March Madness

It's 2019.03.01 on the lunar calendar today.

Hi everyone and welcome new subscribers and friends from the Pacific Northwest and Berkeley! I feel like I wrote just last week but here we are a month later.

I used to have a ritual of eating as many mangoes as possible in March (my own version of March Madness) but the whole month flew by — I suppose I can celebrate in lunar March this year. Adding a box of mangoes to the grocery list ...

This past month has been full of various

performances

, the start of fun new collaborations and many rejection notices. It is nice to be older and feel more secure in myself and my craft: When I used to fail as a younger musician still working out my chops, I would question whether I just sucked but that's no longer a question. I just wonder if and when I'll be able to make a living as an artist. I hope I'll be able to lay the groundwork throughout this year.

LA Asian Pacific Film Festival 5/4

My dear friend and artist

Sun Yeo

animated my song "Little Bird" and it is screening in the Itsy Bitsy Shorts program on Saturday, May 4th at 10am at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum at the Japanese American National Museum. I'll be singing a short set on gayageum too. It's a free event but you may want to RSVP when ticketing opens. Kids are welcome :)

Details here

.

DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon

As you may know, I went up to Eugene to screen my music video for this film festival. I think I've made some new lifelong friends. Not only the filmmakers and artists, but the staff and volunteers showed deep commitment and passion for the topics covered in the films, and I was incredibly inspired.Some of my favorite films included Inventing Tomorrow, a documentary on truly amazing teenage scientists working on solutions to environmental threats in their own backyard, and Hiro's Table, a documentary made over 16 years about a West Hollywood sushi chef, in addition to a number of captivating shorts. I didn't get to watch every film but I'm going through the 2019 film selection list to watch some at home because I'm sure each was selected with careful consideration and almost certainly worth the time watching.It was interesting to meet filmmakers of varied backgrounds, like my friend A. Lauren Lee pictured on the far left, who went to conservatory for violin performance, before turning to screenwriting and directing. While I lack the technical tools and experience in film, I think the art of storytelling is similar in any medium so who knows? Maybe I'll find myself a filmmaker down the line ...Lastly, I'd like to say that I'm thankful to my super hosts Jo and Gordon and the warm and receptive audience at the house concerts. For my solo gayageum and voice act, I'm now convinced that houses are the ideal venues.

Asian-American Music

Another good friend I made at the film festival is Julian Saporiti aka No-No Boy. I was impressed and moved by his songwriting and delivery. His album 1942 looks at Asian-American history through a lens of empathy, without feeling didactic (though you'll learn plenty). It's exciting to see that my music belongs to a movement of Asian Americans! I played found objects (e.g., water jugs) from Japanese-American internment camps for his next album.

I managed to use the word Asian American/Pacific in every single subheading.