Julia Lau

[rahau]

Julia Lau is an up-and-coming singer songwriter from the Bay Area. Her first CD, "In The Wildflowers and Weeds," is due out shortly. Like Vienna, Julia had a pretty interesting day job before turning to music: She worked as a community activist in San Francisco's Chinatown. That experience was, not suprisingly, a significant influence.

One example: Her song To Be Beautiful is about the impossible pressures on young girls to be physically "perfect." Adolescent and teenaged girls of all backgrounds will relate to this lyric:

And all the models
so thin and tall
she tries to stop herself
from eating much at all


But then comes a stanza than can only be understood by a certain audience:

Her mother told her
That "our eyes aren’t right"
it’s just a little cut
a crease would look real nice

Every time I've heard her sing that song, those words have had an almost physical impact on the listeners.

The CD has a special item of interest for the Warm Strangers: Our lodge brother Eric Cheng plays cello on several tracks.

Julia's web site is:

http://www.julialau.net

[Scot]

Thanks for the tip. She sounds interesting. And a bonus that
the multi-talented Mr. Cheng also appears!


scot

[noel]

I just got her CD and she is really great. I love most all the tracks on there... which is rare. She's got an incredible voice... and really good songs. I got on her mailing list... and am planning on going to her CD Release Show at Cafe Du Nord this Sunday at 8pm. Has anyone else seen her live? I'm surprised I hadn't heard about her before... Anyhow, it seems like there are a lot of Asian American artists coming up... which is cool to see. I think she's playing with another one that night. Anyhow, I highly recommend her album... reminds me of Sarah McLachlan... definitely has a lot of feeling.