Kind of a Hairy Situation

The other day, Blair sent me an email with a copy of my headshot from the Hideo program. I then proceeded to panic because I thought she was going to use it for this official blog. The photo itself was of great quality (thanks, Gary!), but you see… I usually have longer hair. And I had cut my hair really, really short about a week before the shoot. Really short. And I looked kind of stupid.

After I expressed my thoughts to Blair, she said: “ROFL! Why’d you get a haircut right before the shoot, anyway??” Exact words, btw.

I DON’T KNOW. Even to this day, months later, I have no idea what possessed me to do that.

So why is this important? It isn’t, really. But since we’re introducing ourselves, I figured this would serve as a nice segue into who I am: Yasean Lee, guitarist, marketing dude, the guy with the hair.

I originally found out about Hideo through Mike McKellar, our assistant producer. I’ve known the guy a long time – his brother Kevin and I have been great friends since middle school. I was never as familiar with anime as some of the others on the Hideo team are, but I grew up playing video games and guitar. As a fellow musician and gamer, Mike knew I’d be interested in what the masterminds behind this whole thing were trying to do.

I’ve always thought that video game music – and video games in general – don’t get the respect and credibility they deserve. Roger Ebert said back in 2005 that video games, on a fundamental level, can never be art. Even though I’m a film fanatic and as much as I love Ebert and his musings, I couldn’t disagree more. I saw in the vision of Hideo a chance to prove to people that regardless of the scale or medium, the passion and emotion are just as real.

Art is all about feeling. Having gone on the first part of this journey with Blair, Chris and the rest of the Hideo team, I can honestly say that I’ve never met individuals who are so committed and so genuinely feel for what they’re doing. While I’m lucky to have been a part of the first-ever Hideo performance, I think those of you who were in the audience were just as fortunate. What you got to see was the culmination of countless hours filled with hard, meticulous work, sweat and tears, and it all came together quite beautifully that night. I hope you’ll keep following us, and that you’re just as excited about the prospect of the next Hideo performance as I am.

We’ve all been inspired by the amazing reception and fantastic exposure we received for the show back in October, and my goal is to help channel that energy, keep things going, and bring our collective passion to as many people as possible. And not get any more haircuts.