This was without a doubt the craziest weekend of the year! Kollaboration was incredible on Friday! From all the awesome performances to the vibe of the crowd, the night was ridiculous!  Thanks to all the judges Marié Digby, Bobby Choy aka Big Phony, Travis Wong and Shinae Yoon for voting me the Grand Prize Winner! Big props to Roy Choi and PK for the opportunity, as well as the whole Kollaboration staff!   Special shoutout to my awesome bro George for his unparalleled dedication and spreading the word! To Traci and my TNP family, and to the NU crew: i love you guys! And last but certainly not least, thanks to all my friends, fans and supporters for coming out in full force! There was such crazy love up in the Ford Amphitheatre.

A few pics from the night!

Kollaboration producer and host Roy Choi kicks off the evening (Photo by Nathan Nowack)

Me singing my new song ‘Shoes’ written just for the Kollaboration Acoustic show! (Photo by Nathan Nowack)

I was loving the vibe from the crowd! You guys were so awesome I thought I was gonna fall over from the roar!

Hippie Hippie Hoorah! These guys were awesome with their chilled out rendition of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” (Photo by Steven Lam)

FlowEthics doing their thang!

Marié Digby, the headliner and guest judge! She performed originals as well as a cover of Beyoncé’s “Sweet Dreams.” Awesome.

Ah! Craziness. They announced I won and I thought, “Awesome. This is going to next month’s rent and a new microphone!” lol. (Photo by Alexander Siu)

Roy, Christine and I! This check is now sitting in my room. Can you imagine bringing this thing to the bank?! (Photo by Alexander Siu)

The finale. We all sing a rendition of Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up.” What a crazy night.

The afterparty at Blue Goose! Thanks to the Kollab staff and all the awesome people I met through this whole experience.

Outside with Austin, Hippie Hippie Hooray, Esna, Geo, and Bart and Joe from JustKidding Films!

** Went to bed at 5am! Later I would wake up 3 hours after to embark on a weekend long bachelor party for my college buddy. I’m happy to say I survived this insane mega weekend!

Hey folks,

It’s time for another great cause! This time it’s the Asian Pacific Community Fund. Check out the PSA I made above. They need your vote on Facebook as they compete with other charities for $20,000 as part of the Chase Community Giving Program. All it takes is just 1 click and you can help them win!
VOTE HERE:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/954257997-asian-pacific-community-fund-of-southern-california

APCF is an umbrella org that supports 29 different non profit API organizations in Southern California. The orgs involved range from helping victims of domestic violence to providing educational resources for low income communities. More info at: www.apcf.org. Thanks for your help! Voting ends July 12!

CHICAGO!!

I made this cover of the Black Eyed Peas’ song ‘Imma Be’ to let you know about
Declare INDIE this Friday!  Declare INDIE is the annual music showcase that I produce celebrating Asian American artists. I started this thing back in 2008 when I was still living in Chicago and now we’re in our THIRD year!  This time around I’m performing and bringing with me my FULL band from LA!  The line up also includes amazing artists IBU, Parts Per Million, and Raman Sachdev. DJ Huu T. Ly will be spinning with Lily Kim as host. RSVP on Facebook here: http://bit.ly/a1d6An

This show is gonna be incredibly special for me as it’ll be my first time in Chicago since moving to LA.  There are many cities I consider my home but Chicago just might be my favorite one.  Yes, it is cold and windy, but I cannot wait to come back!  But really, the important question is: Giordano’s or Lou Malnati’s?

This Friday April 9th is the opening reception for ImaginAsian, a collection of cultural artifacts intended to raise awareness and understanding of the contemporary Asian Pacific American community.

Organized by activist Kate Agathon, ImaginAsian will feature contributions from author Kip Fulbeck, writer Lac Su, director Michael Kang, hip hop group Far East Movement, just to name a few.  I also contributed to the exhibit a one page musical score selection of my song ‘Wake Up‘.

Be sure to check it out if you’re in the area! The exhibit runs until May 9th. I’ll also be performing along with spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai at Purdue next Tuesday, April 13th for “New Communities” – A Symposium on Contemporary Asian American Identity.

Erykah Badu’s new album comes out today. Growing up, my biggest influences were Erykah, along with Maxwell and D’Angelo. Their albums really made such an impact on me. I’ll always regard listening to “On & On” as being the moment that the rimshot entered my life. Over the years Badu’s been stretching the boundaries of R&B. Her last album “4th World War” was some of the most challenging material I’ve ever heard. Can’t wait for the new one. Just saw the “Window Seat” music video yesterday. Crazy stuff. Picking up a CD today!