Judging from their latest music video, the New York-based indie rock band, PaperDoll, is having a hard time concentrating; but not the least bit of trouble entertaining.  This comes as no surprise, as PaperDoll is known for their uninhibited, high-energy live shows.

Back from their six-city, seventeen-show tour of China, PaperDoll released their latest music video for single “Can’t Concentrate” on October 20^th, 2011.

Led by the band’s vocalist, Teresa Lee, who is of Chinese, Thai, and Taiwanese decent, the video features the best of New York’s hula hooping talent and was filmed in Navatman dance studio in Midtown Manhattan.

“Can’t Concentrate” is the band’s fourth official music video, and was produced by Meteor Award Winner Michael Moloney.  “Can’t Concentrate” is available on iTunes, amazon, and all major online retailers.   The group is also currently being featured in a NIKE campaign airing in Greater China.

After seeing the amazing line-up for Kollaboration 11 you know you just had to go! Well you might be able to for FREE! Audrey Magazine is hosting a ticket giveaway for this Saturday’s Kollaboration 11 at the Nokia Theatre at LA Live.

Doesn’t this look so exciting?

We have our hands on ONE (1) pair of Premium Orchestra and ONE (1) pair of Loge/Mezzanine tickets for two lucky Audrey readers!
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“Back then, kids laughed at me for wearing Indian clothes and eating smelly foods. Now I have everyone from 50 Cent to Lady Gaga embracing it.” — Anjula Acharia-Bath

ISSUE: Summer 2011

DEPT: Personalities

STORY: Anna M. Park

Anjula Acharia-Bath is bringing the hip fusion music scene to an iPod near you.

Growing up in the UK in the late ’70s, Anjula Acharia-Bath didn’t want to stand out. The neo-Nazi movement was on the rise and her family was one of the few of color in their suburban neighborhood.

“We would have swastikas painted on our garage,” she remembers, and the derogatory depictions of South Asians on television made “me shun my culture and heritage. … This portrayal of ‘my people’ was always something I wanted to change.”

Today, Acharia-Bath, 39, is doing just that. She’s the founder and CEO of Desi Hits!, an online entertainment hub and fusion media company, hybridizing Bollywood-Hollywood pop culture. She started the company with her husband Ranj Bath, also a second generation British South Asian, after moving to the U.S. six years ago. She realized that Americans didn’t know about the fusion music scene in the UK, a mélange of musical genres ranging from hip-hop to reggae, bhangra to house “that really reflects the bicultural and eclectic lifestyles that most cool, young Desis (the South Asian diaspora) are living across the globe.”

Touted as “the BET for brown people globally,” Desi Hits! recently collaborated with Lady Gaga and top Bollywood producers to release a Bollywood-inspired remix of her hit single “Born This Way.” They also worked with Britney Spears on the remix of “Till the World Ends,” incorporating manipulated dholki, dhol and subtle tumbi beats, as well as a Punjabi breakdown. “I think the collaboration [between A.R. Rahman and the Pussycat Dolls on the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire song “Jai Ho” remix] helped drive fusion Bollywood music to the middle of America,” says Acharia-Bath, who was instrumental in promoting the hit single.

Their next major project is a collaboration with Universal Music Group to launch Desi Hits! Universal, a music label promoting artists “that can resonate throughout the world, much like MIA and Jay Sean.” With some high profile backing (Interscope Geffen A&M Records chief Jimmy Iovine among them), and given that Desis are a fifth of the world’s population, it’s a smart move. And Acharia-Bath, for one, is glad she’s on board. “Back then, kids laughed at me for wearing Indian clothes and eating smelly foods,” she says. “Now I have everyone from 50 Cent to Lady Gaga embracing it.”

Find out more about Desi Hits! at desihits.com.

— AMP

More stories from Audrey Magazine’s Archives here.

Wanna see the most typical face in the entire world? Here it is:

Look familiar? That’s right — the East Asian face is the most typical face in the world.

