boston progress radio

Back at work after another Boston-only long weekend. Yes, Boston creates holidays that only its denizens get to take off. Yesterday was Bunker Hill Day; those poor slobs across the river in Cambridge (sorry Eugene!) didn’t get it off. But I had a chance to spend a full day set to chillax, which got me thinking about my one-year wedding anniversary coming up next month. Thinking about making a weekend trip to Newport or Martha’s Vineyard. But how do you get to Martha’s Vineyard? I’ve lived here my whole life and I have no idea. Do you take a boat? Can you drive over like a bridge? I don’t have to take a helicopter right? Anyone have suggestions?

But as my thoughts turned to the wedding last summer, I realized that last summer, my thoughts were turning to the summer before - 2005 - our time at the 3rd National Asian Pacific Islander American Spoken Word & Poetry Summit.

The what? I’m glad you asked. Read more

Tags: Commentary, News.

So according to my calendar, we’ve been playing tunes on our streaming radio for a little over a month now. So far, Boston Progress Radio has been doing well; we’ve been getting music from artists all over the United States. Without their help, BPR would be non-existent. So thank you. I always feel extraordinarily grateful when artists give us music to play. The funny thing is, the artists I’ve spoken to invariably thank us for their support. I suppose we have a mutually beneficial symbiosis. Kind of like the clownfish and the sea anemones?

Speaking of artists, we have new music from three artists today. We’re playing some music off Kite Operations‘ new release Heart Attacks: Back to Back. We’ve mentioned this album before, but we’ve only just got their music now. Read more

Tags: Commentary, News, Online Radio.

 

 Ishle Park Interview - Part 1 of 2 [15:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

BPR got a chance to sit down with Ishle a couple weeks back after her set at the East Meets Words open mic. Theresa Vu, hot off her cerebral freestyle flows sat in as guest interviewer, and the rest is on tape here for you. I felt very privileged to be part of this chat; the two of them are very, very cool, and chatty too–this interview comes in two parts.

Tags: Interview, Podcasts.

Larissa is doing quite a few shows to promote her new CD “Maybe Later”, published by little thrill records. You can also check out a review of her latest album at dissolver magazine. Go out and listen to her play at The Loft @ Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. There are two Tommy Doyle’s, so be sure to go to the one at 96 Winthrop Street, Cambridge, MA [phone: 617-864-0655].

Go check out Larissa Maestro at The Lily Pad in Inman Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She’s going to be played at the Gretel CD Release. She just released a new album called “Maybe Later”, so you should go check it out. Here at BPR, we’ve been playing a couple of her tracks. Go to the show and tell her what you think.

 

 East Meets Words 6/8 - Part 2 [20:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Here is Part 2 of last Friday night’s open mic. These clips include some poems by Ching-In, as well as the beat working of Boston Progress’s own David Kong. Theresa Vu from Magnetic North joined the cypher, as well as East Meets Words resident MC Victor (aka doctor skool) and guest MC Amon.

There were kiddies in the audience (including one of bpr’s own babies) so the MC’s tried to keep it PG.

Of the words thrown out for the MC’s to rhyme, parallax was tossed at tVu. I don’t know where that came from, but she broke it down in rhyme. I looked it up and sure enough:

par·al·lax /ˈpærəˌlæks/ Pronunciation Key - [par-uh-laks] - noun
the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer.

Hotness.

Tags: Open Mic, Podcasts.

Prior to this week, we’ve been a little slow getting new music online. Well, this week things are going to change. We already put up new music from the Blue Scholars. Today, we’ve added a couple of track from three artists.

Asobi Seksu: An indie pop group out of NYC. The lead singer, Yuki, sings in both Japanese and English while James Hanna plays some innovative melodies on his guitar. Yes, they are indie, but they are HOTTT. We’ve got some tracks from their self-titled first release, but they have a newer album, Citrus, out now. We’ll put up music from Citrus as soon as we get our hands on the album.

Larissa Maestro: Larissa is a local singer-songwriter from Brighton, MA. She’s got a new EP out, go check her out at her myspace or right here on BPR. She’s also doing a bunch of shows in the month of June. I’ll post a couple of them on our event calendar.

Micah: Micah is a singer-songwriter from Rochester, New York. He is currently a student at Northeastern University majoring in music industry. He has played shows all around the Northeast. Check out his soulful vocals and catchy melodies on our station.

Stay tuned for even more music.

Tags: News, Online Radio.

Today, June 12, is a pretty special day.

Last night, when I got home, my heart skipped a beat when I saw my mailbox stuffed with over-sized envelopes. And what did I find? A copy of Blue Scholars’ long awaited third album, Bayani, which hits stores nationwide today.

Here at Boston Progress Radio, being the rabid avid Blue Scholars fans that some of us are, we are lucky to be able to feature several tracks from the new album on our radio… (Many thanks to David at Fuzed Music!) We’re also going to play a few of our favorite tracks from their previous albums: The Long March and Blue Scholars.

From Bayani’s liner notes:

“A hero serves the people to his very last breath.” ~ Jose Maria Sison

For those who struggle with love from the third world to the belly… This one’s for you. Until we get free. Isulong!

I have nothing to say about the album because I promised that I wouldn’t listen to it until it was uploaded to the radio. And when I say something, I mean it. So, tune in here to take a first listen along with me. Enjoy!

Editor’s Note: Remember to tune into KEXP 90.3 FM Seattle at 9:30 AM PDT/12:30 PM EDT, Blue Scholars will be performing some of the tracks off Bayani at that time.

Tags: News, Online Radio.