April 6, 2013

Last night's television show Rock Center with Brian Williams aired a story about the 'super album' The Masked Marauders. 

The story included a clip from the movie Almost Famous of actor Terry Chen playing Ben Fong-Torres, former senior editor of Rolling Stone magazine, and author, Emmy award-winning broadcaster, and long-time columnist here.

News anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams has had a curiousity since childhood about a 1969 music album he bought called the The Masked Marauders - a record album touting that it was an album of music recorded in secret by a super group with the likes of John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan.

Now, after more than four decades of the album's original release, the television network news anchor with his own show got the chance to look under the mask of the infamous album.

He talked with The Masked Marauder's prankster Greil Marcus, today a noted author, music critic and journalist who was at the time of the hoax the record reviews editor for Rolling Stone magazine. Marcus wrote a review of the album under the pseudonym T.M. Christian in collaboration with another Rolling Stone record reviewer Bruce Miroff. 

Greil Marcus confirmed the truth to Brian Williams, that yes, the 1969 album was indeed a fake. There was no super group formed to record in secrecy. 

Despite disclosures years ago that it was a fake, the album...

Astronaut Leroy Chiao's Space Blog-postcard of Mozambique

This shot of the coast of Mozambique was very surprising. The different colors of the mud and sand form very beautiful and interesting patterns. One can see how the local currents in the water shaped the sand bars. The African coast along this region contains many such islands.

Corrientes, Argentina Dec. 10, 2004 Blog Malaysia Patagonian Glaciers Bolivia

Click here for AsianConnections' exclusive interview with Leroy while in training at Star City, Russia.

Information on the crew's activities aboard ISS, future launch dates, as well as Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, is available on the Internet at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

U.S. Astronaut Leroy Chiao's blog and all NASA updates at AsianConnections.com are monitored by AC Editor Lia Chang

Astronaut Leroy Chiao's Space Blog-South Africa: It was a beautiful day in South Africa and I used a 50mm lens to get a good overview of the area. This was another chance shot. I opened the cover and this was the view that filled the window! Days like this, where the weather is so clear, are few and far between.

It was a beautiful day in South Africa and I used a 50mm lens to get a good overview of the area. Days like this, where the weather is so clear, are few and far between. This was another chance shot. I opened the cover and this was the view that filled the window!

Salamat Basin in Chad Mozambique Corrientes, Argentina Dec. 10, 2004 Blog Malaysia Patagonian Glaciers Bolivia

Click here for AsianConnections' exclusive interview with Leroy while in training at Star City, Russia.

Information on the crew's activities aboard ISS, future launch dates, as well as Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, is available on the Internet at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Three generations of taiko drummers featured in gayle yamada's the "Spirit of Taiko" airing on PBS in May.

Taiko drumming began 2,000 years ago in Japan where it became part of religious ceremonies, festivals, and everyday village life. In America, contemporary taiko took root in the late 1960s when Japanese immigrant Seiichi Tanaka founded San Francisco Taiko Dojo and Reverend Masao Kodani founded Kinnara Taiko in Los Angeles.

Spirit of Taiko by director gayle yamada, Steve Dung, Dianne Fukami, and Daniel Morii Schwinn, premieres this May on PBS as part of the Center for Asian American Media's lineup of films for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. (Check local listings.) The one-hour documentary reveals the fascinating origins of this ancient art form in the United States and shows how the succeeding generations in America have put their own imprint on contemporary taiko.

Known as the grandfather of American taiko. Seiichi Tanaka emphasizes discipline, spirituality, hard work, and respect in his approach. Today, his renowned San Francisco Taiko Dojo performs throughout the world. Kinnara Taiko began when a group of Japanese American Buddhists in Los Angeles decided to play taiko for fun after temple ceremonies were over. They began without teachers and without any particular style, but their drumming emphasized religious spirituality and inclusion. Students of both schools eventually founded their own taiko dojos in other parts of the country, many of whom are...

Asian American International Film Festival '08, July 1019, 2008

This year's lineup for the Asian American International Film Festival '08 (AAIFF), presented by Asian Cinevision with Asia Society and sponsored by Toyota Matrix includes one world premiere, two U.S. premieres, six East Coast premieres, and seven New York premieres. Debuting a new interdisciplinary program in 2008, Asian CineVision also presents New Landscapes: Media and Its Adaptations, a series of panels examining issues relevant to Asia and Asian diasporas. Representing the latest and best in Asian and Asian American filmmaking, AAIFF will run from July 1019, 2008, at the Asia Society (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street).

The Festival opens on Thursday, July 10 at 7:30PM with PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA, marking acclaimed director Wayne Wangs return to indie filmmaking. Making its East Coast debut at AAIFF, PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA stars newcomer Li Ling in a stunning performance as Sasha, a pregnant teenager who travels to San Francisco from Omaha seeking an abortion. Shot through the kinetic lens of cinematographer and co-director Richard Wong, Sasha's vanity and recklessness is portrayed with great intimacy, but she remains emotionally aloof and unpredictable. For director Wang, this paradox is the hallmark of a new generation of post-Tiananmen Square Chinese youthendlessly self-documenting with cell phones and computers, while embracing a sense of historical amnesia and emotional instability. Based on a short story...