But not for long. Find out what the most typical face will likely be by 2030:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/specials/sitewide-redesign/ngm-7billion-typical.html

You’d never know by just looking at her that interior designer Sarah Ahn was a neuroscientist in a former life. After spending six months in the hospital nursing her brother back to health after a motorcycle accident, she changed course, went to work for renowned interior designer Kelly Wearstler, and opened her own design firm, Nami Design. Now with a book and home décor line in the works, Ahn provides some easy tips (no Ph.D. required!) for do-it-yourself home decorating.

ISSUE: Summer 2011

DEPT: Entertaining

STORY: Anna M. Park

• Color cohesiveness: I personally love color (and all of them at once!). But to avoid feeling overwhelmed, start by picking two neutrals (beige, white, gray, even black) and one pop of color (red, yellow, blue — any shade you like). Keep your most expensive items neutral (the sofa, the dining room table), then add throw pillows, blankets, vases and artwork that have the one pop of color you love and repeat the color around the room. These accessories are inexpensive and easily replaceable. In fact, if you do this with each room but in a different color, you can rotate the items out — switch the red items from the living room and put them into your yellow-accented bedroom, and vice versa. You’ll be surprised at how relocating these accessories can change the mood of your entire place.
• Odd numbers: One of the basic principles of design is to go with odd numbers. Items look bland and ordinary by itself, but in repetition in groups of three, five, etc., the items gain greater attention. Place two pillows next to each other, then a third front and center. Apply this to your bed, sofa and window seating area. Do this with your favorite vases in large, medium and small sizes and group them together in the corner of a room or a kitchen counter top.
• Wall color: If you’re a commitment-phobe about painting your walls, buy a large, pre-stretched canvas from your local arts supply store. Then either paint it one solid color, or wrap a printed fabric around it and staple along the inside. You can find $1/yd fabrics at your local design school student store, and the proceeds from the purchase goes towards student scholarships.
• Mirror, mirror on the wall: Want to update the look of your place on a dime? Try placing a large round mirror centered above your sofa or above your foyer console table. The round shape breaks up the rectangles of your home and imparts a luxurious feeling. A sunburst mirror is a dramatic look and the reflected light will brighten a dark room, or bounce your pop of color around your room. (And a convex mirror, according to the principles of feng shui, will bring you good fortune.)

For more on Sarah, go to NamiDesignLA.com.

Check out more stories here. Purchase the Summer issue of Audrey Magazine here.

“[Being married] is really challenging me to go even deeper.” — Priscilla Ahn

ISSUE: Summer 2011

DEPT: Personalities

STORY: Jimmy Lee

Priscilla Ahn finds her happy place — and new songwriting fodder — in her latest album When You Grow Up.

Laurel Canyon is where the likes of Jim Morrison, Carole King and Joni Mitchell once lived, giving birth to songs that would fuel the 1960s and ’70s counterculture, and creating music that would help define the singer-songwriter. This seminal Los Angeles neighborhood is now the place Priscilla Ahn calls home, and being surrounded by that illustrious musical history is a source of inspiration for this chanteuse with the beguilingly breathy delivery. But there’s something amidst Laurel’s leafy confines that’s mucking up this American idyll for Ahn: her husband.

With the “happy place” she’s discovered with actor Michael Weston comes a different, albeit not unpleasant, set of problems. “Before, I always felt a little lost … not knowing my place,” says Ahn, who grew up in rural Pennsylvania with her Korean mother. “When I established that with my husband a couple of years ago, it actually became harder to write songs.”

Now she has a larger pool of experiences to draw upon when penning her compositions, more than just the “sad emotions” and the times “when I was feeling alone” she often turned to in the past. Ahn, who wed last year, says, “[Being married] is really challenging me to go even deeper.”

She’s struck a reserve of riches with her new album, When You Grow Up, as she explores multiple facets of folk music over its 12 tunes. Throughout her sophomore effort (released again on the iconic Blue Note label), Ahn’s bliss is pervasive. There’s even hope after a crushing break-up on “I Don’t Have Time To Be In Love.” (Alas, for the guys who so easily fall under the charm of Ahn’s disarming on-stage persona, the breakup that song is based on is not hers — it’s that of co-writer Charlie Wadhams.)

