8 Asians

You read that right– anime hip-hop martial arts musical! It’s all that and a bag of chips!*

East West Players has gathered a creative team to develop a new musical that utilizes all three art forms and a 25 minute presentation of this work in progress will be performed on Friday, November 20, 7:30pm at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. A Q&A discussion will follow.

The working title for the production is KRUNK-FU BATTLE BATTLE.

Description: The heart of hip-hop is in the battle. Young Norman Lee must learn this if he hopes to survive his new high school life as an Upper Westside import now transported to Bushwick, Brooklyn, after his Mom loses her 6-figure salary job. After being bullied, beat-down, and watching his Mom swallow her pride by accepting a job as a fast food fry cook, young Norman Lee enlists the guidance of Sir Master Cert to help him learn the ways of b-boy to compete against the baddest crew in Bushwick for respect, honor, and a chance to prove to his Mom that this life away from material wealth can and will work.

The creative team includes: bookwriter Qui Nguyen, lyricist Beau Sia, composer Marc Macalintal, hip-hop choreographer Jason Tyler Chong and anime consultant Jane Wu. The presentation is directed by East West Players’ artistic director Tim Dang and reunites Dang, Chong and Macalintal after their successful collaboration of the 2008 hit run of PIPPIN.

The Writers’ Gallery offers public readings of works that are being considered for the mainstage at East West Players and are presented in conjunction with the Japanese American National Museum and The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy. This workshop is made possible in part by The James Irvine Foundation and The National Endowment for the Arts which believes that a great nation deserves great art; and by the support of individual donors.

The Writers’ Gallery presentation of KRUNK-FU BATTLE BATTLE (working title) will be on
Date: Friday, November 20th
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: National Center for the Preservation of Democracy
111 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Admission: free

For more information, please call East West Players at (213) 625-7000 or visit www.eastwestplayers.org. Dates and details are subject to change.

*Ok, I lied. No chips– no food and drink allowed inside at National Center for the Preservation of Democracy

The curse of a great song like Jay Sean’s “Down,” the kind which hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, is that it gets played it like a million times on the radio until you don’t want to hear it anymore.

The flipside of a great song is that it might get covered by a talented artist like Dawen. So even though you’re listening to the same song, it’s really not the same song after Dawen works his magic on it.

Want more Dawen? He’s performing twice at Breaking the Bow this weekend in L.A. Check him and all the other cool artists of The 1st Annual Independent Asian Pacific Islander Performing Artists and Writers Festival out at the Miles Memorial Playhouse through Sunday.

The wonderful Broadway revival “South Pacific“, directed by the brilliant Bartlett Sher, is on tour right now in San Francisco. Written in 1949 by Rodgers and Hammerstein, most people remember this musical as a lovely romance during World War II with memorable songs such as “Some Enchanted Evening“, “There’s Nothing like a Dame” and “Wonderful Guy”.

The setting of this musical is in the islands of the South Pacific, where the Americans are stationed during wartime to protect their allies from the “Japs”. This story of war and prejudice holds such relevance today, which I found refreshing.

One of the main love stories in the musical is between Lt. Joe Cable, the American military man played by Anderson Davis, who falls in love with Liat, a Tonkinese native girl, portrayed by Sumie Maeda. Fighting racial prejudices he grew up with, he is conflicted between his love for Liat while realizing he can never really take her home to meet Mom and Dad in Philadelphia. He sings a compelling song, “You’ve got be carefully taught,” about racism. Joe Cable starts the song by saying “[Racism] isn’t born in you, it happens after you’re born!”:

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught
From year to Year
It’s got to be drummed
in your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught

You’ve got to be taught
To be Afraid
Of people whose eyes
are oddly made
And people whose skin
Is a different shade
You’ve got to be carefully taught

You’ve got to be taught
Before it’s too late
Before you are 6 or 7 or 8
To hate all the people
your relatives hate
You’ve got to be carefully taught

In the original production 1949, Rodgers and Hammerstein were continually advised to take this song out of the show, claiming as the song was too controversial for a show. Against pressure, the song remained. During a touring production in 1953 in Atlanta, South Pacific created a frenzy among local legislators, as they introduced a state bill banning entertainment that supports “philosophy inspired by Moscow.” During this time, Sen. David C. Jones of Georgia stated that this song justified interracial marriage, which was an implicit threat to the American way of life.

Pretty heavy stuff for a retro Broadway musical, but I highly recommend this show, with its humanity and optimism — but it makes me wonder, have we come that much further in racial relations than this 1949 musical, a show created ahead of its time? I can only hope!

