after years of clashing cultures, marriages and opinions. “Calligraphy” emphasizes the importance of finding what is truly valuable in life and making life the best it can be.
Houston addresses culture clashes as one of the main universal issues in her play. Houston herself did not have it easy growing up, partly due to her cultural background.

“My mother always told me that I would never make it as an author because I was the daughter of a Japanese immigrant,” said Houston. “But I knew I was meant to write.”

Houston kept on reading dramas and writing throughout her childhood. Her persistence proved her mother wrong – she was accepted to UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television and graduated with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts. Houston then continued her education at the Q.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kansas State University. She left the university with degrees in journalism, mass communication and theater. Houston completed school at USC with a Ph.D. from the School of Cinematic Arts.

Houston used her many years of education to produce dozens of essays and poems that were recognized in several journals and anthologies. She also wrote numerous plays, many of which were produced by Columbia Pictures and PBS. Houston is currently teaching at USC as a professor in the School of Cinematic Arts and Theater.

Many of her plays focus on issues amongst a range of cultures and the experiences “strangers faced in new cultures.” As part of a multicultural family herself, Houston deeply understands the collisions that can be ignited by a mix of “visual differences between darker and lighter people.”

Despite the criticism Houston encountered growing up in a family full of international marriage and culture clashes, the talented author has learned to “find what is valuable in life so that we can live the best lives possible regardless of one’s troubles and burdens.”

Houston stresses in “Calligraphy” that life is not about sulking over the negative things but rather about finding the people and things one treasures most in life while “aging and loving and at the heart of it, living the best of lives.” Part of this inspiration comes from one of her close friends, a victim of a tragic car accident that confined him to bed at 18 years old. Even though he will never be the same again, he still remains cheerful, said Houston.

“Calligraphy” combines just the right amount of drama with a generous dash of humor, a sprinkle of tragedy and a splash of happiness.

Houston’s next play, “Motherload,” illustrates another dramatic story about a set of sisters who have never met. She is also currently working on a story concerning issues of DNA and identity. She hopes she will be able to continue drawing people to her plays in the future and “enjoy [her] art with the audience in the same room.” She anticipates repeating the experience for many more years to come.