June » 2010 » RIOT IN THE SKY

Bumpin’ clockwork: The Roots & Eminem

Two new albums I’m currently listening to:

The Roots rank top 5 in my book of best live performances and overall favorite musical bands. There’s no other group out there like them. They were pioneers to fuse that live band jazzy vibe with hip hop lyricism. They represent so much innovation, integrity and mastery of the craft. I love studying and following the creative evolution of artistic “pioneers”. It reminds me that just because something hasn’t been done before, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It just means someone needs to do it. It’ll be different (and blazing the unknown path is a scary task), but originality will make it that much more better.

Eminem, Recovery

Sometimes, I still can’t stand Eminem’s voice…but there is no denying that he is one of the illest rappers and lyricists out there. I respect his stern commitment and dedication to the writing craft. This is not some stupid drizzy drake shit. Eminem’s writing is meticulous, refined and well-calculated within every metronomic syllable. As a writer perpetually trying to refine and better understand my own writing in different creative styles, I can dig it.

DO yourselves a favor and cop these albums!!

(Thank you to Swat and Rob for loading me up)

New Student17.com LAUNCH!!

My homie MikeyG is a magician extraordinaire—he’s got endless tricks popping out of his hat. He is one of the illest artists/designers/illustrators/programmers/producer/teacher/student on this planet. He works faster and harder than most people I know, and is on the perpetual pursuit of gaining knowledge and spreading creative joy. He is fluent in the entire Adobe suite—I know, nasty. His artistic vision is met with impeccable execution. I love him because we can talk isometry and shambhala all in the same conversation. He recently dropped his new site and every pixel is original and produced in-house—the graphics, the animation, the flash, the html, the php, the design, the illustrations, every morsel of this webular experience. There is no stopping this fool. Check out his site then step your game up. (His blog has Adobe tips & tutorials.)

(Please be patient with the loading—there is some heavy homesgrown stuff…but it’s all high quality greens, yadidameeeeeen!? Well worth the wait.)

Who is Agent Orange??

This is a good article revisiting the detrimental impacts of Agent Orange dumped all over Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War, along with a 2010 update on a $300million effort to finally FINALLY start cleaning up the substance and treat victims.

Boy born without eyes.

More photos on Grim Legacy of Agent Orange

I feel inspired to do a series of orange paintings. READ ON!!

Unheard voices in the oil spill: the Vietnamese community

Millions of gallons of oil have been gushing out into the Gulf Coast for a few weeks now—MILLIONS! MILLIONS!—I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around the existing and everlasting potential damage this is causing. It’s forever changing the future of our natural ecosystems, killing/endangering rare (and soon to be rare) species of animals and putting many families at risk of losing their homes and businesses with the fishing/shrimping contamination. Katrina was quick and devastating. This oil spill is like a slow, painful death. Wretched heartbreak.

One would never know from the lack of representation on the news, but there is a large Vietnamese population down south heavily involved in the fishing/shrimping industry. (We boat people…what’d you expect??!) Seaside bidness runs in my family—my mom’s side is from a fishing village in South Vietnam, and I got some in-laws in Louisiana! Vietnamese people know how to fucking hustle, mang…and it’s not always fun—especially not for the ones down south who have been struck by recent bad luck. First there was the Vietnam War, then there was escaping by boat, then there was rebuilding in America, then there was rebuilding after Katrina, now they must rebuild after the oil spill—all this in one lifetime. Meanwhile, their stories are never shared on the news, and their struggles go on ignored and unnoticed. What’s worse is that many Vietnamese people suffering also struggle with language barriers that make it extremely difficult to gain access to the necessary resources, contacts and help.

Below are some videos by some friends and allies of mine that share the Vietnamese American experience within this global disaster. Amidst all the BP bullshit and politics of who’s doing what to do what to do what, every moment that goes by, more oil gushes out and many people get closer and closer to going bankrupt and hungry. While trying to stop the oil, we can’t forget that people need immediate help. Please take a moment to expand your consciousness and open your hearts up by watching. Spread the message:

Pineapple Demo

Pineapples are one of my favorite fruits. They’re kind of like interesting people—eccentric beauty with a tough and sharp exterior that protects a deliciously sweet and tender inside. SLURP ALERT! THANK YOU Great Creator for blessing us with pineapples!!

