Ching Chong Song

Last updated
Ching Ching
OriginNew York City
Genres Anti-folk, cabaret
Years active2003–present
Members
  • Julie LaMendola, Daniel Gower
  • Susan Hwang
  • Johnny Dydo
  • Jeff Larson
  • Sam Grossman
  • Simon Beins
  • Steffko
Website chingching.nfshost.com
"Jonquil" song
30-second sample

Ching Ching (previously known as Ching Chong Song) was a vocal duo rooted in New York City's Anti-folk scene. Their music is often experimental and off-kilter in nature, shifting from humorous to dark, serious, or thoughtful in tone, sometimes within the same song. Time Out New York wrote "Ching Chong Song is a genuine New York oddity, drawing equally from junior-high musicals and graphic performance art. LaMendola commands the stage with her nerves unhinged, one part rising diva, the other local loon." [1]

Contents

LaMendola's approach to saw playing is to use it primarily as a melodic instrument, rather than a simple atmospheric effect, which is demonstrated in such songs as "Lynette" and "Jonquil". The prevalence of saw in their music was noted by the Village Voice when they wrote "Cabaret weirdos Ching Chong song has have a surprisingly large amount of singing saw in their tunes." [2]

The group have released two full-length studio albums, Little Naked Gay Adventure and Everything is for the Babies, both produced by Kevin Blechdom. The latter album also features Susan Hwang, of The Debutante Hour, as a third member, playing accordion, janggu (a traditional Korean drum) and providing a third vocal harmony. While Hwang also appears with them in promo photos, and performs with them as schedules permit, they do still perform as a duo. Their extended musical family also includes Johnny Dydo, Jeff Larson, Sam Grossman, Simon Beins, and Steffko.

They have toured in the US and Europe, and performed at such diverse events as Art Basel, in Basel, Switzerland, Primavera a la Ciutat, in Barcelona, Spain, Ladyfest Rotterdam, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and the Nachtbar Porn Festival in Berlin, Germany. [3] [4] [5] [6] They have also appeared on the NYC public access program Checkerboard Kids and were chosen to close the 22nd annual Antifolk Festival, hosted by Sidewalk Cafe owner and Anti-folk luminary, Lach. [7] They were one of the groups listed as "Best Live Band in Town" in the New York Press 2009 Music Poll. [8]

Time Out New York also described them as "An unconventional duo that plays regularly at Sidewalk Café. Their songs are spare, but the pair compensate with enough chutzpah to fill Carnegie Hall." [9]

Controversy

The group have been criticised for their name, which some feel is derogatory and insensitive to Asians, as "ching chong" is generally considered to be a racial slur. As such, the group has been the object of a student group protest on a few occasions (such as New York University) and had one other show cancelled by Bryn Mawr College where they were scheduled to play. [10]

In a letter to the editor of Bryn Mawr's and Haverford's The Bi-College News Online regarding these incidents, LaMendola wrote of her disapproval of the cancellation of her group's show due to the band's name. [11] This letter led to a spate of responses in the same Bryn Mawr publication. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

These events occurred in 2007, and the group has performed without incident since that time. Though briefly going by the name Church of Lurch, then later to Ching Ching. [17]

In 2010, Ching Chong Song topped a Village Voice readers poll for "Worst Band Name in New York", beating out groups Wakey!Wakey!, Freelance Whales, and Food Stamps for this dubious honor. [18]

The poll results were later lampooned by another NYC group, going by the moniker "Chink Floyd", citing their lack of inclusion in the poll. [19]

A March 28, 2021 posting on the band's Facebook page addressed the band name controversy: "A band that toured widely in 2007-2014. We were ignorant of the way that the slang in our band name affected people of Asian descent. We apologize for whomever we hurt in our defense of using the term. We know we can't take back the pain we caused. Thank you for supporting our music. Please, gentle friends, support these groups as well." The post supplied links to resources addressing anti-Asian hatred. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania</span> Census-designated place in Pennsylvania, United States

Bryn Mawr, pronounced brin-mowr, from Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township and Haverford Township in Delaware County, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue, also known as U.S. Route 30.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haverford College</span> Private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania

Haverford College is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryn Mawr College</span> Liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, US

Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United States, and the Tri-College Consortium along with Haverford College and Swarthmore College. The college has an enrollment of about 1,350 undergraduate students and 450 graduate students. It was the first women's college to offer graduate education through a PhD.

Anti-folk is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in response to the remnants of the 1960s folk music scene. Anti-folk music was made to mock the perceived self-seriousness of the time's mainstream music scene, and artists have the intention to protest with their mocking and clever lyrics.

