WHAT'S NEW - OCTOBER 2003!

YOUR MUSICAL INPUT IS NEEDED as we seek identify the talented and upcoming Asian/Asian Pacific American music artists and their songs in our "Music Poll."

Click HERE to participate in this poll that will indicate your opinion(s) on the music groups listed below, along with reading some of the latest information regarding selected artists and the music industry.

The artists included in this month's poll are listed below. Please note that some of the below-listed artists, including others from our Asian Pacific American Music Station at MP3.Com have been featured in the Dragon's Roar DVD.

On November 25, 2003 - the Dragon's Roar DVD will be released containing the performances from a wide spectrum of music (i.e. hip-hop, rock, rap, pop, etc) being performed by groups such as Elements of the Outer Realm, Prach Ly, Ill Again, Noel, Cut the Chemist and The Sounders that was recorded on September 5, 2003.

In addition, there are "one on one" interviews with the these music artists that will explore why they have gone beyond just entertainers to being fujll-fledged artists. An added features are "one on one" interviews with participants from films such as Charlotte Sometimes, Better Luck Tomorrow, Looking for YlloGrl, First Vietnamese International Film Festival and Movie-Producer.Net.

This DVD documents the artists from the Filipino, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, Korean, Chinese and Japanese American communities that were brought together to celebrate their common passions to creatively express their respective stories and talents for the general public.

ERIC LIU

ERIC LIU

Eric Liu is a former speechwriter for President Clinton and author of the "The Accidential Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker," which explores what it means to be Chinese-American. He was born in the United States and is enrolled now at Harvard Law School.

In 1998, he was named a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He has served as a speechwriter for President Clinton and a director of legislative affairs at the National Security Council. A regular contributor to MSNBC and Slate, Eric also edited the anthology Next: Young American Writers on the New Generation. He was a co-director of the Berkman Center's Digital China/Harvard project.

Eric Liu stated in the PBS series, "Matters of Race" - "What maketh a race? To people in China, the Chinese constitute a single race. Except, that is, for those Chinese who aren't Chinese; those who aren't of the dominant Han group, like the Miao, or the Yao, or the Zhuang or whatever.

They belong to separate races….To the Japanese, who certainly think of themselves as a race, the Chinese, Indians and Koreans are all separate races.

To the Koreans, the Filipinos are; to the Filipinos the Vietnamese. And so on. To the Anglos who founded the United States, the Irish who arrived in great waves in the early nineteenth century were a separate race.

To the Germans who killed Jews in this century and the French who watched, the Jews were a separate race. To the blacks of America, the Anglos and the Irish and Germans and the French and the Jews have always ended up being part of the same, and separate, race." (From The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker)

He's written that "that being Chinese-American in this period is to "experience an odd foreboding exhilaration." (that is both odd and foreboding).

MIMI SO

MIMI SO

Born into a family of gifted third generation jewelers, Mimi So's natural talent and ability thrived. Her personality is a mix of her parents, with drive inherited from her mother - a woman truly unique in her abilities and determination, and talent and business savvy from her father - who was a gifted jewelry artisan, keen businessman and scholar.

Young Mimi So exhibited talent at an early age, through drawings and paintings that decorate her parent's home to this day. But by eight years old, necessity required her to put aside her favorite pastime, and join the family business, where she began by wiping store counters she could barely reach. Realizing that she was quite shy, her father assigned Mimi to be the store greeter, welcoming customers with her now trademark smile.

One day, when her mother was late, thirteen-year-old Mimi eagerly arranged a display showcase. After a day of compliments from customers, her parents realized that Mimi had an eye for attractive and harmonious presentation. By sixteen, Mimi went to her first tradeshow, where she was introduced to the vast world of jewelry design. On that day, Mimi So realized her life's ambition - to design exceptional jewelry.

After receiving her Bachelors of Fine Art in Design from the renowned Parson's School of Design, Mimi continued her education by earning her Gemologist Certification, and assumed more responsibility at her family stores. But with her foundation of experience, training, and talent, Mimi was destined to strike out on her own.

Only twenty-four years old, Mimi took the plunge by opening a 120 square foot storefront on the corner of 5th avenue and 47th street in midtown Manhattan.

