Uniformity: Robin Koob, Violinist

Uniformity is a regular magazine column where we ask Beijing personalities about the various outfits that have defined them over the years.

Robin Koob is a violin player and singer from New Jersey. She's recently played tracks on local rockabilly outfit Rolling Bowling's new album and plays in the guitar-violin duos Remedios and the Harrodans.

Which uniform was the most flattering?
I've gotten to wear ball gowns for some orchestra performances. The best was one my Dad surprised me with when I was about to play my first big show with our University Orchestra. Not very like him to buy his girls dresses on the sly, so I'll always remember it.

Which uniform was the worst fit?
Lumiere, the candlestick: I was age 11, wearing a skin-tight gold and black striped spandex cat suit with giant foam carved hands and a head perilously spray-painted with gold sparkles. I spent five shows singing “Be Our Guest: and can-canning while inhaling sparkly fumes. The next year I was The Lion in the Wizard of Oz.

Did you ever feel transformed by wearing any of these uniforms? If so, which ones?
I think I felt most transformed by my Atlantic Christian School Uniform. It was my first and only year at a religious school, with kids who'd been there all their lives. The uniform really seemed to bring you into the fold. That, and the belief that the dinosaurs died on the ark.

Which uniform did you resent wearing the most?
I ruined my True Value Hardware cashier's shirt countless times helping the garden boys lug bags of manure and soil to the check out desk. Yup, I worked there three days a week after school for two years with some fascinating characters. Bob, who ran the plumbing department, was a Buddhist and also played stand up bass in a local Jazz band. Then there was Silvio, in electrics, originally from Argentina. He was real smooth, had a long silver ponytail and cut keys really well.

Did you ruin any of these uniforms? How?
I was an Ocean City Beach Tagger for two weeks and not a day more when I was 14. I dare anyone to try combing the tourist-filled beaches of New Jersey for eight hours a day in July, telling topless middle-aged dudes who snuck in to either pay you five bucks for a day pass or get out. We wore simple gray shirts with the city logo on them and had walkie-talkies (which WAS cool). By the end, I had second degree burns on my shoulders and a whole new vocabulary filled with bad words.

Which uniform do you feel most sentimental about? Why?
The same summer, I switched jobs to work in the Old Timey Photo Booth on the Ocean City Boardwalk. When things were slow, we dressed up in our favorite salt-air infused costumes and of course took photos of ourselves in ridiculous positions. There was one green half-dress (they all tied up in the back) I hid all the way in the back so that tourist girls would never find it to wear in their photos. Girls are weird at 14.

Which uniform did you have the most fun in?
Hands down it was during the Bucknell University High Choir Tours. Our sophomore year tour was in Poland and the Czech Republic and senior year in Uruguay and Argentina. Our robes were white and magenta and it was fantastic. We sang Spirituals and pieces by Eric Whitacre and could drink legally. I'll always cherish those trips. Maybe this is my most sentimental...hmmm.

Which uniform were you most mocked for wearing?
After University, I worked at a summer camp for kids who were visually impaired. We wore the camp T-shirt most days with the logo on it. Most of my friends found it horribly ironic that the camp was called Visions and I got some flack.

Tell us a story about wearing a uniform somewhere where you felt out of place.
18- years-old, touring Europe with the American Youth Orchestra Burgundy Tour. We played the theme song to The Pirates of the Caribbean. Gershwin and Copland weren’t considered cheesy enough I guess. We were given bright red blazers, navy pencil skirts and white-collared shirts to wear and strolled the beautiful streets of Salzburg and Vienna in those outfits. On our last show, our conductor pulled out pirate hats for us all. America!!

Which uniform would be considered the least fashionable?
When I first came to Beijing, I worked at Wall Street English. Rumors about a mandatory teachers’ uniform floated around the centers for ages and then one day, we saw one. It was just a sample but it was pretty terrible. I left the company soon after. Thankfully those babies didn't get through....

Catch Robin, Remedios and the Harrodans on Dec 13 at Jiangjinjiu Bar

A version of this article appears in the December 2013 issue of the Beijinger

Photo: Sui