boston progress radio

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.

Come check out Kevin So at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. $15/$13 for Club Passim members.

Kevin So performing solo acoustic. With special guest The Maybelles. All ages welcome. Reservations required. (617) 492-7679 or visit the website: http://www.passimcenter.org

Today, we embark on a new journey. Today, Boston Progress Radio is more than just a blog. Today, Boston Progress Radio is an online radio station. To tune in, please use the following link. You will need a player capable of playing MP3 streams (e.g., iTunes or Winamp). At the moment, we have no shows or DJs, but we hope that that will change.

Our station has a limited music selection, but we believe that we have some quality artists that you will enjoy listening to. Speaking of the artists, we here at Boston Progress Radio would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the following artists for graciously allowing us to play their music on our radio station:

Alfa, Annie Lin, Bao Phi, Big Phony, Blip Blip Bleep, Cynthia Lin, Denizen Kane, Eugene Song, Exit Clov, The Francis Kim Band, The Ides, Ishle Park, Isul Kim, Jay Legaspi, Johnny Hi-Fi, Jungli, Kevin So, Kite Operations, Kiwi, Koo Chung, Magdalen Hsu-Li, Magnetic North, Native Guns, The Praxxis, re: verse, Taiyo Na, titofelix, Visionaries, and Vudoo Soul.

Tell all your friends. Tune in and let us know what you think. We want your feedback on the station and our blog posts. Happy listening.

Peace + love:
Ash, Dave, Delia, Eugene, Giles, Long, Tricia, & Vidya

Tags: News, Online Radio.

Wow… so AArisings has an “A-profile” (interview in lay person speak) of Kevin So. How timely is that! Thanks to Ninja Pants for bringing this to my attention. Those guys are hot and so is Kevin So. Hot! I knew he was into Stevie Wonder. (Call me slow, but it should have been obvious based on how he was playing the piano!) Anyway check it out.

Tags: Commentary, Interview.

Kevin So will be performing a full set of music at The Burren in Davis Square, Cambridge, MA in May. If you like jazz music and want to watch a really great band, check it out. Did I mention that it is going to be free? Yes, free.

So I went to watch Kevin So tonight at The Burren. He put on a pretty amazing show. He played four songs, of which I recognized three: “Come Sunday Morning”, “New York City” and “A Brighter Day”, all off his new album A Brighter Day. (You can check out some fairly complete reviews of this CD by Marisol Lazaro and Tina Kang over at Ninja Pants.) Kevin So is amazing as a jazz/pop/R&B pianist and his voice is clear, dynamic, and uplifting; the lyrics come from an honest place. Unlike the recordings on his CD, there was plenty of improvisation and “jamming” that allowed him and his band members to showcase their skills as musicians.

I was also impressed by Kevin So’s dynamic range and general vocal prowess. I can’t wait to go see him again soon… apparently, he’s going to be playing at The Burren again on May 23!

After the show, I had the opportunity to chat with him a bit and talk to him about BPR. He’s totally down with BPR playing his music. So, you can expect to hear some of his music from both his new album and his politically-oriented double CD, Leaving the Lights On. In his words, this is his “Asian American” album. I’m looking forward to loading that up on my iPod and also putting it on the radio station for all of you to enjoy.

Tags: Recaps.

Since we don’t have any music playing over BPR just yet, I encourage you to go check out some live performances by independent Asian American musicians. Kevin So is going to be playing for FREE at The Burren in Davis Square, Somerville, MA. Go check him out.