boston progress radio

Here is another radio station that is playing Asian music. Big B Radio claims to be “The Only Hot Station for Asian Music”. They have a fancy website and in their About Us section, we find that their goal is to be “the vanguard organization for promoting Asian talent.” I think that is an awesome goal.

I’m not exactly sure how they get their music to play online, but if you crave Asian music, you should go listen to their station. They seem to play a variety of music, not just Asian American music, but also Asian music, that is music from artists in East Asia.

Tags: Online Radio.

While I’m not sure you can classify The Shanghai Restoration Project as an “indie” group, I thought I would post this event. David Liang, a producer and songwriter, is the man behind the Shanghai Restoration Project. From his website, we find that:

An experiment in cross-cultural soundscapes, The Shanghai Restoration Project draws its creative inspiration from the old 1930s Shanghai jazz bands, an early combination of East and West that’s become an international legend. The Project revives this exotic blend by introducing Eastern instruments and rhythms to the Western sounds of hip-hop, jazz, and pop.

Anyway, he’s going to be at Wellesley College at the Anderson Forum in (2nd floor of the Wang Campus Center).

If you don’t know anything about Jay Legaspi, here are two important things that you should know:

1. Jay has a thing for Usher songs.
2. Jay sings a lot of break-up songs.

Luckily for Jay, these things both totally work in his favor. He admits that as a singer-songwriter, he’s supposed to sing about love and heartache and girls. Some of us may be so sick of love songs, but Jay Legaspi can pull these off, and get his audience on his side - whether he is trying to convince a girl to stay in wearing her t-shirt and sweats, or whether he’s trying to get over that hot girl in high school that he never got to, umm, never got.

Jay’s set, which was 100% acoustic, was genuine and impassioned. You could tell that he was really putting himself into his songs - both in his voice and in his guitar work. At the end of the night, you felt like you had gotten to know Jay, and through his music, you did.

Coming up soon… an interview with Jay Legaspi and Jay Legaspi live at East Meets Words.

Tags: Open Mic, Recaps.

Crossing East, a radio documentary on “Our Stories, Our History, Our America,” is an 8-hour public radio series chronicling Asian American history from early Filipino settlements in Louisiana to post 9/11 racial profiling. This series recently won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award (which apparently is like the Pulitzer of radio broadcasting, or so I read). The show is narrated in part by Margaret Cho and George Takei.

The show’s website has a wealth of information about the show, and Asian American history in general. There are some segments you can listen to online, some podcasts, and ways to search for local radio stations to find out if they will be re-airing the show during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May). Check it out!!

Tags: News.

Wow… so AArisings has an “A-profile” (interview in lay person speak) of Kevin So. How timely is that! Thanks to Ninja Pants for bringing this to my attention. Those guys are hot and so is Kevin So. Hot! I knew he was into Stevie Wonder. (Call me slow, but it should have been obvious based on how he was playing the piano!) Anyway check it out.

Tags: Commentary, Interview.

Kevin So will be performing a full set of music at The Burren in Davis Square, Cambridge, MA in May. If you like jazz music and want to watch a really great band, check it out. Did I mention that it is going to be free? Yes, free.

So I went to watch Kevin So tonight at The Burren. He put on a pretty amazing show. He played four songs, of which I recognized three: “Come Sunday Morning”, “New York City” and “A Brighter Day”, all off his new album A Brighter Day. (You can check out some fairly complete reviews of this CD by Marisol Lazaro and Tina Kang over at Ninja Pants.) Kevin So is amazing as a jazz/pop/R&B pianist and his voice is clear, dynamic, and uplifting; the lyrics come from an honest place. Unlike the recordings on his CD, there was plenty of improvisation and “jamming” that allowed him and his band members to showcase their skills as musicians.

I was also impressed by Kevin So’s dynamic range and general vocal prowess. I can’t wait to go see him again soon… apparently, he’s going to be playing at The Burren again on May 23!

After the show, I had the opportunity to chat with him a bit and talk to him about BPR. He’s totally down with BPR playing his music. So, you can expect to hear some of his music from both his new album and his politically-oriented double CD, Leaving the Lights On. In his words, this is his “Asian American” album. I’m looking forward to loading that up on my iPod and also putting it on the radio station for all of you to enjoy.

Tags: Recaps.

This is another plug for our good friend Giles Li. He’s “fresh as hell,” so if you didn’t catch him last time he was doing a show in Boston, go check him out there.