‘Bright Like Light’ DJ Kawasaki feat. Lena Fujii
August 12, 2010
Kina Grannis Talks About Her New Album, Stairwells
March 15, 2010
- Hear three songs from Stairwells, life:and:limb
- Official Web Site, kinagrannis.com
- The Kina Grannis Page, Wikipedia
Aquí Está
December 29, 2009
The video below was cut with FCP from Somalian Pirate Video guerilla Yamato Torrijos’ digital copy of This Is It using a Quo ProQ Mac clone he says he got in Alhambra, California back in September prior to the film’s release. The edit is the duet where MJ sings “I Can’t Stop Loving You” with the amazing Japanese American singer Judith Hill.
“Aquí Está—this is the love ballad that would have stopped the show if there had been a This Is It concert in London this summer,” Yamato wants everyone to know. Aquí Está.
This vid won’t be up long. It will be gone like a dream, and you will remember nothing, and it won’t be on YouTube.
- Aquí Está: The Backstory
- The Jackson Memorial Mystery Singer, Judith Hill
Asia Carrera Planning Porn Comeback?
August 28, 2009
Once, you could count the number of Asian Americans in the adult film industry on the fingers of one sticky hand. The hapa woman who singlehandedly launched an industry-wide pandemic of Yellow Fever in the late-90s, Asia Carrera (nee Jessica Steinhauser) is now a widowed single mother with two children (one developmentally disabled) living in Utah.
Asian American Media Musical Chairs
July 23, 2009
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A Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper reporter made the leap from print to online journalism, UsWeekly’s gossip queen called it quits and the Asian American Journalists Association soft-played a staff shake-up this week. [Read More]
- Huffington Post Nabs WaPo Rising Star, Mediabistro
- A Lot of “The’s”: Jose Antonio Vargas Leaves The Washington Post for The Huffington Post, The New York Times
- Arianna Huffington Seduces Young Journalist Over Internet, Valleywag
- Filipino Reporter Wins Pulitzer, New America Media
- Janice Min Helped Us Weekly Feed a Hunger for Celebrity, L.A. Times
- Janice Min’s Mysterious Future, Gawker
- Janice Min’s Farewell to Us Weekly Staff, AllieIsWired.Com
- AAJA Names New Interim Executive Director, AAJA
- “Officially it was a mutual decision” that she leave, Maynard Institute
- AAJA National President Sharon Chan, blog
Judith Hill: Jackson Memorial Mystery Singer
July 7, 2009
She commanded center stage during some the most memorable moments at this morning’s Michael Jackson Memorial, but her identity had most in attendance at Staples Center and millions of international television viewers baffled. Who was the young Asian woman singing lead on the moving “Heal the World”?
Thousands of Google searches ensued and the mystery was solved. She’s Judith Hill, a thirty-something singer from Pasadena, Calif. who was to be one of the backup singers on Jackson’s ill-fated 50-show “This Is It” concert series that was supposed to start July 8 at London’s O2 Arena. Jackson died June 25 at the age of 50.
Hill also participated in a rousing performance of “We Are the World” and earlier in the memorial program was a backup singer on John Mayer’s instrumental version of another Jackson hit, “Human Nature.”
From Ms. Hill’s bio:
Judith was born in Los Angeles and raised in a family of musicians. Her mother is an immigrant from Japan who met her African-American father in a funk band in the 1970s.
She laughs about her bi-racial experience, “I was a skinny mixed kid with a lot of hair that I didn’t know what to do with (and still don’t know what to do with it). And my mom could not help me with it!”
She admits that she never “fit in”. Depending on the social circle, she was labeled “too quiet”, “too loud”, “too black”, “too Asian” or too something. Judith expresses, “I was a traveler, kind of a drifter. But, looking back I see how all of those experiences, friends, and cultures made me who I am today.”
Hill lists three women vocalists as major influences—Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald—and she is a classically trained musician, having studied composition at Biola University. She won several awards for her chamber ensembles, orchestrations and composing for jazz bands, and quartets.
Did you notice that Judith Hill is also beautiful? She’s a statuesque 5-9 with a soulful vocal range from B2 to above C6 if you can dig it.
