5/5/16 AYPAL, Legions of Boom, and Weston Teruya

Josh Fisher Lee and Lubab Alkhayyat with AYPAL

Legions of Boom

Weston Teruya

To download the audio click here.

Tonight on APEX Express:

• Renee Geesler talks with members of AYPAL, Building API Community Power, join us to talk about their anti-displacement organizing work in Oakland
• Cristal Fiel talks with Oliver Saria about Legions of Boom, a book by Oliver Wang on the Filipino American mobile DJ scene, and Bindlestiff Studio‘s  API Heritage Month events inspired by the book
• And, we head to the dump — yes, the dump, to talk with visual artist Weston Teruya about his latest residency where he’s exploring displacement and gentrification in San Francisco.

Community Calendar

For a quick recap of what we featured on tonight’s show: Legions of Boom, the discussion on Filipino American mobile DJs and the immersive theater experience is on Friday, May 13 for the panel discussion, and Saturday, May 14 for the immersive theater experience at 8 p.m. both nights at Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco.  AYPAL’s May Arts Festival is on Saturday, May 14 from 11 to 4 at San Antonio Park in Oakland.  and the Recology exhibition dates are Friday, May 20 from 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday the 21st from 1 to 3, and Tuesday, May 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 401 Tunnel Avenue in San Francisco.

You may remember that on April 6, APEX covered a story about a Bay Area production of the Mikado where it was feared performers would be in Yellow Face. That controversy led to an important community discussion on equitable representation in the arts. It takes place on Monday May 9 from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Arts activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph will be moderating a conversation on this topic with the members of the Ferocious Lotus Theater.

May 10th is Asian American Mental Health Day. Asian & Pacific Islanders make up one of the fastest growing ethnic communities in the United States, yet they have the lowest rates of utilization of mental health services among ethnic populations. To destigmatize mental health issues, Kearny Street Workshop has teamed up with the Richmond Area Multi-Services Inc. to present “Frames of Mind,” a seven-week photography workshop. An exhibition of their work focused on mental health led by documentarian R.J. Lozada that will be on display at the I-Hotel in Manilatown on May 10 to May 12.

As part of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance’s #RedefineSecurity week of action, a broad coalition of API community organizations are coming together to discuss what safety looks like for queer and trans API folks, particularly in the context of incarceration, immigration and racial profiling. This conversation will take place at Excelsior Works on May 15 from 3:30 to 5:30 with our friends at AACRE: API Equality of Northern California, the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, Asian Prisoners Support Committee, and ASPIRE 

And closing out May, spoken word artist and author Jason Bayani will be performing pieces drawing on stories from the fourth wave of Pilipino immigrants at Bindlestiff Studios on May 27 and 28.