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.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of taking the red line to Dorchester to perform at my alma mater: UMass-Boston, the best school in the whole world. Or one of. Let’s just say one of, so it don’t sound like I’m dissing other schools.

It was put together by the Counseling Center and various other folks, and featured student performances from Janet Vo and Son-Ca Lam, who I first met when she was a sophomore in high school. Janet was performing for the first time in public, and said she was partially motivated to do so because of a certain show that happened at UMB last year featuring Bao Phi and some other Asian guy. I forget his name, but I remember thinking he was incredibly talented and handsome.

So I was proud to have seen people from my community here in the Boston area standing up and doing the do.

Also performing at the event was my man Afro DZ ak. I don’t see him that much because both our schedules are hecka busy, but when I do get a chance to vibe with him, it’s always a good time. I like seeing my other Boston folks on the scene because that’s something we got here that most places don’t have is that folks here back up the talk. It ain’t just about telling folks to do good work in the community; it’s about being a part of doing that work too.

I was cracking up about Afro D giving crowd participation instructions and going “When I point my trumpet at you…” I don’t even know why that’s funny, but I guess it’s because I’ve never heard anyone say that sentence before.

Anyway, afterward, we did a short Q&A session in which I babbled about something I don’t remember. It made me realize that the way I think and the way I write is mad different. My pieces generally are pretty straight forward. My thoughts in real time are the exact opposite. It can be hard to see how one point relates to another, even for me.

Good to see my buddy Gee from CAPAY at the event, and also the legendary Peter Kiang.

Much thanks to the folks who put it together, including Rebecca and Christian. Also especially Sue Lambe, who represents not only UMass-Boston, but Swirl Boston. Holla!

Doing an event at Boston College tonight. Then more shows on Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And so it begins. See yall soon.

This entry can be read in its entirety at BPRLive.org.

The photo you see here is pretty well-known: it’s of an anti-busing demonstration in Boston in 1977. Essentially, a white dude is using an American flag to attack a Black dude. It’s so deliciously perfectly ironic that it seems like a scene from a play.

Boston has a long history of violence, specifically as it relates to youth. The busing demonstration was made by people who didn’t want to see young Black children - we’re talking school-age children - going to school in white neighborhoods. Boston - both the city and the mindstate - are known to be racially and ethnically segregated. There is a lot of, I guess you could call them misunderstandings between youth from different neighborhoods.

I came of age in what is considered by a lot of folks as the Golden Era for Boston youth: the late 1990s. The dip in the youth homicide rate was so profound that it received national attention: the media dubbed it “The Boston Miracle” and President Clinton even swooped through the city’s roughest spots and congratulated community after community for keeping kids alive.

But as most folks in this region surely know by now, the miracle didn’t last. Youth violence has been - and continues to be - on the rise. The people who are in charge of discouraging this kind of thing have made references to how much it’s starting to feel like the early 90s again.

Read the rest of this entry here.

There are a lot of reasons why I feel silly being a big sports fan. The rampant sexism, the more subtle but as-rampant casual racism, the proclivity of many fans to identify jingoistically with their favorite teams, the enjoyment many fans get out of watching injury-causing plays, the faux-nostalgia created as a marketing tool, the corruption of American university systems in an effort to become pro sports powerhouses, the blatant disregard for human life at baseball academies in the Dominican, the pro-corporate/”people? what people?” attitudes pushed by superstars like Michael Jordan and LeBron James, and on and on (a la Journey).

But with all these things that gnaw at my insides from further inside, I may sound like the biggest hypocrite in the world when I say it’s only entertainment (a la Journey, I mean, Jay-Z), which it is. I tried to quit watching sports in 2004, but it proved to be more addictive than nicotine. I relapsed, and what with my Boston-area teams doing pretty well recently, I don’t really think I’m going to wean myself off watching sports until I’m dead.

But not all is awful. It’s not as though it’s the ugliness that keeps me watching. So without further ado, I present to you my friends, the Top 10 Awesomest Moments in Sports (EVAR!), as compiled by me with absolutely no illusions of historical perspective, regional unbiasedness, or intelligence.

1. Derek Redmond and his dad
A British sprinter who had pulled out of competition during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul because of a hamstring injury, Derek Redmond had a legit shot at a medal in Barcelona, but during the heat that would have put him in the finals - he had a steady lead more than halfway through the 400m - his hammie jumped on him again, and he fell to the ground. His dad jumped out the stands and ran onto the field of play and helped his son up on his one good leg and together they hobbled to the finish line. With all the stories you hear about overbearing parents of athletes, this is one of the stories that gets forgotten.