Watch and listen:
- Judith Hill MySpace Page
- Official Judith Hill Blog
- Judith Hill: The Amazing Singer From The Michael Jackson Memorial, Reflections On Media
- The woman who sang “We Are The World” at the Jackson Memorial, jozjozjoz.com
- Judith Hill – Heal the World singer at Michael Jackson Memorial, ChannelAPA
Fools’ Dance: OBON in America 2009
June 17, 2009
Japanese Americans all across the land from Vermont to Hawaii will celebrate the ancient Buddhist Obon festival in the coming weeks with joyous folk dancing, religious observances and traditional Japanese foods in what is the most authentic cultural event remaining in Japanese America.
Obon Festival season continues through August and marks the zenith of the Buddhist year. But more than just a chance to take colorful photos and eat Japanese comfort foods, Obon is a Buddhist teaching come alive.
Obon [ お盆 ] originates from the story of Mokuren, a disciple of the Buddha, who during a meditative trance saw his deceased mother suffering in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts (the Buddhist equivalent of purgatory). Greatly disturbed, he went to the Buddha and asked how he could release his mother from this suffering. Buddha instructed him to make offerings and to meditate on the life of his mother. Mokuren followed the Buddha’s instructions and he began to see the true nature of her past unselfishness and the many sacrifices that she had made for him. The disciple, happy because of his mother’s release and grateful for his mother’s kindness, danced with joy. From this dance of joy came Obon, which has been celebrated for thousands of years as a time in which ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated.
2009 OBON FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Aug. 1-2—Gardena Buddhist Temple Obon Odori, 1517 W. 166th St., Gardena, CA 90247; (310) 327-9400; 3-10 p.m. Sat./2-9 p.m. Sun.
Aug. 1—Buddhist Temple of San Diego Obon Odori, 2929 Market St., San Diego, CA 92102; (619) 239-0896: 5-9 p.m.
Aug. 1—Oregon Buddhist Temple “Obonfest 2009,” 3720 SE 34th Ave., Portland, OR 97202; (503) 234-9456: 4-9 p.m.
Aug. 1—San Luis Obispo Buddhist Temple Obon Odori, 6996 Ontario Rd., San Luis Obispo, CA 93405; (805)-595-2625: 1-9 p.m.
Aug. 1—Waialua Hongwanji Temple Obon, 67-313 Kealohanui St., Waialua, HI 96791; (808) 637-4395: from 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 1-2—Palo Alto Buddhist Temple Obon Odori, 2751 Louis Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303; (650)856-0123: 5-11 p.m. Sat./noon-10 p.m. Sun.
What Ever Happened to Michelle Branch?
May 15, 2009
Admit it. We were all Michelle Branch fans a few years ago, and in the summer of 2000 we were humming songs off of her The Spirit Room album.
The Indonesian-American singer out of Sedona, Ariz. was part of a wave of solo female vocalists that included Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne, Jewel, Nelly Furtado, Lisa Loeb and Liz Phair. Branch provided young corpuscles for the Grammy-winning collaboration with legendary guitarist and known vampire Carlos Santana (“The Game of Love”) and she was also nominated for a best new artist Grammy in 2003. All of this at 19.
Then, Michelle Branch all but vanished from the scene, and she hasn’t been heard from creatively in six years. So what ever happened to her?
Michelle married her bass player Teddy Landau in 2004 and a year later gave birth to a daughter, Owen Isabelle. She and Jessica Harp formed a duo called The Wreckers in 2005 that lasted two years. She sold her Los Angeles home in2007 and moved to Nashville, where she planned to open a pastry shop with a friend. But came another 180-degree turn back to composing and her solo career.
Last year, Branch wrote and performed “Together” for the soundtrack of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Her next solo album, Everything Comes and Goes, is set for release in late summer. Rumors say it’s country inspired.
Michelle Branch, “This Way,” Everything Comes and Goes (Unreleased)
Yellow Sticky Notes by Jeff Chiba Stearns
April 24, 2009
Learn moar about Chiba Stearns and “hapanimation” @ meditatingbunny.com
Fallen Oakland SWAT Officer Daniel Sakai Remembered
March 23, 2009
OAKLAND—Danny Sakai was no ordinary cop. University educated and a world traveler, Sakai, the 35-year-old, nine-year veteran of the OPD, was killed in the line of duty March 21 when a suspected cop killer opened fire on a SWAT entry team with an AK-47 military assault rifle. Three of Sakai’s fellow OPD officers also were killed Saturday by the same suspect, Lovelle Mixon, 26.