Mimi So's intimate shop introduced a unique, personal-touch perspective that the street had never seen. Mimi So and her personable and highly attentive staff are known for their creativity, knowledge, focus on service and education. Mimi So's justification for her high standards was simple: "My name is on the door."

In 1999, Mimi So was invited to the exclusive COUTURE conference in Scottsdale, where the top 1% of jewelry retailers are hosted by the top 5% of international manufacturers for an all expense paid week of private exhibits and education programs. Mimi So was the youngest person ever invited, and among only five from New York City, home to so many retailers.

Her collections are now available in Neiman Marcus Precious Jewelry Salons across the country and other select fine retail stores. Top publications such as Vanity Fair, In Style, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, and Town and Country continuously feature Mimi So's fashion forward designs. Her distinctive pieces are in high demand at the Academy Award's, Emmy's, Grammy's and many other awards shows.

Mimi So has a few fans of her own, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Michelle, Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson, Ricky Martin, Boyz to Men, Eve, Charlotte Church, Naomi Campbell, Steve Case, David Bowie, Iman, Usher, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Julianne Moore, Toni Braxton, and many, many more. (information from her website)

BYRON YEE

BYRON YEE

Byron Yee is a Los Angeles based comedian and actor. He has appeared at the proverbial "clubs and colleges all over the country" and has been seen on Comedy Central's Two Drink Minimum and NBC's Friday Night.

Byron was born in Wichita, Kansas on November 4th, 1961. His family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma shortly after that and then to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1965 where he considers "home".

Bing Quai Yee (his father) was a geologist for Exxon and went where the oil was. Rosalind Yee (his mother) taught elementary school for a while before staying at home to raise Stewart, Byron, Corinne, and Allison.

Byron attended D. D. Kirkland Elementary School, Hefner Junior High, and finally Putnam City High School where he graduated in 1979. He went on to the University of Oklahoma where he graduated in 1983 with a BS in Chemical Engineering. Coincidentally in that year, he began stand-up comedy at Joker's in Oklahoma City.

Because of the oil bust at the time, Byron was unable to find work as an engineer so he did the normal menial jobs while pursuing stand- up. He performed all over the country from the Comedy Corner in Dallas to the Comic Strip in New York to the Improv in LA.

But as fate so often intervenes, he was offered a job as an IBM Marketing Representative in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bowing to familial pressures (Mom), he spent three years there before finagling a transfer to San Francisco where he could continue his day job and be a comic by night.

Byron arrived in San Francisco in February 1990, just four months after the Loma Prieta earthquake. He began performing out of the legendary Holy City Zoo and graduated into the bigger clubs in the Bay Area.

After establishing himself as a San Francisco comic, Byron began work on "Paper Son" in 1996. It premiered in 1997 at the Victoria and San Francisco Fringe Festivals and went on throughout the United States, Canada, and Scotland.

INFORMATION ABOUT "PAPER SON"

PAPER SON

"My name is Byron Yee. I am the second son of Bing Quail Yee. I am the son of a paper son.

"My father was an immigrant. He came to America to escape the Japanese invasion of China in 1938. He was 15 years old and he didn't know a word of English. He didn't have a penny in his pocket and he was living in a crowded apartment in New York City with relatives he had never met. I know nothing about my father's history, about his past."

In the show "Paper Son," which has been warmly received by critics in San Francisco and Canada, the Oklahoma City-born comedian traces his emotional journey from super-assimilated American to self-acceptance as the son of a Chinese immigrant.

The program shares Byron's conclusion that "It's a miracle that I (Byron) was even born in the United States." "It just kind of hit me like a ton of bricks. The story is a lot more than about being from Oklahoma. My story is my father's story. It's a personal story told against a historical backdrop, and the historical backdrop is a story that the Chinese don't really talk about all that much."

All that and more is packed in a funny, touching and charming one- man show, "Paper Son," in which Yee traces the journey that eventually provided him a relationship with his Chinese Immigrant father, something he avoided when his dad was alive.

Yee quickly puts his comedy chops to work, reviewing the first 28 years of his life where he did everything he could to not be Chinese to his arrival in San Francisco, where his heritage hit him squarely between the eyes.

