Podcasts about get down stay down

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight on Apex Express, Host Miko Lee talk story with singer-songwriter Thao Nguyen.  Hear about her new album Fossil,  her short documentary, and about her artistic inspirations. Thao's tour starts this week in North Carolina, so listen in to hear from the brilliant Thao, and then check out her website to catch a live show.   SHOW TRANSCRIPT [00:00:00] Opening: Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express.   [00:00:35] Miko Lee: Tonight on Apex Express, we talk story with singer-songwriter Thao Nguyen. Join me, your host, Miko Lee, as I talk with this multi-hyphenated artist. We get to hear about her new album, chat about her short documentary, and hear about her artistic inspirations. Thao's tour starts this week in North Carolina, so listen in to hear from the brilliant Thao, and then check out her website to catch a live show.   [00:01:05] Ayame Keane-Lee: In today's show, you'll be listening to some songs from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's 2020 album, Temple. First off, let's listen to “Pure Cinema.”   MUSIC     [00:05:44] That was “Pure Cinema” by today's guest, Thao Nguyen. Let's get to the interview.   [00:05:50] Miko Lee: Welcome  Thao Nguyen to Apex Express.    [00:05:54] Thao Nguyen: Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.    [00:05:57] Miko Lee: I love talking with creative people and you're such an amazingly talented singer and songwriter and imagination creator. I'm wanna start with the first question I ask all of my guests, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?   [00:06:16] Thao Nguyen: Who are my people? Some of them include the family I was born into. I'm from Virginia. I was born and raised in Virginia. but I'm the daughter of Vietnamese refugees of war. And, I moved out to the Bay in 2006 after my first US tour. And, I'm so fortunate to have such a robust community here in the bay and all of my chosen family here.   [00:06:40] Miko Lee: And what legacy do you carry with you?    [00:06:43] Thao Nguyen: What legacy? I think the legacy I prioritize. I think, you know, [laughs] we inherit a lot and as time goes on and we get older, we realize everything is finite and you have to choose which legacies you choose to continue, and perpetuate and honor and what you have to leave by the wayside. And so the things I choose to continue and celebrate are that of a real ability to be very present and in the moment and available to joy and I think the people I come from are really good at metabolizing joy because they know the flip side of it so well.    [00:07:23] Miko Lee: Ooh, that's so interesting. Can you speak more about what it means to metabolize joy?    [00:07:30] Thao Nguyen: [Laughs] uh, an ongoing practice? I think it is to be truly present and I believe, of course gratitude goes a long way, but I to fully metabolize it is to allow yourself to feel embodied in it. And, you know, there's more somatic practice I think that to actually feel it course through your body, you are allowing it, you're honoring it as completely as possible. And, do you have to acknowledge that it's happening as it's happening? You know, I think that's having true presence with it.   [00:08:08] Miko Lee: Can you roll back with me in time and talk about your earliest childhood memories of being a singer or songwriting? What came first?    [00:08:18] Thao Nguyen: I loved music from a very early age, but I didn't have a lot of access to it, to making it, it was more as a listener. The soundscape that I grew up with, there was a series called Paris by Night, which probably you've heard of within Vietnamese diaspora, uh, community and Culture. And it was this variety show that was, created by, people who had to flee Vietnam. And originally it was in Paris and it showcased A lot of singers and performers, who had fled, either before, during, or right after the fall of Saigon. And, it was this one gathering wherein. entertainers from the different generations, from my grandmother's generation, from my parents were able to coalesce and exist together. And there was just this sampler platter of a lot of different sonic influences. And then you had the younger generation, which was reinterpreting what American pop music was at the time. So you'd have my grandmother who [sang] cải lương which was this incredibly, it's like, almost like folk operatic, very dramatic, theatrical singing with a lot of pitch bending and, which I didn't understand that I was absorbing it in such a way that I would recreate it later on in my playing, but I would go on to credit it to being from Virginia and saying it was more of like an Appalachian influence, which it was as well. But the origins, the true origins were within my soundscape before I understood what that was. You know, so you have that and then you have, an artist named Lynette who's. basically in reinterpreting, like the latest Madonna song and has a cone bra on, so everyone's existing act after act in the same, um, sorry for that ramble. Did I answer that question?    [00:10:13] Miko Lee: Yeah. Uh, I, so what was, do you remember the age or you just grew up hearing all these different kinds of sounds?    [00:10:20] Thao Nguyen: I mean, that was from before I knew what age I was, you know, that was just like, and that was such, um. For the community and within my family it was such an event every time one of these, you know, double VHS things were issued that people would be making copies, someone would drop it off at the house. You know, there, there was always one or two in circulation, but it was this. Event that you'd,    [00:10:43] Miko Lee: are these like bootleg copies?    [00:10:45] Thao Nguyen: Yeah, there's like, wow, there's bootleg. There's also, there was one book in music store in Eden Shopping Center, which was like the hub of, of the Vietnamese community in, in, uh, Northern Virginia. And so someone would buy the original and then go and bootleg it. You don't know how you ended up with what, but just like they would drop off some citrus and and Hennessy or whatever, and then the Paris By Night thing. And um,    [00:11:11] Miko Lee: I love that the combo citrus, Hennessy and some music.   [00:11:16] Thao Nguyen: Everything is a digestif, you know? And, um, so I would have that. But then of course, I, you know, I, I listened to the radio. That was what, that was my main resource and I listened to the oldie station the most, and I loved Motown. And I remember, in this I was like five or six, we had these large speakers that's sat on the floor either side of, of this cassette deck, radio unit. And I would lay down and, every time Smokey Robinson came on, “You really got a hold of me” that was like my favorite song and I would tape it and then so either I would listen to it live or I would play the cassette and I would just lay down and get as close to the speakers as I could. But at that point, I hadn't seen who Smokey Robinson was, and I imagined, because I also am a child of eighties and nineties. I imagined it was Crystal who was Roseanne's best friend from the Roseanne show. You know, I didn't know anything, but I felt all of it.    [00:12:20] Miko Lee: Wow. Yeah. I love that. So, I love that. And I was really wondering, I heard this story about you, that you actually did a rap for on Charlotte's Web when you were in elementary school.   [00:12:33] Thao Nguyen: Okay. Okay. This is a deep cut. You've done some research.    [00:12:39] Miko Lee: Tell me about how that came to be. So you must have been introduced to rap pretty young to be doing that.    [00:12:44] Thao Nguyen: Oh, absolutely. This, so this was another, and this, I'm so glad you brought that up, because all of this is, every genre, every kind of music I, at this point is so vital to me, and it actually goes on to reflect the kind of music I make. And so I have an older brother who's almost eight years older, and around this same time, he's a huge hip hop fan, or that's one of the things he loves, he loves like Duran Duran and like the Fat Boys, you know? And , when I saved money, the first cassette I ever bought was Salt-n-Pepa. And I, yeah, so I was listento the Fat Boys and Queen Latifah. And I loved, I loved every, I loved to hear the flow, the different cadences and in third grade I was voted best rapper. This, and, you know, not coincidentally. This is the year I, I do the book report, the Charlotte's Web, you know, and they gave me the option. You can either write it or you can write a song or whatever. And so I wrote a rap about Charlotte's Web, but I was too shy. I had recorded it and just played it in my presentation. I didn't perform it live.    [00:13:51] Miko Lee: And how was it received?    [00:13:54] Thao Nguyen: I mean, I can still hear the roar. yeah, everyone, [laughs] I think the teachers    [00:14:01] Miko Lee: The crowd roared. The third graders roared.    [00:14:03] Thao Nguyen: Yeah. I mean, everyone's standing on their desks. It's rickety, you know, teachers are worried about child safety, it doesn't matter. They're like, Encore. I'm like, I don't have anything else. Uh, you know, uh,   [00:14:15] Miko Lee: Wait for real?   [00:14:17] Thao Nguyen: No, no. [laughs] the teachers thought it was cute. Probably the kids thought it was funny. I actually don't know because I was so nervous I even pressing play. I was so nervous. I don't know if I registered what, how it was received.    [00:14:34] Miko Lee: That's so sweet. Given your eclectic music knowledge and the music that was around you at the time as a musician, now you've been described with so many different categories, country tinge, indie folk, pop, blues. How would you describe your music?  [00:14:54] Thao Nguyen: I would describe it as. What's embarrassing is I've been doing this a long time now and I've never figured out a way to describe it. I would, I, I generally just say it's, you know, it's under the umbrella of indie rock, but influenced by jazz and hip hop. And because I learned to play guitar by picking out country blues songs. And because I grew up in Virginia, there, there are these, like old time, Country blues picking patterns that I've used. I, you know, it's, yeah. So that, I've never figured out a way to say it succinctly and I continue    [00:15:29] Miko Lee: and you don't need to. That's okay.    [00:15:31] Thao Nguyen: Thank you.    [00:15:31] Miko Lee: Is there a big Vietnamese population in Virginia?    [00:15:35] Thao Nguyen: Yeah, I, I think there is a very healthy population there. And it was one of the first places that people were settling when they were being resettled. And my parents met, in a refugee camp in Guam. And then they were sent to Arkansas. And then from there sponsored out to North Carolina. And then from there of a few friends that they had made, had found work with Metro, which is the public transportation train system in DC and found my dad work there. So that's why people resettle, that's why we ended up in Virginia.    [00:16:16] Miko Lee: So Thao & The Get Down Stay Down you released five studio albums and now you're working primarily as a solo artist. Right?    [00:16:25] Thao Nguyen: Yes. Yeah. I will say I still work record and perform with a band. And a lot of the people who worked and performed with me in that iteration are still with me. it was more I wanted to, just use my name and move beyond what the get down stay down was, which I was never really sure. With things that you choose when you're 22. As time goes, you know, it starts to, and you're lucky if you can kind of shed things and not, not stay beholden too much.   [00:16:57] Miko Lee: Ah, what have you learned to shed?   [00:17:02] Thao Nguyen: Oh my gosh. Thankfully a great deal and it's an ongoing exercise, but. I used to be so much heavier with the weight of what I thought a serious artist was what I thought a serious songwriter should be, who I thought, where I thought my, you know, different benchmarks of what success were. What I should be making versus what people wanted to hear versus what I wanted to hear. I actually never I wasn't always all the way sure about what I wanted. You know, I, I think a lot of people encounter that, but I've thankfully been able to shed as much as I can. It's an ongoing practice, but I, you know, one thing it. Is that I used to think, I can't believe I've been doing this this long. And it's, not necessarily, I didn't understand what I was working towards, but only that I had not gotten there yet. And then, you know, I think pandemic and on, I've been just so and as I get older, the transition into being so sincerely grateful that I'm still here and I get to do this. this is what my job is, and however I can, and whatever I can do to sustain, being able to, to do this for my livelihood and maintain my integrity within it is the greatest gift. So as when I made that switch a a lot of things, a lot of the darkness left me.    [00:18:39] Miko Lee: Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you for sharing.   [00:18:42] Ayame Keane-Lee: Next, let's listen to Temple, the first track off of Thao's album of the same name.   MUSIC   [00:22:56] That was Temple by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. Back to her interview with Miko.   [00:23:01] Miko Lee: I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about the 2017 documentary Nobody Dies, a film about a musician, her mom in Vietnam. How did that, and that's a documentary that follows you and your mom as you go to Vietnam. I'm wondering how that project came about.  [00:23:17] Thao Nguyen: Yes, I'm happy to tell you about it. in 2015 I was invited by concert promoters in conjunction with the US Embassy based in Hanoi, to come perform for the, I guess at that point it was the 25th anniversary of the normalization of relations between the US and Vietnam, and I was able to bring my band and I was able to bring my mom, and she hadn't been back in 43 years, and she used to work for the South Vietnamese embassy and was stationed in Lao, when Saigon fell. So she actually left Vietnam in 73, assuming she would go back after her time abroad and then was never able to return. So I was able to bring her, the struggle was would she actually come, you know, and we had, I had, a bear of the time initially convincing her it would be okay. And, it was like, just begging her to come. She's like freaking out. She hangs up on me. I call back. She hangs up. You know, it was a back and forth that I'm trying to convince her of things that I'm not sure of where she's like, I'm still on a list. I'm like, no, you're not. But I don't know that, you know who, how would I know that? But I told her she wasn't on the list. Anyway, my, a friend of mine who's a filmmaker, as this all was happening, he asked if he could come along and document all of it. And he and, his DP traveled with us and it was an incredibly intense trip, and it was beautiful and I am so glad it was documented. And then somewhere along the way I had a performance and, this was all in editing. And then I ran into Don Young at CAAM Center for Asian American Media. Oh, I know what it was. It was something for Sundance and Don Young and I were just in the same shuttle going to the airport and we were talking and I told him a little bit about this and then I sent him some footage and you know, and then CAAM and PBS were gracious enough to co-produce and, Make it so it could be, you know, a a half hour documentary that aired on PBS. Um,    [00:25:21] Miko Lee: so that that was on a bus ride.    [00:25:23] Thao Nguyen: That was on an airport shuttle.    [00:25:25] Miko Lee: Airport shuttle. I love it.    [00:25:26] Thao Nguyen: Yeah [laughs].    [00:25:28] Miko Lee: So was it hard to convince your mom, I know it was hard to convince her to go to Vietnam. Was it hard to convince her also then to be on film? What was her response to that?    [00:25:37] Thao Nguyen: Well, luckily for all of us, my mom loves to be on film and is, um, a total flirt and ham and. Oh,    [00:25:48] Miko Lee: so that was a bonus. That was like a,    [00:25:49] Thao Nguyen: that was a bonus. The camera loves her. As did the film director, my friend Todd, she loved it. And she just, she comes alive and she's a true performer. And, it was really beautiful to see her in this element that I, I didn't know if I'd ever, I actually. Never thought I'd get to see her this way. You know, I grew up, both my brother and I grew up translating for her, it is sort of at every, at every level. And, we'd go out to restaurants and it's not that she, you know, it's like she would get shy and then it would just easier, it always just became easier if we just did it for her. But, so we'd order for restaurants and, and to see her. not to say that she doesn't I mean, she was a small business owner. She owned a laundromat, dry cleaners in Virginia and totally is the reason why everybody is alive, you know? But, to see her move so seamlessly and easily, I'm sorry, it's emotional in the world was this, such a gift I didn't know I'd get. And, You see her haggling with people, you know, and, and she's directing as she's pointing out. Yeah. It was just a really, no matter how long someone has been away from the place they were born, you know, to see them back there is, um, it was, yeah, it was just such a beautiful gift and I'm glad we have it on film.   [00:27:17] Miko Lee: Did you discuss that with your mom? How different that was for you to see her in a different way?    [00:27:22] Thao Nguyen: You know, not, not, um, not directly. I've written about it, but I've not, we don't have the kind of, Yeah. That, that's never come up in those ways. You know, we talk a lot. I basically, I try to call her at least, uh, almost every day, just 'cause she lives across the country. So I wanna just be sure that, you know, I'm just doing these like, casual wellness checks, but we don't often get into those more philosophical conversations. Um, but she did, you know, the, the song Temple, Which would become the lead single of the album Temple was, inspired by this moment of candor that I had never experienced before and I would never experience again. It happened one night when we were in Vietnam and she just said outta nowhere. You have to understand what freedom is and you have to understand why a million people would risk their lives at sea, and I can't. I can't teach you that. I can't help you with it. You have to know for yourself. And that's what became, the song Temple where wherein she's speaking to me about her life before, during, and after war.   [00:28:35] Miko Lee: That's so powerful. Thank you for sharing. I, I appreciate that about your music, the personal, visions and dreams and pain that you experience putting that in. Is there another song of yours that really stands out to you?    [00:28:51] Thao Nguyen: Another one. Aside from that?    [00:28:53] Miko Lee: Aside from that.    [00:28:54] Thao Nguyen: There's. You know, yes, there's a, there's definitely a few from this new album that is, that I just finished and it's releasing in September. From that same album Temple there's, the song Marrow. there's a few. That album is as much, it was, it was this, I just had this, I knew that I had to make it both about, what my Vietnamese identity is and what it is to be queer in Vietnamese and stay in the culture, which is not something that I thought I could do. So yeah, I would say both Temple and Marrow encapsulate, this effort to fully align myself in ways that I hadn't been able to.    [00:29:40] Miko Lee: And what is Marrow about?    [00:29:42] Thao Nguyen: Marrow is about what it means to fully accept yourself so that you could offer yourself to the rest of your life. You know, it's, it's like.   [00:29:54] Miko Lee: That's all.   [00:29:56] Thao Nguyen: That's all. And it's, and it was against the backdrop of getting married. but it was more about me coming to terms with not even coming to terms, like even that language is so, disparaging. It's, it was just about claiming myself and saying to my family, I need to be, you know, I, I need to be my full self and I believe I can be with you still. But you know, the lines are, It's so funny. I sing it all the time and I can't do that. The line I'm thinking of in particular is, at that point I'm apologizing to my partner at the time and saying, you know, I am basically, I couldn't claim us because of this barrier, but I'm sorry to you and I'm sorry to me, and the, you know. I have grief in my marrow. Will you marry me still? So is it, that's a roundabout way of explaining what that, what that song is.   [00:30:54] MUSIC    [00:34:24] Ayame Keane-Lee: You just listened to “Marrow” by tonight's guest, Thao Nguyen.    [00:34:28] Miko Lee: You talk about Temple and how that was based on this trip you took in 2015, right? 2016. How long does it generally take you for a song to germinate?    [00:34:41] Thao Nguyen: You know, that one, um, that's, that is an example of a, a longer, uh, gestation period because it was such an intense, because Vietnam was such an intense time. Uh, it was months, maybe it was two years before I could even think about it, honestly. And there are other things that happen. I wish things happened more instantaneously. It's very rare that a whole song will just present itself. You know, temple, that song in particular, when I started writing it, it took maybe two hours, but it took me two years to get to the point where I could    [00:35:20] Miko Lee: And it just came to you in two hours?   [00:35:22] Thao Nguyen: Yeah. It just came, just the vision. All those, the imagery, everything that I'd wanted to say. It just, I understood how. To present it. And I think I had tried in other forms over that time, but it just wasn't ready. Other songs, um, yeah, anywhere from it's, it's like the chorus or a hook or a verse will come very quickly, and then the time, the more arduous stuff is building around it to make sure that it, it, you know, it's properly bolstered. Like I, if I believe in a hook, then I'll, I'll try to build the house around it.    [00:36:02] Miko Lee: And how, what do you do? Do you just record it straight up right when you get the hook, like on a small device or what's your process?    [00:36:09] Thao Nguyen: It um, typically I'm playing an instrument, either guitar or piano or I've written, you know, sometimes I get bored, I write on other instruments, but primarily it's guitar, piano, and, um. It'll be the melodic hook only on the instrument, and then I'll put words. But yeah, it's, I, I just use voice memos and then as I'm building it, then I'll move into pro tools and, and, and record a more proper demo.    [00:36:40] Miko Lee: And do you have a set working process or you just vibe it whenever you're feeling it? And I ask because I always ask this of artists. Because I think it's so interesting, what is the discipline it takes for your art form? And I remember I interviewed Isabel Allende years ago and she said, yes, I make myself go in my studio at 8:00 AM every day. And even if I can't write, I sit there from this time to this time. So what, what is your process like? Or do you have a set process?    [00:37:05] Thao Nguyen: Yes. Absolutely. And it's taken me so many years to figure out what my set process is and to have the discipline to really, really, um, I do believe it is a daily practice and it is a daily discipline and I'm so afraid of what happens when I slip out of it because I know what happens. I've tumbled into this very dark, deep well of despair and I don't know. You, you start to question what your whole purpose is. It gets bad very quickly, right? So I'm always trying to stay on the side of not completely sliding down. Not to say it isn't very joyful and I mean this a very lucky position to be in. One of the things that's been going on for the last few years is I have multiple projects going on at once and I do have to figure out, I had an, um, the album is just finished thankfully, but I am developing a musical and I'm also writing a book. And so I have to figure out, I divvy out the days. I would like to say that I can work on all three in one day, not possible. So I have to choose, um. And it's always, the morning time is the best for generating something from nothing. And then I try not to edit or revise or question it until that afternoon or later. Actually, you don't question it within that same day. Like the main, I think the main priority for me is maintaining momentum and optimism. So I need to do whatever it is to thwart whatever part of me is trying to take it down. Um, so I'll work in the morning for a few hours and then leave it, you know, and as writers say, leave it no matter if it's songwriting or whatever, like leave it at a place where you, when you start again, you feel good about it and you know what the next step is.   [00:39:08] Miko Lee: Do you have a set time? It's like just the morning from this time to this time. And then do you say musical today? Book today. Album today. How do you do that?    [00:39:17] Thao Nguyen: Well, it depends on the deadlines.    [00:39:21] Miko Lee: Of course.    [00:39:22] Thao Nguyen: I, yeah, I, I work to the deadline. 'cause there's always, thankfully, there's always at least one happening and yeah, I. I love this by the way, because I actually, when I'm stuck, I just look up different routines for writers and artists. It's like my favorite thing to do. So I love to participate in this conversation. Um, but I wake up, I meditate, I try to do a little stretching, and then I do a walk. It depends on where I'm working. Okay? Here's the thing. If I'm working on music, I have to work at home. If I can write, then I'm gonna go to a coffee shop or the library or my friends just opened up local economy, uh, that, that, so I've been going there and because writing is so lonely and miserable that I cannot be in the house, I, I, there's no way I have to be in public. Um, and just at least feeling the energy of other life    [00:40:18] Miko Lee: With songwriting also?    [00:40:19] Thao Nguyen: With songwriting, I have to be home 'cause I'm making all this noise. So what? Yeah, with songwriting I'll be at home, but that's way less miserable 'cause I can just play guitar or piano or something and then, or I'll be in studio with my friends that I'm making the album with. Um, now that I've finished the album and I'm moving and I'm more squarely in the book writing, um, I try to do two hours. You know, not, not solid. I will try, like, for a while, um, I was doing the timer with the, you know, 25 minutes at a time. And then that wasn't, I wasn't getting enough done and then, yeah, and then more than two hours. I, I just can't, it's not sustainable. Um, for me, I feel like I get a solid hour to two. Or maybe you hit like a two page, two or three page, um, quota or something, and then just don't even look at it and then go, and then I go exercise and I need to be outside and, or go on a hike or something.    [00:41:34] Miko Lee: Okay. Tell us about this book. What is it about, what's the timeline? No pressure.    [00:41:41] Thao Nguyen: I would love to tell you what it was about, if I knew better. Um, what it was. It's, it's a collection of essays and I'm calling it, so it's, it's, uh, it'll be out on Gray Wolf, um, into, in spring of 27. And so it is due relatively soon 'cause they, it's a longer lead time. I'm calling it a community memoir, um, because it's a collection of essays from different, it's all through my lens, but it's to celebrate these characters that I grew up with in Foster Virginia, within my family, within the community that I, they're so vivid to me and. Their stories. The quieter sides, the quieter moments of what it means to live in diaspora or what I wanna capture. And also what, you know, part of it is what shaped my musical life. And, and there are all these influences and elements that I, that I just wanted to celebrate and honor and. These people that I remember, but I, I'm, we're all, you know, I'm, I'm turning 42. I'm like, I, we're close to lo I'm close to losing the Hi-Fi detail of them, you know, and, and I don't know who else, is in a position to capture it. You know, and, and also it's this amazing opportunity to talk to my mom's, brothers and sisters. You know, there are tales. There's, of course, you grow up with, I think it's really different to, I was raised, you know, in Virginia by my, primarily by my mom. My grandmother and my aunt didn't come till I was five, but the stories that I heard. Mostly were from my mom who fled in, who left in 73, and her experience is so different than my grandmother, my aunt, all of my mom's siblings who stayed, who had to stay through the fall and, and live in a different regime, you know?    And so to get to hear those stories of just like the more quotidian indignities of what is life after you've lost your. To them they've lost their country, but they're still in it. You know, like, what is it to, with what were the rice rations like? Yeah. So, 50 years on what stays with people, you know, against the backdrop of the most devastating thing that can happen is that like the rice was so broken and it was so rationed and the quality of it was so infuriating and that they and my uncle talks about just for the 50th anniversary, I went back, I had an event, um, I think at the Smithsonian, and I went and I was staying with my uncle, and so I was able to ask them questions and he remembers buying meat on the black market. But you, you'd go to this market, you'd make eye contact with the person. They, you follow them to a behind the stall. They give you this meat wrapped in newspaper. You don't even know what it is. You don't, you can't unwrap it till you get home, you know? Anyway, those are the things that I, I just am so fascinated by, and I, there's just this kind of humanity and life in them that I wanna help. Um, record and if nothing else, just so that I know that it gives me an opportunity to ask these questions. Um, there's stuff about, you know, I'm estranged from my father and I have a lot there, there are things that I, you know, it just, these essays are helping me, better understand and, and process. these open-ended. storylines that, that, have punctuated and haunted me.    [00:45:38] Miko Lee: And this is your first book, right?    [00:45:40] Thao Nguyen: It is, yes.    [00:45:42] Miko Lee: What made you decide to do a book format and also essays, I heard you say? Mm-hmm. Um, as opposed to another album or a series of songs.    [00:45:52] Thao Nguyen: Um, I've always wanted to be a writer. Bef I wanted to be a writer before I was a songwriter, before I wanted to do anything. And I think it scares me the most in my life. And, and it was time to, you know, the opportunity came up, um, very fortunately to get to write a book for Gray Wolf, which of which I'm a huge fan, you know, and, uh, it's a true honor to be affiliated with them. And. Uh, I wanted to do it because it's a lifelong goal and dream, that actually is way scarier to me than making music and performing music. So I, I kind of just needed to see that I, I needed to try.    [00:46:38] Miko Lee: And why an essay format?    [00:46:40] Thao Nguyen: Um, I think that's what naturally. For this, for the first go, it, it, it is what naturally I'm drawn to and what happens most easily. Uh, and I think they're similar to songs in that way. And I, I am very much as a writer, as a songwriter or any or prose writer, I want to try and just capture the, a moment and a feeling and I. Um, that's my main prerogative and my main compulsion when I write. And so for this first go, I'm hoping that there will be more, but this, yeah. Is, is just the, the easiest way to package it.    [00:47:28] Miko Lee: I'm absolutely looking forward to reading it. Now share about a musical. Tell me more    [00:47:34] Thao Nguyen: Musical. I don't know how much I can say besides, uh, it's not been announced yet, but I do, I have been in, I do spend a lot of time in New York, um, and it's an adaptation. Um, I. I shouldn't have. I, I just wanted to mention that it was happening, but I know now that I sh I can't actually say.    [00:47:56] Miko Lee: Okay. That's okay. It's secret, So how can our audiences find out more about you and your work? We'll put a link to your website absolutely. On their webs, on our, program page. But are there other ways that folks can find out more and keep up to date with what you're doing?   [00:48:11] Thao Nguyen: For sure there's, um, well, all the social media, um, outlets were on there @thaogetstaydown. And um, I have a substack called THAO For The Record, which actually was just me sort of documenting my process of making this next record. Um, but that is my preferred way to be in touch in a more long form, um, less harried way. And the new album is coming out in mid to late September. And so I'm really excited about that. And we're, we are gearing up for more touring, starting the summertime.    [00:48:54] Miko Lee: Excellent. Can't wait to listen to you more and hear the new, piece. And thank you so much for joining us on Apex Express.    [00:49:02] Thao Nguyen: Thank you so much for having me. It was such a joy to speak with you.   [00:49:05] Ayame Keane-Lee: The last song we're playing tonight is also the last on the album Temple. It's called “I've Got Something.”   MUSIC [00:53:51] That was “I've Got Something” by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. [00:53:55] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for listening tonight. Remember to reconnect to your ancestral technologies and hold in the power of tenderness. Please check out our website, kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about our show and our guests tonight. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Preti Mangala-Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by me Miko Lee, and edited by Ayame Keane-Lee. Have a great night.            The post APEX Express – 6.18.26 Talk Story with Thao Nguyen appeared first on KPFA.

