boston progress radio

Exit Clov will be back in Cambridge, MA. They’ll be playing on March 5, 2008 at the Middle East Club starting at around 9pm. I’ve been told they’ll be playing with three other bands. Show is 18+ with a cover charge of $8. If you haven’t seen this quintet play before, come check them out. Check out our interview of Suz and Em that we did back on November 4.

The winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for her debut story collection Interpreter of Maladies will be at MIT on March 4, 2008. She will be speaking from 7 to 9 pm at Building 32, Room 123 (The Stata Center). Lahiri’s first novel, The Namesake, was published in 2003 and a film version was released in 2007. Her new book of short stories, entitled Unaccustomed Earth, will be published in 2008. The event is free and open to the public.

The monthly East Meets Words Open Mic is coming to the East Coast’s most awesome independent Asian American bookstore, East Meets West Bookstore, on March 14, 2008. It happens to be the third anniversary of the open mic. Yes, it has been three years. We’re going to have a very special feature for this occasion, so you should bring all your friends down to 934 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, MA to check things out. Bring a piece to share and $3 to get in. As always, the open mic welcomes all ages and starts at 8pm.

Tags: Boston Progress, Open Mic.

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

Today’s Shuffler: Ernie Hsiung

Ernie Hsiung is the creator of 8Asians.com, a collaborative blog of different people of Asian descent with a decidedly western point of view. But before he created 8Asians last year, Ernie’s been writing in his award-winning blog, littleyellowdifferent.com for over seven years. Some of his blog has been featured in publications such as USA Today, The Advocate, Genre and some of his adventures have been chronicled in a book, humbly called “The Very Best Weblog Writing Ever By Anyone Anywhere In The Whole Wide World, Vol. 1.” Digging for other things on Ernie, we come across the following notes from friends, written as blog comments:

Ernie is warm, funny, neurotic, adventurous, geeky, shortish, yellowish, and gay. You’d definitely go with him to get coffee, but be forewarned: he doesn’t hold his alcohol well. One drink and he’s on the floor.

Through the six or so years Little, Yellow, Different has been around, Ernie has bared a considerable portion of his soul and the intimate lives of his friends and especially his family. See that haunted look in the photo above? There’s a history behind that face, and the archives are peppered with his triumphs, defeats, highs and lows. It’s one thing to bare your soul; quite another to put all the blood on display for all to see.

Over the last six years, Ernie has taken periodic breaks from his blog to reevaluate his place in the universe or lick his wounds after the latest trauma has passed. The universe has always welcomed him back with open arms because he’s worth the wait.

Now, on to the shuffle… Read more

Tags: Shuffled!.

On February 20, 2008, as part of Asian American Heritage Week at Northeastern University, the folks at the Asian American Center put on a concert featuring Asian American artists. I was privileged enough to be able to attend the ARTiculate show.

First up was Conchita Campos, a Filipino American singer-songwriter from New York City by way of California. Gentle, soulful melodies combined with thoughtful lyrics stirred up emotions of wistfulness, nostalgia and longing in me. She was a great way to kick off the show. Conchita’s So It Goes is a compilation of her solo work along with music by Neoterics and display her diversity as a songwriter and performer.

Read more

Tags: Concert, Recaps, Video.

I think there are two primary functions for Youtube.

The first is for people to post videos of themselves singing other people’s songs while sitting in front of their computer.

The second is for people to post videos of their kids doing some cute shit.

Count this video in the latter category. You may have already seen it since I know it’s been making its way around the Internets recently. Anyway, I have nothing more to say. What do you want? We’ve been really busy and haven’t had time to post recently, let this tide you over until this Thursday’s edition of Shuffled!

Tags: Video.

 

 New York City (Live) [5:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Last night, I had an opportunity to catch Conchita Campos, Kevin So, and Blue Scholars at Northeastern University. I’ll be writing more about the show in a few days, but I thought I’d share a little something that I enjoyed from the show. Here’s Kevin So doing his thang. Peace.

Tags: Concert, Podcasts, Recaps.

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

Today’s Shuffler: Momo Chang

Momo Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. At 8 ½ months of age, she was transported by plane to South Carolina, where she spent the next 10 years of her life. Her family was one of only a few Asian families at the time living in a small town. They would often make the 45-minute drive to another small town to stock up on Asian goods at a Korean-owned shop. She grew up eating buffets at Shoney’s, chicken nuggets at Chick-fil-A, and frozen yogurt at TCBY’s. After that, she and her family moved to Rowland Heights, a suburb of Los Angeles that boasts the most bubble tea shops per square mile. (She knows this only anecdotally, not based on empirical evidence).

Though she’s dabbled in many hobbies and careers – being a Gemini and all – her passion is writing. She currently lives in Oakland, CA and is a staff writer at the Oakland Tribune, where she covers Asian American communities. She is also a writer and contributing editor for Hyphen, an all volunteer run magazine that focuses on Asian American politics, arts and popular culture. From Vietnamese nail salon workers to Iu Mien urban farmers to young Filipino krumpers in Long Beach, she has covered a range of topics spanning Asian America. Prior to her career in journalism, she had a two-year stint as a public school teacher in Oakland, teaching English and Social Studies. She has had an even shorter career as a dog-walker/pet sitter and model.

These days, when she’s not interviewing people, scribbling on her notepad, and typing up stories, the self-described “hip mama” is busy taking care of her baby boy. She feels blessed that she can wake up each morning to his beautiful smile.

(Photo credit: Gregory Wells)

So then, on to the shuffle… Read more

Tags: Shuffled!.