Haiti Relief Benefit Show a Success!

Last night’s show at the Middle East Downstairs had a great turnout and everyone involved is excited to announce: We raised over $1300! And that’s not including the sales of the live art that was auctioned off after the show.  The same generous sponsor who has agreed to match all proceeds from B.U.-related Haiti relief efforts will be matching the proceeds of the concert, so that means we raised a total of over $3000 for Partners in Health.

Thank you to everyone who attended the show and to the artists and performers who were a part of the memorable event.

Check out the blog I’ve created to keep track of all B.U. Haiti Relief efforts and see how you can get involved.

The Empowerment Project Enlightens Me

For now, a picture to illustrate my holiday internship:

An Oscar and a Farmer Statue of almost equal height on Barbara’s Coffee Table

The Empowerment Project produces and distributes its own documentary films and videos, and provides facilities, training and other support for independent producers, artists, activists and organizations working in video and other electronic media. Its purpose is to work towards democratizing access to the media, and to provide the resources necessary to put the power of media in the hands of individuals and organizations working to further important social, political and artistic purposes.

Read more about the Empowerment Project.

Listen to Maggie’s Farm – Bob Dylan mp3

How I spent my Christmas Break (Part III: Finding the Farm)

That’s when I decided to expand my search of good ways to spend my time, and I remembered my friend once told me how she lived with a French family outside of Paris by responding to a listing on  HelpX.Net (It’s a good website for people who want to travel around for little money and have the opportunity to live with locals and get to really know a place, rather than just be a tourist. )

I was shocked to stumble across a journalism/ organic farm listing that advertised the opportunity to work with an Oscar-winning filmmaker on a farm in Carrboro, NC.  There’s no way I could’ve found this match if I’d been looking.

The next day, and the next day, I called the farm and volunteered to help out.  It took about 5 phone calls to convince them that I had no expectations, lots of free time, and I didn’t mind if they were about to leave the country, so I might be doing non-journalism work to help them get ready.

(More to come. Class for now…)

How I Spent My Christmas Break (Part II: North Carolina)

Welcome to North Carolina

Blisters from bass guitar made the plane ride unbearable but by the time I landed in North Carolina, I’d forgotten what it was like to have a finger not throbbing.  Plus, I had a whole new audience to share the news with, so I was excited that I had something to show for my hard work.

After the holiday festivities ended, including Moravian Love Feasts, a Happy Birthday Jesus Party, and several non-Jesus parties with friends from highschool, I needed a new way to spend my time besides relaxing on different couches in my house and spending too much money running unnecessary errands.

That’s when I starting researching WWOOF.org late one night, when the relaxing activities of my day hadn’t worn me out enough to go to sleep. I wanted to find something fun and difficult to do that would make me feel exhausted by the end of the day, so I’d know I’d done all I could do in a day.  Plus, I’d been sitting in front of a computer for what felt like the past year, since I spent the summer interning and writing, instead of working outside, so organic farming seemed perfect.  I had saved up all the means to travel to Costa Rica to do it, but skepticism from e-mail responses with farm owners there had plunged the energy out of my pursuit…

How I Spent My Christmas Break (Part I: The Blizzard, The Band)

Nor’easter?

After missing the last plane to leave the ground before 15 inches of snow covered it, I was trapped in Boston for an extra two days.  A beautiful and blisteringly cold white blanket some might call a “blizzard,” kept me hostage from my family, but I felt lucky to have the unplanned free time to spend with my friends.

Without heat or plans, the four inhabitants (some real residents, some visitors, including myself) of a loft in Lower Allston decided to make music.  Although there was a steep gradient of experience levels that typically divides the four into– the two who are talented musicians who go to music school at Berklee and the two who are always impressed when they attend their shows– the snow was a great equalizer.

This time, everyone grabbed an instrument.  (I chose bass guitar.) Together, we made up a response to the weather’s attempt to make us stop living our lives, just because 15 inches of snow had interrupted our travel plans.  The sound that sparked from the spontaneous show echoes the harsh riffs of Monotonix with the heavy bass lines of Deerhoof and eery atmosphere of Grizzly Bear.  So, upon realizing we could actually be good together we were stunned.

No Problem.

We decided to call our response to the weather and our reaction to the holiday season’s expectations to be “merry,” a band.  This is Beardeer.

Thanks Google, Gaga

My most expensive Christmas gift this year?  Probably this $20 million from Google: http://www.google.com/advertising/holiday2009/ But was it very thoughtful? Well, that’s up for debate. Read this article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy to see how some describe the company’s blatant generosity as borderline laziness.

Other cool gifts from famous people/famous companies:

Apparently Lady Gaga is a real person after all.  She proved her capability of being kindhearted when she saw a crowd of fans waiting outside of Best Buy to buy her new newest album, and she kindly bought them all pizza! Aww.