APEX Express is a weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. On this episode, host Miata Tan is joined by guests from the South Asian Coalition, an emergent national network committed to collective liberation and solidarity. Together they explore what it means to build South Asian political power in this moment—and how cross-movement solidarity can shape a more just, multiracial future. Learn more about the South Asian Coalition Website | Instagram | Policy Priorities   The South Asian Coalition was convened in October 2024 by: Manavi, Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, Muslims for Just Futures, and Raksha.   Transcript ​[00:00:00]  Miata Tan : Hello and welcome. You are tuning in to APEX Express, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I'm your host, Miata Tan. Tonight, we're focusing on South Asian communities and the organizers working to build political power. South Asians are one of the fastest-growing racial groups in the United States, Over six million people [00:01:00] and roughly a quarter of the Asian American population. South Asian is used as a broad umbrella term for people with roots in countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and sometimes Afghanistan. Though exact definitions can vary across communities and organizations. And as we'll talk about tonight, within the South Asian diaspora who call the United States home, you have a mix of nationalities, religion, immigration status, and more. Tonight, I'm joined by four people working to address the issues impacting South Asian communities in the US and beyond. At a time when questions of belonging, safety, and political power continue to shape immigrant communities across the country, South Asian organizers are building new forms of solidarity while also grappling with the diversity and complexity within their own communities. The first voice you'll hear is Sabiha Basrai Sabiha is the daughter of Muslim Gujarati immigrants and has been [00:02:00] organizing with the Bay Area-based Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA, since 2009. Here's Sabiha helping us to understand how South Asian political organizing has evolved in the United States, especially in the post 9/11 era Sabiha Basrai: Thanks for the opportunity to do some reflection this year marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11, which was a real a political flashpoint that absolutely changed my life because I was a 19-year-old college student trying to figure out a lot of things about how the world works and my place in it, and my own identity and the multiple identities I hold. Uh, and also where my responsibilities lied in solidarity, not just with other Muslims who were being targeted, but our broad immigrant diasporas and allies, uh, who have experienced discrimination in different forms from the state. So thinking about the ways in which- organizing happened in the, months and years after 9/11 to support immigrant [00:03:00] rights that was really a time in which new projects formed, um, or existing projects kind of found a new focus. ASATA as an organizing project, as a group of volunteers, has both done things like shown up to support folks being called up for the NCR's Special Registration Program and also participate in direct action protests in solidarity against the war, and has continued to be part of coalitional work regionally in the Bay Area. And, you know, more recently, uh, when we think about the ways in which our communities under, are under increased pressure with the Trump administration's immigrant policies, there have been also opportunities to build more relationships and make sure that as we advocate for our community's rights, we're doing so in formation with others, not just focusing on one particular bad piece of legislation, but connecting that to a larger story, to really build towards liberation for all of us. I'll [00:04:00] just add, too that those relationships that were kind of seeded and invested in in that moment of crisis and anxiety and fear have endured in many ways to now. The fact that that very ecosystem is actually growing in this moment is a testament to the relationships that were built in those days. Miata Tan : That was Sabiha Basrai grounding us in the history of South Asian political organizing in the US. As she mentioned, for many South Asians, 9/11 marked a particularly mobilizing moment, one that helped our communities organized and built solidarity. To help us better understand how that moment influenced the evolution of progressive South Asian activism, we now turn to Deepa Iyer, South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at Building Movement Project and brings more than 25 years of experience in Asian American organizing and advocacy Deepa Iyer: I think that I would say that there [00:05:00] were, looking back, a couple of trends and themes that we can pull out from that time. one is that there was definitely a shift in the general consciousness of South Asian communities about our place in American society, our understanding of racism, Islamophobia, and also the role of the state. And so we had a situation where both hate violence and state violence were actually being endured by South Asian, Muslim, Arab communities. And so I think that there was a shift in the ways in which our communities began to think about ourselves in the United States. A second piece is the growth of a field, an ecosystem of South Asian organizations in the wake of the attacks and the global war on terror. So we began to see a lot of groups that were actually formed or becoming more staffed up in the weeks and months after 9/11. For example, the Sikh [00:06:00] Coalition was actually birthed the evening of the attacks, and an organization that I was close to, SALT, was also emerging and forming in the months after 9/11 as well. So we began to see that a, a field was growing. And the third, sort of theme I would point out that Sabihah alluded to is this sense of solidarity, that instead of sort of being siloed as, you know, South Asians working within just our communities and just talking about certain specific issues, there was real sense that we needed to collaborate and build bridges with Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and, Black communities in the United States to understand the trajectory of racism and xenophobia, and how they were all kind of coming together in the weeks after 9/11. Those three themes and trends are what, when I look back, I see coming up over and over again in our messaging and in our advocacy. Miata Tan : [00:07:00] That was Deepa Iyer, as you heard from Deepa, collaboration across movements was essential in helping South Asian communities to understand and respond to the waves of xenophobia in the wake of 9/11. Now we turn to Rajiv Narayan and Farah Mahesri, who lead national policy work at the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA together they launched and now co-lead ASATA's new political base building group, ASATA Power. Rajiv begins by reflecting on what South Asian communities are facing today and what has and hasn't changed since 9/11. Rajiv Narayan: I think unfortunately many of the challenges present in the early 2000s remain today. They take new form. Some have evolved and transformed, but they were ex- existed in, in much the same form following 9/11. One of the, the instances in which I, I learned about that is at the recent South Asian Coalition convening where we did this exercise in mapping a number of [00:08:00] historical and present day events, as well as a future vision of things that are important to our organizations and to our movements. And something that we reflected on together in the convening is that a number of these attacks on our communities have waxed and waned, uh, at different periods in time, dating back to the, the 1960s and truly at, even at the beginning of, you know, the 19th century and the late 18th century. And so, to answer your question specifically, in the early 2000s, like Deepa and Sabihah mentioned, we've dealt with, uh, an incredible expression of Islamophobia of, uh, anti-Brown and anti-Black racism and hate speech. There was a, in, in general a skepticism and unwelcoming of South Asian communities. And unfortunately with the current federal administration and political discourse in our country, uh, a number of those same themes are relevant today and take on similar forms, whether they're in [00:09:00] response to what the federal administration is doing in countries like Iran or previous administrations have done in Afghanistan or Pakistan. I think all of those events underscore all the more so that it's important for our organizations to, organize together, much as we did in the early 2000s, to address these harms, to remember what they look like at previous stages of history, and to fight to prevent them again from happening in the future. Miata Tan : Farah, perhaps you could speak a bit to the organizing. What did that look like, a few years ago, and what does that look like today? How has that changed? Farah Mahersi: Rajiv and I started ASATA Power a couple of years ago specifically to be able to look forward to practice radical imagination, and fight for not just protection of our communities, which we will always do. That is built into our DNAs. It's what we know. It's how we move. And also to fight for things that we want, to build the world that we want to live in so that we're not constantly caught in these cycles. And as we're doing [00:10:00] that, we are learning a lot about how organizing is happening today, the BLM movement, Black Lives Matter, and incredible street power, but also that movement's ability to change our national discourse and change what is baseline, what we should be demanding, and how we are visioning a future that is built on policies governance and hard material changes in our lives is profound. beyond that, also the Palestine solidarity movement over the last couple of years has rewritten every book about organizing. And so I think that it is an interesting moment of both a little bit of sadness, to be honest, that we are still fighting some of these same fights and we are still in some of these same dynamics that we have been for 25 years, and the profound opportunity that we have to build power and to look forward, and I think that is, more true in the Bay Area than it is almost everywhere else. Uh, because of what our workforce looks like, because of the sheer [00:11:00] amount of wealth that is accumulated in this little corner of our world, and also when you look around at the political power and people who hold political power or are running for political power and elected office around the Bay Area, you could really start to see not just how South Asians are increasingly politicized and increasingly looking to build electoral and political power, but also s- very specifically progressive political power. And so when you look to Congress now, The progressive caucus is full of South Asian progressives who are leading the charge, who are doing some of this critical work, that's part of our organizing strategy, is to be part of those conversations and to continue to push and to continue to, again, advocate for policies and changes at that big level to make the future we want possible. Miata Tan : I love that. Coming together to dream and really fight. Rajiv, you are leading this work at the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action. Can you speak more to why the Bay Area [00:12:00] is a, like, a distinct microcosm in this progressive South Asian movement? Rajiv Narayan: Of course. So Farah and I, we both work together at ASATA Power, and ASATA is sort of political power building project within the auspices of, uh, ASATA which has been operating in the Bay Area for more than 25 years now. I think what makes the Bay Area a microcosm of the South Asian diaspora is a tremendous amount of diversity and, uh, a set of interrelated intersectional challenges. So you have, uh, folks of South Asian descent with all different immigration histories. So I'm, for example, a person, um, who has birthright citizenship in the United States as I was born here. But there are folks who immigrated here, like my parents and had to attain their citizenship uh, through the, the US legal system, and folks beyond that who are refugees or asylees or are undocumented due to a variety of political and social and economic pressures. And so we all coexist in this same space across an economic gradient. So there are folks [00:13:00] who are very well compensated in the tech sectors and healthcare sectors sometimes, uh, characterized, uh, as part of a, a model minority myth, um, as representatives of the South Asian diaspora, um, within the San Francisco Bay Area and the United States broadly. And then there are whole variety of South Asians who are working in less well-compensated, often quite exploited industries. For example, in, care industries as people who are providing childcare or senior care services, people who are working in the restaurant industry folks who are lesser compensated within healthcare as well as in tech industries and other ways. Of course, those economic positions interact with the political and legal system. So for example, even if a person might be, um, well-compensated in a tech job in the Bay Area, um, which they attained by way of an H-1B visa that person might be subject to exploitative labor conditions based on the, uh, the legal configuration of how H-1B [00:14:00] visas are treated. For example, that you depend on your employer for your immigration status in this country, which changes the worker-employer relationship in a way that makes it very difficult to identify workplace abuses. beyond that, we also have a diverse range of South Asians across the age gradient. So we have folks who are quite young, who are in Gen Z, and are entering politics in a completely different way than somebody like myself or Deepa entered politics at, in earlier in, in our lives and experience it today, which provides an opportunity for us to learn from earlier generations and to also share lessons from our political experience. So like with many things, the Bay Area has it all, the good and the bad, and ASATA and ASATA Power work within that, that space to identify opportunities for solidarity. Miata Tan : That was Rajiv Narayan and Farah Mehestri. Through their work with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA, Rajiv and Farah are helping to build South Asian political power here in the Bay Area and [00:15:00] nationwide. The ASATA team and all four of our guests tonight are connected through the South Asian Coalition, a network of local and national organizations focused on advancing policy issues affecting South Asian communities and building shared spaces for strategy and collaboration. To better understand this evolving movement of progressive South Asian action, let's return to Deepa Iyer, who shares how and why this coalition came together Deepa Iyer: Yeah. I really appreciate Rajiv bringing up, um, how- what is happening in the Bay Area is part of a larger movement. And what I would say about this ecosystem, this field that I talked about earlier, and I've been able to understand this through the course of the work I've done, but also a book I've written about post 9/11 America, is that so much happens on the coasts, and we often forget that there are organizations and are communities that are really [00:16:00] growing in other parts of the country, right? You know, I grew up in Kentucky, um, and there are places like Kentucky and Indiana where you are seeing, um, more South Asians settle and build their lives there. So one of the things that I think has been important in thinking about as we come up on this 25th anniversary of 9/11 is how our coalition of South Asian groups, how that field has grown with these additional organizations, in geographic areas that are different, as well as the ways in which folks are organizing. So now we've got, for example, groups that are working with Bhutanese refugees or Nepali-speaking community members, or groups that are organizing around the exploitation of community members based on caste. These are, um, really important movement interventions and organizations that are growing. one of the key aspects of network infrastructure is the ability to connect with each other, [00:17:00] not to flatten our experiences and say we're all the same, but to actually find some threads of commonality in our shared struggle and our experiences, and to also know that together as collectives, as Farah mentioned earlier, we can actually build the futures that we wanna see. One of the really, I think, inspiring pieces of coalition building that I've been fortunate to work with and support along with, um, everyone here is the South Asian Coalition, which is this emergent network of now 35 organizations around the country, and this coalition really seeks to build relationships and strengthen relationships, engage in peer learning and skills building, make it clear that there are certain policy issues that we need to uplift and to advocate around, and to create opportunities and pathways for solidarity with larger movements. This coalition and the infrastructure that it's been [00:18:00] creating is a way for us to look at our ecosystem of South Asian organizing in this moment, and to really see what happens when we galvanize our power collectively. Miata Tan : and Deepa, can you share a bit about the various co-conveners that make up the South Asian Coalition?  