An Eagle Scout, Dan Sakai held a degree in forestry from UC Berkeley and had lived in Japan for a year teaching English. The Japanese American resident of Castro Valley was married to Julie Sakai, a UC Berkeley police officer, and was the father of a young daughter.
- Friends and colleagues remember Daniel Sakai, SFGate
- Police Deaths Amplify City’s Woes, WSJ
- Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 1974-2009, Officer Down Memorial Page
Sin Nombre
March 20, 2009
Sin Nombre, writer/director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s first feature film, premieres this weekend nationwide with a bounce from generally favorable reviews that call it a gritty diamond in the rough. But how does a first-time Asian American filmmaker get a picky studio like Focus Features to fund a Spanish-language movie with a cast of unknown actors? Oakland native and UC Santa Cruz alum Fukunaga, who first attracted attention with his stunning 2004 short Victoria Para Chino right out of NYU graduate film school, explains…
- Cary Fukunaga Profile, IMDb
- New Faces of Independent Film, Filmmaker Magazine
- Sin Nombre Reviews, Moviefone
Sauced In Translation
March 10, 2009
STEW JUICE, ONION RINGS, LOVE STORY
Our story started with Kim Ve Wei-Wong Soy Sauce.
When we first met, he was shy.
Our love story walks along the road of, Stew juice, onion rings— Kim Ve Wei-Wong Soy Sauce.CLOSING SHOT: “Fall in love at first sight choice, unforgettable good flavor, fermented Kim Ve Wei-Wong Soy Sauce.”
Cute, but this spot needs balance, just like American mass media needs one straight Asian American leading man or at least one pretending to be. “No, Russell Wong. That was not your cue.”
Asian American conspiratorialists may say that ad spots like this one for Kim Ve Wei-Wong Soy Sauce smack subliminal, planting hints that Asian-White couplings are more fairy-tale-like than other racial recipes.
Ha, I say. If this is some Madison Avenue Madame Butterfly mindfuck, it’s useless. Asian women already hold the WBA title of “World’s Most Outmarrying Women.”
It’s got to said: “If aliens from the planet Cubiczirconia landed on Earth, Asian women would immediately hookup with them.”
But the thing that’s really bothering me about this ad: Is that Zac Efron in dat joint?
- Marriage Patterns For the Six Largest Asian American Ethnic Groups, Asian-Nation
- Interracial Marriage (Globally), Wikipedia
- Race, Interracial Marriage and the New Administration, Free Press Release
- 40 Years After Loving v. Virginia, Interracial Marriage Flourishing in U.S., MSNBC
- The Myth of Interracial Marriage (Yikes! A white supremacist group’s view, VDare.com
Riders On The Storm
February 8, 2009
Thunder, lightning, hail, rain, stimulus packages—we needed a good cleansing. I keep playing Rain by Priscilla Ahn over and over and over.
Only a win away from Super Bowl XLIII, the emergence of the baby-faced 6-4, 265-pound Philadelphia Eagle linebacker Chris Gocong has sent thousands of Asian/Pacific American fans to their computers to Google his name— Chris Gocong: Vietnamese? Filipino? Pacific Islander?
Well, no need to speculate any longer, crack Epicanthus researcher Rachel Roh contacted Gocong’s dad, Bruce Kennedy, to pin down Chris’ ethnic roots. Here’s what he had to say:
“After review with Chris and his mom (Julie), he is the following—100% American, 12.5% French, 12.5% German, 25% American Indian (and) 25% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and 25% Filipino.”
So there you have it. Quite a mix. Gocong calls himself a “mutt” in this video. Seems like another mutt is having his big day January 20 in Washington, D.C. Ah, 2009: Year of the Mutt in Post-Racial America.
Gocong, 25, is part of the Eagles’ frenetic blitz-happy linebacking corps (along with Stewart Bradley and Akeem Jordan) that has wreaked havoc on opponents and humbled the vaunted Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants offenses in their last two contests.
Gocong and the Eagles continue their unlikely march toward the Super Bowl against another dark horse, the Arizona Cardinals, who will suit up Polynesians Deuce Lutui (USC) at guard, Pago Togafau (Idaho State) at LB and Filipinos Aaron Francisco from Hawaii via BYU at DB and Travis LaBoy(UH) at DE.
