Introduction: My Attendance to a Japanese Concert at the Wiltern

Minerva Garcia SWRK 502 Community Group Assignment #2 02/027/07

Introduction: My attendance to a Japanese concert at the Wiltern located between Western and Wilshire near Korea town also known as K-town. . My reason for seeing this band was to accompany my 19 year-old sister. The classification of this band falls under gothic/ industrial, I think individuals familiar to this music think there is a correlation between both.

I. First impression: I drove to the venue. My sister and I we arrived 20 minutes early. Since I am unaware of this music; I assumed other people would be too. Therefore, I was shocked to see the long line there was outside of the venue. My sister and I waited in line for about 25 minutes.

a. Population: While waiting in line I noticed that a great majority of the people were between 15-18 years old. As for ethnicity there was a large population of Asians along with Asians-Americans who then were followed by a minority of Latinos, and Caucasians.

b. Culture: There was a large amount of Asians. Based on my interaction experience with Asians in the past, I will suggest that there was a greater amount of Japanese. Since high school I use to hang out with Asians and with time, I was able to decipher their different ethnicities. I will suggest that the dominant cultures were Japanese and American. However, I can not conclude if all of them were first or second generation.

c. Economic status: The teenagers seem to be of affluent status. I based this on the expensive technological gadgets they were carrying.

II. Impressions once being inside the venue: My sister and I sat near the way top; you could say they were nose bleed seats.

a. Population: A large number of teenagers. However, a highlight of the concert was seeing parents accompanying their children. The age range of the parents was between early forties to early fifties. In addition, all of the parents were male.

b. Culture: Near our seats there were two other Latino families. Also, there was one Caucasian family and three other individuals of the same race; the race of the remainder of the individuals was Asian. Culture was predominantly American because they were expressive with their clothing garments, even artistic. Although, you could feel the influence of the Japanese culture because a lot of people dressed like the Japanese characters from Japanese Animation. The phrase I used to best describe the scene was “It feels like its Halloween.”

c. Economic: Again they were of affluent status.

III. Experience: Overall, it was interesting. I enjoyed seeing the various creative garments such as dresses that looked like kimonos or the seeing Asians wearing all black. This was the first time that I was exposed to an Asian community in this music gothic scene. Although there were also individuals dressed in regular attire; I have never seen that many gothic Asians (Not sure if I am using the right term-logy here). Also, being exposed to such a young crowd made me feel old.

IV. What I learned: I was surprised to see parents accompanying their children. Two of the fathers were with their daughters which I thought was nice. People have the misconception that all kids that dress in black must come from dysfunctional families; however seeing the parents at the concert contradicts this.

In conclusion: It was interesting to see a different culture embracing gothic music. Since I have only being exposed to White and Latino kids liking gothic/industrial music seeing Asians do the same thing was a new concept to me. I enjoyed criticizing the dark wardrobe of individuals from an artistic stand-point because they were very original. In addition, I enjoyed spending time with my sister and seeing the other families made it more family orientated.