Category: Interviews

Go Away With … Thurston Moore

Jae-Ha Kim

“When I was a wee child, my family took a trip to Key West and we climbed up to the top of some old lighthouse,” he recalled. “The perimeter of it had a chain-link fence around it prohibiting people from falling off the edge,” said Thurston Moore. “I thought that was rather controlling. I climbed over it and prowled around the edge until my father spotted me and yelled for me to come back, and I did. I was wondering why he was so angry. I climbed back over to the safe side and got a bit of a wallop.”

Go Away With … Song Sohee

Jae-Ha Kim

“I think travel shouldn’t turn into work, so I usually don’t do any songwriting while I’m away,” said singer-songwriter Song Sohee. “However, when I visit a place that inspires me or go somewhere peaceful where I can enjoy quiet reflection, I sometimes end up writing lyrics. None of those songs have been released yet, though.”

Go Away With … McKinley Freeman

Jae-Ha Kim

“There was no version of media that could convince me or my sisters differently about the value of who we were, as defined by the examples we were blessed to see in our parents, grandparents and cousins, ” said “Reasonable Doubt” actor McKinley Freeman. “Having the courage to tell truthful points of view is important in storytelling, but having the courage to know and be who you are [is just as important].”

Go Away With … JT Habersaat

Jae-Ha Kim

Comedian and author JT Habersaat is a keen observer of life, which is why a lot of things he hears make their way into his stand-up shows. “I tend to pull from real life quite often,” said Habersaat, who resides in Austin. “I’m a bit of a storyteller. The constant travel of stand-up comedy lends itself well to adventure and insane situations. I try not to include specific people by name unless they are crucial to the material, but that happens sometimes too.”

Go Away With … Vitamin String Quartet

Jae-Ha Kim

“My maternal grandfather took me to Germany the summer between junior and senior year of high school,” Vitamin String Quartet cellist Derek Stein saids. “It was my first time out of the [United] States and an amazing experience. We went there specifically to look for a cello that he would purchase for me. We went all around the German countryside visiting different string shops and looking at the instruments that they had for sale. I was able to sit in on a couple rehearsals for a little community orchestra in one of the villages that we stayed in for a couple of days.”

Go Away With … Charlie Sexton

Jae-Ha Kim

“When you travel, you bring back what you’ve heard and you also take with you what you know,” said musician Charlie Sexton. “There’s this amazing Chinese instrument [sanzian] with a long neck and a little snakeskin body. It’s a three-string instrument and I’m obsessed with it. I’ve heard it being played on the street in various parts of the world, and it has the most beautiful, haunting sound.”

Go Away With … Stephen Bishop

Jae-Ha Kim

“When I was five, my mom took me on a bus from San Diego to Key West, Florida, to see my relatives, ” remembered “On and On” singer Stephen Bishop. “Looking back now, with a child of my own, I have no idea how my mom kept me sane with one comic book for almost five days. We did not fly. It was not fun. It was hot and exhausting. So was the ride back.”

Go Away With … Alicia Hannah-Kim

Jae-Ha Kim

When “Cobra Kai” actress Alicia Hannah-Kim was asked to help secure a team of western actors to appear in the K-drama “Tempest,” she went to work to assemble a cast that includes well-known actors like John Cho, Spencer Garrett, Michael Gaston, Brooke Smith, Christopher Gorham and Jacob Bertrand. “I think a lot of people think that K-dramas are all romantic love stories, but there are a lot of different genres,” Kim said in a Zoom interview from Los Angeles. “’Tempest’ is an international spy thriller. It’s a very sexy show with a lot of different elements.”

OMEGA X’s Kevin Talks About “My Bias is Showing!”

Jae-Ha Kim

One of 11 members of the group OMEGA X, Kevin (born Park Jin-woo) is making his leading man debut in the Boys’ Love (BL) K-drama “My Bias Is Showing!” You’d expect him to portray the K-pop idol of everyone’s dreams in this series, right? Nope. Here, Kevin tackled the role of a high school teacher who’s also Si-yeol’s biggest fanboy.

Go Away With … Catch The Young

Jae-Ha Kim

For westerners, K-pop has become the umbrella term for any artist performing songs in Korean (and usually dancing along). But South Korea has a long history of pop and rock artists who don’t adhere to that stereotype. Catch The Young is the latest band to showcase their musical dexterity as much as their singing.