2. Muhammad Ali gets stripped of his title for refusing to be drafted
As I mentioned earlier, modern-day superstars are too concerned with their endorsement deals to ever take a stand on anything remotely political. So when the biggest public figure in the sports world in 1966 refused to be drafted to fight in the war in Southeast Asia, that shit took huge balls. He didn’t really have to do it either. Because of his celebrity, he would have gotten a non-combat job, maybe one of those morale-boosting jobs like going to talk to “fellow” soldiers to convince them they were fighting for a just cause. But he refused and as a result, lost his title as world champion. And he didn’t complain at all, simply saying “No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder kill and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slavemasters over dark people the world over. This is the day and age when such evil injustice must come to an end.” The crazy shit is, everybody loves him now, proving that the real world can actually be changed for the better by athletes.

(more…)

After I had a solid night of sleep Saturday at the Doubletree and everything, I wrote my recap of the Pomona show nice and early in the morning. Apologies for not writing the recap of Sunday night’s show until now. I haven’t had a good night of sleep yet, what with the flying back East, and the daylight savings, and the busy work days. But it’s already Wednesday, so it’s about time I commit my thoughts about UCLA to the blog before I forget what happened altogether.

So we had a Beats Rhymes & Rice business meeting in the afternoon in Little Tokyo. Since I’m an idiot, I ordered katsu-don with chicken, which I guess is like ordering “fried pork made with chicken.” I figured I’d relay that information since Daren felt the need to clown me for the next 5 hours.

So we hit up UCLA that evening, and after much aimless wandering and Girl Scout cookie-buying, happened upon the venue, where students had been hard at work all day painting. Not like the walls, but there had been sessions earlier to encourage UCLA students to explore their ideas on small canvasses. So when we got there, they already had this community-style vibe in the air, where folks were already ready to do what they do all day. CAPSA looks like they put on a real inspired event, where folks had a chance to participate on multiple levels.

There was something going on with me in that I think I kinda rushed through my set. Usually I like to take my time and get real comfortable on stage before getting off, but I don’t know what happened. I think it had to do with the clock jumping an hour ahead, and so it was still light out when I started, and that kinda threw me off. Luckily, Bao and Kiwi are not similarly idiotic and so after my set - which was decent - those two tore it the fuck up. Man, I’m in awe knowing I’m on a bill with those two. I can’t think of any other dudes who I’d rather watch that many times (except Prince).

Gotta send shouts out to Pathanapong, Julie, as well as Anna B and AJ for coming out. And of course to CAPSA - specifically Sahra - for making it happen and getting us there.

That night we hit up Roscoe’s (minus Kiwi), which has become a BRR tradition. We’re getting together for two shows in Chicago in early April. Hope to see you all there.

The Pomona show was off the hinges! (Or some other slang phrase that makes me sound less lame.)

First I have to state the biggest thrill of the night was that Eddy Zheng was there, and he performed a poem in which he even namechecked Beats Rhymes & Rice. Bao, Kiwi, and I had never met him in person before, but of course we all know his story. Man, I can honestly say that sharing the space with him last night was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had as a performer. I’m blessed that I was in the presence of a man who has done such great things, and if I ever lose my way and get too full of myself, someone please remind me there are people like Eddy in this world who can be described with no other adjective than ‘amazing.’ Those of you all who aren’t familiar with his story, I urge you to check him out at eddyzheng.com and at his blog.

So in addition to Eddy, there was performances from Claremont Colleges students Mary Rose, who shared an emotional piece about New Orleans that I remember from the 2007 Summit in NYC, and lead student organizer for the event Patricia and her homegirls (sorry didn’t catch names!) doing a joint I can only assume was entitled “Phenomenal Woman” and was well-conceived and executed.

So by the time I got up to open the BRR portion of the show, the crowd was loose. They were ready to come with us wherever we went, and man it was a lot of fun. I actually prepared less for this show than I usually do, simply because the past couple weeks have been packed back-to-back-to-back with thing I had to do and I just never got a good chunk of time to sit down and go through what I planned to do. Even sound check and pre-show rituals (mine include coffee and a nap) got a little thrown off because of the hectic-ness, so by the time I hit the spotlight, I was less ready than I usually like to be.

But something about it just happened to work last night. I think the vibe of the crowd and being around so many friends both old and new just kept me feeling like no matter if I messed up on stage, that wouldn’t do anything to mess up the energy in the room. And in the end that’s what’s important, because I’ve done shows where I hit every cue the way I planned it, but the energy I try to put out doesn’t echo back to me. That can be kinda tough to deal with, but there was none of that this time.

I know the other dudes felt it too because Bao’s set was as sharp as ever, doing poems from the Nguyen series to a crowd with maybe the smallest percentage of Vietnamese people ever and he still had everyone nodding in agreement and understanding. And Kiwi just killed it. I coulda watched my man rock another hour the way he was going. Maybe it was something about being in the LA area or maybe the vibe I mentioned earlier, but Kiwi was just at home. I wish yall coulda been there.

