Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Friday Groove - Grateful Days

As always, Hip Hapa likes to drop the jazzy rhythms on you to kick your weekend off right.

This week's Groove comes from waaaaay back in the day! This is probably the very first Japanese hip hop song I ever heard and it was definitely the first Japanese hip hop album I ever purchased. Combining the skills of two Tokyo icons, Kenji and Zeebra, Grateful Days was the hot single back in the Summer of '99. (Oh... and by the way, Zeebra straight kills it on this track!)

Dragon Ash feat. Aco & Zeebra - Grateful Days

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Monday, July 23, 2007

Out to Lunch

Hey Party Peoples,

Sorry I didn't contribute anything last week... unfortunately, I'm doing pretty much the same thing this week, and into the foreseeable future. There's lots going on in the OG world these days, and although I love putting my two cents into this here blog, I've got to ease off it for the time being.

While I'm posting temporary leave notices and pictures of chickens with beer cans inserted in their backsides, allow me to note that Lyrics Born will be in Berkeley this Friday night to host the What's Poppin' Summer Showcase at Shattuck Downlow (2284 Shattuck Avenue). Head on over if you have the chance.

And that's all I really got to say. Later on, y'all.

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Friday, July 20, 2007

The Friday Groove - Tabou

As always, Hip Hapa likes to drop the jazzy rhythms on you to kick your weekend off right.

Les Nubians ft. Black Thought - Tabou

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Sunday, July 15, 2007

The Friday Groove - Tired of Being Alone

As always, Hip Hapa likes to drop the jazzy rhythms on you to kick your weekend off right.

Apologies to all our readers for posting so late in the weekend. Just for that we are going to give you a double dose of musical dopeness. Please enjoy these grown n' sexy jams ... perfect for late summer nights.

Al Green - Tired of Being Alone


Al Green - Let Stay Together

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Friday, July 13, 2007

Diggin' in the Cybercrates: Internet Samples (Highly Quotable)

On the regular, Hip Hapa hooks you into the sites and sounds of the virtual world, offering up samples to help you make the perfect mix of your netsurfing. If you find a gem that needs inclusion, let us know and we'll post it.

"No-one is pure in Brazil. That's why the country has the face of the future."

"I'm paying homage to where a lot of Black music comes from... even if I do a bossa nova crooning joint, my understanding of it is informed by hip-hop."

"These people had lost everything. Buddhism taught them how to interpret that, how to get from an incarcerated state with one suitcase, to freedom. The teachings of priests in camps helped people get through the experience."

"Anyone can start a blog, and anyone can make it grow... But to keep it there? It’s fucking hard work, man. I’ve never worked so hard in my life. Eighty-hour weeks since I started."

Beyond those individual articles, here are a few sites to check out as well:

iPride: Family Pride in Mixed Heritage
Okinawa Peace Network of Los Angeles
The List: Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies

Thanks to Viv, Willie, Erica, Tarah, Ryan, and Kirk for the heads up. Keep 'em coming!

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

APA Activist Training and Midwest Summit - 8/4/07

You have to admire a group like Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, who has been out on the front lines doing vital political organizing in the community. Their latest effort sounds very exciting, and I'm sad not to be back in Chicago to participate. From the release:

Join your fellow progressive Asian Pacific Americans from throughout the Midwest as we engage in a Saturday training led by Parag Mehta, Director of Training at the Democratic National Committee.

Who: Activists, student leaders, community leaders, volunteers

What: Learn effective use of the basic tools of political organizing including volunteer recruitment, networking, planning events, targeting, phonebanking and other useful campaign skills. Network with other progressive APAs from throughout the region.

When: Saturday, August 4th, 2007
11:00-12:00 PM - Networking and Registration
12:00 - 6:00 PM - Training
6:00 - 8:00 PM - Reception/Social with special guests

Where: The Field Museum
1400 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60605-2496

Fee(s) - Includes training and reception/social, as well as admission to the Field Museum. Students please inquire about additional scholarships.
Student - $25 before July 15 / $30 after July 15
Regular - $35 before July 15 / $40 after July 15
Group rate (for 5 regular registrations) - $175
Group rate (for 10 regular registrations) - $300

Register for the event here.

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Monday, July 09, 2007

Blue Murakami

I had something else lined up for today, but then came across the essay "Jazz Messenger" by Haruki Murakami in the book review segment of yesterday's New York Times:

"Practically everything I know about writing, then, I learned from music. It may sound paradoxical to say so, but if I had not been so obsessed with music, I might not have become a novelist. Even now, almost 30 years later, I continue to learn a great deal about writing from good music. My style is as deeply influenced by Charlie Parker’s repeated freewheeling riffs, say, as by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s elegantly flowing prose. And I still take the quality of continual self-renewal in Miles Davis’s music as a literary model."

The piece isn't that long, but like most of what I've read from Murakami, it's intriguing and entertaining. It also gives me an excuse to link to his website, which rocks a dope soundtrack, and a bunch of other cool features.

