Back in late ’06, Michael Kang approached me about finding music for his film WEST 32ND. Michael specifically wanted to include as many Asian American artists as possible, so this was quite a pleasure for me. Back then, my Myspace music “database” of Asian American artists was a really good resource, plus being able to ask my musician friends to submit and contribute was pretty cool. On top of it all, I discovered a lot of GOOD music I wasn’t already familiar with.
One artist, who I wasn’t super familiar with, was NYC-based Heather Park. Her song, “Leave Me To Dream” was the perfect soundtrack for the character, Suki… sooo perfect that Michael and I even called it “Suki’s Theme Song.”
Now here it is… the official music video for Heather Park’s “Leave Me To Dream” including footage from WEST 32ND. Directed by Francisco Aliwalas:
So I’d been wanting to see Across the Universe since I saw the movie posters for it back when it was out in theaters. I finally watched it and I can’t get it out of my head! 33 Beatles songs! Anyway, I think it was a pretty awesome film with so many stylistically different musical scenes. Some of them were pretty bizarre and like “wth” am I tripping on drugs, too? Haha. I liked it.
Speaking of musicals, I must be in musical mode. I watched Sweeney Todd last night. Very, very interesting. I’m not so sure I liked it although the cinematography, costumes, makeup, etc. were amazing.
Now, if only I could sing!!! I would LOVE to be in a musical. SIGH.
Flashback to high school: I used to go see the school musical every year. A lot of my friends were part of the production and so I went to support ‘em. At the same time, I secretly desired to be a part of the musical… but… the one time I attempted to go to an audition, I totally chickened out!
Flashback to elementary school: Back then, we were forced to all participate in the school musical. I played a mermaid one time for our version of Peter Pan. I’m pretty sure I had a lot of fun doing it…
So what happened? Grr. Why did I get all chicken in high school?
Oh wait, I know. I think it was hammered into my brain that I needed to focus on studying. Plus, I was never allowed out of the house besides going to school and school-related things. SIGH. I’m sure there are many of you fellow 2nd-generation Asian American peeps who can relate.
What the. Didn’t realize this was going to become a rant about my upbringing. Haha.
I’ll just leave it at that. I guess fast forward to now: I am def at a different place (although it is very unlikely I will ever sing in a musical). But, I am super thankful for where I’m at now! Definitely feelin’ the love from above!
P.S. – I recently signed up for Netflix, thus the sudden viewing of movies, haha. It’s pretty awesome. Lovin’ the online streaming!
I just found out that a friend of a friend, DJ Hideo, was diagnosed with a Level 4 colon cancer. Doctors are saying it’s too late. Right now, it looks that it’s gonna take a miracle from above for Hideo to heal from this and I pray that one comes! Please pray with us. For Hideo, for his family, for his friends…
Last night, I was invited to check out a show at the Whiskey in Hollywood. I was able to catch a handful of bands of all different sounds. Some really good, some not so great. My favorite set for the night was Stella’s Notch. The sound was pretty amazing and I wish I had been able to capture some of it on video to share with you all! You can search on YouTube for some, but there aren’t many, cuz’ I guess they are a fairly new band, although the band members are not new to the scene. From what I hear, their lead singer, Melody, was pretty big a couple years ago in the Philippines as the lead vocalist for a band called Sugar Hiccup.
Back to last night’s show…the sound was overall great despite the occasional feedback, the energy was great, Melody looked hot, and it was pretty cool that they brought on a guest violinist, a taiko drummer (from the previous set’s Random Ninjas), and a real belly dancer! Yup, it was pretty wild. Oh, and turns out that last night was their official album release. They definitely put on a great show for their debut!
Anyway, I’m actually listening to their album, Beyond Wonderland, as I type this. It’s really great. Highly recommended.
So I have this co-worker who my other co-workers and I think is secretly a ninja assassin. Well…she’s not. But! She’s actually a drummer in this really cool ska band called Half Past Two.
I happened to catch an acoustic set of theirs (something very rare for them and perhaps not as high-energy) at 2nd Street Jazz in Little Tokyo not too long ago. I had actually heard their EP before seeing them live and already knew that their music was good. I think though, because they were performing acoustic, it wasn’t as fun as I imagined (I imagined a large polar bear pounding a snare drum running amuck with a marching band on an after school special or something like that). Oh well, I will def have to catch them when they play with their electric gear!
Anyway, some really cool news about them:
1. They will be playing a couple of shows in NorCal with Reel Big Fish next month!
2. Their song, “We Want More” premiered on KROQ last night on the Furious Five at Nine. Check out the song on their Myspace and if you like it, you can vote for them here: http://www.kroq-data.com/ffatnine/index.asp or call in to 1-800-520-1067 and request “We Want More” by Half Past Two!
P.S. – Closet Polar Bear is the band’s 5-song EP. I’m not quite sure what the whole meaning behind it is…but they seem to have a thing for polar bears…