Afterward, we had BOMB Indian food buffet, and I promptly ate way too much and then felt really gross. I am a man of extremes. And I was feeling the naan, yet I felt I had to get rice on my plate too, or else I’d be betraying the name of our tour. I feel like that contributed to my overeating. I should sometimes just try to be less stupid.

So I gotta give shouts to Patricia for putting the whole thing together, which took many many months of back-and-forth emails. Also love goes to Daren and Sefa, Yen Ling for swinging through, and the other students who I met throughout the day and evening. It’s too many mention, but I gotta mention that Joyce gave us a ride afterward, and I caught a ride from Howard, Clark, Emi, and Anita earlier in the day. Also I have to thank Doug and Dharma for helping my sleepy ass throughout Saturday. And of course Eddy Zheng.

We finish out the weekend with another BRR show tonight at UCLA. See you there. (Oh, a photo of the Pomona show will go up once I get access to some.)

Harry Allen, the Media Assassin, has a blog. And, just as you would expect, it is filled with writing that is enjoyable to read and more than its share of expert analysis. I mean, it’s Harry Allen.

So he does a very well-thought out entry reflecting on the Will.I.Am/Barack Obama connection that makes a lot of valid and interesting points, and is filled with quotable line after quotable line, but this one particularly struck a chord with me:

…the question I had after I first heard Black Eyed Peas is very similar to the one I had after hearing white people lose their minds over Obama’s 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address: Where’s the funk?

Comparing a typical Obama speech to today’s, great Black speechmakers—say, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, or Juanita Bynum, to name obvious ones—is like comparing the Kool & the Gang of 1981’s Something Special (”Get Down On It”) with the Kool & the Gang of 1973’s Wild and Peaceful (”Funky Stuff,” “Jungle Boogie,” “Hollywood Swinging.”)

From “No, Seriously: I’d Much Rather Listen to Obama Girl”.

But yeah, almost the exact same thought (minus Kool and the Gang) popped into my head after Obama-mania reached its first peak after the 04 DNC. How was Obama’s speech getting all this love, when Al Sharpton was clearly the star of the show? Both in what he said and what he did: they gave him 5 minutes to speak, but he commandeered the podium for 20 minutes, letting rip with the most progressive statements about disastrous foreign policy and social inequality that anyone dared to speak during that convention. Exactly the kind of shit the brass of the Democratic Party didn’t want to have anything to do with; exactly the kind of rhetoric that could have won the election for them if they had embraced it.

I guess they were too busy trying to recapture the Joe-mentum of 2000. Yeah that worked out well…

Anyway, if the title wasn’t an obvious enough clue, I’m just trying to make the point that when it come to the election: don’t believe the hype.

Pandas: they may be cute, but they’ll strip you naked.

I was supposed to give a keynote speech at the 5PAN Conference at Smith College this past Saturday, and so my plan was, you know, drive up Saturday morning, drive back to Boston Saturday evening, and help the conference save on costs by not spending a night there. Right, that makes sense, but then Friday morning, I was checking the Internets, and saw that there was an ill snowstorm on the way. I called Carmen, one of the conference organizers, to see what the plan would be. After much jibba jabba, we decided I would drive up that night before the worst of the storm hit.

I didn’t learn to drive until I was 20, and I still don’t consider myself a good driver. (You can get anywhere in a 17 year-old’s world by subway or bus, so learning to drive wasn’t a big thing for me.) It’s not that I’m a bad driver, it’s more that I’m a reluctant driver. I hate driving for more than 20 minutes or so. I especially hate driving in the snow for 2 hours. So I tried to get out of town as early as I could so I wouldn’t have to deal with that whole snow situation.

Anyway, I made it to Northampton in one piece and proceeded to drink like four bourbons from the hotel bar before sleeping because I was so high-strung from the journey. This left me no time to work on my keynote speech that was less than 12 hours away.

But when I woke up the next morning, something just grabbed me and what had been like an idea drought, all the sudden became like, I had a million things I wanted to say, and I had trouble figuring out how to fit it all in. So I just showed up and talked to the crowd and the results were…so-so. I’m much more comfortable as a performer, rather than as a speaker. So you know, hopefully people could get with it simply because I was being honest and trying to share, even if it was lacking in entertainment value.

But on a personal note, it was dope to see something like the 5PAN Conference – which brings together API activists from the Five College Consortium (UMass-Amherst, Amherst College, Smith College, Mt. Holyoke, and Hampshire) even existing, let alone holding a regional conference and actually talking about legitimately important issues and not, you know, about bullshit. I always have a soft spot for doing things in that area, because when I was at UMass, I think I didn’t involve myself enough in what was going on in my community there. So now I’d kinda like to make up for it I guess.

Anyway, got two Beats Rhymes and Rice shows in Southern Cali this weekend: Pomona College and UCLA. See yall there.