More on Chris Gocong:
- Chris Gocong Profile, philadelphiaeagles.com
- Ask the Eagles—Chris Gocong, video
- Who Exactly Is Chris Gocong? philadelphiaeagles.com
- Chrs Gocong NFL Draft Profile, Fox Sports
- Eagles: Glitz and Glue, The Philadelphia Inquirer
African-American Sings Enka on NHK’s Kouhaku Utagassen; Named Japan Music’s ‘Best New Artist’
December 31, 2008
TOKYO—Jerrold Jerome White, a 27-year-old African-American from Pittsburgh who learned to sing in the traditional Japanese enka style by listening to his grandmother’s records, was named 2008 Best New Artist at the 50th Annual Japan Record Awards Dec. 31.
And it was a fitting end to a storybook year which saw White, known as “Jero” in Japan, rise from an English language teacher in Wakayama to a household name in Japanese entertainment. Later, that same evening, Jero, a 2003 information science graduate from the Univ. of Pittsburgh, fulfilled a promise he made to his dying grandmother to sing enka on NHK’s fabled Kouhaku Utagassen New Year’s Eve broadcast.
White who traveled to Japan during his high school days to compete in a speech contest, learned the language from his grandmother, in high school and at Pitt. He returned to Japan in 2003 as an exchange student. He later found work as a computer engineer and English teacher.
Jero’s mother flew from Pittsburgh and was in the Kouhaku audience to hear her son keep his promise to her mother who passed in 1998.
- What’s enka? Wikipedia
- Jero Breathes New Life Into Enka, Japan Today
- Jero’s Blog (Japanese)
- “Our Man in Japan: Jero,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Jero, Wikipedia
- More About Jero, Mahalo
NBC’s Ann Curry ‘Outs’ Rev. Rick Warren
December 19, 2008
The Olympic Decathlon, the two-day, ten-event test of all-around athletic skill and human endurance, has produced some of the greatest icons of the American sports pantheon. Decathlon gold medalists Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson and Bruce Jenner were easily the biggest names to emerge from their respective Olympics. But comes along 28-year-old, Kaneohe, Hawaii-born Bryan Clay and the mainstream media seems a bit skeptical.
Beijing is Clay’s second Olympics. He won a silver in Athens as the event’s rising star. Following Athens, Bryan captured a World Track Championship gold in 2005 and was ranked as the No. 1 decathlete in the world by 2006. Last year, he forced out of the World Championships in Osaka with a foot injury. Earlier this year, 12 pounds lighter and injury-free, he stunned the track and field world with a remarkable 8,832-point performance in winning the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Ten years ago, Clay was a troubled kid. The product of a broken home, Bryan is the son of Japanese American mother Michelle Ishimoto and an African American father, Greg Clay, who divorced when their son was in the fifth grade.
At the Athens Olympics, Bryan’s mother, stepfather and wife, Sarah, stayed away not wanting to be distractions. In Beijing, however, the Ishimoto clan will be in full force. Sharing the two-day event with Bryan at the “Bird’s Nest” will be his maternal grandparents—84-year-old Tsumoru and 82-year-old Kay Ishimoto—along with “a bunch more family and many friends” to root Bryan over the top.
About his Japanese heritage, Clay reveals, “Japanese culture and food were a huge part of my life growing up. My mother made sure I knew who I was and where I came from. Our house was always full of grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. We ate ozoni [a traditional Japanese rice soup] on New Year’s Eve. My life was very Japanese.”
Earlier this month, Clay told NBC, “I think that if I am healthy, and if I am competing well and in shape, I don’t think there’s anybody out there that can beat me. I really don’t think so.
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UPDATE—As I key this in real time, it’s already Thursday, Aug. 21, 2:45 p.m. in Beijing, and Bryan Clay has won the 100 meters and long jump and placed second in the shot put. He leads Oleksiy Kasyanov of the Ukraine and American teammate Trey Hardee of Birmingham, Ala. Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, who edged out Clay for the gold in Athens is in 10th place in the early going. I plan to update here as results become available.
UPDATE 2—(Thursday, Aug. 21, 7:20 a.m. PST) With the first five events of the men’s decathlon completed, Hawaii-born Japanese American Bryan Clay held an 88-point lead over his closest rival, Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus. Clay, who attends Azusa-Pacific Univ. in Southern California, won a rain-drenched 100 meters in 10.44 seconds and followed with the top mark in the long jump with a leap of 25-6¼. Clay then recorded a lifetime best heave of 53-4½ in the shot put. He high jumped 6-6¼ (11th best), and finished day one of the grueling event after 10 p.m. Beijing time with a 48.92 in the 400 meters. Trey Hardee (USA) is holding on to third place 93 points behind Clay who is favored to the the gold. Day 2 of the decathlon begins at 9 a.m. Beijing time (today at 6:00 p.m. PST) and will include 110 meter hurdles. discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 meters.
