Saturday night I swung by Northeastern University to do the host thing. I was a little off-kilter, I have to admit that, because I came out swearing up a storm. Sorry about that Northeastern. I had had a rough day. I think after about half an hour, I started to settle down, and used more appropriate language. But hey. Shit happens.

The event was called “CelebrASIAN” - which is crazy because I feel like when I was in high school, all the Asian parties were called shit like that. RevelASIAN. InvASIAN. But then they started running out of good ones, so they started using stuff like ConjugASIAN and InflammASIAN and that whole trend died out. But apparently it’s back; I welcome it with open arms.

So the show opened with Odaiko New England, who has been great partners for us at my work. They – and specifically new Executive Director Mark Rooney – are really invested in working with Asian American kids to encourage them to be confident and loud and proud, you know, to live like a drum. It was good to see that crew in action.

Also, the show closed with Marie Digby, who apparently is a big YouTube star. Just a month ago, I wrote an entry on BPRLive.org about how Youtube is only good for posting videos of cute kids or people singing other people’s songs in front of their computer. The crazy shit is, Ms. Digby chose the latter option, and I guess parlayed that into a recording contract? Once again, my career advice proves to be crazy solid.

But the real stars of the show were the million or so students who hit stage that evening. I can certainly not name them individually, so I’ll just say the API students at Northeastern hella represented for their school. That individuals, student organizations, Greek organizations, the whole cotdamn nine.

I love these kinds of huge student performance events. It means a lot more when you can see your friends up on stage, or conversely, it means more to actually be the one getting shine instead of the one who is working behind the scenes. So often, college students bust their ass to organize an event with an outside performer, maybe with food from outside, maybe with audience and guests from off campus, and they are simply doing it because they want to see somethign special happen on their campus. It isn’t driven by ego or greed, but just a desire to be a part of something memorable, and to give an opportunity to share some of their passion with everyone who attends.

That’s why it’s really important for those who come from off-campus to appreciate the work done by those on campus. Like I tried to keep my part of the night as stress-free as possible for the student organizers, because without their confidence in me, I never would be there in the first place. So it’s my duty to give back some measure of support man. College students gotta work hard to get events like this done, and as an outsider, I just have to give continuous props to the amount of sweat and tears they lose doing their thing.

Anyway, I took this opportunity to once again challenge the entire audience to a game of Scrabulous. And I am getting my ass WHUPPED. I didn’t know you could use “Zaire” as a word? That’s a country! Here’s a tip: don’t play Abra Seng.

Much love to Franco and Angelia for working so hard on the event, also to Long for hooking me up with Northeastern gig after gig. Those guys must be getting real tired of my ass on their campus all the time. Also, of course, good to see old buddies Delia, Van, and Eugene working before the show. That always puts me at ease.

Later!