boston progress radio

I am Asian. I am American. I am Asian American. Now while I fully embrace all that this loaded word means to me, bridging the cultures and traditions of generations of oppressed Chinese peasants and ancestors with American pop culture and all its nuances, that doesn’t eradicate a nagging tension within me. Something has bothered me for a long time. Chinese people.

It’s just that when I read about the Chinese in the arts and culture sector, how come we’re not cool? I mean, Koreans have Rain, director Chan Wook Park, Kollaboration headed up by P.K., and so forth. The entertainment community there is strong – they support each other’s efforts. Indians have Diwali, Russell Peters and Sharukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, the god and goddess, respectively, of Bollywood cinema. I see these people groups come together advocating the achievements of their communities, but why aren’t the Chinese keeping up?

Sure, there’s Vanness Wu and Daniel Wu (no relation), but face it, they’re more eye candy than anything else. The Chinese just don’t have the same mass affection for Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu or, God bless him, William Hung [check out Giles' post on Mr. Hung here].

Or maybe it’s not even about resurrecting old traditions like lion dancing, kung fu fighting, erhu-playing or cheongsam-wearing.

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Tags: American Born Chinese, Chinese, Chinese Americans, Commentary, Community, Identity, Progress.

Shuffled! is a new feature on BPRLive, in which we ask some of our favorite people on the scene to set their mp3 player of choice to random, and tell us about the first few songs that they hear.

Today’s Shuffler: An Xiao

An Xiao grounds her urban photography in the aesthetics of haiku and Henri Cartier-Bresson, as she seeks the Zen of the present moment in the hustle and bustle of busy city streets. Her photos span urban America, particularly New York and Los Angeles.

Her award-winning work has appeared in magazines and galleries internationally and throughout the New York City area, including Hun Gallery International 2006, the dual-continent Circular Exhibition with Hun Gallery and Gallery Ho in Seoul, the Asian Contemporary Art Fair with Tenri Gallery, and Cheryl Pelavin Gallery’s holiday benefit in TriBeCa.

An Xiao was recently named Best Emerging Artist in Photography by GLAAD outAuction’s Arts Advisory Committee and was chosen for Hun Gallery’s first annual calendar exhibition.

For more information on An, visit her at anxiaophotography.com.

On to the shuffle… Read more

Tags: Shuffled!.

I’ve known Chris Vu, aka the artist known as Vudoo Soul, for just over seven years now. We met while auditioning for the all-male a cappella group at MIT (the Logarhythms. You know you love math puns), and after being rejected by every other singing group on campus, he was taken by the Logs, but only after major deliberation. You see, seven years ago Chris Vu was musically illiterate. The totality of his musical experience amounted to one public performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner” in high school. He had a raw, powerful tenor voice, but no vocal or musical training of any kind. That would change. Fast. After a few years honing his tremendous musical and performing potential, he went from wowing audiences with the Logs to blowing away American Idol judges and getting himself to Hollywood. His junior year, he taught himself the piano and started writing music. After finishing up at MIT as one of the best vocal talents the campus had ever seen, Vu made a decision that undoubtedly gave his parents nightmares and abandoned a career in electrical engineering for the capricious world of music.

Some three years of grueling work later, there’s news. Big news. Read more

Tags: Boston Progress, News.

Christmas is quickly approaching and how can you not escape the winter wonderland out there. Lovely and cozy to look at, pain in the ass to get around in. Growing up in LA I always wanted a white Christmas, I’m starting to rethink that idea. Currently, I’m daydreaming about palms trees. So I was recently in Germany and damn, they know how to do it, as it should be since that is where it all started. I’m reminiscing about drinking hot spiced wine (glühwein) while browsing around in very crowded Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkt), Christmas pyramids (Weihnachtspyramide), and the many decorated trees. There were lights everywhere and I’m a sucker for white lights on anything.

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Tags: Christmas, Commentary.

Shuffled! is a new feature on BPRLive, in which we ask some of our favorite people on the scene to set their mp3 player of choice to random, and tell us about the first few songs that they hear. Follow this link to see past editions of Shuffled!

Today’s Shuffler: Jason Bayani

Born Scott Thompson on February 25, 1965 (though he has claimed in interviews to be born in 1967 and 1969) in Big Bear City, California is an American prop comedian famous for his red hair. According to his official site he spends fifteen weeks a year doing live performances in Las Vegas… I’m sorry that’s Carrot Top’s bio… Born in San Francisco in 1976, Jason Bayani is a Filipino poet/other stuff, known for his funktagious imagery and splendiferous use of metaphorical metaphors and line breaks and allegory and enjambment and a whole host of other literary terms that he uses in writing poems. He writes other stuff too and was once an actor, but it’s been such a long time since he’s attempted a play or a short story that he kinda feels that if he tries to claim all that, he’d just be frontin’.

Jason graduated from San Francisco State with a degree in English and Theatre Arts. Originally he went there to run Track and Field and after losing race after race he realized he was a whole lot better at the arts than he was at being an athlete. In college he began doing spoken word and also did shows with Filipino theatre troupes Teatro Ng Tanan and Tongue in a Mood.

After college, Jason started participating in Poetry Slams; he is a member of five National Poetry Slam teams and won a Bay Area Grand Slam championship in 2003. He has performed across the country and started a Filipino spoken word collective along with Mesej 1 and Jaylee Alde, called Proletariat Bronze. His work is emotionally gritty and makes constant references to drinking whiskey. Plus he hardly ever rhymes. He counts amongst his biggest influences; Charles Bukowski Paul Beatty, Audre Lorde, William Butler Yeats, Carlos Bulosan, Jose Garcia Villa, people who smile at me, and of course, Carrot Top.