Ahn describes herself as a “homebody,” perfectly content to spend a Saturday night in Laurel Canyon, cooking, watching a movie, or following her blogs. “Mostly [the blogs] are about flowers, fashion, cooking and crafts. Those are the four things I’m really into; they inspire me so much,” says Ahn.

Then there’s her husband, who she’ll hang out with at a local Korean spa. And for the man who prepared Korean seaweed soup on the occasion of her birthday, she’s inspired to write lyrics like these: “You were my one and only/The only one I ever learned to love.”

— Jimmy Lee

More stories from Audrey Magazine’s Archives here.

Before Youtube and other online mediums accessible for comedians to publicly showcase their talents, there was the self-starting way of spending years developing material in clubs and building appearances in coffee shops and on school campuses.  Korean American comedian Margaret Cho is one of those self-starters.

Described as the pioneer woman of Asian American comedian, Cho launched her own successful career as one of the first Asians in standup comedy.

Her latest stand-up concert film, Cho Dependent, recorded during her 2010 tour, made its debut on October 15 on the Showtime Channel. Cho Dependent shows Margaret in her usual top form, riffing on smart topics that actually matter.  The DVD is set to be released on November 21, 2011 via Rocket Science, and will also feature Behind The Scenes backstage bonus footage from the tour.

As the Agent Provocateur of stand up, Cho is undoubtedly a woman of many laughs, however, she is also a woman of many hats. In addition to her comedy, Cho is a fashion designer, actress, author, and recording artist. Cho Dependent showcases songs from her Grammy nominated album interwoven into the thought provoking stories she tells.

“I’m really in love with this show as it’s the first time I got to bring my comedy and my music together. It was the hardest I have ever worked on anything, and I had such an amazing time on this tour,” said Cho. “I wanted to film in Atlanta because the city has become an adopted hometown for me and I think that could be felt in this performance. It was amazing to come back to the south and bring something I was so proud of to share with all my friends!”

Clara C always brings an enjoyable show no matter where she performs, be it a packed stadium or a small coffee shop.

So I’m excited to find that she will be a special guest performer at Kollaboration Los Angeles this year!

Also featuring Korean pop sensation G.NA., this year’s Kollaboration has got an exciting line up. I always get the chills when I see super-talented artists living out their dreams on stage.

And now you can get those same chills! Tickets are only $15, $30, and $45 pre-sale and you can purchase them here. More info on the show here.

Don’t miss out on this great show!

A friendly reminder as you go about planning your Halloween mayhem plans.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Don’t forget to enter in our Baby Halloween Costume Contest!

– The politically correct folks at Audrey Magazine.

Have you not yet caught Wayne Wang‘s beautiful adaption of Lisa See‘s best-selling novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan?

Starring Chinese film queen Li Bing Bing (Audrey’s Summer covergal!) and My Sassy Girl‘s Gianna Jun, the film is a timeless portrait of female friendship.

There’s a whole lot of star power behind the cameras as well. In addition to Joy Luck Club’s Wang direction and See’s writing, media mogul maidens Wendi Murdoch and Florence Sloan producing.

Here’s a synopsis of the film:

So have you seen it yet? Because if you haven’t (and even if you have), Audrey Magazine is giving away Snow Flower and the Secret Fan DVDs to THREE (3) lucky winners for this week’s TGIFree Friday!

HOW TO ENTER:

1. FOLLOW Audrey Magazine on Twitter and Facebook.
2. SPREAD THE WORD: Retweet the contest to your friends, and repost on your wall: Link @audreymagazine so we’ll see you did this!
3. COMMENT BELOW: Tell us what’s your favorite holiday movie.

You may enter as many times as you wish! Contest ends Wednesday, November 2nd, 11:59 PST. You must have a mailing address to win. Gluck!