03-29-09
Show Recap: Equilibrium with Bassey Ikpi
March has been Prince month for me. It wraps up by doing a show here in his home state of Minnesota. And it’s a very fitting end because I can chill with the semi-permanent Prince obsession and remember why the hell I started in spoken word in the first place.
Equilibrium is a nationally-known monthly series that highlights work from artists of color, and is curated by my man Bao Phi (aka Bao Feezy aka Benvolio Eskrima aka the Joy Luck Thug). At the end of the day, Bao is one of the few true friends I really have in this spoken word scene, and that really means a lot, so we’re kinda like Snoop and Ice T. Bao, of course, is Ice T.
The co-feature tonight was the one and only Bassey Ikpi. Several years ago, Bassey was one of maybe 5 people I cared to have conversations with. We chatted almost every day, but eventually life interfered and until yesterday, I hadn’t seen her in years. But we very quickly fell back into that friendship we always had; as though we have still been in touch daily.
So a lot of things about this weekend felt like home to me, and in a lot of ways I needed it.
Opening the show tonight was local artist El Guante. Holy good god damn. After the show, Bassey and I talked about how hearing his work made us both feel like we needed to challenge ourselves more in our writing.
Bassey was amazing as usual. I had a lot of fun doing my thing too.
But for a few days I’ve been distracted thinking about how hard life is. Even for those of us who have it relatively easy compared to the rest of the world – people like me, life is still pretty hard. But tonight, being in a beautiful space with people I truly care for and want to spend time with, for a little while, life felt easy.
And I could put some time into trying to express this more eloquently, but you know, sometimes easy is more than you could have hoped for. Tomorrow I go home to the Bean, and return to the grind. But I am thankful for the time I got to spend here.
And more than that, I liked being able to talk shit about wack spoken word with my friends who feel the same way.
Oooooh.
03-03-09
Show Recap: ECAASU 2009, Rutgers University
Photo at right: From L to R: Kelly Tsai, Ed Bok Lee, myself, Bao Phi, Marlon Esguerra (Asian American Writer’s Workshop, New York, 2007)
I first met Kelly Tsai in like 2000 or 2001 in Chicago through Gina Magsombol. She came to this workshop I was part of, and when she walked in without saying a word, in my mind I was like “that must be Kelly.” We later hung out in outdoor seating at a bar and drank Goose Island IPA. For some reason, I subconsciously thought we had the same birthday, even though we’re five months apart; I still always think that too.
I first met Bao Phi around then too. I was in Minneapolis for work, and we had some things in common – we had a mutual friend (Celine), the spoken word thing, the pissed off Asian guy thing – so he swung by and we went out for Chinese food. While waiting for him out in the cold, 5 members of the Roots crew walked out of the very hotel I was staying at. Later, we stopped by his crib, which was basically the Chinatown of St. Paul. There was like 6 Asian people living together, which was close to the highest concentration of Asians in the city.
So those are my first memories of meeting these two great friends. The reason why it matters is that, even though I count them as family, we haven’t really spent that much time together. With the friends I see every day, I can’t necessarily remember when we first met. But the ones I sometimes cross paths with on the road, you know, each time you see them, it’s kind of a big deal. It’s like every time we do a show together, we have to update each other on all the grand life events – the wonderful and difficult – and cram it into a night’s worth of talking. So those moments are filled with everything, and naturally stick out in your memory. It’s not that they’re more important or anything like that – it’s just that when you only see each other for a day at a time every few months or even years, each one of those meetings is like an EVENT.
01-19-09
Road Trip to Lakville
Me & S took a road trip to Lakeville, Connecticut for a show in honor of Martin Luther King Jr Day. Great crowd for the Sunday night show, then Monday morning I ran a couple of writing workshops for like a million high school students. This is my second time at the Hotchkiss School – and both time’s were simply outstanding. I can’t wait to go back there! Photo recap below. (All photos taken by S except the one she’s in.)
Isn’t this what people think of when they hear New England?
Hotchkiss School
Celebrating his life’s work. This wasn’t staged I swear…
04-18-08
Introducing…the Basco Brothers! – Maryland Recap
After the exhausting trip back and forth to Poughkeepsie, I spent a few hours at home Friday morning, then had to jump on a flight to DC because the University of Maryland beckoned. Riding the DC Metro reminded me of my youth (relatively), when I spent two years living in the nation’s capital. I have very fond memories of DC because it really helped me develop as a writer, and I was also welcomed into the U Street spoken word scene, which was especially great because I lived just blocks away from there. So word to DC. I miss it.
But not enough to move back…
Anyway, I arrived at Maryland and chilled out in Dharma Naik’s office with Bobby, the lead student organizer. For some reason the office was incredibly hot. I didn’t bring a change of clothes because I was only in town for like 14 hours, so I was worried about sweating through my clothes. I undid some buttons, but quickly rethought my strategy and simply moved myself into the hallway. There I got to hang out with my old buddy Neel – who eats Chinese food with Marion Barry! – and Parag Khandhar, who is now teaching at UMCP.
