Robert Chun #103126416

Interviewee: Tae Jung Kim
Marrch 7, 2003

The interview was taken at Y2k Norebang on 6th and Serranno. Kim Tae Jung is a 43 year old man who came to the Norebang after work. The time was 11:24 p.m. He arrived with his friends from work (5 people). He works as a pastery chef at "Cake Town Gardens" in KoreaTown. He is married with 2 kids and currently lives in Korea town. Mr. Kim comes once every two weeks so I reconized him when he came in. He knows me very well, because I give him a discount. He is the nicest person, and brings me free pasterires from his store. My uncle also knows him quite well, but then again my uncle says he knows all the business owners in Korea town. The interview was spoken in Korean.

Minute 1-2
I saw Mr. Kim come in with a co-worker. He brought over free pasteries again. I said thank you and he asked for a room. I told him I'll make him a deal. I told him that I'll give him a bottle of free soju if he was willing to do an interview with me about attending Norebangs. Mr. Kim agreed to my purposal.

Minute 2-3
I told him I attend UCLA and that I was doing an interview. Mr. Kim said "you must be smart because your attending UCLA". I said thank you. He then asked me for what class I was doing this interview for and for what purpose. I told him that it was for mh korean folklore class and that it will be on the internet for people to see if they want to know about norebangs. He smiled and said that since its going on the internet that he deserved two bottles of soju. I laughed and said "I have to ask my uncle". I told him that my uncle owns the place so I can't do anything without his permission. He seemed sort of shocked to hear that my uncle was the owner for this store.

Minute 4-8
He told me that he first met my uncle 4 years ago when he use to own a small bakery inside Plaza Market. He said my uncle had a lot of money back in the days. Suprisingly, he asked my if I was the son of Chun Sa Jang Neem (Business Owner Mr. Chun). I said yes, and asked him how he knows my dad. He said "everyone knows your dad. Your dad used to own this before your uncle. I told him I knew that. He also told me that my dad use to own "Bell Fare night club", Mega night club, and Cotton Club Soju house" which I had no idea of. Mr. Kim then asked me where I went to high school. He told me that I was big boned and that I look just like my father.

Minute 8-10
I told him that I went to high school at Beverly Hills High. He asked me how I got into UCLA. I told him I didn't go straight to UCLA. I told Mr. Kim that I had attended Santa Monica Community College for 2 years before I can get accepted. I told him that it costs less to do it this way unless that person recieves financial aid. He told me that his daughter wanted to attend UCLA and that she was a Junior in high school. He said she goes to "Palisades High" and that she is a pretty good student. He then asked me what financial aid was. I told him that it's money you received if you can't afford schooling. He asked me how I got finanacial aid because I was rich. I started laughing so hard.

Minute 9-10
I told him that I pay for everything myself. I received financial aid and a scholarship. I told him that I live with roommates and not with my dad. He was pretty surprised. He asked me how much I make here. I told him that my uncle gives me ten an hour because i'm a student. Then he started to ask me what the interview was about again. I told him that I was doing research on Norebang and how its incorporated into the Korean culture. He told me to go get that bottle of soju so I got one for Mr.Kim. I poured the first glass for Mr. Kim. Then out of nowhere he told me that my father had raised me well. I said thank you again. He asked me if I drinked and I said no. He then said "with your weight and size you should be able to tolerate a lot of alcohol.

Minute 11-15
He asked me what I wanted to know about Norebangs. I asked him when he came to the United States. He said he came to the states 8 years ago. I asked if he used to go to Norebangs. He said yes, but its different here then in Korea. He said that in Korea, Norebangs are cheap like 2 dollars an hour. He mentioned that most people in Korea usually go to their neighborhood Norebang. Its not like Los Angeles where there are Norebangs every few blocks. I told him that there aren't Norebangs every few blocks. He said its every few blocks because you can drive a car. He said in Korea people hardly drive and taking the subway takes too much time so people would go the Norebang near their house. The Norebang person usually would know you because in Korea neighbors were sort of close with each other.

Minute 15-20
I poured him his second shot of Soju and he continued to say that there are different kinds of Norebangs in Korea just like there are different types of Norebangs here in the United States. I asked him to describe the different types of Norebangs there. Mr. Kim said there are expensive ones and there are the regular ones. He said the expensive ones are more of a "Sul Jip" (Bar). He said in the expensive ones that there is a thing called "room service". That is when girls come into the room and have fun with you. He said that the girls usually sing and have drinks with the guys. I asked him if they go home with you. He said some do but most of them don't because they are only doing there job for the money. He told me never go to Korea and do that kind of stuff. He said those kind of places and activities are for "yangachis" (low lifes). He was now ready for his third shot of soju. He also ate one of the pastery breads that he gave me.

Minute 20-25
Mr. Kim said that now a days in Los Angeles the Norebangs have become more for young people. Mr. Kim said that most of the songs in the song book are geared more towards the younger crowd. He notices that the songs are mostly mainstream pop music that is popular in the Korean culture. He said they don't have the old song from back when he was in college anymore. He said that there are few Norebangs like this one that have more old songs than others. His co-worker came out and asked Mr. Kim to sing a song. I went in the room and observed him singing a really really old song.

Minute 25-40
I observed them having fun at the Norebang. One lady was keeping the beat with a tamberine and everyone was clapping. They were shouting and screaming like they were at a concert. Mr. Kim was off vocally but seemed to keep a pretty good beat. No one really cared how the song sounded as long as he was singing, and they were having fun. It didn't matter if you sing well or if you sing bad, all they cared about was that you just sang. I thought the song was so boring, but they loved it. He even did a dance for the song and everything. It was the funniest dance I've ever seen…he moved his legs like they were jello, and then he started to do a weird version of the twist while singing. After he was done he came back outside to finish his interview. I was surprised he still wanted to continue with the interview.

Minute 40-45
I asked him if he still wanted to continue. Mr. Kim raised his shotglass and told me to pour him another. He the said:
"This is the way we have fun. Korean people love to sing. Its in our blood. Don't you know that songs help calm you. Singing loosens your soul and relaxes you. Korean people go through a lot of stress. We go through more stress than regular people. If you have noticed Korean people are always staying late to work. That strong work ethic is part of our culture”.
By this time the Soju is pretty much on its last shot.

Minute 45-55
He drank the last Soju from the bottle. One of his co-workers came and call his name to come back. He then said “got to work of the stress to be able to work tomorrow”. I told him thank you for the interview and to come back next time and I’ll buy him a free bottle of soju again. By this time he seemed pretty drunk.

After Mr. Kim was finished with the Norebang experience and also a bit drunk, they decided to go for seconds on drinks somewhere else.