boston progress radio

This news comes by way of Charles Kim…

So a few months ago, I posted a blog entry about Sam Geunjin Kang and his album. I had the pleasure of both playing and helping produce it. It was an album worked on by friends and mentors. But on a more profound note, it was also an album made by Koreans and Blacks (and a Japanese dude)… in LA of all places… coming together to create good art, not for the sake of racial reconciliation. I felt like this was a beautiful project precisely because it was about creating community through, rather than focusing solely on social issues. And we still in contact and still feel like family today… perhaps a testament and hope to what art can do for communities.

But the reason for this post is not to talk about the album. Rather, it’s to announce the release of Sam Geunjin Kang’s music video!!! It was shot, directed, and conceptualized by some of the dopest, kindest, and giving guys I’ve had the privilege of meeting, Wong Fu Productions. The whole process was great. The “actors” are just friends, everyday people. So most of the scenes that you see are actually people laughing, joking, and having a good time. I love it when everyday people are used in videos. It gives it such a natural and organic vibe.

Anyways, enough rambling. I present… “Red Light” by Sam Geunjin Kang, directed by Wong Fu Productions.

And if you’re interested… he also just finished a new tune… and uploaded it to youtube for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Tags: music, music video.

Join us tonight at the East Meets West Bookstore for December’s open mic featuring Kevin Nadal!

Additional details: 934 Mass Ave, Cambridge | suggested minimum donation $3
(no one will be turned away for lack of funds, but PLEASE, the Boston Progress Arts Collective needs your support as does our fantastic donated space)

Shuffled! is a column appearing most Thursdays here on BPRLive. Each column, we welcome someone from the API* community to share some thoughts about the music they listen to. Check out the Shuffled! archive for past articles.

This week’s guest: Pushkar Sharma of the BROWNSTAR REVOLUTION

THE NORTH STAR is one-half of the spoken-word duo, BROWNSTAR, and captain of THE BROWNSTAR REVOLUTION reppin Cambridge, MA.  Pushkar has a broad background in theatre on and offstage, recently producing THE REVOLUTION’s production of UNIFICATION: A DEMONSTRATION FOR PEACE in New York City, an event that brought together a variety of South-Asian performers for a joint celebration of the Pakistani and Indian Independence days.

As a playwright his poetry-infused play, Midnite’s Vultures, which depicts two Indian-American poets’ visit to an American-Indian graveyard (and their resulting exploration of identity, history, and peyote), was produced by Chicago’s Rasaka Theatre company in August and September 2009.  Pushkar’s directorial work on the South African ghost story, Ipi Zombi?, was hailed by St. Louis’ River Front Times as “a stunning release of imagery and color… the kind of event that makes our preconceptions about theatre seem restrictive and even irrelevant…. [it] ignores conventions and expands the possibilities of imagination.”  As an actor he has trained at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, and performed in a variety of contemporary and classical works.

Pushkar feeds his artistic mind with his work in the nonprofit sector, currently working at Bridgespan, a nonprofit strategy organization, and India’s largest education NGO, Pratham. He is a proud member of the Boston Progress crew.

Ready to shuffle? Okay, let’s go! Read more

I wasn’t doing anything particularly exciting, except that my friend and I were walking out of a Vietnamese restaurant.

This man was standing outside, with his coffee resting on the restaurant sign out on the sidewalk.  To me and my friend (who is also Asian American), he says, “I appreciate Asian beauty.”

And we walked away, dumbfounded.

I really wish I had had the nerve to say, “And we don’t appreciate racist sexist remarks.”

But I didn’t.  And now, here I am pondering whether it would have helped me feel better if I said something.  And he probably feels good about himself that he told some Asian women that he appreciated our beauty.  What is wrong with this picture?

I don’t think I’ve ever walked up to someone and told them that I appreciated something about them.  Based on NOTHING.  Should I have told him that I appreciate the racist heterosexist patriarchal world that I live in?  (Oh wait, I don’t.)

Who really thinks that that’s an appropriate thing to say?  To complete strangers?

Or maybe I should have told him that I’m not actually beautiful, that this is something that has been social constructed by the media.

Or maybe I should have told him that I appreciate ignorant white men because they provide so much fodder for my blog and my work?

Sigh.  Happy Monday.

What would you have done?

This Monday starting at 6:30PM, the Chinatown Storefront Library and the Asian American Studies Program of UMass Boston will host a free event with an open mic followed by performances by students of the Storytelling Production and Performance class. Come experience this unique venue and hear the voices of various artists!

Skin care, supermarket shopping and chocolate… Enjoy!

Tags: chocolate, comedy, racism.