Deepa Iyer: So the South Asian Coalition, um, as we've mentioned, is this emergent network of groups that address various issues but are aligned around shared values. And the groups that really came together to co-convene it include Asad the Power, as well as Muslims for Just Futures, Raksha, which is an organization in the South, and Manavi, which is based in New Jersey. And these four organizations really had the vision to set up the structure for the coalition. the organization where I work at, Building Movement Project, supports the coalition through infrastructure, so providing facilitation, providing resources, policy analysis, and creating the container to support [00:19:00] movements in that way, which is so critical for coalitions. Miata Tan : That was Deepa Iyer a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. after the break, we'll hear more from organizers and advocates working to address issues shaping South Asian communities today. Stay with us  [00:20:00] [00:21:00] that was “Phenom” by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. You are tuned into [00:22:00] APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I'm your host, Miada Tan. Tonight, I'm joined by four people who are working to address the issues impacting South Asian communities in the US and beyond. Back in March, organizers, advocates, and community leaders from across the country gathered in Washington, DC, for a national convening focused on the challenges and possibilities facing South Asian communities today. Here's Sabiha Basrai with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA. She speaks about how this coalition of progressive South Asian groups formed and why this moment called for it. Sabiha Basrai: So this new emergent South Asian Coalition had its first convening in Washington, DC in March, and this was, the culmination of, a little over a year of monthly Zoom calls which started because [00:23:00] we knew we were on the verge of a Trump re-election. Uh, we knew that there was this ecosystem of South Asian activism and organizing across the country. Some of us knew each other from previous collaborations, but some of us didn't. New organizations were forming, and there was this recognition that we need each other in order to face what's coming, and we are stronger together. And we know that being South Asian is not a monolith, uh, that we deal with within our own communities based on labor exploitation, caste discrimination, anti-Muslim violence. And when we talk to each other, when we connect, we give ourselves the best chance at being able to move through those pieces of pain and build towards a future where we can all feel a sense of belonging, feel represented, and an agency in shaping that future together. So what started with a few conversations with a few folks, grew steadily [00:24:00] and, um, and through some intentional work to, to kind of invite each other in, which is of course an ongoing process, we were able to unite under this umbrella called the South Asian Coalition. Uh, we committed to some shared political points of unity and kind of community agreements to really set some expectations with one another on how we could move well in formation. And, made sure we had pathways to share information with each other so that someone like me working in Oakland could understand what, uh, someone working in Texas or in Georgia was facing, what local policy positions they were needing to, to navigate. And, uh, we could give each other advice, give each other moral support, and also sharpen our political understandings. So, uh, these kind of, uh, regular check-ins was one way of just understanding what we were all facing and feeling connected. But, actually being together in person was remarkable. I cannot overstate how much of a difference it makes to be able to share [00:25:00] space and see each other as whole people and not just representatives of a particular organization or a particular issue area, and, have those in-between moments where we actually build, build some friendships. One of the things that was also really important for me to understand when we met together was just how important that intergenerational work is. we had folks in the room who were, in their 50s and 60s who had been doing this work for decades. And we had folks in the room who were in their 20s for whom 9/11 was, something that happened in history. The conversations that were happening across generations informed the way that we think about ourselves as a coalition and helped me also to let go of some of the constraints that, kept my imagination small about what we were capable of. I was really grateful that so many people attended and chose to prioritize that work. It's hard, you know, to take a pause from The daily work to leave, fly to [00:26:00] DC take those risks as well because for many of us, uh, going through TSA is no small thing. There's a lot of harassment and racism that still permeate, you know, these institutions. So not to minimize just the effort that ta- it takes to convene and really make the most of our time together. One of the things that we did while we were in DC together was hold a congressional briefing to really, uh, amplify and share the issues that were coming up for our communities that folks were already working very hard on. Miata Tan : That was Sabiha Basrai with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA. Now let's return to Rajiv Narayan, another member of the ASATA team and co-lead of their political action group, ASATA Power. Rajiv will take you inside the congressional briefing that Sabiha mentioned and how South Asian organizers from across the country shared the issues shaping their communities and what support is needed now Rajiv Narayan: We in ASATA Power worked in [00:27:00] collaboration with a number of the organizations in the South Asian coalition, to put together a congressional briefing on the issue of South Asians and immigration in the heart of Washington, DC, in the halls of Congress in Capitol Hill. And we were fortunate to do so in collaboration with Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Grace Meng. we had a number of, speakers representing, different perspectives and political struggles within the South Asian, uh, space in the United States, especially as it relates to immigration. So, for example, we had representatives from the Dalit Solidarity Forum talking about the plight of oppressed workers, caste-oppressed workers, in New Jersey working in a Hindu temple.  ​ Dr Roja Sunganthy-Singh – Dalit: I stand here as a Dalit, formerly known as an untouchable in India's caste system, speaking for over two hundred skilled Dalit artisans who were brought to the US from India to build the largest Hindu temple in New Jersey. In their words, ” We are the Indian stone workers of America, workers [00:28:00] rescued by the FBI in twenty twenty-one from forced labor conditions constructing the BAPS temple in New Jersey. we were brought to the US on R one visas and compelled to perform construction labor for over eighty-seven hours a week and paid just a dollar twenty an hour. Rajiv Narayan: We heard from, um, the executive director of the Sikh Coalition talking about Sikh truck drivers and religious workers and their experience under the federal regime's, uh, rule-making efforts. Harman Singh – Sikh Coalition: Uh, Punjabi Sikhs began entering the US trucking industry in large numbers during the nineteen eighties, and Sikh truck drivers and business owners have played a critical role in addressing driver shortages over the past several years. Unfortunately, Sikhs in this critical industry have become the subject of harmful rhetoric and policy from this current administration. These drivers are being excluded solely because of their specific immigration status and regardless of their driving histories, skills, knowledge, or English proficiency.  Rajiv Narayan: We heard from, the executive director of Asian Refugees United, who [00:29:00] spoke about the experience of Bhutanese refugees who have been rendered stateless by the current administration's, deportation efforts Robin Gurung – ARU: Because of the ethnic cleansing campaign of Bhutan government, more than hundred thousand Bhutanese citizens were forced to flee the country. For twenty years, I lived in a refugee camp in Nepal. In 2008, the government of this country came to rescue us. We were promised safety and security. But last year, that promise was broken. As of March 2025, over seventy of our community members are deported to Bhutan, the same country that persecuted us and made us refugees. These community members are kidnapped from their homes and jobs. They have been taken from their routine ICE check-ins. We know due process was not followed. Rajiv Narayan: We also heard from the executive director of Raksha, a domestic violence organization based in the Southern United States that has played an instrumental role in supporting South Asians who have been the victims [00:30:00] and who are now survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence, about the needs for supporting these kinds of organizations, with federal dollars and through the grant-making systems conditions. Aparna Bhattacharyya – Raksha: For thirty years, we have supported community members in navigating interpersonal violence, but also waves of racism and policy backlash.  South Asian and Indo-Caribbean survivors need safe places to turn, safe places that speak their language, understand their unique immigration and cultural needs. Raksha recently had $700,000 in OVC grants terminated by DOGE. additionally, we are still waiting for OVW sexual assault cultural funds for five months, where we have gotten no determination of whether we're getting that funding or not. Five months. Rajiv Narayan: We also heard from, the director of the South Asian American Justice Collaborative, which is currently, before the US Supreme Court in the birthright citizenship case, and [00:31:00] filed this foundational amicus brief detailing the story of South Asians in the United States going back to the 1600s. Klapana Peddibhotla – SAAJCO: Our brief pushes back against this notion that we are forever foreign.  South Asians actually arrived on these shores in the sixteen hundreds, and by the seventeen hundreds, South Asians were already asserting their rights here. In an Afghan immigrant actually fought in the Civil War in the Union Army. by the late nineteenth century, the largest farming group in Central California was formed by Punjabis. Today, South Asians are one of the largest immigrant populations in the US, but many families are caught in immigration backlogs that last for decades and make them vulnerable to the President's executive order restricting birthright citizenship. Rajiv Narayan: Across all of these speakers, you know, the, the, the message became very clear that we have so many different struggles, but they're all [00:32:00] united by a sense of solidarity for each other's political experiences under the same system of exploitation and oppression, and that there, there's so much that Congress can do in this moment to support the South Asian diaspora in the United States and, and even abroad in some cases. for ASATA Power's part, we, had the opportunity to put together over the course of the last year a policy brief on undocumented South Asians, and it was during the congressional briefing that we shared some pretty startling statistics that we, collected and collated from a number of public sources. And so what we were able to identify for the room is that there are about eight hundred thousand to nine hundred thousand undocumented South Asians in the United States, and because there are only six point five million South Asians in the US, both those who are undocumented and those who have birthright citizenship or are otherwise naturalized, refugees, asylees, and, and everyone in between. Of those six point five million South Asians One in eight of [00:33:00] them is undocumented, which is shocking and not something that somebody would understand at the outset given these problematic narratives like the model minority myth and whatever you see these days on X or Twitter about South Asian immigrants. So it's important for us not only to, to set the narrative straight and to identify both the diversity and opportunity for solidarity across our struggles, but to do so in the halls of power and to speak that truth to power directly. Miata Tan : That's Rajiv with ASATA Power reflecting on a recent congressional briefing in Washington, DC he helped to organize alongside other progressive South Asian leaders, organizers, and activists. Here's a snippet of Rajiv's opening remarks at the briefing Rajiv Narayan: I want to draw your attention to the slide behind me, they'll show a couple of images of South Asian community members who've been impacted recently by the horrific policies and practices of the federal administration. These members include Sheraz Fatehali Sachwani, a forty-eight-year-old citizen of Pakistan who died in ICE [00:34:00] detention last December. They include seventy-three-year-old Harjit Kaur, who was arrested during a routine ICE check-in, separated from her family, and deported to India without notice. I should say, I grew up seeing Harjit Kaur behind the counter at Sari Palace in Berkeley. She would help my mom try on saris. Her home was here. Her community was here. You know, these are just some of the names and stories of community members who have been affected by immigration policy as of late, and we hope that you will keep them in mind as you hear from our speakers today. There are many more we were not able to picture or name, but their stories are just as important. We'll be making many asks over the course of today's briefing. Some of those include the following: Congress should not increase funding for ICE or Border Patrol, including providing funds for detention facilities, especially in this funding moment. We have to remember that ICE is not a long-standing American institution. It was created in two thousand and two, recently, as part of the Homeland Security Act following nine [00:35:00] eleven. Miata Tan : That was Rajiv Narayan with ASATA Power speaking at a recent congressional briefing in Washington, DC. The briefing was part of a larger national convening organized by the South Asian Coalition, bringing together progressive South Asian groups from across the country. Now let's return to Deepa Iyer, who leads projects on solidarity and social movements at Building Movement Project here's Deepa reflecting on her takeaways from the congressional briefing Deepa Iyer: I think that there were so many pieces in that briefing that maybe people didn't know about that organizations are struggling with, and part of it is that, um, our communities, and Sabihah said this earlier, are not a monolith, right? And there are so many different ways in which we are experiencing what is happening right now in the United States, the fractures and the fissures that we're seeing. Rajiv spoke so well about the community needs and issues. One thing I'll lift up is actually the impact on nonprofit [00:36:00] organizations. Several of the groups that were, uh, speaking at the briefing noted how the attacks on nonprofits that are specifically working on issues like immigration in terms of losing federal funding and grants, being forced to certify that they are not addressing issues work that deal with undocumented immigrants, as well as the ways in which, um, nonprofit organizations are being, in some ways, seen as doing risky and un-American work. there is the, the exploitation of domestic terrorism as a frame that is being used right now to target certain nonprofit organizations. This is something that I think is not necessarily known to many people in terms of the ways in which national security, immigration issues are also affecting the nonprofit sector as a whole. And where I work at the Building Movement Project, we really look at the nonprofit sector and the health of the nonprofit sector, and we're [00:37:00] seeing that these types of external threats, the spotlight on organizations that are on the front lines, including South Asian groups, um, Muslim groups, Palestinian groups, that are working with, um, immigrant communities, queer and trans community members that are providing- Vital language access, service provision, community safety are really under threat right now, and this includes many of the organizations that were present at the, coalition's convening. So that's something that I also wanna lift up, that in addition to our communities who are facing the impact of the current moment in really acute ways, our nonprofit sector and our organizations are also dealing with a range of constraints and threats and difficulties. So that is one thing that came up over and over again. Miata Tan : That was Deepa Iyer with the Building Movement Project, highlighting the pressures facing the nonprofit sector right now, [00:38:00] especially as it relates to South Asian organizers, advocates, and communities. Let's return to Farah Mahesri with ASATA Pawa.  