boston progress radio

I begin this blog post with two pieces of information, which will seem unrelated. Please bear with me.

1. Yesterday, over at the Hyphen Magazine blog, there was this really interesting entry about the stage revival of Joy Luck Club. Interesting not because I’m a big Amy Tan fan, but more about the personal story that Neela, the post’s author, shares about being 15 and naively loving the movie because any representation – no matter how simplistic and self-loathing the material – was better than no representation. It brought back memories of purchasing Sex Packets by Digital Underground (on cassette!) when I was I guess 10 or 11, and actually feeling kind of proud when the guy in the skit was telling the packet dealer, “give me the Chinese girl, man.” It was like, I never heard anybody say anything about Chinese people – except Chuck Norris, who had me actively hating the Chinese villains – and so I was like, “Cool! Digital Underground likes Chinese people! That’s probably because they’re from California…”

2. The Boston Red Sox victory parade was held yesterday as well. A bunch of people at work headed down there, as did my mom. Exciting times, I mean we haven’t had a major sports championship parade in Boston since, man, like, almost three years now! I can barely remember 2005 when the Patriots had the thing, then in 2004 the Patriots and the Red Sox won, and if I stretch, I can vaguely recall 2002 when the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Imagine, for some toddlers, this is their very first Boston team championship! But the one thing that has struck me as really bizarre for several years is the songs the Red Sox have chosen to affiliate themselves with.

The two I’m thinking of are “Dirty Water” by the Standells and “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond. The former is about how Boston is home to “muggers and thieves” and how women have to “be in by 12 o’clock.” The latter is about a couple in love that basically grows up together (but the song was used as a sing-along in the movie “Beautiful Girls,” which took place somewhere in rural Massachusetts – the connection to New England is weak, I know). The Standells were a California band from the 19060s, using a 12 bar song structure most closely associated with the Delta blues. Neil Diamond is from Brooklyn. Are these really the best songs the Boston Red Sox could find to represent themselves? Read more

Tags: Commentary, radio.

Anyone who can make playing a cello hot is cool in my book. (Seriously. I’ve seen them twice back in the day at UCR. Hawt.)

Check out the Ken Oak Band live on the east coast at BU on Tuesday, November 6 in CAS Room B12. The event is free, but donations will be accepted. More info here (of course, facebook).

Tags: Cello, Concert, Hot.

This is a little late… about 5 days too late. Did you know that October 22 is National Anti-Police Brutality Day? I didn’t. On October 22, 2007, I was probably busy muddling about in my head, running in my own rat race, worrying about the San Diego fires, and being absorbed with my own feelings and insecurities. Maybe sometimes, it is good to step back, have some perspective, and take stock of the positives in life.

I wouldn’t have found out about October 22, if I didn’t come across this excellent video on The New Pop, “New York’s Online Video Magazine.” It’s a video of Blue Scholars filmed while they were sneaking roaming around NYC. In the video, they ask people their opinion about police brutality. I mean, given the choice of words here, who could possibly not be against police brutality. Police officers might re-spin “police brutality” as crowd control or as some form of “damage control.” But I’m sure they’d be against police brutality.

The real purpose of this post is to direct you to take a look at the video yourself so you can form your own opinions (and to listen to some good beats and rhymes too). For instance, I wonder if Asian Americans are at an increased risk for police brutality. Here’s Part I and here’s Part II. Oh and besides talking about police brutality, we hear a little bit about how Geo and Sabzi go about crafting their art. Peace brothers and sisters.

Tags: anti police brutality, Commentary, social expectations, Video.

So I read recently that duo Makena are on the Grammy Award preliminary ballot for the contemporary folk/americana category. (What the heck is americana? I guess at least they’re in this category, and not world music or something.)

I didn’t really know much about Makena, and so I took a peek at their website, and their blog, and their podcast. They self-describe themselves as mellow acoustic pop. Makena is a Hawaiian word for “abundance” and clearly, Sienna and Toast, who make up Makena, have an abundance of talent, energy, and passion for what they do.

They blog, they share coming out stories, they rescue cats, they bring pidgin to the mainland *and* they record music too. Not to mention the fact that Sienna and Toast are about to celebrate their fourth anniversary. Phew!!