How to cut a pineapple—a demo by yours truly:

Facebook detox & P. Diddy talk

I’m on a Facebook detox and it feels good! Facebook was becoming dangerously boring and uninspiring. I keep going back and forth on this social media networking world, most particularly in the face of my creative career. Sometimes, I feel like if I don’t do my part, I’ll fall off the edge of the digital galaxy and be forgotten. Other times, I wish I could be forgotten. Everywhere in between, I wonder if anyone’s even paying attention. This detox has given me more time and energy to focus on things that matter to me right now, like my painting, drawing and writing.

I was listening to P. Diddy on the radio the other day, and he was talking about his new acting career. I haven’t seen much of his acting yet, but these are a few positive things I felt good about after his interview:

1) It is never too late to try something new
Never ever ever TOO late. The longer you talk about doing something, the “later” it is becoming. Just do it.

2) It’s okay to try something new even while the whole world is watching
I respect people who can do this. When you’re new to something or in transition, you’re more vulnerable because the world is quick to criticize you and say you suck! Even for me, I hate trying anything new while anyone is watching—even amongst my trusted peers and mentors. It’s always been a problem of mine and I’m learning to be more open.

3) Artists are always evolving.
Change can be a good sign of growth. As artists, and people, we are always evolving. So it makes sense that our interests, habits and passions change too. Taking on a different art form just means channeling your creative energy through a different means. I’ve been feeling a lot of this lately—the urge to evolve as an artist. New things are in store!!

Change is coming, I swear. Watch out now

Magnetic North & Taiyo Na collabo album!

The highly anticipated collaborative album between Magnetic North & Taiyo Na is now out!!

These are the homies, so it is with great unbiased enthusiasm that I urge y’all to check it out. Together, these three MC’s, Derek Kan, Theresa Vu and Taiyo Na, are a dynamic force that fuses a soulful, lyrical and eclectic sound of conscious-building, universally-loving music. Yes, I said it–music. There’s so much garbage bombarding eardrums these days with saturated Myspaces and co-opted radio stations that many of us have forgotten what music truly feels and sounds like.

Cop the album here: BUY!!
Stream and listen before buying here: HEAR!!

No homie bias.

Willard Wigan–micro sculptor, big fucking deal!

Check out this artist–WILLARD WIGAN! He’s a micro sculptor who creates work from a GRAIN OF SAND. Unfuckingreal! I didn’t even think the human anatomy was even capable of performing micro-scale motions to sculpt and paint a grain of sand. He even talks about inhaling one of his sculptures one time by accident. His creative process doesn’t look fun at all; I’d never have the patience to do something like that. But the fact that he can achieve something seemingly inconceivable is wildly mind-blowing and insanely inspiring. Even in a world of iPads and internet, this dude took it back to the caveman days and still managed to innovate something brand new from the simplest medium: a grain of sand. HOT DAMN!

Big ups to the homie Free for putting me on. Check out his new art blog, FourArtists.

Adventures in Los Angeles pt. 2

I’m hella thankful for my time in Los Angeles. I spent time kicking it with the homies, getting good advice, giving good advice, eating and taking care of bidness. The days were pivotal and every moment was fulfilling and magical and challenging. The universe was talking to me heavy, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s another MUST for the Readership Hit List:

I treat The Alchemist like my bible. I just finished reading it for the second time and all my friends are so damn tired of hearing me make Alchemist references with every other point. “I said, I JUST WANA BE A SHEPHERD! FREE!” This is my most highly recommended book. In a nutshell, The Alchemist is a story about pursuing your dreams. When you want something, the entire universe conspires to help you achieve it, because people’s dreams come from the soul of the universe. So when you’re happy, the whole world is happy. “All things are one.”

Janet was also talking to me in LA. She used to always say, “Do what makes you happy. The rest will come.” Wednesday night was my performance tribute to Janet Brown and as stated in my previous post, I was crazy nervous. I performed a series of three pieces: a letter to Janet (new), a poem written 365 days after Janet’s passing, a poem soon after Janet passed in 2009. In an effort to avoid my self-deprecating tendencies (awful posture, short mic, poor lighting, awkward inflection, etc.), I’ll just say I was humbled by the standing ovation. If I could connect people with Janet’s spirit even the slightest bit, then I’m happy. Plus, I heard hella people cried, and I love making people cry. 8^)

Another highlight of my trip was chilling out at the UCLA Annual JazzReggae Festival:

I was a featured artist in the VIP section, GYEA! I was torn between chilling in the VIP area waiting for the different artists to arrive so I can meet them, or lying out on the grass in front of the stage. Sorry Nas and Damian, but I just couldn’t resist that California sun I didn’t get to meet them, but at least I got a tan. Holla.

Me and my east coast squeeze, Anjali