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
U.S. Media Loses Interest in Swine Flu
May 21, 2009
The U.S., for now, has moved on from the so-called “swine” flu, but much of the rest of the world continues to apply measures to stem the spread of the H1N1 virus and drug companies rush to bring a vaccine to the market.
The mainstream media in the U.S. has turned its attention away from the swine flu and redirected its focus to the economy, crime and American Idol.
This despite the fact that confirmed cases continue to rise on the east and west coasts and reports that a H1N1 vaccine isn’t due for several more weeks.
Fresh outbreaks of the virus are being reported in the northeast region of the United States, centered around the greater New York City area, and health officials now fear that H1N1 now appears to be spreading in Japan, pushing the world to the brink of a full-fledged swine flu pandemic.
A headline in the May 21 global edition of the The New York Times read: “Japan Is in Crisis Mode,” and detailed the growing fears about the the spread of H1N1 virus in what is perhaps the world’s most hygienic nation.
Meanwhile, the EU this week issued a travel advisory about travel to the U.S.
Track the spread of the H1N1 cases in the U.S. and around the world with FluTracker interactive maps:
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- Seasonal vaccines won’t protect against H1N1, Scientific American
- Heighten Risk for Pregnant Women, MSNBC
- With Flu Fears Rising Japan Is in Crisis Mode, The New York Times
Toilet Bowl Cleaner Suicides Meme Into U.S.
March 16, 2009
A suicide technique that uses a mixture of household products to produce a deadly hydrogen sulfide gas became a grisly fad in Japan last year. Now it’s slowly seeping into the United States over the internet, according to emergency workers, who are alarmed at the potential for innocent casualties.
[The graphic that accompanies this post comes from a Japanese website 3yen.com]
The first sign that the technique was migrating to the United States came in August, when a 23-year-old California man was found dead in his car behind a Pasadena shopping center. The VW Beetle’s doors were locked, the windows rolled up and a warning sign had been posted in one of the windows.
The 517 self-inflicted deaths by hydrogen sulfide poisoning this year in 2008 are were part of a bigger, grimmer story: Nearly 34,000 Japanese killed themselves last year, according to the Japanese national police. That’s the second-highest toll ever in a country where the suicide rate is ninth highest in the world and more than double that of the USA, the World Health Organization says.
- Read This First
- National Suicide Prevention Hotline
- Pasadena Man Used Household Chems in Suicide
- Suicide Epidemic Grips Japan
- Rotten Egg Suicide Gassing
H/T Babamoto, WIRED, Kevin Poulsen
Sato Masuzawa Mystery Solved; “Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto”
February 23, 2009
Actor Sean Penn, who won the best actor Oscar at the 81st Academy Awards for his portrayal of San Francisco gay activist Harvey Milk in the film Milk, opened his acceptance speech by calling the audience “you Commie-, homo-loving sons of guns.”
Then, the first person Penn thanked was “my best friend Sato Masuzawa,” whom almost no one had ever heard of. Speculation was that the Japanese name was a cipher for the actor’s wife, Robin Wright Penn or that it was some inside joke. Nope.
Sato Masuzawa, a graphic artist and artistic facilitator, is credited as “assistant to Mr. Penn,” beginning with the 1998 film Hurly Burly. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Masuzawa’s first show biz credit came in 1991 when he she (thanks, Disgrasian Whoo-whoo!) was the post-production coordinator on Indian Runner, which Penn wrote and directed.
The best acceptance speech by far was delivered by young Japanese animator Kunio Kato, whose Tsumeki no Ie/La Maison en Petits Cubes won for best animated short. Kato kept it short and sweet quoting ’80s Styx lyric, “Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.”
The best foreign language film award went to Japan’s Okuribito/Departures.
Other non-Slumdog, non-winning Asian nominees included Thavisouk Phrasavath, best documentary Nerakhoon/The Betrayal; Steven Okazaki, best documentary short subject, The Conscience of Nhem En; and James J. Murakami, art direction, Changeling.
- Sato Masuzawa credits, IMDb
- Kunio Kato’s “Mr. Roboto” acceptance speech
- 81st Academy Awards results
- James Murakami credits
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
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.
Health and Wellness
July 12, 2007
Rep. Mike Honda Confident Full House Will Endorse Resolution Next Month; 149 Colleagues Cosponsor; Japanese American Leaders Do Damage Control