Also in the house was Gem Daus – who helped Neel and I establish the scientific theorem that all API men can perform a standing long jump of exactly 71 inches – and Garret Lum, who is the asshole in the picture to the left.
Anyway, the room was interesting, with a ceiling entirely made of glass. I know the administration was trying to send a message to us. Oh Asian Pacific American Heritage Month? Give ‘em the room with the glass ceiling! Damn you!
Four students kicked it off: Heather, Malcolm, Kenton, and Nikki. I couldn’t help but think of Prince’s song “Darling Nikki,” which I would have mentioned to Nikki if it hadn’t been completely inappropriate. You know, given the fact that it’s the song that was so raunchy it is directly responsible for those “Explicit Lyrics” stickers on cassettes and CDs. (Back when cassettes and CDs still existed…)
When I see old friends, I start to act, well, old. I start making jokes that you can only understand if you’re like 25+, and you’d only think are funny if you were born in the 70s. For example: whenever I see a group of handsome Asian men, it reminds me of the Basco brothers…but when I mentioned that to the crowd of college students, it was pretty clear none of them knew who the Basco brothers were. That’s a shame. I should have scolded them harder.
But we had fun. Got a chance to hang out afterward at some place where I ate an entire half chicken. I think there were fries involved too. I spoke to a small and awkward (Kumudha’s assessment, not mine) group of students about activism. When Dharma had said I could talk to them about campus organizing, I kinda laughed it off because I was thinking, no students want to talk about organizing on Friday night! But I guess I’m an idiot. Kudos Maryland students, you’re much more committed to the cause than I was in college.
So that night I hung out with my boys from back in the day. We played Commodore 64 and my man Coy dropped me off at the airport at 3AM to catch the first flight back home.
04-17-08
Danger & Beauty – Vassar Recap
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!
04-08-08
Bubble Tea? Delicious! – Syracuse Recap
No excuses for the lateness of this one really. I’ve just been tired yall. But it’s been almost a week now, and I better get this down before I forget how good an experience it was.
So I hit up Syracuse last Thursday, and yes, the shit was hot. It was an event sponsored by two student orgs: ASIA and La Lucha, representing for Asians and Latinos on campus. So the double feature was myself and the phenomenal Carlos Andrés Gómez outta New York. The event was called “Cafe con Bubble Tea,” which leads me to believe there are just different spellings from zip code to zip code. Here in Boston, I see it called Boba like everywhere. I guess whatever it’s called, it’s delicious!
But the night wasn’t about the beverages. I opened the show, and just got real comfortable, running a little longer than my usual set, since the vibe was so family. I don’t remember what pieces I did, I just know I had a mad good time. It was a beautiful basement space with good sound, and interesting lighting choices going on, so I immediately felt comfortable and purposely didn’t prepare too much because I wanted to keep it kinda spontaneous.
Plus I was tired from my trip from Chicago that day.
Man as beat as I was, that night really energized me. After my set, came a student affairs staff at Syracuse on the mic, Cedric Bolton, who goes back to the old days in Minnesota with my boy Bao when he used to round up artists of color to routinely battle and defeat the mainstreamers in the Twin Cities. So little did I know that one of the members of the school’s administration was also a spoken word super hero, so that was crazy! It also turns out he was in the movie “Lean on Me.” You learn something new every day.
So After Cedric, came Carlos, and yeah, I feel like nowadays, every time I double feature with someone, it’s someone I’ve known for years, so it’s not that new. But Carlos and I never shared a stage before, so I was able to experience it like most of the students there. Just everything was brand new and fresh. I don’t remember the last time I saw someone for the first time and was blown away like that. Damn, I hope I get to see that brother again soon, because his work is on that level.
After all that, we went out for Korean food, which is always a good call. I had to wake up at 4:30 the next morning to catch a 6AM flight. So I had that going for me.
I have to give major props to the Cuse students for bringing me out there and allowing me to be a part of a great night. (And also for giving me a shirt. Word!) Especially Jennifer, who did most of the legwork to get me out there, as well as to Andrea and Judy who scooped me at the hotel to guide half a block down the street in case my dumbass got lost. Jessica from La Lucha, and also Jin and Sterling who handled guitar lending-duties for the evening. Oh that photo of me and Cedric is ganked from Kacy’s Facebook page.
Later yall. Vassar Thursday, Maryland Friday. Sleep Saturday.
04-05-08
That’s Scientifical! – UI-Chicago Recap
Man this has been a looong week. Beats Rhymes and Rice did our final show of the school year by doing up University of Illinois-Chicago this past Wednesday. Man it felt crazy too for some reason. We all got into town that afternoon, and the show started at 4PM. So it was kinda tight, even though it wasn’t like we had mad stuff to do. We just had myself, Bao, and Kiwi come in from 3 different cities, into 2 different airports, with 3 different methods of ground transportation to campus. When we all finally got there like 30 minutes before showtime, we were understandably pretty beat up.
At the same time, we were pretty upbeat (see how I did that?), because the AARCC at UIC treated us really well, giving us our very own office within their office to hold court and read magazines. So by the time we got to the venue, I was ready to go.
