Time just keeps on going, doesn't it?

It's 2019.05.01 on the lunar calendar today.

Happy to be greeting you from the other side of last month — it seems to always be a hectic season, full of end of the academic year events, the beginning of wedding season, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month activities ... My eye has been twitching and my heart palpitating but I trust that they'll return to normal.

I've been listening to a lot of good new music and missing out on more. There's just so much and so I end up listening to records made by friends that are closest or most immediate in my life at the moment. I'll add a "currently listening to" section from time to time so that you can partake in the goodness too.

 I ❤️ Little Tokyo 

Tomorrow night, I'm playing a short set for the Asian American open mic Tuesday Night Cafe, the longest-running free arts and performance series in Downtown LA. I played a stone's throw away for the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival a month prior and put together this video with little birds and baby sharks from the day.

I finally got around to editing the full video for Nililiya, the Korean folk song on my album. We recorded this over several days with Hitomi (sax), Erik (bass) and Gavin (drums) on one day, Brandon (guitar) another, and Ross (keys) and me first so it's fun to be able to gather everyone digitally in one place and see how the parts interlock visually. Even Keith the engineer, whose mixing was a big part of the project, makes a brief appearance—blink and you'll miss him.

Music Video in Texas

Here's a photo from the music video shoot. "Dream of Home" will be screening at the Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival and the Asian Film Festival of Dallas this summer. I may try to attend the Dallas screening. Did you know that Dallas is where my family first lived when we moved to the US?

Currently listening to Nick DePinna's Nexus Music, Vol. 1 🎧Awe-inspiring big band arrangements. I don't know anyone who writes for horns better than Nick does.