December 9th

Notes from the edge: music from local Asian American artists at the Asian Art Museum

Featuring Unity Nguyen with Russell Gonzaga, Teri Untalan, and Scrabbel
Co-presented with the Asian Art Museum

Join Kearny Street Workshop and the Asian Art Museum for an early December program featuring musical and other expressions from vocalist and instrumentalist Unity Nguyen with writer and spoken word artist Russell Gonzaga, singer-songwriter-violist Teri Untalan, and orchestral pop ensemble Scrabbel
.

Date: Thursday, December 9th

Time: 6 -8PM

Location: The Asian Art Museum, Samsung Hall. 200 Larkin Street, SF

Cost: museum admission fee $5; no additional charge for show.

More information: Contact info@kearnystreet.org

About the artists:

Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist UNITY NGUYEN brings together many traditions from around the world. Her music uses various languages and instruments, including the dan tranh (16-string zither of Viet Nam); and the kora (21-string harp of West Africa). Unity performs solo, or with various forms of her Unity Nguyen Ensemble. She also collaborates with a number of hot world music and dance groups. Unity also shares her passion by teaching music-movement to diverse audiences. These classes range from several weekly programs for pre-schoolers, to drum workshops with youth at risk, to private lessons with adults. Besides performing and teaching music, Unity holds a Master¹s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Visit Unity at unityhealinghands.com..

TERI UNTALAN is a singer, songwriter, and violist, who recently released her debut self-titled solo album in April 2004. Not a month past its release the CD made the playlist for KAOS 89.3FM in Olympia, WA, and 2 cuts ("I'm Taken" and "The Wedding of Heidi & Jason") are being played on KFSR 90.7FM in Fresno, CA, as well as getting support from KPOO 89.5FM in San Francisco. Playing throughout 2002 & 2003 in the Bay Area (The Hotel Utah, The Makeout Room, SomArts, Romeo 5, The Bazaar Cafe, Galeria de la Raza, Pusod Gallery... ), as well as in Portland & New York, some of Teri's more recent credits include two viola tracks on guitarist Buckethead's album "Colma" (Cyberoctave Records), and singing/writing on Westside Chemical's electronica album, "Black & Blue" (Stray Records). Active in the Bay Area for the last several years, she's performed everything from folk & pop-rock to experimental; from jazz & classical to electronica. Recently she stretched her talents doing voiceover for the noisy toothfairy on Sony Pictures 2003 release "Darkness Falls". Spending a lot of the last few years focusing on her jazz noir group The Lush Life Players, which includes producing their 2001 CD, "Siren Song", Teri now looks forward to touring in support of her new album. She can also be seen occasionally backing up local songsmith, David Hopkins, and playing in the high-octane improv group, MoeKestra! Visit Teri at teriuntalan.com.

SCRABBEL was formed in 1999 with old high school friends, Becky Barron and Dan Lee. They made their live debut at the 2000 San Francisco Asian American Film Festival "Directions In Sound" music night with the Aislers Set and Sweet Trip, and released their first record in 2001 on Kittridge Records. The kazoos and speak n spells from the 1st record were traded in for cellos and violins on the 2nd record, "1909". Some guest performers include Alicia Vanden Heuval (Aislers Set), Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor), and Pete Nguyen (Total Shutdown and Ee). On "1909", mastermind Dan Lee (who plays everything from keyboards to guitar to clarinet to speak & spell) has jumbled string sections with whimsical pop, early British invasion melodies and electro blip beats. He even incorporates the ambient sounds of a BART subway station to create something simply original. The live band has grown from a 2 piece to a larger ensemble of friends, including Hellen Jo, Nathalie Roland, Stanley Lam, and Atsushi Murase, featuring everything from drums, guitars, cello, violin, organ, and xylophone. Visit Scrabbel at scrabbel.org. Photo courtesy of David Huang, poeticdream.com.

RUSSELL (GONZAGA) Cultural worker, arts educator, activist, writer and spoken word artist, Russell has represented San Francisco three-times at the National Poetry Slam Championships. He has taught with YouthSpeaks, California Poets in the Schools, Oakland Fine Arts, Cazedero Performing Arts Summer Camp and WritersCorp. He has done work with Kearny Street Workshop, Theatro ng Tanan, Filipino American Arts Exposition, DIWArts, Southern Exposure Gallery, YO! Magazine (the Beat Within), Anything That Moves, Greenpeace, SF Conservation Core, KMEL Street Knowledge, the SF Buddhist Center, the International Sufi Symposium, and he has served as muzzine ("Islamic cantor") for the Muslim Community Center. His work has appeared in various anthologies and publications including Colorlines, Extatica (erotica), True Crime, SpokenWar, Mouth, InFlipTration, Die NeuZeitung (Germany) and the Bay Guardian. Russell has also received San Francisco's Certificate of Honor and the Mayor's Proclamation of "Russell Gonzaga Day" in San Francisco (awarded by Janice Mirikitani at the SF Arts Commission).

December 10th

Kearny Street Workshop's Annual Holiday Party and Art Auction

It's our annual holiday party and art auction--an evening of food, drink, music, and artwork to delight one and all.

Featuring poetry reading from Nancy Hom, performance by vocalist/instrumentalist Unity Nguyen, and sounds by DJ Will and DJ kerry1.

Silent auction items include work by local artists Nancy Hom, Betty Kano, Binh Danh, Christine Wong, Flo Oy Wong, Bob Hsiang, Kevin B. Chen, Pauline Choi, Gail Mitchell, Michelle Garcia, Stella Lai, Anita Dreiseberg, Derek Kirk Kim.

Date: Friday, December 10th

Time:6 -9PM

Location: SomArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street (between 8th and 9th sts), SF

Cost: Free! $5 - 20 suggested donations welcome. Family and friend-friendly.

More information: Contact info@kearnystreet.org

December 14

We Want the Airwaves!!!!

stories and how-to's from radio pirate DJ Flika.

Do you hate listening to the radio because everything is owned by Clear Channel? Do you ever wonder what happened to the days when the radio played good music? Two years ago DJ Flika got tired of hearing the same 10 songs on the radio over and over again and decided to take action. She bought a radio transmitter and began to broadcast her own radio station out of her apartment.

Join DJ Flika as she tells you about her experiences and gives advice on how to start up your own pirate radio station. You'll hear about what equipment you need, legal issues to consider, and the state of low power FM.

DJ Flika likes the Clash, Prince, New Order, and the Ramones. When she's not on the air she goes by the alias Jean Chen. You can hear an interview with her at: http://www.invisibleinkradio.com/shows/archives/2004_01_25.html (scroll forward to 23:30 minutes into the show)

Date: Tuesday, December 14th

Time: 7 -9PM

Location: New Langton Arts, 1246 Folsom, between 8th and 9th sts, SF

Cost: Free; $5 suggested donations much appreciated.

More information: Please RSVP for this event! RSVP at info@kearnystreet.org