PS: For those Glee fans out there; Matt Morrison (Will Schuester) played the Lt. Joe Cable in the Broadway production of South Pacific in 2008, here is a video of him singing “Younger than Springtime,” which his character sings to Liat in the show.

Even though my parents came to the US from Taiwan in the 70s, I’m not a fan of Taiwanese pop music; maybe it’s because so much of it seem to come from Boy Bands from mainland China or consist of numbingly slow love ballads with videos of forlorn looking couples looking sad at each other in some random-ass wheat field. (Seriously, why are there so many Taiwanese ballad music videos of someone standing in a field? They have buildings, right?)

But this music video by Taiwanese indie-pop band WonFu — not to be confused with Asian American product company Wong Fu Productions — I can get behind, mostly because it takes all of that bubble-gum cheeriness that Taiwanese people love so much and puts it behind a bassline; imagine the catchy hooks of Puffy AmiYumi put through the wringer of a Taiwanese variety show, goofy sound effects and all. If you think they’re good enough to catch live, they’ll be touring cities and venues up and down the West Coast, including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and schools like Cal Berkeley and UCLA.

It’s Wednesday night, which means it’s Glee night! In honor of my favorite new show of the season, I’d like to give a shout-out to Harry Shum, Jr.

We haven’t seen him– or rather his character Mike Chang– too much yet, but according to IMDB he is appearing in at least 9 episodes this season. I’m hoping they’ll do a little more character development on some of the newer members of the McKinley HS Glee Club soon, but until then, I’m glad to see this talented guy singing and dancing in the background.

If you think Harry looks familiar, then maybe it’s because you’ve seen him in any number of other incarnations– as a member and choreographer of the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD), as a recurring guest actor on iCarly, as a dancer in Step Up 2, or any number of iPod commercials. Not only is Harry in the newest iPod nano commercial (he’s silver/grey in the video above), he was one of the original “silhouettes” in the highly successful Apple iPod commercial and print campaign. Harry’s resume is extensive and impressive, and I’m sure we’re only going to see more of him!

About his heritage, Harry tells Asiance Magazine:

I have a unique story. I am full Chinese. My father is from Fujian and my mom was born in Hong Kong. I was actually born in Costa Rica because they moved there to start a business. My sisters were born there as well. I feel I have the best of so many worlds. I speak Chinese and Spanish. Spanish is actually my first language before I learned Chinese and English, so it kind of messes with your brain when there are three different languages going on. It can be pretty intense but I got through it. [full story]

I’m glad that I get to have a weekly Wednesday night date with this hottie on Glee! You can follow him @iharryshum and check out his moves from his reel from over a year ago:

UPDATE: Early bird gets the worm autographed Mike Shinoda “Glorious Excess” art book! The first commenter is the winner! Congratulations to itzk2di2dm (Kimle)! Thanks to everyone who entered, and also to all the 8Asians contributors for not quitting because of Rule #2!

About a month ago, we reported that Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park fame opened a exhibit of his artwork called Glorious Excess (Dies) at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

If you didn’t heed our advice and go see the exhibit right away, you and the rest of the procrastinators of the world have one final weekend to check it out. Glorious Excess (Dies) will be closing October 4, so it’s your last chance to check out this one-of-a-kind art show. While you’re at it, why not check out the ID Film Fest also happening in Little Tokyo this weekend, as well?

What’s that? You love Mike Shinoda and you want a little something to remember this exhibit by? Shinoda published a special Glorious Excess “Art Book” which is a 128-page full-color book that documents the bodies of work he created for (Born) and (Dies). The forward is written by world-renowned artist Shepard Fairey and also includes five insightful chapters written by Shinoda himself. (All proceeds from the book and other merchandise from this exhibit go to various charities Shinoda supports.)

What you could win from 8Asians:
One AUTOGRAPHED copy of the Glorious Excess Art Book

How do you enter?
Simply leave a short comment stating why you want to be chosen as the winner of the autographed Mike Shinoda book. (Be sure to use the email address you’d like to be contacted at if you’re the winner.)

Hurry, the deadline to enter is: Monday, October 5 at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time)
ONE lucky winner will be selected and contacted on Tuesday morning.

Rules for entering:
1) Please be in the US or Canada. Sorry, I will not be shipping anywhere else!
2) Contributors to 8Asians and their immediate family members are not eligible to win.

Prize courtesy of: 8Asians, with thanks to JANM and Mike Shinoda.

(Mike Shinoda photo taken by jozjozjoz; Cover artwork from MikeShinoda.com)