Posted 7:28 AM by Blah blah

Vienna Teng

Last night I drove to Eric's beautiful, artsy place in San Francisco. He had invited me along with maybe 30 others to hear Vienna Teng play on his grand piano and sing a selection of her songs. Her performance lasted about two hours. They were celebrating the release of her album Waking Hour. I also met and had fun talking to Pjammer there, too! They are all very cool and accomplished, and I'm happy I got to connect with them. It was my second time meeting each and my first time meeting Vienna.

She writes a journal here too.

Here's a bio of Vienna Teng by Virt Records, an independent label with whom she signed a deal this May. She's a 24 year old singer, songwriter, and pianist. From Metroactive: "Pianist and songwriter Vienna Teng hails from Saratoga. She graduated from Stanford [computer science] and worked as a code warrior at Cisco before chucking it all to focus on her budding music career. Her style will strike a chord with those who love Sarah McLachlan or Tori Amos; her light voice is imbued with the icy chill of piano. But don't get it twisted--Teng isn't into Windham Hill surface noise. Her lyrics are confessionals tucked into songs of quiet grace.

Vienna has a low, soothing voice. She wore a dark blue-violet dress. Everything about her (including her music) suggests calm, depth, sincerity, and a quiet inner strength. She wrote several of these rich melodic songs by the time she was 20. Says she grew up missing a lot of 80s music. Instead she was inspired by the melodies of Bob Dylan and other singers of the 60s. All of her songs, which she wrote, cover a wide range of topics. One, "Drought," is about "writer's block" of all things. "Since I tend to be a 'roundabout' person in describing things, this is good for writing a song. I need to be more flowery and talk (through music) about how my feelings remind me of clouds, of how they float around the mountaintops, etc." Another, "Lullabye For a Stormy Night," she wrote at age 17, while procrastinating on an essay for a high school English class. "It was 2 am and I was stuck on my essay. I happened to be at the piano." She says being busy helps her creativity, for ideas tend to come to her while she's supposed to be doing something else. Another song, "Unwritten Letter #1," she wrote when 18. She had been in a bad mood about a boy not returning her romantic advances. "I got tired of hearing myself whine." I loved this song, which surprises you with lively twists and feels like its high on caffeine. Another song, which I loved, was a lullaby she wrote for a little girl who loved her work, named Rose Anne. Another one, about one of her past relationships, is called "Eric's Song." When she plays at his house, she must always add: "Not THAT Eric." Near the end, she sang a stirring version of a John Denver song.

Like most artists, she can take these petty details of daily life and weave them into spiritual melodies that resonate with the eternal, the unconscious. "Confessional" is an apt word for her style, because I sometimes felt like I was in church. It was Eric's "church," though, with homemade M&M cookies, cake, wine, and sofas shaped (I'm not kidding) like the Yin Yang symbol. The mood reminded me of a friend I had in high school, Alice, a pastor's daughter who played many worship songs on the piano with that lighthearted, soulful air.

You may download some of Vienna's songs from Waking Hour here (MP3). She sometimes performs at the Blue Rock Shoot Cafe in Saratoga (photos), close to my home. The next time she'll be there is Nov. 30. (Pjammer, let's see how many comments I get for this one!)

Hear her lovely voice: Lullabye For A Stormy Night ( MP3)
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From Vienna's journal:

15 April 2002
Good Shows

There's a mysterious correlation between warm weather and great shows. Maybe daylight savings time makes people more willing to venture out at 8 PM; maybe it's the open doors of the coffeehouses letting the sound wander out into the street. Or maybe, this past Saturday, it wasn't the weather at all but a guy named Jon working the counter at the Blue Rock Shoot, telling every customer to go check out the singer-songwriter in the back room. Whatever it was, it was a magical show. On a few occasions I've felt a distinct two-way communication happening between myself and the audience -- where it's not just me playing and them listening, but also the listeners' energy and attention somehow feeding back into the song, an expression of something intangible and lovely.

Since I started playing live I've done a few shows to near-empty rooms, or -- and this is somehow worse -- a room full of people not paying any attention. Nights like those I pack up my gear and wonder, am I wasting my time? Am I wasting everyone's time? What's the point of all this? Those are fortunately rare; most other times I just play the songs, make some new friends, have a good time and feel grateful for the lunch money in the tip jar. But at Eric Cheng's house last summer, at the Global Village Cafe in February, and again two nights ago at the Blue Rock Shoot -- at these shows I felt like there was a real connection with the audience. Here was something truly worthwhile.

Those of you who shared those moments with me -- thank you. I mean it. Times like those completely renew my faith in this business of music, and in human nature in general. My profound gratitude to you for being there. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (And sorry, I still haven't figured out what I'm supposed to do when all of you are standing and cheering, except to look terribly embarrassed and happy. *grin*)

Those of you who weren't there -- here's to many more such evenings to come!