Yo when I started doing show recaps back in the Fall, I didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be to keep them up in the Spring when I had 2, 3, 4 or more shows in a week. I’m thinking back and I’m lagging by a full 7 days now. That’s not even fair because the Vassar show was such a great experience, I shoulda gotten to it quicker.

So I took the day off work last Thursday and rolled down to New York City, happened to meet my boy Mas Yamagata in the street, and later met up with old school homies Taiyo Na and Ishle Park. We hopped in a rental filled with Heather Park and her crew, including backup vocalists Bridget and Yvette, guitarist Shelton, and manager Steve.

One thing I learned on this trip was that a British accent will automatically make obnoxious comments sound charming like a mug. Steve was saying things to folks that normally may have gotten us shot, or at least drawn dirty looks, but everybody just giggled and batted their eyelashes and conjured images of the Queen in their heads.

The show was the first ever Danger & Beauty All-Stars show in the history of the world. Last year some time, Ishle asked a bunch of folks to join the roster of Danger & Beauty, and last week was the first time we were able to get together and represent for ourselves on that level. Those who know, know that Danger and Beauty is the title of a collection of works by Jessica Hagedorn, who I saw once at the Asian American Writers Workshop in New York when I was 21 and was too intimidated to introduce myself.

But what a first show it was! I can’t remember the last time I did a show with Ishle or Taiyo, let alone both of them together. They were, of course, as amazing as they’ve ever been. You definitely need to cop Taiyo’s brand goddamn new LP. Where? Here. Click the link! That’s my man for almost ten years, and this is his first solo release, so just think about ten+ years of growth represented in one CD. You won’t be disappointed.

Ishle was of course Ishle, right. Jason, the student who introduced the tour and was the main organizer for the event, called her the Queen of Queens, which I thought was pretty appropriate. I remember getting hecka pissed off at Rev Run when Ishle was named Poet Laureate of Queens a few years ago. Folks were saying that it was anti-hip hop sentiment that kept Run from the title, but no, it was the fact that Ishle is one of the premier writers of her generation. So f–k a mainstream. Ishle Yi Park all day.

And it was the first time I saw Heather Park perform. Wow. She was amazing man. Sometimes singers are just singers and sometimes they’re Singers. Obviously Heather falls into the second category. She - and band - just held it together to close the night. During her second song, I actually stopped eating to listen. Folks who know me know it’s extremely difficult to get me to stop eating to do anything, except eat something else. Turns out that song I was feeling so hard was also included on the soundtrack to the film “West 32nd,” so I hope that brings Heather a wide audience. She deserves it.

At the end of the night, everyone put in crazy effort to get us back to the city by midnight so I could take a bus back to Boston and sleep in my own bed. I made it with actually much time to spare, and spent a few hours with my wife before heading back out on the road to hit up Maryland.

It’s been a tiring week month, but well worth it to reconnect with folks and connect anew with others. Yeah I know I’m not doing one show per day, but don’t forget I have a day job son. More soon!