Of course we did our thing the way we usually do it, which is to say we effin killed it. That’s just facts kid. Scientifical. It was unexpectedly good sound for a really large ballroom type space. And for a late afternoon event, it was a surprisingly huge crowd. Man, UIC folks had much in store for us, because it was lovely how responsive they were. Commuter schools yo. That’s where it’s at.
Bao did a new really dope and well-conceptualized piece, which he said he wrote the previous night. And Kiwizzo closed it out in style like he always does. This time a couple b-boys jumped out in front the stage to get involved.
I was thinking in my head though, you can’t get a bunch of Asians together without either breakdancing or a fight breaking out. Sometimes both.
This was the first time I remembered to specifically get the bombass Kiwi t-shirt, but they were sold out! Damn! Afterward, we walked to a Mexican joint to overeat. So that was nice, I like to end my show dates with mad food. At the end of the night, Jen asked Bao, Kiwi, and me to be in this video project that includes the likes of Helen Zia, Geroge Takei, and the Honorable Mike Honda (D-California). So that makes no sense. I’m thinking she’s trying to contrast what accomplished API folks look like and what big goofy idiots look like.
I have to give much thanks to Rachel Kim for providing me with a guitar on such short notice. Also to Corrine and Karen, Elvyn, Ramona, Jen, and AARCC student staff: David, Melissa, Aaditi, and Winnie.
Oh, this picture is courtesy of Jen Tsang’s Facebook. Holla.
Peace. Sorry for the lag in posts…I’ll get to Cuse soon!
04-02-08
The Case of the Pulled Fire Alarm – Brandeis Recap
So last Friday I hit up BC for the opening of APAHM, and on Monday I did up Brandeis for the closing of APAHM. Different schools, different schedules, you know.
It was a good opportunity because it was a double feature, with myself sharing the stage with the Chu Ling Dance Academy, which has been on the cultural scene in Boston for as long as I can remember, and has been teaching traditional and modern dance to a wide array of folks since forever. The thematic tie was that both myself and Chu Ling use art to explore heritage and as a form of expression of culture. So that was quite an honor to be compared to Chu Ling.
I couldn’t make soundcheck since I had to work, and so it was an on-the-fly soundcheck that happened as the show began. Yeah that’s fine too. So everything in the set went fairly smoothly, except that during my third piece, the fire alarm went off. I got froze in the spotlight, and it took me a while before I realized that yes, we really did need to leave the building. Outside, Elaine put the positive spin on the situation by saying I should acknowledge that it was the first time anything like that had ever happened to me. She was right, and so I had to just up up and away with it.
After that not-very-brief intermission, I tried to continue my set, but it was hard to recapture that momentum, so I basically sat there and sang Ace of Bass and Journey until folks were with me again.
I done Brandeis at a regular clip it feels like, I think I’ve been there like every 2-3 years or so for a long time. I have to give much thanks to the students there for continuing to support my work and for asking me to continue to come back.
Shirley put in the work to bring me to campus, and so a lot of thanks to her. Happy April!
04-01-08
More Inappropriate Language – Northeastern Recap
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!
03-29-08
Intimidated by the VIPs – Boston College Recap
Last night, I had chance to do up Boston College, which I feel like I hit up once every two years or so. It seems like it’s a completely different group of students every time i go back there. I mean, I guess it basically is, since that’s what happens in college, people graduate and other people matriculate…
Anyway, this was the Opening Ceremony for APAHM. Last year’s keynote speaker was Phoebe Eng. The year before that: Gary Okihiro. So of course, the natural choice for this year would have been, you know, someone prominent. Instead they asked me. Their subtle message to me was: “try not to eff this up kid.”
It was a dinner event, and seated directly in front of me was Dr. Ramsey Liem. So right after I had conquered my nervousness of following last year’s keynote speaker, I developed a new fear that I would make myself look like a fool in front of a distinguished Asian American Studies professor like Dr. Liem. So I had that going for me…
Anyway, after an amazingly long and stressful work week, there wasn’t much I could do but let loose. So I tried my best to just keep it flexible. I usually predetermine the order of every single thing in my set, but last night I just kind of scribbled some notes down and did what I do. I haven’t done that “flying without a net” type of show in, well, probably years, so it was cool. I guess I wasn’t even sure if i could still do it. Who knows if I pulled it off; regardless it was fun.
Oh, and weird how this happened: I’ve been joking with folks recently that I should start demanding clothes from every school I perform at. Then BC presents me with a huge gift box after the show and – voileezy! – a Boston College zippie. Say word!
I must give a lot of thanks to Missy for hooking up the gig and working with me to make sure I knew what the deal was, as well as Caroline for running around and troubleshooting and just generally being ridiculous as usual. And then to Jane who co-chaired the event with Missy for putting the energy into it. Also to Dr. Min Song, who introduced me once again and said some very kind and mostly true words about me and my work.
Tonight I’m at Northeastern doing some more craziness. Until then.
