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The last day of Spring Break deserves a real party, doesn’t it? Well, Chinese American Bear has the honey pot for just that.
Classically trained Anne Tong immigrated from China with her family when she was around six years old, and after moving around several states in vastly different parts of the country, the family settled in Spokane, Washington. Concurrently, Bryce Barsten’s Spokane-based family were part of the global “llama boom” of the 90’s that hit the US specifically in the Pacific Northwest. These two singular life experiences eventually brought them together in matrimony and music.
Chinese American Bear, simply, is wonderfully weird. Mixing the bubbly, whimsical nature of Chinese pop culture with more off-the-wall Western sensibilities of groups like Deerhoof or even a melodic Animal Collective to bring a bright, fun, bicultural party to the stage. And it’s a party we’re all invited to.
At their Scholz Garten performance, we learned the Chinese words and process for making dim sum and we got a reminder to not take ourselves too seriously, to let loose, and just feel fuzzy.