Currently, Jason works as a Counselor for Larkin Street Youth Services in San Francisco. He continues to perform spoken word across the country whenever he has accrued enough vacation time, is a big Bay Area sports fan, even though all but one team sucks right now (Go Warriors!!), and loves watching MMA. Plus he likes to dance. And one day he’s going to have a website, and maybe a CD and possibly a book he didn’t make himself and print at Kinko’s. In the meantime you can check him out on his myspace and facebook pages.

On to the shuffle… Read more

Tags: Shuffled!.

Hello beautiful BPR peeps! First and foremost, thank you all who came out for the last East Meets Words Open Mic of the year. Even though the weather outside was frightful, people still came out and supported true art. This month’s feature was Jinah Kim, a singer/songwriter from Tufts University by way of Los Angeles, CA. But first, lets talk about the open mic.

Keeping up with the Christmas Spirit, Giles opened the open mic with “Crappy Xmas Poem in 7 Parts.” I have to agree with what this month’s host Victor said about the poem, “It sounds like a new poem every time I hear it.” Sarah came to the Mic next and she performed a piece about her sister. Crowd favorite and one of my personal favorites L.I.F.E. came to the stage with their new member Masada Jones and performed “Let’s Rebell.” Past East Meets Words feature Melissa Li was up next. If you haven’t heard, Melissa and another past feature Kit Yan are going on the “Good Asian Drivers Tour” so please check them and bring them to your local venue because they are both talented. Melissa performed “Weapon of Choice” which is her voice. Eric made his second performance on the mic and he reminded us to live life “one beat at a time.” Delia was next on the mic, dedicating her piece to her mother and educating us about her middle name. Masada Jones made her way to the stage again and performed her “Worth Piece.” I have a feeling that we just found a talented performer that will be a regular and I excited about that. The host Victor, concluded the open mic like usual with his freestyles with the help of Giles and Joey B of L.I.F.E.

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Tags: Open Mic, Recaps, Video.

Hands down, the greatest song of the melodramatic arena rock era that took place in the late 70s/early 80s was “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. I have a hard time believing anybody could disagree with this sentiment. There’s something for everyone: the boy meets girl under less-than-ideal circumstances story, the insightful observations about human nature, the repetition of the word “on.” I think people usually assume its some overly cheesy pop song with no meaning, but there’s poetry in them thar lyrics. Please check the following trio of haikus, taken directly from the song, and devoid of their original context and punctuation:

People living. Just
to find emotion hiding
somewhere in the night.

Just a city boy.
Born and raised in south Detroit.
He took the midnight.

For a smile, they can
share the night. It goes on and
on and on and on.

So perhaps Journey’s connection to Asian artistic forms led them to their most recent band-related decision, which was to bring on an actual Asian to front the band. Arnel Pineda - the lead vocalist for a bar band who covers Journey tunes in the Philippines - is their new lead singer. Holy shit!

The band found Arnel through a YouTube video of his band covering the aforementioned greatest melodramatic arena rock song EVAR! You wish you could see that video you say? Why, funny you should ask: Read more

Tags: News, Video.

Washington D.C. based singer-songwriter Carol Bui rocks out with fieriness on her second album, “Everyone Wore White.” A web programmer by trade, she has been writing songs since she was a teenager. As an Asian American woman of Vietnamese decent, the album title derives from her experiences as a child struggling with identity, something most of us can relate to. It’s the classic story of wanting to be white because we were all told by society that white was better so fair skin, big eyes, and double eyelids, among other things, were desirable. It was something we believed we wanted just to fit it, until we were able to understand where the pressure to assimilate came from and finally accepted the full beauty of who we were as Asian Americans. There is no need to wear white to be beautiful because we already are!

Some of her influences include Khanh Ly, PJ Harvey, Jeff Buckley, Stevie Nicks, and Billie Holiday.

I first heard Carol Bui on BPR when her a capella version of the traditional song “Qua Cầu Gió Bay” was played. The song is a beautiful display of her vocals and it immediately moved me even though I did not understand the lyrics. After looking up the translation, I found out that the song in English is “The Wind on the Bridge” and is a provocative story about an encounter with a boy. Because of this song, I had the impression that she would fit into a more traditional genre, but prepare yourself, it is more of a mix of alternative, folk, and indie rock. This was a pleasant surprise. To me, Carol is a perfect example of a raging, non-conforming, talented, intelligent, political, and empowered Asian American women with a voice. She speaks out against social conformity not only with her thought-provoking lyrics but also with the unique arrangements of her music as well. I love her on the guitar and the violin in her band adds another layer to the album. There is a fine balance of sensitivity and rage in “Everyone Wore White” that may be difficult for some to accept initially but once you abolish your expectations, this album will stir your emotions. I love an angry album once in awhile because when I am at my worst, I find strength from accepting my anger and sadness as a motivation to speak out and change. It can be therapeutic! Women like her give me the courage for voice, and voice is power. Rock on sister!

[Editor’s Note: Tune in on BPR’s stream to listen to tracks from Carol Bui. Top photo by Shervin Lainez.]

Tags: CD, featured artist, Online Radio, Reviews.