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

with the exception of one month, for three years, every second friday has transformed a tiny bookstore into a magical haven of shared energy—stanzas, lyrics, melodies, rhymes, dances, visuals, fragmented thoughts, reciprocation and appreciation, have been transferred between bodies and spirits.

so i thought it would be fun to take a short look back, in order to look forward.

the bookstore, east meets west, opened october of 2004, with just a small table full of independent apia CD’s and chapbooks. only open on saturdays, the store served as a clubhouse of sorts for boston progress members to catch up, crack jokes, and build together. having an actual physical space available and seeing the potential of our space, it was only natural to program an open mic… but what shape it would take or how it would be actualized, no one really could tell. up to that point, only a few people have actually passed through the threshold of the store and wandered into our world.

in a boba tea spot in the back bay, at a monthly boston progress meeting, the open mic began to form an identity. after several suggestions (ginger-bred, mic-a-saurus rex), vinh the kid said after only a second of thought, east meets words, and the open mic had a name.

first open mic, we had the synchronous fortune of having not just one, but two members of 2 tongues, anida yoeu ali and marlon esguerra, in the northeast. it seems only fitting to have them be the first to bless the open mic as our first co-features. flash forward a year, we had regie cabico telling stories of mini-wooden-penises from men in barrels while humping a stool as a make-shift lover. in between and following, beautiful features from nyc, philly, the bay, LA, minnesota, toronto, chicago, jersee, and locals—all have graced the space.the list of open mic-er seem to be just as illustrious with local poets, musicians, freestylers, youth, passer-byers—all have come thru the space and shared…

to now. we don’t even have to worry about having folks come through… without fail, open mic nights become packed. and the unheated bookstore warms with body heat, which is the only thing that can keep you warm during the cold cold cold boston winters.

on a personal tip, the open mic has opened gates internally, like nothing has before. it’s not just learning the audience banter as a host, or getting over awkward insecurities as an open mic-er, or being brave enough to read from dusty journals as a feature, but i’ve learned that the more i can let go of… speak my mind and heart about, the more room i have to grow… i’ve learned to be open, unguarded—even if just for a few minutes—shed walls and free little pieces of my thoughts with the people. i’ve learned in a deep way the power of words… the unlocking of held breathes i usually choke back, releasing spiritual self into the physical world. even now, three years later, once a month, i still get nervous as i open my black book of secrets and with a shaky voice read out. but i’ve started to see many others, other unidentified poets and writers looking forward, raising their voice at the open mic. in the most obvious way, the open mic was a monthly session to meditate on the state of your union. where would i be if i didn’t have that space… i can’t even begin to assume.

looking back, we realize the open mics really wouldn’t be anything without everyone who supports–reads out on the list, listens in the metal chairs, claps their hands to the beat, yells words to rhyme about, and who shouts—ohhhhhh yeah. so it seems only right to have our three year anniversary feature be east meets words—a super mic of sorts. each and every participant—open mic-ers and audience alike—are the feature.

oh, the only month we did not hold the open mic at east meets west, was august 2005—when boston hosted the 3rd apia spoken word summit. but i guess even then, one can see the community and family showcase as open mics, so yeah, then for three years, boston progress has hosted an open mic, each month… and we’re still holding it down. solid.

Tags: Boston Progress, Commentary, Open Mic.

Another Native Guns post?

Yes, but this time it’s DJ Phatrick, probably the least vocal member - as DJs often are - of the once and future kings of API hip hop. You guys probably got so amped rushing out to buy the newest releases from Bambu and Kiwi (”…i scream bars for the children…” and “Summer Exposure”) that you didn’t think to check in on what Phatty’s been up to.

As you probably would have guessed, he’s still on his grind: DJing parties, producing tracks, reading BPRLive, and through it all, still working with youth, which is important because our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries.

If that didn’t make any sense to you, then please pretend the last paragraph never happened. If that did make sense to you, then we share the same taste in YouTube clips. Either way, read on for some real talk with DJ Phatrick.

Read more

Tags: Interview.

The BIG news this week is that Native Guns will go their separate ways and pursue solo careers. I checked out their video “Champion” here. The video was directed by Patricio Ginelsa. This video is pretty cool. One of the first lines of the song mentioned growing up in a slum and basically the video circles around the life of a woman making her journey to a meeting walking through Los Angeles. The Native Guns appear in the surroundings raising attention the poor conditions of the neighborhood.

Originally I was going to review their cd, but since summer school has been getting the best of me I haven’t be able to listen to the whole cd. But everytime I tried listening to the cd and the same song would come up. The song was “Next Frontier” and the line “Believe that we are sincere, Native Guns takin’ on a new frontier.” In my corny attempt to make this post sound cool, I think I can speak for the rest of the crew here at BPR by stating that we are sincere as we wish the best of luck to the Native Guns as they take on a new frontier.

Tags: CD, Reviews, Video.

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.

This is the last week that the Native Guns will be a unified group of three, so I thought I’d write a little tribute. But sometimes words just aren’t good enough, so here’s a video of NG at the East Meets West bookstore back in February. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a flash video worth?

• 15 fps × 480 s × 1000 words per frame = 6.7 million words

That’s a lot of words. So, I hope you enjoy the small helping of Bambu with a slice of Kiwi and a side of Phat.

Tags: Commentary, News, Open Mic, Video.

In a way, this is a sad day - the Native Guns are an amazing hip hop group. And after next weekend, they will no longer exist.

But the timing of the announcement is very telling. They released their debut CD last year, they just won a high-profile contest for mp3.com, they just released videos for a couple of the songs. They’ve made a name for themselves as a group - in California for sure, but even nationally. They have a significant fanbase all the way out here in cold-ass Boston. Even this kid loves them.

Read more

Tags: Commentary, News.

Native Guns visited the East Meets Words Open Mic back on February 23, 2007.
Since they are coming back to Boston, I thought I’d put up a little clip of their performance here. Enjoy.

Tags: Open Mic, Video.