boston progress radio

If you’re like me, you’re excited about spring, but not excited about the fact that you’ve been hibernating all winter. Under layers and layers of sweaters and poofy jackets. Yes, I am self-conscious about my body. But not in a bad way. After all the cold weather has kept me inside all winter, I want to be able to go out - to go for walks, to play in the park, to run around. I feel out of shape.

So, on Monday I went for the gym for the first time… in a long long time. And then I realized. What was I going to listen to? I scanned my ipod, but couldn’t find the right combination of songs to keep me going through my workout. Et voila, here is my work-it-out playlist, featuring mostly Asian American artists. It is just about 30 minutes, and hopefully will take you through a 30 minute stint on the treadmill, or the elliptical machine, or whatever suits your fancy.

Comrades & Friends, From Monuments to Masses
I picture listening to this song as I start off on a run on a sunny spring afternoon in Boston. But, I’m not really in to running right now, and it’s not springy and warm out. But, I feel like if you were inclined to go for a run on a sunny Boston spring afternoon, this song would get you pumped for the run, building up your energy, and probably get you a little pumped about creating political change as well. The audio snippets will give you food for thought, a reason to run, something to work towards. This song is from an album appropriately entitled “The Impossible Leap in a Hundred Simple Steps.”

Lovers Who Uncover, The Little Ones
Hopefully, this cheery song will help keep your energy up. It has a peppy happy beat and I picture this song carrying you through the initial burst of energy when you start your run. It’s like your own indie rocker cheer squad. I first started listening to The Little Ones after I read about them in a 2007 wrap-up in UCLA’s Asian Pacific Arts online magazine. I like their more indie sound - I was tempted to make a whole mix of hip-hop, but that just didn’t seem right. Read more

Blue Scholars. I was introduced to this hip hop duo by my good friend, Long, over the summer. He was excited to meet the Seattle duo since before he knew he was ever going to get to breathe the same air as them. When I found I out I was going to meet Geo and Sabzi at Cornell’s ECAASU Conference in February, I was just pumped that I was getting backstage passes. It does not matter who you are going to meet with backstage passes, as long as you get to tell people you have BACKSTAGE passes, you are automatically in the cool crowd.

Hours before we even knew for sure that Long, Van, and I were going to have a meeting session with the Scholars, Long and Van were already overjoyed beyond controllability. I, on the other hand, was playing it chill. Scholars–they are just regular people, right? I am not even a real die hard fan. I told Van that I could not become a devout Blue Scholarist until I see them perform. Since I had two thrilled enthusiasts with me, I thought I was going to be the composed one. Interviewing a rapper and a dj? Piece of Oreo cookie cake. I was not going to be like Van and Long, who were likely gong to have a drooling mop up session right in front of the Scholars. Read more

Tags: Interview, Video.

On February 16, 2008, I received an early birthday present. I got to meet the Blue Scholars for the first time. Even though the Scholars were scheduled to perform at Northeastern University the following week, and I was the co-coordinator for that event, it was still awesome to get to meet the Scholars a few days earlier. It was a crazy day to begin with, ECAASU was in full swing and everything was happening that Saturday. First off, big props to the people at Cornell for hosting a great event. Everything was hectic that morning with people registering and rushing into the workshops. I thought my backstage pass to the concert was ready to go when I registered, but when I got there, the staff said there was no such thing. But thankfully, Eugene came through and I gave the Programming Chair a call. The interview was set up at 6:30 pm at the performance venue.

We ate dinner before we made our trip to the venue. I was getting nervous, thinking about what I would ask. Thankfully I had two great people in Jess and Van with me and it was good to see that they were as nervous and excited as I was. As we made our way to the interview, we asked Brian, their tour manager, about what questions we should ask. We didn’t end up asking any of them. When Brian opened the door, I forgot everything—there sat Geo just chilling on the couch and Sabzi sitting opposite him.
Read more

Tags: Commentary, Community.

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.

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Tags: Concert, Recaps, Video.

Good morning all. Long time no hear from.

We here at BPRLive have been trying to give shine to up-and-comers and never-heard-of-before-ers and folks you don’t usually get to peep day to day. But I haven’t been keeping up with the Teddy Zee-like duties on the scene recently, so I’m temporarily throwing yall some info about old friends instead of new ones: Blue Scholars.

First of all, Blue Scholars’ producer/DJ/hypeman/choreographer Sabzi and some of the beats he’s produced recently beat (← slick right?) all comers in the Red Bull Big Tune competition, including big names like DJ Babu, Marco Polo, and many others. As a prize, Sabzi gets to go in the studio with his choice of Talib Kweli, Redman, or Young Buck. No confirmation if and when that might happen, but there are unsubstantiated rumors floating around the non-Internets world. I don’t want to go out on a limb and commit to a prediction, so I’ll move on by saying G-G-G G-Uni…etc. Read more

Tags: Commentary, MTV, News, Video.

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 was trolling the World Wide Web while procrastinating at work and came across a new Blue Scholars track called Dawn. It didn’t make it onto Bayani because there wasn’t enough space. I’m not sure I believe that was the real reason. In any case, you should all go download it from Mass Line Media. I’ve listened to this instrumental track… about 10 times now; I’ve got it on repeat in iTunes. I think it is a soothing, yet lively beat that provokes reflection about life, the world around me, and the people I know. I’m not sure how good it will be as a beat for you living room emcees.

Speaking of reflection, in the next couple of days, I’ll be headed to New York City to attend my first APIA Spoken Word Summit in New York City. I’ve never been to one of these events and honestly, I have next to zero experience thinking about or writing poetry. My day job is about as far away from poetry as you can get. I’ll try and not get all obsequious around the poets that are going to be there. I do think their poems are wonderful. But, I do hope to learn about better ways to put my reflections, my thoughts down on paper. I hope that I’ll be able to build deeper connections with people I’m with.

The whole trip might just be another beginning to a new chapter in my life. Like a new “Dawn.”

Now, I’m going to go wash some dishes. Hope to see some of you in NYC.

Tags: Commentary.

Today, June 12, is a pretty special day.

Last night, when I got home, my heart skipped a beat when I saw my mailbox stuffed with over-sized envelopes. And what did I find? A copy of Blue Scholars’ long awaited third album, Bayani, which hits stores nationwide today.

Here at Boston Progress Radio, being the rabid avid Blue Scholars fans that some of us are, we are lucky to be able to feature several tracks from the new album on our radio… (Many thanks to David at Fuzed Music!) We’re also going to play a few of our favorite tracks from their previous albums: The Long March and Blue Scholars.

From Bayani’s liner notes:

“A hero serves the people to his very last breath.” ~ Jose Maria Sison

For those who struggle with love from the third world to the belly… This one’s for you. Until we get free. Isulong!

I have nothing to say about the album because I promised that I wouldn’t listen to it until it was uploaded to the radio. And when I say something, I mean it. So, tune in here to take a first listen along with me. Enjoy!

Editor’s Note: Remember to tune into KEXP 90.3 FM Seattle at 9:30 AM PDT/12:30 PM EDT, Blue Scholars will be performing some of the tracks off Bayani at that time.

Tags: News, Online Radio.