boston progress radio

One of the best things about Boston in the summer time is the ice cream shops. Boston seems to feature a multitude of ice cream shops that feature a variety of ice cream and sorbets. You’ve got Toscanini’s, Herrell’s, Ben & Jerry’s, and Emack & Bolio’s. I think my favorite places to get sugared up on ice cream are J. P. Lick’s and Christina’s Homemade. All of these shops have so many interesting flavors that I always have trouble deciding what to try. And after you choose the ice cream flavor, you have your choice of cone. It is the paradox of choice.

Speaking of ice cream flavors, this month, the people at the Asian Pacific Student Programs at the University of California, Riverside have chosen Boston Progress Radio as their “Flavor of the Month.” I think most of us here at BPR are pleased…. well, okay, I’m pleased. And maybe they selected us only because we’re using their mural on our banner page.

Or maybe I just think too much. I should just be thankful. Thanks Joe! Thanks Pat!

Tags: Commentary, News.

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I thought I told you that we won’t stop. Check the below paragraphs for info about music recently added to the BPRLive streaming Internets radio station. I loves this Internets!

Chicago emcee Mestizo has jumped up on our playlist. He - and the rest of the Galapagos 4 heads - has always been supportive of our projects. His CD is available at our store in Cambridge too. Make sure to check out more info and definitely peep his live show if he comes through your town.

We have also added new music - and by new music, I mean old music - from the Visionaries. We’ve been playing a couple tracks off their newest release We Are The Ones (We’ve Been Waiting For) steadily for several weeks now, but recently got a couple tracks off their previous effort Pangaea up on the playlist. If you haven’t been knowing about the Visionaries, then definitely do your homework now. They are one of the most consistent underground acts in hip hop history, releasing calssic material every time out the gate. Keep watching this space, because as long as they keep dropping dope music, we will keep talking about it.

And speaking of new old music, we at Boston Progress Radio are showing our age by uploading tracks off Kozmonautz, put out by Key-Kool & Rhettmatic back in 1995. A lot of new jacks think API hip hop started with Jin. But if you ask Jin, I’ll bet he might trace it back to three artists: Mountain Brothers, the first Asian American hip hop group signed to a major label and who bounced on them when they were asked to exploit and disparage their ethnicty and race on stage; BOOYAH Tribe, who were some of the originators of the West Coast gangsta rap scene and were all Samoan; and Key-Kool & Rhettmatic, who released Kozmonautz independently in 1995 and have maintained steadily on the scene ever since. The album featured guest shots from the aforementioned Visionaries, as well as West Coast lyrical wizards Ras Kass and Saafir and a bunch of others. Hip hop fans: do not sleep.

More updates about the playlist as they happen. Have a pleasant day.

Tags: News, Online Radio.

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Dear Listeners,

Thanks so much for tuning in to BPR. Today the radio is down in recognition of a day of silence protesting impending increases in royalty rates. These increases, which go in to effect on July 15, could put many internet radio stations out of business. Read more details and about participating radio stations here.

Note that these royalty increases do not affect BPR. BPR explicitly operates outside the corporate music industry. All the music we play here come with explicit permission from our artists. We choose to do this not because we don’t want to pay royalty fees, but because our mission is to establish community with artists who are actual people and not corporations.

In unity,

Boston Progress Radio

Tags: News, Online Radio.

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Today, I found an interesting e-mail in my inbox. Well, actually, it was in our myspace.com inbox. I’ve copied it here for you to read:

I too am interested in Asian Musicians making it to the mainstream…so you can go to a CD store and see a spot for us…like they do for Soul Music…Country…Hip Hop….but when I last went in and asked for Asian American Music…they said..no one has ever asked for it and had never heard of Kevin So…Eugene Song…Julian Yeo……even my fellow Asians did not know we Asians have a lot of talented Singers and Musicians…Keep up the good work…I am not a young person…probably old enough to be your grandmother…but still it amazes me that our struggle is still there in this day and age….I buy their CD’s and play their music in my office…

There is so much that I want to say here. First, getting a message of support from a person “old enough to be my grandmother” is uplifting and inspirational. I feel like we’re doing a good thing here, but getting that kind of reinforcement feels good. Previous generations have struggled before us and have helped Asian Americans get to where we are now. But, as my new friend says, the struggle is not over.

Read more

Tags: Commentary.

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July 13, 2007
8:00 pm	to	11:59 pm

June is almost gone. That means July is around the corner and that means another open mic. Please join the Boston Progress Arts Collective in welcoming Yellow Rage as the July East Meets Words open mic feature performer on July 13. As usual, we’re going to be starting around 8pm. And as usual, the open mic will be at the East Meets West Bookstore at 934 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA.

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I remember watching an episode of America’s Got Talent on Fox few days ago. And this guy named Kashif came on and did this ridiculous routine. I was laughing hysterically but somehow someway he made it on to the next round. Then I saw the article on angryasianman.com and made me wonder if this was just another William Hung kind of thing? I mean it was entertaining but does he really have talent? Here is the video and I want to know what you think.

Tags: Commentary, News, Video.

6 comments

Okay, here’s the second part of the Ishle interview. For some reason, I couldn’t post it with the first part. Check out the first part here.

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Even though we’re *Boston* Progress Radio, it doesn’t mean that we’re not reaching out west to our comrades on the left coast. (It’s… easts meets west!)

The new banner image comes from a mural at Asian Pacific Student Programs at UC Riverside (Hi Joe! Hi Pat!!). I love this mural because it brings me back, and reminds me what this is all about. The person on the left is only half a person, symbolizing the fact that we can’t always know everything about where we come from. The person on the right if reaching out to the next generation, or maybe reaching for a mic to talk story with us. This mural reminds me of connections, of connecting with people. And I hope it can bring some of that spirit here to BPR too.

Speaking of connections and links… Can you remember when stickers were like the coolest thing in the world to you?

You can use the sticker for whatever you want - a band-aid, a bookmark, a window decoration. This one probably works best for linking BPR on your own webpage, facebook profile, myspace, whatever floats your boat. Just copy and paste the following code:<a href=”http://www/bprlive.org”>
<img src=”http://www.bprlive.org/images/i-rock-bpr.png” alt=”I ROCK BPR” /></a>

Enjoy.

Tags: Commentary, News.

4 comments