Here’s to anyone who can successfully navigate the world of mixing business and pleasure, making the personal political, and maybe winning a Grammy thrown in for good measure.

Tags: folk, hawaii.

Cynthia Lin, a singer-songwriter from New York City, is coming to Boston. Her new CD, “Doppelgänger”, has been recorded and printed and is ready to be heard by all the world. We recently added her music into our play list. She will be featuring at the East Meets Words Open Mic on January 11, 2008 at the East Meets West Bookstore at 934 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA. Cover is $3 and she tells me she’s going to have CDs for sale.

Tags: Open Mic.

Back in the early days of Boston Progress Radio, Delia noted the gender imbalance of the artists on our station. (Yeah, I know that was only a few months ago, but sometimes it seems like we’ve been doing this forever.) It seems as though there are far more male artists than female artists. That is kind of a shame. Also shameful is the fact that we have only a single female blogger contributing to Boston Progress Radio. Maybe, Asian boys are just more opinionated? I don’t think so. Right here, I’m reaching out to all those female-identified heads out there who have some opinions about AA or PI arts, music, or spoken word. At Boston Progress, sharing your stories in your own words is more important than writing a Peabody-award winning piece.

Today, to help balance the imbalance, I’m adding music from four female artists.

Read more

Tags: News, Online Radio.

Recently as I clicked around the internets, I came across an excerpt of Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings. I was hooked. I’m not really a comic book graphic novel person, but after reading Persepolis I and II and American Born Chinese, maybe I am a graphic novel person. These books rock, and not only because I can finish the book in a weekend and feel like I’m actually reading something. I think the combination of snippets of conversation and some simple imagery can go a long way in conveying a message. Maybe the fact that it’s so bare bones makes the message that much more obvious. But that can’t be *it*, because some of the stuff in Shortcoming or American Born Chinese is so complicated.

In one of my favorite scenes, Ben Tanaka and his girl friend Miko are leaving an Asian American film festival. Ben, king of pessimism, attacks the film and everyone who cheered for it because it was an Asian American film… because to him, it was just a bad movie that they applauded simply because it was about Asian Americans. Hmmm. Have I ever been part of that?

I laughed and cringed all at the same time through all of the bits about interracial dating. About the “right” kind of person to bring home, whether it be about gender or ethnicity. Is it wrong for a person to have a “type?” What if this type happens to be white girls? Or white guys? How politicized should we be in our dating choices? We think we know the whole story when we see a “white” guy walking down the street with an Asian American girl. But do we? Maybe it’s the familiarity of the images, but the newness of the stories lie a little deeper.

I don’t know. Check it out for yourself. Or, find me and I’ll lend you my copy. =)

Tags: Commentary, inter-racial dating.

It’s October already and the year is winding down. This month’s open mic featured some new faces as well as some familiar faces. The show began with two first time Open Mic performers, Taz and Patrick. Taz performed his rap and Patrick introduced us to himself by bringing a refreshing vibe to the Open Mic with his enthusiasm. Giles returned to East Meets Words by performing two pieces, one was Untitled and the other was entitled “Mousetrap.” L.I.F.E. composed of Joey B and Febo made their second performance illustrating the power of “Words” further showing that they will be a force to be reckoned with. Andy followed up by performing a piece that involved the audience’s participation. Theresa was next as she read a piece from her book and Jill followed Theresa by performing a song with the guitar. Charles performed one of his recent pieces and Victor closed out the Open Mic with his signature freestyle accompanied by Giles on the guitar.

This month’s feature on East Meets Words was Justine Ok, a singer/songwriter and recent graduate of the Berklee School of Music. Accompanied by Tony on the piano, Justine opened the segment with the cover of “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys. With the audience’s help (mainly from Patrick), Justine performed her own song “NO.” Justine then followed up with “It’s Too Late” and “Fed Up.” She closed the show with “Snowflake.” It was refreshing to have Justine Ok at East Meets Words because she was not a spoken word artist but rather a singer. She sang with passion and one can tell that that she had a lot of fun.

Tags: Open Mic, Recap.