UPDATE 3—(Thursday, Aug. 21, 5:00 p.m. PST) Bryan Clay left the following comments on his blog a little after midnight after completing Day 1 of the decathlon in Beijing: “I had three very, very good events. Then I had one not so good event, a poor event, which was high jump. Then just an OK event in the 400, nothing special in the 400, but it was OK. I don’t know about scores. I really don’t pay attention to scores until we get to about the javelin, then I look to see what I need to do to stay in the position that I’m in. I’m coming out tomorrow just trying to compete against the conditions and the competitors. Hopefully, I’ll be the best one there and be at the top of the podium at the end of the day. I think every event in the decathlon is important. You can’t win the decathlon without having all ten events. Anytime you have a poor event, that’s going to set you back a bit, and every time you have a good event, that’s pull you ahead. I don’t think it was the rain. I think that I was a little fatigued. We started in the rain and mentally and physically, it takes a lot to get through that and I think I did it very well. That made me a little fatigued going into the high jum and the 400.”
UPDATE 4—(Thursday, Aug. 21, 7:00 p.m. PST) We’re live blogging the Olympic decathlon results as they come out of Beijing. U.S. decathlete Bryan Clay recorded the second fastest time of all four heats of the 110 meter hurdles Friday morning in Beijing to start day two of the decathlon. Yordani Garcia of Cuba had the fastest time with a 13.90 to Clay’s 13.93. Andres Raja of Estonia had the third lowest time at 14.06. Clay netted 984 points in the event and now has a leading total of 5505 points. We’re awaiting the start of the decathlon discus throw.
UPDATE 5—(Thursday, Aug. 21, 8:00 p.m. PST) Japanese American gold medal hopeful Bryan Clay has won the decathlon discus competition with a season’s best heave of 176 feet 10 inches and added 950 points for a leading total of 6455 with the pole vault, javelin and 1500 meters to follow in Beijing, where it is Friday morning.
UPDATE 6—(Friday, Aug. 22, 2:10 p.m., Beijing, China CST) The decathlon pole vault is underway in the “Bird’s Nest,” and American Bryan Clay has cleared a qualifying height of 4.80 meters on his first attempt and shares the lead with four other decathletes—Andrei Krauchanka, Belarus; Andre Niklaus, Germany; Alexander Pogorelov, Russia; Andres Raja, Estonia.
(Aug. 22, 2:24 p.m., Beijing) Belarus’ Krauchanka has cleared 4.90 meters. We’re blogging real time from Silver Lake 90026!
(Aug. 22, 2:27 p.m., Beijing) Bryan Clay regains the pole vault lead clearing 4.90 meters on his first attempt. Roman Barras is also over 4.90, a season’s best for the Frenchman.
(Aug. 22, 2:50 p.m., Beijing) Glendora, Calif.’s Bryan Clay has cleared a season’s best 5.0 meters in the decathlon pole vault and leads the event on the basis of fewer misses. Krauchanka, Pogorelov, Niklaus and Barras are also over the height.
(Aug. 22, 3:15 p.m., Beijing) Andre Niklaus of Germany has cleared 5.20 meters, a season’s best for him, to take the lead in the decathlon pole vault. Bryan Clay, US; Krauchanka, Estonia Belarus; Pogorelov tied for second in the event. Clay leads overall with 6455 points after seven events.
(Aug. 22, 3:35 p.m., Beijing) After missing 3x @ 5.10 meters Clay is out of the vault in 2nd place. He leads the decathlon with 7365 points and leads Krauchanka by 316. The final two events—javelin and 1500 meters—are scheduled for 7:00 and 10:20 p.m. Beijing time.
Asian Americans Medal at Beijing Olympics
August 19, 2008
Berkeley Grad Natalie Coughlin First Woman to Defend 100m Backstroke Gold Also Takes 2 Silver, 3 Bronze; Emily Cross Wins Fencing Silver; Team USA Captain Kevin Tan, Raj Bhavsar Help Gymnasts to Team Bronze
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