I wrote an article for Asian Avenue magazine, about mixed-race Asian American Pacific Islanders. The print edition, which is available at 500 locations around Denver, has lots of photos with it. The article highlights some of the issues facing people of multiple racial heritage in general: the lack of acceptance by either side of your racial background; the disruption...
You read it correctly: MTV is looking for a host for a new Japanese Game Show to be produced here in the U.S. They're casting around for a hip young Asian American dude. here are the details, copied from an email I was sent by an MTV casting producer for series development: "MTV is searching for a host for a fun,...
The hip-hop dance scene of b-boys and b-girls isn't exactly underground -- 39 million votes were cast for the second season finale of "America's Best Dance Crew" on MTV, and movies such as the 2007 documentary, "Planet B-Boy" and the movie "You Got Served" from 2004 (or, for that matter, the previous generation's "Beat Street" and "Breakin'" and "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo," all from 1984), have all proven that there's a healthy above-ground audience for the exciting moves and urban beat culture of hip-hop dance.
But last night, when Erin and I attended Rockers Rumble III, the third annual competition of Colorado breakdancers, held at CU-Boulder's Glenn Miller Ballroom, I had a flashback of nights hanging out in crowded clubs, makeshift concert halls and low-rent bars in the early '80s, when I used to be a music critic. The scene back then was small but growing, and there was a palpable sense of community, kind of a shared language and shared values. Everyone knew what was good and what was bad, and everyone agreed on the sound and spirit of the underground music scene.
Check out the move that comes about 20 seconds into this clip -- and then watch for a couple more seconds.
Erin and I got to see a really interesting traditional Korean dance and music performance last week.
Think about it -- you've seen taditional Japanese dancig in kimonos, and heard lots of traditional Japanese music, with the wood flute, koto and taiko drums. You've seen Chinese dance and heard Chinese music. And at events such as the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, audiences have been intorduced to the traditional dance and music of Bali, Vietnam, Philippines, India and more... but not that much from Korea.
During the early years of the CDBF, a troupe of Korean seniors used to perform, but their act was mostly 20 minutes of the large group in traditional dress, circling the stage to no particular rhythm and randomly beating on drums. The festival has also featured a solo Korean dancer who did a slow and meticulous mask dance. Abd last year during the Miss Asian American Colorado pageant, one contestant performed a Korean fan dance with a bunch of cute kids helping out.
I'm not sure why, but there hasn't been much exposure, at least in my world, of a lot of traditional Korean performance. Maybe the noisy, sometimes chaotic nature of traditional Korean dance just doesn't appeal to Americanized tastes.
Whatever the reason, though, we got plenty on Saturday, Sept. 6, when the Korean Consulate General in San Francisco sponsored a rare U.S. visit by a Korean dance troupe, Festive Lands, for a performance at the DCPA’s Temple Buell Theater titled “Colorado Forever.â€
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders definitely seem more engaged with the political process these days. Maybe it's the DNC being in Denver that's made me sensitive to everything that's going on. Maybe it's Obama's Hawai'i connections. Or maybe AAPIs are finally coming out of the shadows and fighting to have our voices heard, and not be invisible anymore.
Here's an email being distributed by the group, Asian Americans for Obama, by the Hawai'ian-born actress Kelly Hu, who showed up unannounced at an AAPI Caucus meeting during the DNC (shown above):
Sept. 24 update: Good news -- CBS appears to have pulled all of the Farnfucious clips off their YouTube channel.
It's hard to believe that a major U.S. broadcast network can get away with it, but there it is on YouTube: "Farnfucious Say," a regular (apparently) skit on the "Farnsworth & the Fox" show produced by CBS. The show's co-host, "Farnsworth," is a puppet a la "Sesame Street" and the "Fox" is (not surprisingly) a woman cast for her sex appeal.
"Farnfucious" -- they couldn't even spell the pun on Confucius correctly -- is a puppet character with Fu Manchu mustache and traditional Chinese-looking garb, talking in a slimy broken Chinese accent the way white people like to parody Asians speaking. The puppet is introduced by a woman's voice speaking in the same cheesy accent intoning, "And now, anothah episode... of Farnfucious!" and afterwards the outro: "Words of wisdom... from Farnfucious!"
The Washington Post ran an interesting story today about the lack of minority representation on the floor of the Republican National Convention. It made some important observations and raised some thought-provoking questions. but I found myself irritated at the article, because it was all about black and white. Why are Asian Americans excluded from discussions about race in the United States? I've...
