What’s there to do during the dreaded Carmageddon weekend? I know some people are opting to stay home so they’re not stuck on the roads all day, but this is the worst week to do it! There’s a lot (and I mean A LOT) of food, drinking and live music in this week’s lineup of events. So fight the traffic for a bit this weekend — it’ll be well worth the drive.
Asian Vegetarian Food & Culture Tour™
When: Friday, July 15, 2:45 pm
Where: NYC Chinatown Tourism Kiosk, 220 Canal Street, Manhattan, NY, 10013
How: Purchase tickets online for $49 (plus a $2.21 convenience fee).
Travel through China in just one day and experience what it offers when it comes to delicacies and home cooked meals. Indulge in barbecue (roasted duck and pork), wonton soup, dim sum(roasted pork bun, or fried sesame ball), Cantonese beef jerky, teas, scallion pancakes and dumplings filled with meats, seafood, and veggies. It’s great to go as a group or on a first date!
It’s not easy breaking into the music industry; it’s even harder being an Asian trying to break into the industry, but it’s amazing how the Asian community has grown in terms of musical artists. On Friday, February 4th, talented musicians shared the stage of the University of Southern California’s Bovard Auditorium in a concert put together by the Asian Pacific American Student Association (APASA). As one of the performers of the night explained: it’s funny how Asian parents always push us to learn instruments such as piano and violin, expect us to play them well (and by well I mean finish the highest level examination), but when we tell them we want to pursue a career in music, they just shake their heads in disagreement. Why build up our interests and discourage it later on? But nonetheless, the artists this night fought for what they were passionate for, and that’s something we should all look up to.
Joseph Vincent.
Opening the show was Oak & Gorski (oakandgorski), a dual formed by Ken Oak and Ed Gorski in 2004. They have sold more than 30,000 albums independently and have recently launched their newest album Love Destroyer. For the night, Ed was on the rhythm guitar and Ken on the cello as they performed several of their songs. Like Billboard Magazine described, their songs were very “soulful” and “calming.” Then, Jason Chen (miniachilles) followed with two Bruno Mars covers and his first single on iTunes, an original titled Just for a Moment. He has gained fame through YouTube in a short period of time, with more than 130,000 subscribers and more than 22,000,000 upload views. He sounds just like he does on YouTube, meaning he’s just as incredible, so it’s definitely worth seeing him live. Before intermission, guest performer Heavy Impact from ABDC hit the floor and showed us how they worked their bodies.
Oak and Gorski.
- Jason Chen.
As the audience sat back into their seats, Jason Yang (jasonyangviolin), a USC alumni, was glad to be back performing at the place he feels most comfortable. Not only is he majorly gifted, he’s also quite humorous, as he explains that he was going to say “Happy Lunar New Year” after the section of the performance that sounds especially Chinese. His youtube received over 4,000,000 views and as his fan said, Jason is really taking violin to the next level. After was the heart-throbbing Joseph Vincent (hoorahjencar), who greeted us with his charming smirk. He really knows how to sing, but more importantly, he really knows how to engage the audience, welcoming us to sing along. His YouTube channel has over 140,000 subscribers and over 27,000,000 upload views. Clara Chung (ClaraCMusic), whose debut album released last September,was brought on to end the show. She has over 88,000 subscribers on YouTube, but her live performances are even better because she’s super cute in person and very approachable. She wasn’t afraid to get comfortable on stage by taking off her shoes too!
Jason Yang.
Clara C.
Subscribe to all their YouTube channels, like their facebook fan pages and attend their performances to show your support for the Asian music community!
