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Watch for Shuffled! every Thursday. Also check out the Shuffled! archive.

Today’s Shuffler: Zoneil Maharaj

Zoneil Maharaj could tell you random stories of how his dad used to slaughter goats in his backyard, or how his elementary school was shot up by some deranged gunman (which resulted in Michael Jackson visiting the school), or how he used to perform petty scams in his boring hometown of Stockton, Calif. But Maharaj isn’t good at telling his own stories, which is why he focuses on telling the stories of others. He interviews folks, paraphrases their words or directly quotes them and tries to pass it off as journalism. Some people actually pay him for this. It’s a lazy hustle, and not a lucrative one at that. But he’s managed to do alright.

He’s a co-founder and editor-in-chief of indie arts and culture webzine Oh Dang! He’s also a volunteer music editor for non-profit Asian American magazine Hyphen, as well as a frequent contributor to Wiretapmag.org, PopandPolitics.com and Performer Magazine. He’s written for the San Francisco Chronicle, SF Weekly and Ethsix Magazine. He’s also been rejected for staff writing positions at numerous publications across the country (he really shouldn’t brag about this fact). He blames white people for this. Or maybe he just sucks. Or maybe it’s white people making him think that he sucks? Whatever the reason, he’s sure white people have something to do with it. It’s always white people…

He graduated from San Francisco State University in 2007. There, he worked for the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism as a writing coach for various high school outreach programs, including the Bay Area Multicultural Media Academy.

Immortal Technique once threatened to kick Maharaj’s ass if he misrepresented him in an article. (For the record, had any ish jumped off, Maharaj is bigger than Technique and prolly coulda taken him.) Boots Riley, Sage Francis, Madlib, Bambu and Kiwi were hella cool though.

Ready? On to the shuffle… Read more

Tags: Shuffled!.

Piggybacking off the mild hullabaloo that was created over a quick on-screen kiss last week, here are a few future scenes that will gently rock the asian am community with their ‘wait, this has never happened before?’ precedence.

• Jimmy Ko, a charismatic Verizon employee, takes a risky variable rate mortgage out on a home despite his long-term job uncertainty and fears of a ‘bubble burst.’

• Annabelle Sythrong, a clerical worker at mass general, matter-of-factly pronounces her name for visiting Doctor Brent after he mispronounces it. Doctor Brent apologizes.

• After months of non communique, Professor Roy receives a call from his son, Benjamin. Benjamin tells him that he is getting married to his girlfriend of 8 months, who is African American. Professor Roy is pleasantly surprised.

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Tags: Commentary.

So apparently, it’s like major news that there was an Asian American kissing another Asian American on ABC last week. (News meaning I saw 4+ blog posts on this.)

I’ve been trying to figure out why this is so newsworthy. While some have claimed that this was the first Asian American primetime kiss, others have suggested that it wasn’t, and others have pointed out the differences between Asian-Asian kisses. And? Do we keep counting? What happens when we see kiss number two? And kiss number 42? And the 33rd time we see two Asian Americans getting to third base? And then the first time there’s a lesbian Asian American kiss?

I hope that this particular kiss is noteworthy because it is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, or rather any relationship between two Asian Americans. 2005 was supposedly the first year where there was a primetime show with two Asian main characters, which was Lost. and now Heros has a couple of Asian characters too, but still. That’s just two shows. That’s not a lot of relationships.

I want to see Asian Americans portrayed in relationships with each other, bringing up things like the ways their parents’ pressures affect their dating lives. Or not. I don’t want to see them just kissing. I want to see them living together. I want to see them fighting about whether they are bending to their parents’ wishes by dating each other. I want to see them comfort each other. I want to see them fight about Asian American women dating white men. I just want to see them.

But, I don’t want to see them that badly. This is why I don’t watch network tv.

P.S. Feeling down on the future of Asian American relationships portrayed in the media? Hopefully the video below will, um, get you excited about what lies in the future… (You might want to turn down the volume a bit if you’re at work.)

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The first time I attended an Asian American conference was in the fall of 1997 when I was a sophomore in college. It was a small conference, hosted by Smith College. We drove out to western Massachusetts with two cars of students from my school’s Asian Students’ Alliance.