Farah Mahersi: One of the other things that I am very proud of for this congressional briefing that we did was that it was us telling our own stories and us presenting our own policy recommendations. There was no need to have, like, an expert come in and talk on behalf of our communities or try to represent our communities. We were the experts in the room, and we were really recognized and seen as that. As Rajiv mentioned, you know, there, the room was packed with Hill staffers and congressional staffers who were taking diligent notes as we spoke our truths Miata Tan : That was Farah Mahesri with ASATA Pawa reflecting on the recent congressional briefing she helped to organize, one that brought greater visibility to the experiences of South Asian immigrants. You'll hear more on how South Asian activists, organizers, and community groups [00:39:00] are mobilizing after this. Stay with us ​ Miata Tan : [00:40:00] [00:41:00] [00:42:00] That was Lion on the Hunt by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. You are tuned into APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I'm your host, Miata Tan. Tonight, we're talking about South Asian organizing in the United States and how community leaders are responding to immigration challenges, political representation, and the shifting landscape of civil rights back in March, organizers and advocates from across the country gathered in Washington, DC for a national convening focused on the challenges and possibilities facing South Asian communities today. Here's Rajiv Narayan with the Alliance of [00:43:00] South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA, reflecting on the importance of honoring both the diversity of the South Asian diaspora and the shared struggle that connects these communities Rajiv Narayan: Something I appreciate about, your work, Miata, at APEX Express, is to highlight both that diversity of the South Asian diaspora and the many struggles and experiences that unite our political experiences and our commitment to social justice. It, it used to be, and in, in some places it still is the case, that folks will use an over-broad group to represent all of the South Asian diaspora. For example, talking about all Brown people as Indian or Desi or to, to collapse all the differences in our community. And part of the power of the congressional briefing is that we are able to show that what it means to be South Asian is at once an incredibly diverse expression and at the same time a collective expression of solidarity. We can do two of these things at the same time. We can recognize our differences and fight for each other. One of my [00:44:00] favorite takeaways that I, I heard from Deepa at the briefing is that there are some staffers that came up to her and said, “I've never heard my story, my experience, my political struggles represented in a panel in this building in front of other congressional staffers.” And that's something that we can do, and we should do more of. There are so many ways in which we can tell the stories and highlight the campaigns of folks from different parts of the South Asian diaspora who are all fighting for a better life for all of us. Miata Tan : That was Rajiv Narayan with ASATA, in the recent congressional briefing that Rajiv helped to organize through the South Asian Coalition, organizers also pointed toward the future of South Asian organizing in the United States and the role of a new generation shaping it. back to Deepa Iyer with Building Movement Project. Here, Deepa Iyer: Some of the young folks that are entering or working at nonprofits now, supporting South Asian nonprofits don't have a living memory of 9/11 and the global war on terror, [00:45:00] and they have been politicized in different ways, right, over the last eight years, for example, the pandemic global wars, et cetera. And so there are a couple of ways in which I've been thinking about how we can support South Asian young people. so for example, how can we share historical analysis and political analysis so that young people understand that they are part of a trajectory of South Asian activism that actually started well before 9/11, before the 1960s, right, and that continues to today, so they don't feel fragmented. So that's something I've been sitting with a lot. Another is around pathways into public service and community service and into the nonprofit sector. So how could we support young people in terms of building their skills, in having pathways open to them into our nonprofit organizations? And then finally, how do we support them, um, so that they, can do this work for the long run? You know, we all struggle with burnout, we all [00:46:00] struggle with sustainability. what are some lessons learned that we can pass on? What are some best practices? that's something that's been sitting with me quite a bit since the gathering that we had, and I hope that the coalition will really think about, supporting young people's leadership and finding different avenues and pathways to do that. Miata Tan : That was Deepa Iyer reflecting on how movements can better support the next generation of South Asian organizers. Within the South Asian coalition, that work also means building long-term infrastructure for better collaboration. Now back to Sabiha Basrai with ASATA. Sabiha Basrai: I'm also really appreciating that the South Asian Coalition is this model for creating a container for many, many organizations to unite as a group while maintaining regional focus and individual issue priorities. I also wanna name that the place where I first learned how to do national coalition work was as a member of the National South Asian Coalition that ASATA had been part of. [00:47:00] It was facilitated by a group called SALT which played such a critical role in the post 9/11 era and continued to then work on DACA, creating resources for undocumented South Asians, along with other issues facing our diverse diasporas. And SALT closed a few years ago. It was a decision that I don't understand and was- has really left me with a lot of sadness and confusion. but I al- I know that sometimes institutions do end, but that the work does not end and the relationships do not end. And the South Asian Coalition is this emergent space that, um, is not led by any one organization. it is a space that is being invested in collectively, and we're really moving at the speed of trust so that we can be really laying that strong foundation that supports the work ahead. I'm really sitting with the ways in which sometimes this labor of Building the container, creating the container, [00:48:00] investing in the network. It's sometimes invisible labor, but it is the most critical because without it we can have moments of mass mobilization, but then that wasn't actually building any power over the long term. And I'm really looking forward to all of the very good work ahead, because I trust the relationships and the containers that we're building. Miata Tan : That was Sabiha reflecting on the collaborative infrastructure that the South Asian Coalition is helping to build. Now let's return to Deepa Iyer. I asked Deepa what campaigns are on the horizon for the coalition, especially as this year marks 25 years since 9/11. Deepa Iyer: As Sabiha mentioned, the coalition is a space for invested leadership, and so there are lots of different campaigns that groups within the coalition are eyeing and taking on. One of them Rajiv mentioned already is the fight around birthright citizenship. And so there are groups like SACHCO and others that showed up with a South Asian [00:49:00] delegation at the Supreme Court on April 1st when that case was being heard, and it was really great to see so many South Asians out there in a delegation along with other communities, to raise their voices on this really vital, pivotal issue. And so that is a campaign that some of the groups within the coalition are going to continue to be lifting up as we get the results of that case and moving forward. Another one that you mentioned, is around the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and there are groups that are considering, along with others in other movement spaces what does narrative strategy look like as we go into this time period? How do we think about the fact that we're marking the 25th anniversary in the same year that we're marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, right? how do we use 9/11 and its anniversary as a lens through which we understand empire, through which we understand the ways in which domestic [00:50:00] policies are being recirculated against other communities? And also this piece around awareness and education. this is an opportunity to share some of the personal experiences that many of us have around that moment in time, but also the ways in which our communities have built up themselves as well as the solidarity with other communities. So I think there are lots of ways in which organizations are thinking about that anniversary and how they can, utilize that moment, to draw greater attention to our community's experiences. Miata Tan : Rajiv, Farah, would you like to add anything about upcoming campaigns and how you're thinking about the South Asian political power movement moving forwards?  Rajiv Narayan: Yeah, I'm happy to talk about one sort of continuing campaign, which is that, like I mentioned, we put together this policy brief on undocumented South Asians, and we had this great opportunity to circulate and talk about it on Capitol Hill in DC. But it's also important for us to bring that story home. And so part of [00:51:00] what we'll be doing, um, for the remainder of, of this year is identifying opportunities to do town halls both, with community members and potentially with elected officials to help educate, do political education about the nature of undocumented peoples in the South Asian community. A large part of what we did in that policy brief is to collate all these numbers to tell you, how many folks might be undocumented, what is the proportion of undocumented people in the South Asian community. But an important, equally important contribution of that report is the nature of undocumented experiences. Why do people become undocumented? What are the factors that put them in that position, and what does it mean for a person to become undocumented? How can we support them, not just in different policy prescriptions, but also the ways that we talk about undocumented people and the South Asian community as a whole? So that'll, that'll be, um, a focus that we have, uh, and a contribution that we hope to make both in the, the Bay Area and beyond.  Farah Mahersi: I'll add to that, that it is election year. It is [00:52:00] a… I feel like we say every election is a critical election, and I do believe that that is very true this year. And so ASATA Power, as a political organization, will be making endorsements and talking through not just that it is important to vote, but it is really important and critical for us in this moment to vote for progressive candidates who are part of our, what is often called like a build coalition, who are here to help us build this world that we are dreaming of, who are aligned on policy positions. The other thing that we are working on locally and nationally is around the war budget. So as a group that has been so directly impacted by the global war on terror 4.5 million Muslims around the world who have been killed by US war-making in that global war on terror, and just watching kind of what the United States foreign policy in particular over the last couple of years has been, we have a particular point of view and a particular interest on tracking and watching things like the [00:53:00] largest, request for a defense budget in US history. How are those dollars being spent, And how those dollars that are being spent abroad to do war-making are also having a boomerang effect and coming back to impact our communities at home. So the same technologies that were developed and used in war-making through the global war on terror that impacted, uh, so many of our communities around the world for 25 years, a lot of that is the same technology that ICE is now using to go after undocumented South Asians in the United States, right? And so that's another way in which we really see our struggles are interconnected, and that we are wanting to dismantle als- a lot of these systems of harm, and also, again, at that intersection between both hate violence and state oppression that's happening. Miata Tan : That was Farah Mahestri with ASATA and ASATA Power. As she shared, ASATA Power is focused on the midterm elections and how war spending and post 9/11 policies continue to affect South Asian communities today. [00:54:00] To close out, we return to another ASATA organizer, Sabiha Basrai. Sabiha Basrai: So I wanted to bring the conversation back locally to the Bay Area again, and just thinking about, the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, which is, part of a network of AAPI and Asian organizing in the Bay Area as a space where South Asians progressive South Asians can actually build community, sharpen our political analysis, embrace our responsibilities here in the Bay Area in this political moment. And just also, lifting up that ASATA currently is working on things like the Oakland Arms Embargo or local community defense against ICE , environmental justice projects, and also looking for more ways to fight supremacist ideologies of Hindutva but in collaboration with anti-Zionist Jewish community activists. these are opportunities that we have here in the Bay Area. And also thinking about ways that we participate in mobilizations. Like, we show up for Reclaim MLK Day, [00:55:00] International Working Women's Day, May Day, the Trans March every year because we understand our responsibility to show up and to show up consistently. And so when I think about the South Asian Coalition and this moment of, okay, we've been trying to- we've built- been building towards this convening and this congressional briefing, and now we're on the other side of this moment, and we are kind of reflecting and coming back together around how we maintain this energy. Also wanted to highlight,  Some of the amazing work that many of our coalition members are, are already doing. One is Savaira, so Savaira United Against Supremacy is actually a coalition of work as well, they focused, their energy on addressing Hindu nationalism and and Hindutva ideology and the, and the many ways in which, the supremacist ideology is kind of insidiously part of institutions, policy even cultural work, uh, within our diaspora. they're so committed to both, like, [00:56:00] resisting the tides of hatred but also combating all forms of supremacist politics and the intersections between them. so their, their work has been a big part of my political education, and I'm really glad that they're part of this coalition. Every member of the coalition is bringing analysis and experience that cross-pollinates to the rest of us. So I'm looking forward to just more of that   also considering what ASATA's role is and how ASATA working in the Bay Area alongside so many other amazing organizing projects here can be strengthening those relationships nationally. Miata Tan : That was Sabiha Basrai with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, or ASATA.  This is APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, a weekly radio show uplifting the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. APEX Express airs every Thursday evening at 7:00 PM. And with that, we're at the end of our time here [00:57:00] tonight. We really appreciate you for tuning in to listen, and a huge thank you to our wonderful guests. For a transcript of tonight's episode, please visit our website. That's kpfa.org/program/apex-express  We've also added links on the episode page for tonight's show so you can learn more about the South Asian Coalition, ASATA, and all of the organizations we've talked about tonight, along with their upcoming campaigns as well. APEX Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by me, Miata Tan. Get some rest y'all. The post APEX Express – 5.28.26 – Building South Asian Power appeared first on KPFA.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer) gives a talk about belonging at a live performance at the Litquake Festival. San Francisco State University's Dr. Russell Jeung speaks about founding Stop AAPI Hate and Asian identity and belonging. He describes how the pandemic seems to have revived and strengthened longstanding hate towards Asian Americans, and explains his term for collective action against this, “flocking.” Thao Nguyen (of the Get Down Stay Down) plays a new song called “Keep It Moving.”Chapters:00:04:58Viet Thanh Nguyen speaks about belonging at a live event during in San Francisco.00:27:05Dr. Russell Jeung speaks about his research on belonging, collective action, and the founding of Stop AAPI Hate.00:40:20Thao Nguyen introduces her new song.SongWriterPodcast.comInstagram.com/SongWriterPodcastFacebook.com/SongWriterPodcastTikTok.com/@SongWriterPodcastYouTube.com/@SongwriterPodcastSongWriter is a music and songwriting podcast that turns stories into songs. Host Ben Arthur invites writers, poets, and musicians to share a story or poem, then pairs it with an original song written in response. Along the way, the show explores the creative process through intimate conversations and performances. Guests have included Questlove, Susan Orlean, David Gilmour, David Sedaris, George Saunders, and many more. Distributed by PRX, SongWriter also appears on the syndicated radio program Acoustic Café and in Paste Magazine. Learn more at SongWriterPodcast.com. Season seven is made possible by a grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation

This Episode also includes an E.W. Essay titled "Learjets" as well as an Uncle Cesare Essay titled "Bernie & Lil", and an excerpt from a piece by Wallace Stevens called "Extracts From Addresses To The Academy Of Fine Ideas." Our music this go round is provided by these wonderful artists: Thelonious Monk, Bob Dorough, Blossom Dearie, Andra Day, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Louis Armstrong, Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. Photo of John by Trudy Gerlach. Commercial Free, Small Batch Radio Crafted in the West Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania... Heard All Over The World. Tell Your Friends and Neighbors.

In this inaugural episode, Graywolf's executive editor Yuka Igarashi explores the theme of time with an interdisciplinary group of artists. First, we hear from Kweku Abimbola —Graywolf published his debut poetry collection, Saltwater Demands a Psalm in April. Then Lisa Hsiao Chen, author of the 2022 novel Activities of Daily Living, followed by performance artist, theater artist, and educator Daniel Alexander Jones. Lastly we hear from Thao Nguyen, best known for her band Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. The podcast opens with an introduction by Graywolf Press publisher, Carmen Giménez. If you'd like to make a donation to Graywolf Press, please check out our website at graywolfpress.org, and click the “support Graywolf ” tab at the top.  

Songwriter, performer, and multi-instrumentalist Thao Nguyen is celebrated for her richly percussive music and her fiercely delivered vocals. She has released five albums with the band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down including the most recent, Temple, a powerful exploration of Nguyen's identity as a queer person and the daughter of Vietnamese refugees. Her collaborations with Joanna Newsom, Andrew Bird and many others have earned her an esteemed place in the indie rock world. In 2019, Nguyen assumed the role of host for the popular podcast Song Exploder. Samin Nosrat is a cook, teacher, and author of the James Beard Award-winning cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. She is an Eat columnist at The New York Times Magazine and the host and executive producer of the Netflix original documentary series based on her book. Nosrat learned to cook at Chez Panisse, alongside Benedetta Vitali and Dario Cecchini in Italy, and at the former restaurant Eccolo in Berkeley. As an undergrad at UC Berkeley, Nosrat studied poetry with Bob Hass, Shakespeare with Stephen Booth, and journalism with Michael Pollan. She currently hosts a popular podcast Home Cooking, alongside musician Hrishikesh Hirway. On January 20, 2023, Samin Nosrat and Thao Nguyen had an onstage conversation at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco about their work, their experiences as children of immigrants, and dealing with unexpected fame. Thao Nguyen also performed two songs.

