boston progress radio

It has been awhile since we updated our playlist, so I thought I’d bless the dog days of summer with some new tracks. As the title of this blog entry says, we’ve got over 28 hours of music on our radio station. And we’re not playing everything we have.

We’ve got some upbeat folk music from Florence Yoo. a singer-songwriter who I believe currently lives in New York. Her CD, Indelible, was released in 2003. She does some singing, some spoken word, some other stuff on the CD. You should pick it up or listen to the tracks here on the radio. Florence had the good fortune to study with legendary vocal coach Judy Davis in Oakland, CA, as well as earning a BFA with High Distinction from the California College of Arts and Crafts and an MA from San Francisco State University. She’s performed all across the United States and is well-loved by fellow AA singer-songerwriters. Oh, and Yellow Rage loves her music too.

Read more

Tags: News, Online Radio.

This is for those who have been sleeping, or simply are too young to know.

Back in 2000, I was about ready to graduate from college with basically no job prospects or plan for what I was going to do for the rest of my life. Scary proposition. Then again, it wasn’t anything new. I had not been a high-achieving student – or person in general - since the 6th grade, when my teacher thought I was solving mathematical equations like an idiot savant. He was half right. I’m basically still doing math at a high 6th grade level.

The only thing I knew at the tender age of 21 was that I could play guitar better than almost every Asian kid on campus, which didn’t do much to make me a hit at the parties. I also was writing poetry furiously. You know how that theory goes about 1,000 monkeys banging on typewriters? I was writing at the speed of those hypothetical monkeys – and at that approximate skill level. I had mad opinions and feelings, but as far as style went, I was copying whoever else I had ever heard and kinda liked. When I wasn’t writing poetry, I was writing pre-emo emo songs with fake earnest lyrics like Counting Crows. Basically, I wanted to be some new millennium version of Richie Havens, except without the talent, urgency, or historical importance. Maybe I was trying to be Nickelback.

But it all changed that February when I ended up not making the trip out to Yale for ECAASU because of a snow storm. One of the performers I missed at that conference was the now-legendary I Was Born With 2 Tongues. Read more

Tags: Appreciation, Commentary.

For just $5, you can catch two hot local API bands! The Ricecookers and Xtacy Xport will be killing it at the Times Irish Pub, 112 Broad Street, Downtown Boston.

A hip new group from Boston fronted by Justine Ok and Kayla J. Yoo will be performing at Best Cellars (745 Boylston Street, Boston, MA) as part of the Boylston Street Jam. Since it is on the street, it is free for anybody who is walking along Boylston. Check it out.

To date, most of our interviews have been recorded interviews for distribution via our podcast. We’re going to try posting some chat interviews as well. First up, is an interview by a guest contributor, Nate Bae Kupel. Nate Bae Kupel works at the Institute for Asian American Studies at UMass Boston, and WUMB Public Radio Network. He also runs a resource blog for transracial adoptees. For more information, visit his blog at http://www.kadnexus.wordpress.com.

Nate was able to catch Dawn Xiana Moon online for a chat interview recently. We’ve been playing a few of her tracks on the radio for a couple of weeks now. We hope you enjoy the interview.

NBK: Hi Dawn. How did you first get into music?

DXM: I first started playing the piano when I was five–I started taking lessons at the Yamaha studio in Singapore. When I was in fifth grade, I picked up the flute (though I nearly ended up on trumpet), and in college I started playing the guitar–that’s when I started writing songs.

NBK: Your bio says that you picked up classical piano at about the same time your family moved to the U.S. Did you continue lessons in the states after the move?

DXM: I did. For a few months in Singapore I took group lessons at the studio, and when I moved to the US, I studied privately with a couple of different teachers. The one I studied with for years started out as my elementary school music teacher. I’m not actually sure how I ended up taking lessons from her, but I took first piano and then added voice. Read more

Tags: Interview.

 

 Interview with Melissa Li [19:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

On the 6th of July, I was fortunate enough to sit down with the young and talented Melissa Li, a singer-songwriter from Boston. Her musical, “Surviving the Nian”, recently was produced by The Theater Offensive here in Boston. I got to see it when it was playing in April and I thought it was wonderful. So did Giles.

A self-taught guitar player, Melissa has a variety of artistic interests. Besides writing songs and musicals, she loves writing screenplays and directing films. She even runs her own production company. And apparently, she recently placed third in a Karaoke contest. Yes, she’s multi-talented. Maybe you could say she’s an artistic polymath maybe.

Oh yeah, and besides being able to play piano, violin, and viola, she also likes to share her craft with others by teaching others how to write songs. Maybe you can ask her to teach you.

After you’ve listened to our podcast, you should all go to the August East Meets Words Open Mic. Melissa Li will be the featured artist. She tells me (and all her other Facebook buddies) that she’s going to do a 30 minute set and tell one knock-knock joke. Does this girl not know how do something?

And by the way, I apologize for the dorkiness of the interviewer. Just ignore him if you can.

Tags: Interview, Podcasts.

So, I was trolling the World Wide Web while procrastinating at work and came across a new Blue Scholars track called Dawn. It didn’t make it onto Bayani because there wasn’t enough space. I’m not sure I believe that was the real reason. In any case, you should all go download it from Mass Line Media. I’ve listened to this instrumental track… about 10 times now; I’ve got it on repeat in iTunes. I think it is a soothing, yet lively beat that provokes reflection about life, the world around me, and the people I know. I’m not sure how good it will be as a beat for you living room emcees.

Speaking of reflection, in the next couple of days, I’ll be headed to New York City to attend my first APIA Spoken Word Summit in New York City. I’ve never been to one of these events and honestly, I have next to zero experience thinking about or writing poetry. My day job is about as far away from poetry as you can get. I’ll try and not get all obsequious around the poets that are going to be there. I do think their poems are wonderful. But, I do hope to learn about better ways to put my reflections, my thoughts down on paper. I hope that I’ll be able to build deeper connections with people I’m with.

The whole trip might just be another beginning to a new chapter in my life. Like a new “Dawn.”

Now, I’m going to go wash some dishes. Hope to see some of you in NYC.

Tags: Commentary.