What I remember most about that conference wasn’t about the speakers or workshop or the people. What I remember most is sitting outside in the rain on a rock, just sobbing. I remember a relatively new friend of mine just being completely dumbfounded, not knowing what to do, or why I was crying.

It had something to do with the fact that suddenly, I felt lost in a crowd of Asian American college students. Somehow, in the midst of this conference, it occurred to me that maybe I was perceived as just being Asian, not as being the unique individual that I am. All of a sudden, I started to question myself - maybe I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was - maybe my teachers just assumed I was smart. Maybe I didn’t really deserve to be at my college. Maybe I shouldn’t be taking the math classes I was taking.

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Tags: Appreciation, ECAASU.

January 2008 is almost over and my favorite month of the year is coming. I feel like it was just last week that I was writing my year in review for 2007. Anyhow, please come out to see the East Meets Words Open Mic February feature, One Signata Nach, on February 8, 2008 at the East Meets West Bookstore at 934 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA.

If you have trouble figuring out what “One Signata Nach” means, rest assured that “his name has no roots in the cultures of our world and can neither be misinterpreted, nor mispronounced.” But if you feel uncomfortable saying his name, well, you can just call him OSN.

The open mic starts around 8pm and is open to all ages. Cover charge is $3.

If you don’t like football, you should check out Jinah Kim, our December 2007 East Meets Words feature on February 3, 2008 March 2, 2008. She’s playing at Kennedy’s Midtown at 42 Province Street, Boston, MA. It’s located conveniently right by the Boston Common and the Orpheum Theatre. The cover is $5 and you must be 18+ to get in. She’s playing right at 7 pm, so even if you like football, you can go and catch the end of the game. Or just watch the commercials at halftime.

Um, yeah, if you don’t get it, well basically, the show got rescheduled. So now, with no football, you have no excuse not to go out and support Jinah.

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: Ova Saopeng

Ova Saopeng is an actor and writer from Los Angeles, he was born in Savannahket, Laos and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received his B.A. in Theater from the University of Southern California and since then has worked nationally with many theater companies from the Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis on the production of “Dragonwings” based on the Newberry Award winning book by Laurence Yep, Mark Taper Forum/P.L.A.Y. production of “Wondrous Tales of Old Japan”, a kabuki American adaptation of Japanese folk tales written and directed by David Furumoto, and East West Players the premiere Asian American Theater Company in the nation.

He has toured colleges and universities with the Asian American Theater troupe hereandnow and is an active member of We Tell Stories and Water’s Edge Theater, children’s theater companies based in southern California.

He is also a roster artist with TeAda Productions led by founding artistic director Leilani Chan, who is also his wife. TeAda is a company dedicated to supporting, developing and incubating artist of color to create innovative theatrical performances to empower under-served communities. “Refugee Nation” a play written and performed by Leilani Chan and Ova Saopeng about the Lao-American experience, based on interviews and workshops in Lao communities throughout the U.S., is currently touring. You can also catch Ova in Pirates of the Caribbean 3: World’s End.

To find out more about Ova, you can visit him at his blog, his myspace, and TeAda Theater Company.

On to the shuffle… Read more

Tags: Shuffled!.

Bobby Choy, AKA Big Phony, is a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. Originally from New York, NY, this shy, mild-mannered musician is the mastermind behind the trash bag image, which is typical of his dislike of being judged by his cover. He has recorded two albums, Fiction & Other Realities (2005) and Smoking Kills (2006). His sound channels the haunting yet melodic idiosyncrasies of Nick Drake, Elliott Smith and Iron & Wine. I recently had the opportunity to chat online with him. A big shout-out to Bobby for being so chill and laid-back with the interview.

Sarah Ip: Could you give us a brief background on where you are from and how you got your start in the music business?

Bobby Choy: I was born and raised mostly in New York City. Started playing guitar around 12 or 13 after my brother Eddie got his first guitar which I was forbidden to touch. Practiced in secret and got better than him so mom took the guitar away from him and gave it to me. Started writing songs in high school because schoolwork wasn’t cutting it for me. Read more

Tags: Interview, music.