It’s time for Humpday Confessions with Kathy from Vodka and Soda. Let’s dilly dally before I get to my shameful confession, shall we?
Last weekend, my friend Chau invited me to attend a KPop festival with her at the Coliseum. Now, I don’t know much about KPop, but Chau is a huge fan. I attended the Korean Music Festival with her a couple of years ago at the Hollywood Bowl and it was a lot of fun, so I was looking forward to this, too.
We had pretty awesome seats – here we are on the field.
I had to stop for the obligatory Trojan Family photo. Fight on!
The event was very exciting and Kind of a Big Deal. The President of Korean Broadcasting System gave a speech, so did a congressman and the Consular General of Los Angeles. Apparently this free festival is presented around the world and sponsored by KBS . My friend tells me that KPop is more popular in other countries than the US. I knew it was Big in Japan, but Turkey?
I was surprised by the diversity of the crowd – people of all ages and origins were in attendance. Sitting next to us was a quartet of white ladies my age singing along in Korean. Show offs. Not that I’m jealous or anything because after 1.5 years of Korean lessons I can’t even ask for the check at a restaurant.
After the concert, three of us went to Koreatown to eat. Our first choice was BCD Tofu House, but that seemed to be the choice of errryone that was at the Coliseum-the wait was an hour!
So we tried Hodori a few blocks away, but there was a line wrapping around the building.
Since we were close to an old favorite, O Dae San, we decided to go there. There was no wait! As we were led to our table, who should we have spotted but 2PM, one of the boy bands from the festival!
It seemed that all the performers from the KPop Festival were at the restaurant, eating in this separate room.
And that’s when I LOST MY MIND and turned into a stealthy photog. At first, I wasn’t surreptitious enough, since this heavy tried to prevent me from taking this photo of Min Hyuk from CNBlue…
but I wasn’t to be deterred; I just had to be more covert, but without bothering anyone. 
As you can see, the manager of the restaurant wasn’t too happy that I snapped Jun K from 2PM. Or maybe he’s just grumpy, because I was 3 or 4 tables away. 
Here’s Taec Yeon from 2PM headed to the men’s room. 
Jung Shi from CN Blue in the striped shirt and Min Hyuk not too far behind him, returning from the men’s room. Don’t think it didn’t occur to me to hang out there. 
Here are Woo Young and Jun K from 2PM chatting with Kim Tae Woo. I think Kim Tae Woo was my favorite act of the night. He’s got an impressive set of pipes. 
I think this is Sung Yeol from Infinite? I didn’t see his face. KPop fans will recognize him from the back, though. 
Yong Hwa from CNBlue.
Here is Yong Hwa from CNBlue again, directing a sing-along on the bus that all the artists boarded at the end of the evening. 
I instagrammed and tweeted the heck out of the evening so no surprise that there was a small crowd outside the restaurant – maybe 30 people.
It made me kind of sad that the artists did not wave, smile, or acknowledge their fans in anyway, but I guess that’s how it works in Korea.
Well, I had to do something during dinner to occupy myself – because of the “special party” the restaurant was only serving all-you-can-eat bbq meat. I had to argue with the waiter for him to bring me a bowl of rice. I asked for pajeon and was refused, but then one came out as an appetizer. I asked for one of my own and the waiter said no! So I took photos and instagrammed all evening to distract from my imminent starvation death.
Have you ever seen celebrities while out and about?
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The photo of the ‘heavy’ is too funny. Glad you got your pics!
It was pretty funny to have him yelling at me in Korean, too!
kpop is pretty big here too but i’ve never been to a concert…actually, i’ve never heard one being advertised here either. i saw phoebe cates walking along yorkville which is a posh toronto neighborhood and i did a double take.
I don’t see advertisements for KPop concerts either – I think you have to follow it to be in the know.
i have no idea about anything in this post, lol. but awesome you got your pics 🙂
Haha! I didn’t know anything until I started taking their photos – I needed their names for Instagram!
Haha! I love your paparazzi style photos.
Fortunately a phone camera is discreet. I’m sure I would have been chucked out if I had a real camera!
Very cool! The only “celebrity” I can think of that I’ve seen out & about was Holly Madison (the playboy bunny) in Las Vegas.
Cool! Was she wearing her ears and tail? 😉
When I lived in Atlanta I ran into celebrities sometimes. Usher was standing next to me in the CD section at Target once. I was thinking to myself…don’t you have people do pick this up for you?
When I worked at Mall of GA, we shut down all the stores at 9:00pm. Well, then we got a note that we had to reopen at 9:30pm because one of the girls from TLC was going to come shop. It was left eye. And who was she there with? Usher of course!
Maybe he was checking on the inventory of his CDs?
Ahh sounds like you had a fun time! I always get star struck if I happen to run into someone famous.. I used to work at a famous music store and they had singers and Musicians all the time. Its pretty kool! 🙂 xx
Lisa,xo
http://chiclittlethrills.blogspot.com/
Oh nice! I would like to see music artists, especially if I was a fan of their work!
First-so impressed that you’ve taken 1.5 years of Korean language classes! Next…I’ve never been to a KPOP concert! LUCKY! This looks awesome! I’ll have to ask my friend in Turkey about Kpop there. lol. These pics are hilarious. I always love the Korean man/boy haircuts. So stylish and kind of girly! LOVE! This looks like such a fun time. I’ve seen/hung out with some stars, the latest was spotting Molly Shannon at Larchmont Cafe. I totally walked up to say hi. She was so nice!
Don’t be impressed that I took Korean classes, because I learned absolutely nothing. NOTHING!
🙂 wow thats a lot of Korean ;))
I have never met stars like you do 🙁
I don’t actually meet them – more like I see them and take a few sneaky snaps.
Ooh, you’re so sneaky! I think K-pop is gaining popularity worldwide but Turkey? Never would have guessed!
I got a LOT of retweets and instagram likes from Turkey, so I guess it’s pretty big there. I guess dancing singing boy bands are universal!
Haha that’s awesome! Next up, side job as papparazzi 🙂
I’m ready to hide in bushes with a telephoto lens.
I’ve been curious about this since I saw your Instagrams. But that sucks about the restaurant! The staff must have all been star struck.
This particular restaurant is not know for their service anyway 😉
ahhhh this sounds so fun! i’ve been on kpop kicks in the past but not recently. i took 2 years of korean in college and can read and write it but understand very little.
I understand ZIP.
that’s hilarious! K-Pop is everywhere, I’ve never gotten into it, but its reach extend even to the DC suburbs.
It’s kind of crazy the reach KPop has.
Wow…what a night! I’m not too familiar with Korean food, but obviously you are well aware of their food and customs! Sorry you had food problems, but the rest sounds awesome!
It was really incredible. I still can’t believe it.
OMG I’m so jealous! Not only did you get to go to the concert, you saw them at the restaurant!
http://ahleessa4realz.blogspot.com/
It was so unbelievable!