From his program, one concludes that "You see my story is no different from anyone else's… In all of our collective past, we've all had that one ancestor that had the strength to break from what was familiar to venture into the unknown. I can never thank my father and uncle enough for what they had to do so that I could be here today. One wrong answer between them and I would not be here."

Click HERE to read the L.A. Times review of October 2, 2003..

JEFF PARK

JEFF PARK

Jeff Park has over a decade’s worth of marketing, public relations and business development experience culled from a diverse range of experiences. After studies at UCLA in 1991, he worked for UCLA Extension’s Business Engineering and Management school until the formation of his own marketing firm in 1992. Among his clients: Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Productions, “The Martin Lawrence Show,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “Coach,” and Puma Athletic.

After his entrepreneurial venture, Jeff’s long-standing interest in technology served him as a communications consultant, and he has helped organizations take the complexities of technology and parlay them into understandable messages for the industry and public. Among Mr. Park’s clients: Metaphor Software Group (media management software for the film and television industries); CACI (enterprise-wide software developer), SportsTrac Systems (software developer for professional athletic industry); SelectLaw (ASP developer for the legal industry); and Camino Software Group (high capacity industrial storage).

Jeff is the exiting co-president of the Media Image Coalition (MIC), a program of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations that advocates fair representations and hiring practices for all under-represented groups in mass media, particularly film and television. MIC is a broad-based coalition of approximately thirty constituent member organizations, among them: The NAACP, Screen Actors Guild (SAG), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Writers Guild of America (WGA), the Producers Guild of America, Women in Film, Organization of Black Screenwriters (OBS), Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), Nosotros, League of Women Voters, and Children Now.

Jeff Park's activities with Move-Producer-Net provides a special opportunity for upcoming and aspiring filmmakers to achieve success via some useful tools. For more information, please click HERE.

KATHY KUO, TANIYA NAYAK & JOHN GIDDING

CAST

Kathy Kuo, Taniya Nayak and John Gidding are the Asian/Asian Pacific American representatives in an upcoming program from the producers (Scout Productions) of "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" for ABC Family titled "Knock First." The rest of the cast includes Carrie Roy, Shane Booth and Andy Hampton.

This program, which will premiere on Monday, October 6 (5:30 PM ET/PT) KNOCK FIRST offers a twist to the teenage do-it-yourself show giving teens, with the help of their friends and professional decorators, the chance to reveal their identity through the makeover of their room.

The fun begins when the parents depart and the teen and their friends convene with a designer in a deluxe Airstream trailer, to visualize the room’s potential - then the fun begins. The program channels teen angst and growing pains into manual labor for a practical, entertaining and engaging half-hour of television.


	KATHY KUO

Kathy Kuo - this Rhode Island School of Design graduate was born in Taiwan and traveled extensively, as the result of her father’s work in the diplomatic corps. It's her belief that her travels made her the visual person that she is. This architect is also a model for print (Aveda), catalogue and runway (Armani). Her past projects include working on a NASA research project conducted at M.I.T., design work for bed and bath products (Tommy Hilfiger U.S.A.), graphic design, and model making.

Taniya Nayak - this Boston-native was born in Nagpur, India feels that she is (culturally speaking) more modern and Americanized than my parents, having been raised here. She has maintained her architectural dreams (she was part of a team that won Top Honors in the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Student Sketch Problem Competition) by working in her father's architectural firm, despite her father's discouragement. This former cheerleader and bartender was recognized as one of "Boston’s Most Beloved Bartenders" in the 2001 Improper Bostonian while attending University of Massachusetts at Lowell and obtaining a B.A. in Marketing.

CAST

John Gidding - this Yale University graduate (who speaks English, French and Turkish) was born in Istanbul to a Turkish mother and American father. In 2003, he earn his M.A. in Architecture from Harvard University that fulfilled his childhood dream. In his first semester at Yale, the parody magazine Rumpus named John as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People at Yale. He also started modeling as the result of being spotted by a scout that asked him if he was interested in modeling for a software ad targeted to college students. His past employment included working with the Turkish ambassador to Germany to design a Turkish embassy for Berlin, and working as a draftsman and model builder for architectural firms in Istanbul and Boston.


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