Q&A with Vienna, December 2007

[Vienna]

Hi Debby!

I absolutely love the arraingement of " one Bed One Bath" with "9-5". My question is simply, do you know if Dolly has ever heard your version? and if she liked it?

Hmm...I should send some music Ms. Parton's way, if I can figure out how to get it to her. Between covering 9 To 5 and finding the musical inspiration for City Hall via Little Sparrow, I owe her serious credit!

[Vienna]

Hi Bran Bran—best of luck with your explorations in music and production! Mucking around in Pro Tools can be addictive, just to warn you...

I was wondering: are there any b-sides you've recorded in the studios we haven't heard? Like, for example, is there a studio recording of 'Boy at the Piano'?

Some, but they're mostly demo quality: me singing into an SM58 and playing my Yamaha keyboard, both plugged into some portable audio interface. I don't think we have many tracks from album recording that we didn't release, except from the Waking Hour days when studio time was free of charge. My fantasy at the moment is to spend a little more time in the studio with this next album, and record more music than we need for a change. We'll see if the pocketbook department agrees to that...

[Vienna]

Happy holidays jenjen810! (Or should I just call you Jen?) Playing piano in the lounge downstairs was crucial to my sanity when I was trying to finish my CS major, so glad that it's helping with med school for you.

Hey, we should play bocce next time we meet up at Union Hall in Brooklyn.

I stumbled upon some live recordings of you at concerts when you do covers.. Do you just play by ear or do you actually get sheet music for them?

They're by ear, and often made up on the spot, which is why sometimes the chords are wrong. When I was a kid I started making up arrangements to pop songs as an escape from reading music off the page (a painstaking task for this hopelessly slow sight-reader).

I also love Alex's song, In the Creases.. is it available on the internet somewhere?

As a matter of fact, he just posted a studio recording on his MySpace for the holidays. I think Amber's album version is on her MySpace, too.

[soone]

I'm a student in China. And your music has impressed me so much that amost everyday(believe it or not)I listen to them more than I can count the times.....

Now I have a question for you，that is，when would you come to China to hold a concert or have you ever thought about that?

If the answer is no,then you may think about it! I know we have a large number of your adoring fans in China,especiall in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

By the way, thanks a lot for your wonderful melodies and lyrics.

And of course, happy new year!
Though we still have the Spring Festival round the corner

[CandaceC]

Oh yay this still lives. This means I can bombard Vienna with more bizarre questions!

Such as...

So. How was ze pie?

On a more serious note, what have been your parents' expectations with you and music, especially taking your success into mind? Have their views changed since you were a child? How do they feel about it now?

Do you watch ze anime? >.>

I has been reading too much icanhascheezburger lately. Too many cute fluffy captioned animals wif bad but fluffy grammar.

Come back to the East Coast soon! We misses you! ;_; House Concert in Philly!

</special>

[echoingstreetsigns]

It'll be probably be a Texas-to-Minnesota journey (or vice versa), along good ol' I-35.

yesss please do this! i live in texas and go to school in vermont, and it seems i'm always in the wrong place at the wrong time. but one of these days i am going to see a concert!

i was wondering whether you ever write lyrics that you can't come up with music for, or vice versa. do they usually come to you at the same time or have you ever written a full-fledged poem before setting it to music?

[umbra]

Thanks for answering the questions.

Congrats on finishing your application—hope it was a less agonizing and stressful process for you than it was for me!

Heh heh heh.

[Aleu]

Come back to the East Coast soon! We misses you! ;_; House Concert in Philly!

Agreed! Except take that Philly and move it a bit down south back to Wolf Trap!

Do you watch ze anime? >.>

I wanted to ask that xP To follow up on it, if you do, are there any favorites? I know you've mentioned that Howl's Moving Castle AMV once :3

Do you feel like your live performances are better than your studio recordings? Because after listening to you live, I've never been able to listen to your CD's without a little sigh of discontent (Thank God for achive.org <3)

Odd question, but are there any emoticons that you favor? It looks like you're a fan of , but are there any others hidden away that you're not telling us about? :O

How good is your memory of fans? For example, do you remember the one that Wolf Trap that asked you to sign a Geico ad?

...

Have you ever had Top Ramen?

[Orcrist]

Do you watch ze anime? >.>

I would like to second that!

I do not watch much of what one would consider 'mainstream' anime, or even any other TV really.. however, one of my particular favorites is "Kino's Journey: The Beautiful World"...it is, in essence, a very deep commentary on the irony of humanity. Something that makes one think...and I know it has inspired me to write stories, so who knows, it might inspire some music as well!

I has been reading too much icanhascheezburger lately. Too many cute fluffy captioned animals wif bad but fluffy grammar.

*snickers* cats are funny. ^^

It'll be probably be a Texas-to-Minnesota journey (or vice versa), along good ol' I-35.

YAY!! I know quite a few people who will be very happy when that happens!

I woke up one morning in college to find a bushy-tailed creature rummaging through the candy jar on my desk. So I did have a squirrel nemesis for a moment there. Only over Wethers butterscotches, though.

...At my girlfriend's college, the squirrels will actually throw things at you from tree branches. I have been assaulted by squirrel snipers many a time. At my college they just sit there and look at you funny.

[tanthalas]

...At my girlfriend's college, the squirrels will actually throw things at you from tree branches. I have been assaulted by squirrel snipers many a time. At my college they just sit there and look at you funny.

Maybe they only throw it at strangers? Maybe it's part of the school's defense system...

[Dreaming Pepper]

Dear Vienna,

Thank you for all your music and humbleness [compassion, goodness, among other positive warm words] whenever you see us fanatical members of our society.

So my question is:

What's your New Year's Day resolution??

[Rotkehlchen]

peggylee's post is another clearly intended for this Q&A:

Hi, I've adored your music for ages but, believe it or not, never even knew about your fan forum. I've been reading many of the questions and answers and think it is SO wonderful that you take the time to have this correspondence personally with your fans. So, thankyou!

Ok, my question. I think your songwriting is world class - seriously. I have figured out how to download videos from YouTube and have all of the ones I can find, but I just can't believe you don't have a professionally produced music video given how incredible your music is. I have purchased some Tori Amos and Fiona Apple videos but would MUCH rather be able to buy some of yours. I saw you have a DVD (which I intend to get) so maybe you could use some of the concert footage to make a music video that we could download ????

[echeng]

Vienna Teng is at this very moment writing answers to some of the Q&A questions. (We're sitting at a Chinese restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown.)

If this isn't related enough to inline into this thread, one of the moderators can remove it.


Vienna, working hard at answering Qs


... that is, until I disrupt her and ask her to look up


but luckily, she is a good sport and shows me her method for organizing stuff

(posted from a restaurant, where the staff is currently shouting loudly in Cantonese)

The message: she's working on it, and will post as soon as she can.

[CandaceC]

Oo, here's a question for Mr. Cheng or Vienna...

How did the Brahms go?!

[tanthalas]

Welcome back to the Bay Area Eric, and happy new year's.