On the last day of the Swing and Soul weekend in Atlanta, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by musicologist and historian Rob Bowman talking about the history of the Stax record label. Rob has basically spent a good portion of his life devoted to chronicling the story of Stax, a legendary soul…
Category: Travel
Swing & Soul ’08 Day 2: “Tighten Up” performance (video)
Here's another fun video from Swing and Soul this weekend in Atlanta: Steven Mitchell, Peter Strom, Manu Smith and Mikey Pedroza dancing to "Tighten Up."
Popin Pete & Mama Yeye at Swing and Soul in Atlanta (video)
Here's a sweet performance by legendary popper Popin Pete last night at Swing and Soul that I'm at all weekend in Atlanta. His level of control and expressiveness is ridiculous and quite beautiful. And Pete is a living link to the origins of this unique style of dance, as a member of the Electric Boogaloos…
Swing and Soul Weekend in Atlanta
It's 4am and I'm chilling with my friends Beckto and Spuds in our hotel room after the late night dance on the first night of the Swing and Soul weekend, listening to Stevie Wonder and other soul jams. So nice. Swing and Soul is a weekend long celebration of soul music and "dancing with soul"…
I’m going to Disneyworld: Magic Kingdom dedicates day to me! (video)
Apparently I've been a good boy this year. My friends and family chipped in and managed to get Disneyworld to dedicate a whole day to me!
PMT Breakers & me at Frim Fram last night (video)
Here's a fun video of the PMT Breakers performing at Frim Fram last night. Thanks to my crew Ian, Ron, Will, Monica, and Marie for coming out one more time. Really awesome performance and great crowd! Special thanks to Effervescent for filming this for me and Ryan Mascaro for cueing our music. Here's another version…
Jollibee Plush Doll in Barong Tagalog
If you go to your local Jollibee fast food franchise now, you can score one of these sweet Jollibee dolls. This one comes in a traditional filipino Barong Tagalog dress shirt, with black dress slacks, a chinese-type hat, and a cool bamboo backpack that plays a silly Jollibee jingle. (Sadly, no balisang knive was included.)…
Jollibee Plush Doll: what the heck is it saying? (video)
I was super excited to find this plush Jollibee doll now available at your local Jollibee filipino fast food franchise. As you can see, he's wearing a lovely barong tagalog dress shirt, black dress pants, a somewhat Chinese-looking hat (??), and a bamboo design backpack. When you press a button on the backpack, it plays…
Turkey, palabok, pumpkin pie and maja blanca: Fil-Am Favorites at the Santos Clan Thanksgiving Party
I had a really nice time with the Santos clan enjoying the company of the extended family on my mom's side. As usual we had a ridiculous spread of food for the 20-some guests, including both American traditional favorites and festive filipino dishes. Among the main course offerings: juicy turkey made by my sister, lovingly…
Giving Thanks in Cali
I'm in California with my parents and my sister Cori for Thanksgiving. Most of my time has been in Pleasanton in the San Francisco Bay Area at my mom's house. As usual, it's been all about cooking and eating over here, barely one meal finished while we are planning the next one. Then on Wednesday,…