Welcome to a bonus episode courtesy of your IIS pals where Luke & Mike sit down with their dear old pal named Steve. We know you will find some pleasure in it. Steve is not a replacement for Scott at all! This is just a one-off we have been meaning to do for quite some time now. We know Steve is a complex, fascinating character who has immense knowledge discerned from years of applying his keen analytical perspective. Give this episode a chance. We're confident you will find entertainment within this offering. We close this bonus session with a selection from Steve called Meticulous Bird by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. If any of this nonsense strikes you, please email the show isitsafepod@gmail.com to improve the overall quality of future conversations. We love you all!

Ivy & Liam return Part 1 music from Sam Fender, Kevin Ayers, The Replacements, The Olympians, Parquet Courts, Thao and The Get Down Stay Down, Medicine Head, Anderson Paak, Pere Ubu, Lush, Cody Chestnutt, The Nerves and Los Saicos.

Monkey Pox? Hedonists? Libertines? Bad guests? Oh, and there is a bigot on UTD’s payroll. Enjoy the featured song “Meticulous Bird” by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

June is #Pride month. On this week's show, we spotlight #lgbtqia Asian and Asian-American artists.Hayley Kiyoko, Rina Sawayama, Hikaru Utada [pictured], Japanese Breakfast, Mitski, Thao and The Get Down Stay Down, Holland, alextbh, mxmtoon, UMI, Raveena, yaeji, TOKiMONSTA, Vardaan Arora, Vivek Shraya, Emily Vu, Sofya Wang, etc.

We have a special treat for you lovelies today. Tunes & Tumblers welcomes one of the most impressive voices we've ever had to the airwaves. Thao Nguyen of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down steps onto the mic to discuss her latest project For the Record, a blog documenting the process of writing and recording of her forthcoming 7th album. Pedro also mixes one of our most ambitious cocktails to date. The Marrow pays homage to both Thao's 2020 album Temple and her Vietnamese heritage. Peep the recipe below and dive in. Cheers!Listen to Temple by Thao & the Get Down Stay DownSubscribe to For the Record: https://www.thaofortherecord.community/A Marrow:Combo 1 1 oz Coffee Liqueur 1/2 oz Coconut Milk 1/2 oz Grenadine Combo 2 1 oz Rum 1/4 oz Banana Liqueur 1/4 oz Coconut Milk Grated Ginger Combo 3 Midori Lemon Grass Mint Crushed Ice Mix combo 1 together and pour into glass. Fill 2/3 of the glass with crushed ice. Mix combo 2 and layer into glass over the back of a bar spoon. Slightly overfill glass with crushed ice. For combo 3, lightly drizzle midori to create vibrant green layer and garnish with stock of lemon grass and mint. Enjoy!Thao Nguyen on Facebook Thao Nguyen on Instagram Thao Nguyen on Twitter Episode Playlist: Theme Music by New New Girlfriend#Mood Jingle by Jacob Jeffries & Jesse McGintyTunes & Tumblers on Instagram Tunes & Tumblers on Twitter Tunes & Tumblers on Facebook Tunes & Tumblers on Spotify Call the Tunes & Tumblers Hotline: (626) 604-6477Cover art by Pedro Isaac Chairez