"Ching chong" and "ching chang chong" are ethnic slurs and racial pejorative terms sometimes used in English to mock the Chinese language, people of Chinese ancestry, or other people of East Asian descent perceived to be Chinese. The term is a crude imitation of Mandarin and Cantonese phonology. The phrases have often accompanied assaults or physical intimidation of East Asians, as have other racial slurs or imitation Chinese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ladyfest</span>

Ladyfest is a community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for feminist and women artists. Individual Ladyfests differ, but usually feature a combination of bands, musical groups, performance artists, authors, spoken word and visual artists, films, lectures, art exhibitions and workshops; it is organized by volunteers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryn Mawr station (SEPTA Regional Rail)</span> Train station in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Bryn Mawr station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is located in the western suburbs of Philadelphia at Morris and Bryn Mawr Avenues. It is served by most Paoli/Thorndale Line trains with the exception of a few "limited" and express trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily Ross Taylor</span> American historian and author (1886–1969)

Lily Ross Taylor was an American academic and author, who in 1917 became the first female Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Elastic No-No Band was a musical group based in New York City's anti-folk scene. Started in the mid-2000s, the band's name was initially just a pseudonym for its leader and main songwriter, Justin Remer. After 2005, Elastic No-No Band's line-up also included pianist Herb Scher and multi-instrumentalist Preston Spurlock. In 2005 and 2006, the band would perform sporadically with Clint Scheibner, who would play a bass drum attached to his chest, as though he were in a marching band. In 2007, the band added drummer Doug Johnson as a regular member. During the recording sessions for the band's 2010 album, Fustercluck!!!, electric guitarist John Mulcahy was also added.

Jona Lendering is a Dutch historian and the author of books on antiquity, Dutch history and modern management. He has an MA in history from Leiden University and an MA in Mediterranean culture from the Amsterdam Free University, taught history at the Free University, and worked as an archivist employed by the Dutch government, before becoming one of the founders of the history school Livius Onderwijs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Route 2005 (Delaware County, Pennsylvania)</span>

State Route 2005 is a major 9.3 mile (15 km) long road, running in a southeast–northwest direction in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The western terminus is at Pennsylvania Route 320 in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania. Its eastern terminus is at a Cobbs Creek bridge in Darby, Pennsylvania. Past this bridge is State Route 3023, which continues into Philadelphia. SR 2005 is known as Darby Road in Haverford Township, Lansdowne Avenue from U.S. Route 1 to Darby, and Main Street in Darby.

The Debutante Hour are a trio, based in New York City, consisting of multi-instrumentalists Susan Hwang, Mia Pixley, and Maria Sonevytsky. Typically, Sonevytsky and Hwang trade off accordion and primary vocal duties, and Pixley plays cello, as well as providing additional vocals. Hwang and Sonevytsky also alternate playing "hobo drum kit", consisting of a mini bass drum and firecracker snare, while standing. The group's approach spans a variety of styles, and includes elements of close harmony, vaudeville, cabaret, and Americana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoebe Kreutz</span> American singer

Phoebe Kreutz is a singer-songwriter, primarily associated with the anti-folk scene of New York City, but also known for her theater and television work.

Wakey Wakey is an adult alternative pop group fronted by Michael Grubbs and based in Brooklyn, New York. Michael Grubbs is also known for his role as "Grubbs" on One Tree Hill, where the band's music has been featured. They reached critical acclaim with their 2010 release, Almost Everything I Wish I'd Said the Last Time I Saw You which reached No. 1 on the Billboard's Heatseekers Chart.

Novelist and essayist Elizabeth Mosier logged 1,000 volunteer hours processing colonial-era artifacts at Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park Archeology Laboratory to write Excavating Memory: Archaeology and Home. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, she has twice been named a discipline winner/fellowship finalist by the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, and has received fellowships from Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, The Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Her nonfiction has been selected as notable in Best American Essays and appears widely in journals and newspapers including Cleaver,Creative Nonfiction, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Poets and Writers. From 2015 - 2020, she wrote the "U-Curve" and “Intersections” columns for the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin.

The SideWalk Cafe was a music venue and restaurant/cafe in East Village, New York City founded in 1985. It became a known venue for its underground music scene, and in particular, was known as being the center for Anti-folk in the United States. It offered an eclectic mix of local and national acts ranging from DIY, avant garde music, indie rock, and jazz to pop music and electronic music. The venue also hosted poetry readings, comedy and live-band karaoke. The Local East Village, at the time part of The New York Times, referred to the SideWalk Cafe and its music scene as a "gift to the neighborhood".