The Music Tapes Make Spirits Bright in Allston, MA

Hark! The herald angels please let Julian Koster sing!  Who in Allston could’ve predicted that their holiday season would be launched by a visit from the orbiting human cirus, also known as Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel, accompanied by 2 other members of the lovely caroling exhibit called “The Music Tapes”?!  Traveling to living rooms throughout the States with several singing saws and bowed banjos, who each have names, The Music Tapes home-delivered holiday cheer this season.  With them, they brought such an atmosphere of warmth that I nearly forgot about the bone-chilling weather outside.  Performing classics like “Jingle Bells” and “Noel,” along with branding originals like “Belief,” which I haven’t been able to get out of my head since, their show fulfilled the empty promise I’d had since I was a kid, when I’d wake up at night and hope to be greeted by a jolly figure who had come to bring me the gifts I’d waited all year for, only to find my un-sneaky parents planting my gifts by the tree.  Theirs was much better than any visit from any Santa Claus. 

 The best part is: Although the night was filled with magic, and all of the events surrounding the midnight concert they played in my friend Liz Pelly’s living room hinted at miraculous intervention (what with the vegan potluck the night before, and the unexpected rebirth of a longtime dead friendship on the night of), there is lasting evidence of their appearance on Greylock Street!  Thanks to my friend Peisin, here is the documented footage!  May this glimpse of that magical night render what a humble Allston home filled with love and music is like.  Let it be a rhythmical reminder of the real reason for the season. Peace!

(Perhaps soon I’ll upgrade to “Videopress” and gain the capability to actually embed videos on my blog, but until being a journalist starts paying, click the video below to see The Music Tapes’ live performance via Vimeo, which works too.)

The Music Tapes Caroling – ‘Zat You Santa Claus? from Peisin Yang Lazo on Vimeo.

An Unnecessary and Entertaining Reminder

Sometimes when I’m really doubting people and I feel depressed to conclude that there are only certain types and categories of people, I start to think that there’s a lack of genuine intention out there.  Then I realize I’ve just closed my shutter lens.

In photography, a shutter is a device that allows light to pass for a determined period of time, for the purpose of exposing photographic film or a light-sensitive electronic sensor to light to capture a permanent image of a scene.

When I open myself up to the unique possibilities of personalities that are impossible to categorize by any stretch of an empirical method, I find articles like this one. (A NYTimes article about people who are so particular about “type,” as in font type, that their vacations can be ruined when they see signs with “typographical gaffes”).  As if I’m opening my camera lens to allow more light to shine through, the refreshing feeling I get from hearing about these bizarre hobbies brightens my outlook and gives me a much more positive picture of what it means to live a life.

Another recent reminder of people’s unique hobbies was the  antiquarian book fair I went to over the weekend at Hynes Convention Center. A first edition copy of Mrs. Dalloway signed by Virginia Woolf.  An “unopened” copy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote.  A letter to his publisher, handwritten and signed by Mark Twain.  (Each was more than $500.)  Talk about a treasure trove of words.

It was the most luxurious library I’d ever been in.  Despite the fact that I was one of the few people under 50 years old, I loved being in a cultural haven for quirky collectors.

And that’s when I feel most happy– when I remember that I know that it is perfectly acceptable to not be a “type.” And some other people know that too.

Typewriter Tip,Tip, Tipy mp3 by Asha Bhosle & Kisore Kumar

Shop for Service

Keeping up with the trends hasn’t been very hard the past couple of seasons, what with punk studs piercing their prongs in everything from the runway at Chanel to $5 tanks at Forever 21.  And it’s pretty clear by now that bangs are back, and British blonde/white hair is lightening up the dark mood of winter.  But one thing I’m pretty surprised to see becoming a trend is community service.

Giving back is the new black?  Following Entertainment Industry Foundation Week, when all of the major television networks featured their stars doing an act of service, Gap Inc. is now the one bringing service in style.

Working with ServiceNation.org, both EIF week and Gap, Inc. are shining a spotlight on service.

From Nov. 12-15, you can get a 30% discount at Gap and all  of its constituent stores, and they’ll give a portion of the proceeds to support a non-profit.

Although I’ve always believed that if you give into trends it means you’re not creative enough to come up with your own style, this is a trend I feel proud to support.  And I hope it’s a trend that lasts, unlike hareem trousers…

THE MAN HIMSELF, A Review of Daniel Johnston

Following Daniel Johnston’s October 15 show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, I wrote a review for the Daily Free Press that was Published: October 22, 2009.

Just as a turtle has a shell, and the Beatles have fame, Daniel Johnston has fans.  These are certainties of life.

Despite the dramatic change in his style, not talking about  his donning of sweats and sneakers, and too-tight t-shirts, but the update in his music to something that sounds highly professional on his latest album,  “Is and Always Was,” Daniel Johnston’s fans keep coming back.  The new style, which is a decided step away from the lo-fi songs he is loved for, may have come as a surprise, but Daniel Johnston hasn’t isolated any fans.

At 48 years old, Johnston is back on tour, looking familiar and just as friendly but his sound is different.

What’s different? Why?

Follow the jump for answers, questions, and answers in Daniel’s questions.