Reflection: Tuesday Night Project’s National Poetry Month Show

We are a little behind on reflections but bear with us… (grr)

Almost a year ago in June when we were first starting out we featured at a Tuesday Night Show and it made our life.  We had heard about TNP and were familiar with their history so featuring there felt like we were entering the big leagues.  This year TNP invited us back to feature for National Poetry Month on April 17 and it made our lives again!

This was a special show for us because we were featured in celebration of National Poetry Month and that’s what we do!  It felt good.  Eddy and Stephanie performed “Are You Listening Now?”, Stephanie did “Chalk Days” which you can find in our chapbook, Mark did the classic “Realization” (on our CD), and we closed with our Asian American group piece which we have finally named!  Curious as to what it’s called… come to a future show and talk to us!

Major props to the other poets, Cold Tofu, and Dawen who brought the music!  Special shout out to Zulay and Allan.  Their set was so cool and Zulay and I had a shouting contest after the show about who was more awesome.  She totally rocked it with the sign language to Allan Aquino’s poetry.  All in all a really good night… a night in which our lives were made.

Tuesday Night Project is a very, very, very cool open mic venue that takes place in the courtyard of a church converted into a theater.  They always feature very talented Asian American folks so go to there.  Actually, the next one, June 5th is going to be featuring common ground so I will be there fosho!  Come out and support local talent and if you cannot go, stream them live online.

forWord Feature: Tuesday Night Cafe - National Poetry Month!

Tuesday Night Project presents:

The 1st & 3rd Tuesday Night Cafe
April 17, 2012

Celebrating National Poetry Month!

Hosted by: Johneric Concordia

Guest DJ: Sessions LA DJs
http://www.sessionsla.com/

Featuring:
- Audrey Kuo
http://audreykuo.wordpress.com/

- Dawen
http://www.dawen.us/

- forWord
http://forwordcollective.tumblr.com/

- Mike the Poet
http://mikethepoetla.tumblr.com/

- Cold Tofu
http://www.coldtofu.com/

- Zulay and Allan

Featured Vendor:
Vinyl Delight
http://record-bowls.com/

Open Mic sign-ups at 6:45pm

Live broadcast begins at 7:30 PM at:

http://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/watchlive

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Parking is available across the street at the Aiso Street Parking Lot!
$3 Flat Rate after 5pm

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Want to be featured this season as an artist, vendor, or performer?
We’re accepting submissions through April 30th! Submit here:
http://bit.ly/HZkTkj

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For more info:
http://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/

Please “Like” us on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/tnproject

Follow us on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/tnproject

Follow us on Tumblr too, at:
http://tnproject.tumblr.com/

Sign up for our email list:
http://eepurl.com/j4lJD

Come see us tonight! If you can’t make it out, no worries because they will be streaming the show! Thanks for all the support!

forWord Movement: Projekt NewSpeak Interview by David A. Romero

The Mexi-Asian Perspective: A Latino’s Guide to All Things Latin, Asian, or Both

by David A. Romero

Many vie for the title of hardest working poet (or poets) in Los Angeles. Many claim the title of hardest working poet (or poets) in Los Angeles.  Every year sees the rise and fall of new venues and new, hungry artists making the rounds to fill them with their passion and drive.

For the past two years, for anyone with both functioning eyes and ears, the answer to which poets were dominating LA with their omnipresence was obvious: forWord.

This four member Asian Pacific American poetry collective could be seen from Hollywood to the Inland Empire, from Long Beach to Downtown Los Angeles and everywhere inbetween. Never before had a collective so effortlessly maintained features with open mic performances, group pieces with solo readings; managing to do all of it while loved by everyone they came across.

forWord members Eddy Gana Jr., Stephanie Sajor, Mark Maza and Susan Diep kicked off this year by performing at the 27th Annual Asian Pacific American Awareness Conference at their UC Irvine.

I had the pleasure of meeting up with forWord after the conference and witnessing their fun group dynamic in action. We had a chance to discuss their newest release, the chapbook Feel What We’re Saying.

How and when did you four poets decide to form the poetry super group forWord?

READ MORE at http://projektnewspeak.com/forword/

“Shared Roots” by Eddy M. Gana Jr. and Stephanie Sajor (of forWord)

This spoken word piece is about someone who challenged our knowledge of Filipino heritage simply because we were born in America. This was from our feature at Tuesday Night Cafe on June 7th, 2011.

“On the face of it, Tuesday Night Project (TNP) hosts a free open mic event called the 1st & 3rd Tuesday Night Cafe in Little Tokyo, Spring through Fall – but since 1999 the people behind the project and the series have grown into an actual community fiercely devoted to creating venues where art and community connect. It is a community of artists, organizers, activists, professionals, independent business owners, educators and community members of different generations, a myriad of artistic disciplines and all walks of life.

Tuesday Night Project maintains a passionate, positive space with a focus on new work from Asian American/Pacific Islander communities and from the Greater Los Angeles area. TNP constantly introduces its audiences to new artists and organizations and the amazing work they do all over the city. While TNP offers modest stipends to some of its technical crew, they have kept the series alive and free to the public with sheer passion and the practice and belief that PEOPLE are each other’s greatest resource.”

- Tuesday Night Project at http://www.facebook.com/tnproject

- TNP’s Official Website: http://www.tuesdaynightproject.org

Thank you to Tuesday Night Project for creating and maintaining the open space of Tuesday Night Cafe and giving others like usthe opportunity to share our stories! And thanks to Narinda Heng, Quincy Surasmith, Matt Nailat, and more for their continuous support along the way!

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http://www.facebook.com/forwordcollective

http://www.youtube.com/forwordcollection

http://www.twitter.com/fwcollective