The New York Antifolk Festival is an annual music festival featuring anti-folk, indie rock, post-punk and indie pop bands and singer-songwriters. It also has featured performance artists, comedians and magicians.

Bryn Mawr was an American Thoroughbred racehorse is best known for winning the 1904 Preakness Stakes. He was bred by Goughacres Stud in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, owned by B. F. Clyde and his brother William's son, Thomas C. Clyde. They would race him under their Goughacres Stable. Bryn Mawr was sired by Atheling and out of the mare Maggie Weir, a daughter of The Bard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Zauner</span> Korean-American musician and author

Michelle Chongmi Zauner is a Korean-American musician and author, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative pop band Japanese Breakfast. Her 2021 memoir, Crying in H Mart, spent 60 weeks on The New York Times hardcover non-fiction bestseller list. In 2022, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world under the category Innovators on their annual list.

<i>Awaken</i> (NCT 127 album) 2019 studio album by NCT 127

Awaken is the first full-length Japanese album by South Korean boy band NCT 127, the second multi-national sub-unit of NCT. Released by their Japanese label Avex Trax on April 17, 2019, the album was the second major release for the Japanese market from the group and their first to not feature Winwin, who was on a hiatus due to his participation in WayV's promotion. SM Entertainment's founder Lee Soo-man served as the album's executive producer, with lyrical and musical composition contributed by Andreas Öberg, Sebastian Thott, David Amber, Jung Youth, Tony Esterly, Jonny Shorr, LDN Noise, Deez, Adrian Mckinnon, Mike Daley, Yoo Young-jin, Harvey Mason Jr., Dem Jointz, MEG.ME and others. A hip-hop and R&B-heavily dominant record, Awaken contains songs corporating elements from pop and electronic music, performing in Japanese, Korean and English in order to "continue" the story from their first Japanese extended play Chain (2018).

References

  1. ↑ "The Chong show - Time Out New York". Newyork.timeout.com. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  2. ↑ "New York". Villagevoice.com. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  3. ↑ "Art Agenda". Art Agenda. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  4. ↑ "noticias". Primavera Sound. 2010-04-14. Archived from the original on 2010-04-18. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  5. ↑ "Ladyfest". grassrootsfeminism.net. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
  6. ↑ (NSFW!)PornfilmfestivalBerlin-webmistress. "2. PORNfilmfestivalBERLIN 2007". Pornfilmfestivalberlin.de. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  7. ↑ "The 2008 Winter Antifolk Festival (Feb 19-29)". Brooklynvegan.com. 2008-02-19. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  8. ↑ Leather, Jonny (2009-10-28). "2009 Music Poll". New York Press. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  9. ↑ "5 to watch out for - Time Out New York". Newyork.timeout.com. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  10. ↑ J. David Goodman (2010-07-15). "On Television, Asians Face Multiple 'Situations'". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  11. ↑ "The Bi-College News Online » Blog Archive » Letter to the Editor". Bicollegenews.com. Archived from the original on 2010-11-19. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  12. ↑ "The Bi-College News Online » Blog Archive » Ching Chong, this Witch Is Dead". Bicollegenews.com. Retrieved 2010-10-11.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ "The Bi-College News Online » Blog Archive » Ching Chong Song Letter Shows Ignorance". Bicollegenews.com. Retrieved 2010-10-11.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. ↑ "The Bi-College News Online » Blog Archive » Office of Intercultural Affairs Responds to LaMendola". Bicollegenews.com. Retrieved 2010-10-11.[ permanent dead link ]
  15. ↑ "LaMendola is Racist". Bicollegenews.com. Retrieved 2010-10-11.[ permanent dead link ]
  16. ↑ "Mackin, Milne Show Intolerance". Bicollegenews.com. Retrieved 2010-10-11.[ permanent dead link ]
  17. ↑ "Ching Chong Song Changes Name". Bicollegenews.com. Retrieved 2010-10-11.[ permanent dead link ]
  18. ↑ Harvilla, Rob (2010-07-15). "The Worst Band Name In New York: Finally, We Have A Winner". Village Voice. Archived from the original on 2010-07-18. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  19. ↑ Harvilla, Rob (2010-07-22). "Chink Floyd Are Upset They Didn't Win Our "Worst Band Name In New York" Contest, Which Is A Valid Point". Village Voice. Archived from the original on 2012-07-08. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  20. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10159227474883373&id=307346978372 [ user-generated source ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.