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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > March > 06
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Georgia’s Blue Flashing Light plays China
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blue Flashing Light: Joshua Schwarber, Ian Schwarber, JJ Bower, Adam Monica and Ryan Cattie. Photo: Chris Mckay for ConcertShots.com. Stylist: Kim Singer.
We have peaches. They have peaches. And apparently those peaches are related, so we’re celebrating that luscious fruit by sending China a taste of something else Georgians love, the music of Athens.
Athens band Blue Flashing Light will be representing Georgia on the other side of the world at the International Peach Blossom Festival in Chengdu, capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan.
The anthemic rock quintet was selected to perform at the festival by the Atlanta-based US-China Cultural & Educational Foundation, and the band members have embraced their role as Georgia’s emissaries.
When we first tried to get in touch with frontman Ian Schwarber, he was busy meeting with the Chinese cultural ambassador and getting a little phonetic instruction.
“I’m actually going to sing three songs in Chinese, so that’s surreal,” Schwarber says, before giving us a short sample that sounds pretty darn good. “It’s a pretty daunting task for me to learn all this, but the melodies are amazing.”
Schwarber goes on to explain that the white Chengdu peach is the ancestor of our own Georgia peaches, and that connection is one of the reasons the festival organizers bring over Georgia artists. “This year they decided they wanted a rock band,” he says.
Blue Flashing Light plays the festival beginning March 15, but the band will also stick around through March 23 to perform in this year’s Olympic host city, Beijing. After returning to Georgia, the band completes its fruitful cultural exchange with an appearance at the Georgia Peach Festival in Peach County in June.
Check out the band’s official site for more info.