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Friday, July 06, 2007

The Friday Groove - Havin' Things

As always, Hip Hapa likes to drop the jazzy rhythms on you to kick your weekend off right.


This video comes highly recommended by Hip Hapa's silent partner Big O ... and after viewing it I know why! Not only does P.A. represent Fresno to the fullest he also did a lot of the filming for this video in front of a local landmark... the Old Fresno Hauf Brau! This place is dear to my heart since my uncles spent many-a-nights posted up at its bar drinking the coldest Budweiser's in the Valley!

Planet Asia - Havin' Things

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Diggin' in the Cybercrates: Internet Samples (Youth Empowerment Edition)

On the regular, Hip Hapa hooks you into the sites and sounds of the virtual world, offering up samples to help you make the perfect mix of your netsurfing. If you find a gem that needs inclusion, let us know and we'll post it.

Plenty of excellent finds from Santa Clara last weekend:

It's simply not possible to be unmoved by what LiNK's Adrian Hong has to say about human rights violations in North Korea.

Somebody get BROKEN HALOS a record contract -- that Senbei can spit!

Look who's getting into the blog game now: B Sharp asks, "And what have you done for justice?"

The YB site could use a facelift, but that's not going to stop us from including it. Cop the movie here.

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Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Extreme Japan

Why is it that in recent years discussion of Japan's involvement in World War II elicits such extreme views?

On the one hand you get the Japan bashers. For example, a few years ago while in Tokyo I had to sit through lecture after lecture about how evil people of Japanese descent were. The American professor who ran a class I was taking would make sweeping generalities and group all Japanese soldiers together as killers and monsters. He talked and wrote extensively about modern Japan and how he felt Japanese still wanted to conquer Asia. This same man also liked to discuss the Japanese American internment and often defended the racist historians who have tried to justify it.

However, the other end of the spectrum is no better and no less racist. Today for example the Japan Times reported on Yuko Tojo, the granddaughter of wartime Prime Minister General Hideki Tojo. After comments by current Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma (apparently justifying the atomic bombing of Japan during the War), Yuko went off. She claimed that her grandfather's only mistake was losing the war. This nutty-ass lady stated that Japan did not fight a war of aggression and that the war was fought to liberate the "nonwhite" colonies in Asia from the "whites." Riiiiiiight... Tojo, who is running for a seat in the House of Councilors, further said that she wanted the Japanese people to regain the pride they had before the wartime defeat. Now, for the record, I'm all about Nihon pride, however, raping and pillaging the rest of Asia ain't really my cup of green tea.

Anyhow, I guess my point in all this is two-fold:
1. Both sides (American and Japanese) need to take some responsibility for the atrocities they committed during the War. There was clearly some bulls*%t going down on both sides of the Pacific.
and
2. Though a few Japanese, like Yuko Tojo, come across as fanatical right-wingers the vast majority of Japan that I have come to know is peaceful and not bent on conquering the world.

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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Documentary Screening in SF Chinatown this Weekend

Chinese for Affirmative Action is looking to get the word out on this event they're sponsoring with the Chinese Cultural Center on Saturday:

THE CHINATOWN FILES: A Special Screening and Panel Discussion with Ling-chi Wang and Rolland & Kathy Lowe.


Saturday, July 7, 2007, 4:00 PM
Chinese Cultural Center, 750 Kearny Street, Third Floor
No RSVP required

Here are excerpts from the blurb:

"THE CHINATOWN FILES, a powerful documentary that charts the effects of the Cold War on Chinese Americans during the 1950s and ’60s, took director Amy Chen and her film crew over 10 years to make... Well-researched and stunningly honest, THE CHINATOWN FILES includes archival footage taken from Chinese and American propaganda films, old cartoons stereotyping Chinese Americans, home movies of Chinatowns, and old photographs. In addition, a group of Chinese Americans are interviewed throughout the film, and their stories deliver this historical, cultural narrative... An educational film telling an oft ignored chapter of America ’s past, THE CHINATOWN FILES is a rigorous examination of the effects of Cold War fears on an immigrant community."

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Monday, July 02, 2007

Go All In for APA Creative Expression

Working to fund nonprofit operations can be a drag. It's hard to ask people for money, even when it's for a good cause; you have to overcome a lot of wariness, apathy, and distraction to get people to break out the wallet. Sometimes, you've got to get really creative to make the donation hustle a successful one.

The folks at Kearny Street Workshop in San Francisco have found one way--and I'm pretty sure they're on to something here. So get ready (you high rollers especially) because KSW's Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament has a seat at the table just for you on Friday, July 20. You better start honing your game now if you want a shot at a Wii, or any of the other prizes in play.

And of course, it's all in the name of helping "to achieve a more just society by connecting Asian Pacific American artists with community members to give voice to our cultural, historical, and contemporary issues." I'm sure Johnny Chan would approve.

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