We have a special treat for you lovelies today. Tunes & Tumblers welcomes one of the most impressive voices we've ever had to the airwaves. Thao Nguyen of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down steps onto the mic to discuss her latest project For the Record, a blog documenting the process of writing and recording of her forthcoming 7th album. Pedro also mixes one of our most ambitious cocktails to date. The Marrow pays homage to both Thao's 2020 album Temple and her Vietnamese heritage. Peep the recipe below and dive in. Cheers! Listen to Temple by Thao & the Get Down Stay Down Subscribe to For the Record: https://www.thaofortherecord.community/ A Marrow: Combo 1 1 oz Coffee Liqueur 1/2 oz Coconut Milk 1/2 oz Grenadine Combo 2 1 oz Rum 1/4 oz Banana Liqueur 1/4 oz Coconut Milk Grated Ginger Combo 3 Midori Lemon Grass Mint Crushed Ice Mix combo 1 together and pour into glass. Fill 2/3 of the glass with crushed ice. Mix combo 2 and layer into glass over the back of a bar spoon. Slightly overfill glass with crushed ice. For combo 3, lightly drizzle midori to create vibrant green layer and garnish with stock of lemon grass and mint. Enjoy! Thao Nguyen on Facebook Thao Nguyen on Instagram Thao Nguyen on Twitter  Episode Playlist:  Theme Music by New New Girlfriend #Mood Jingle by Jacob Jeffries & Jesse McGinty Tunes & Tumblers on Instagram Tunes & Tumblers on Twitter Tunes & Tumblers on Facebook Tunes & Tumblers on Spotify  Call the Tunes & Tumblers Hotline: (626) 604-6477 Cover art by Pedro Isaac Chairez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jump in your time machine. To commemorate the surprise hit of Wilderado's "Head Right," we're turning back the clock to our interview with lead singer Max Rainer with Ryan taking the reigns. Please hit 88 miles per hour responsible.--We have a special treat for you lovelies today. Tunes & Tumblers welcomes one of the most impressive voices we've ever had to the airwaves. Thao Nguyen of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down steps onto the mic to discuss her latest project For the Record, a blog documenting the process of writing and recording of her forthcoming 7th album. Pedro also mixes one of our most ambitious cocktails to date. The Marrow pays homage to both Thao's 2020 album Temple and her Vietnamese heritage. Peep the recipe below and dive in. Cheers!Listen to Temple by Thao & the Get Down Stay DownSubscribe to For the Record: https://www.thaofortherecord.community/A Marrow:Combo 1 1 oz Coffee Liqueur 1/2 oz Coconut Milk 1/2 oz Grenadine Combo 2 1 oz Rum 1/4 oz Banana Liqueur 1/4 oz Coconut Milk Grated Ginger Combo 3 Midori Lemon Grass Mint Crushed Ice Mix combo 1 together and pour into glass. Fill 2/3 of the glass with crushed ice. Mix combo 2 and layer into glass over the back of a bar spoon. Slightly overfill glass with crushed ice. For combo 3, lightly drizzle midori to create vibrant green layer and garnish with stock of lemon grass and mint. Enjoy!Thao Nguyen on Facebook Thao Nguyen on Instagram Thao Nguyen on Twitter Episode Playlist: Theme Music by New New Girlfriend#Mood Jingle by Jacob Jeffries & Jesse McGintyTunes & Tumblers on Instagram Tunes & Tumblers on Twitter Tunes & Tumblers on Facebook Tunes & Tumblers on Spotify Call the Tunes & Tumblers Hotline: (626) 604-6477Cover art by Pedro Isaac Chairez

We have a special treat for you lovelies today. Tunes & Tumblers welcomes one of the most impressive voices we've ever had to the airwaves. Thao Nguyen of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down steps onto the mic to discuss her latest project For the Record, a blog documenting the process of writing and recording of her forthcoming 7th album. Pedro also mixes one of our most ambitious cocktails to date. The Marrow pays homage to both Thao's 2020 album Temple and her Vietnamese heritage. Peep the recipe below and dive in. Cheers! Listen to Temple by Thao & the Get Down Stay Down Subscribe to For the Record: https://www.thaofortherecord.community/ A Marrow: Combo 1 1 oz Coffee Liqueur 1/2 oz Coconut Milk 1/2 oz Grenadine Combo 2 1 oz Rum 1/4 oz Banana Liqueur 1/4 oz Coconut Milk Grated Ginger Combo 3 Midori Lemon Grass Mint Crushed Ice Mix combo 1 together and pour into glass. Fill 2/3 of the glass with crushed ice. Mix combo 2 and layer into glass over the back of a bar spoon. Slightly overfill glass with crushed ice. For combo 3, lightly drizzle midori to create vibrant green layer and garnish with stock of lemon grass and mint. Enjoy! Thao Nguyen on Facebook Thao Nguyen on Instagram Thao Nguyen on Twitter  Episode Playlist:  Theme Music by New New Girlfriend #Mood Jingle by Jacob Jeffries & Jesse McGinty Tunes & Tumblers on Instagram Tunes & Tumblers on Twitter Tunes & Tumblers on Facebook Tunes & Tumblers on Spotify  Call the Tunes & Tumblers Hotline: (626) 604-6477 Cover art by Pedro Isaac Chairez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode: the calendar gets full; sticking with tape; working with big bands; musical conservatism; owning the means of production; women in recording; love on tour. Interviews with: Daniel Handler, Beau Sorenson, and Maryam Qudus. Featured tracks: "Holy Roller" by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, "Trance Manual" by John Vanderslice, and "Buck and Judy" by Deerhoof.

In this conversation, we go deep into the art of the music for “Marrow,” the latest single from Thao & the Get Down Stay Down off the deluxe edition of their album, Temple. Thao and filmmaker Linda Mai Green discuss their collaboration for the music video for “Marrow,” the meaning behind the song, and Thao shares the influence her work as host of the podcast Song Exploder had on her overcoming creative blocks in writing the album.

Solo artist Thao (formerly of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down) gets ready to strap on her guitar and hit the road on tour this spring. Let's enjoy the driving title track from the deluxe album version of “Temple.” 

To hear the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/TrueAnonPod ---------- In this episode: the calendar gets full; sticking with tape; working with big bands; musical conservatism; owning the means of production; women in recording; love on tour. Interviews with: Daniel Handler, Beau Sorenson, and Maryam Qudus. Featured tracks: "Holy Roller" by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, "Trance Manual" by John Vanderslice, and "Buck and Judy" by Deerhoof.

In this episode, we interview Thao. With The Get Down Stay Down no more, Thao Nguyen and her new band are hitting the road in March in support of last fall's Temple (Deluxe Edition). In this podcast, Thao talks about the albums, songs and concerts that changed her life and inspired her to make music. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/magnet-magazine/support

This week, Shane Harris talks with pioneering multi-media artist Laurie Anderson. A retrospective of her work, called “The Weather,” is currently showing at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. Several of Anderson's works explore themes of security, terrorism, and surveillance. Her piece “Habeas Corpus” is a monumental scale video and sculpture installation about Mohammed el Gharani, who was imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for seven years. Anderson talks about her life in New York during the pandemic, her creative influences, and the surprising ways that her storytelling intersects with national security. For instance, her biggest musical hit, “O Superman,” was inspired by the Iran hostage crisis. Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo, with engineering assistance from Ian Enright. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.Among the works mentioned in this episode are:Laurie Anderson: https://laurieanderson.com/ “The Weather” at The Hirshhorn: https://hirshhorn.si.edu/exhibitions/laurie-anderson-the-weather/ “Habeus Corpus”: https://laurieanderson.com/?portfolio=habeas-corpus Anderson's Norton Lectures: https://laurieanderson.com/2021/12/16/norton-lectures-spending-the-war-without-you/ “O Superman”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfpi2H8tOE Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's "Phenom": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGwQZrDNLO8 Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Durée : 57:28 - Belle ambiance dans cette nouvelle émission des VA ! On vous parle du site RateYourMusic.com, du groupe Thao & the Get Down Stay Down et de leur 2ème album Know better Learn faster! RateYourMusic.com est un site une énorme base de données d'artistes et d'albums. Les utilisateurs peuvent noter les albums. Créé au début de l'ère Internet, c'est aujourd'hui une référence ! Parfait pour connaître les albums qui marchent en ce moment comme Little Simz, re.découvrir les classiques du genre comme Radiohead, ou faire des découvertes comme Benny Sings! Titres diffusés : Radiohead - Electioneering / Little Simz - Point and Kill / Benny Sings Pour la Chronic, on vous fait découvrir les américains de Thao & the Get Down Stay Down. Vous allez succomber à ces mélodies indie folk rock catchy et subtiles ! Un groupe méconnu et c'est dommage ! Ils ont sorti 5 albums dont le dernier Temple en 2000. On vous diffuse le vinyle du 2ème album Know better Learn faster, sorti en 2009. Titres diffusés : Good bye and good luck / trouble was for / When we swam / know better learn faster Pour le fil rouge musical, on a diffusé Uckers, Pink Siifu, un titre mystère et Cypress Hill!

This week, an eclectic mix of pop, electronic, R&B, hip-hop, indie, and jazz music from Asian and Asian-American artists.Music from Perfume, CHAI, Yoasobi, BABYMETAL, beabadoobee, Yuna, The Linda Lindas, Mitski [pictured], Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Japanese Breakfast, Jay Som, Nujabes, H.E.R., Epik High, 박혜진 Park Hye Jin, Connie Han, etc.

In this episode Charlene gets into it deep with the magnificent artist Thao Nguyen. She is most well-known as the charismatic frontwoman of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, whose latest album Temple was released in 2020. Charlene and Thao talk about her long and prolific songwriting career, visiting Vietnam for the first time, and why she feels more at peace now than any time in her 14 years of making music. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goldenhourwithkaye/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goldenhourwithkaye/support

On this episode, Santa Cruz singer/songwriter/producer Henry Chadwick chats about the release of his brand new LP “We All Start Again.” We talk pandemic productivity, the noise of 2019, The Beatles, his all-time favorite albums and why the LP is NOT a lost art. Plus we dive deep into his new music. AND of course, brand new Bay area tunes from artists like GEOGRAPHER, THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN, BOBCAT ROB, HOWLIN RAIN, MITCH ROCKET, THE REDS, PINKS & PURPLES, NINA DURANGO, SETH LAEL and J SIAM.

Julien Baker, mxmtoon, Thao Nguyen and Quinn Christopherson discuss how to separate work life and leisure time, learning to embrace being selfish, and failing at keeping your studio tidy, Julien Baker is one-third of the group boygenius, along with Grammy-nominated Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. She describes her music as “indie folk” and in it explores her relationship with faith, addiction, friends, and the human condition. Her third album, Little Oblivions, was released earlier this year. Joining her is California-born musician and vlogger Maia, also known as mxmtoon. Maia's debut EP, Plum Blossom, had over 100 million streams, with her music blending pop, folk, emo, and hip-hop. Her latest project was translating her song Prom Dress into the fictional language of Simlish for computer game The Sims. Thao Nguyen is an American singer-songwriter based in San Francisco, who comes from a family of Vietnamese refugees. She's released seven studio albums as a solo artist and as part of her group, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. In 2015, her band was invited to perform in Vietnam – the first time she'd visited the country, alongside her mother. Born and raised in Alaska, Athabaskan and Inupiaq singer-songwriter Quinn Christopherson broke onto the scene in 2019 with Erase Me, which won him NPR's coveted Tiny Desk Contest. His music is deeply personal; Erase Me explores his experiences as a transgender man.

Sound & Vision's mini-series, Behind the Console, highlights the stories of women and nonbinary audio engineers who are navigating what is still a very male-dominated field. Today we meet two front of house audio engineers who both have had to pivot their careers. The first is Dana Wachs, who has worked with Yvyes Tumor, Perfume Genius, MGMT, Grizzly Bear, Cat Power, St. Vincent, Deerhunter and more. Dana talks about losing work during the pandemic when tours got cancelled. She was living off her savings and spending 7 hours a day on the phone with the Department of Labor to stay afloat. She eventually pivoted from doing sound for touring acts to finding a salaried job engineering live audio streams. We then meet Seattle-based Alicia Blake who took a few-years hiatus from music to become a baker. In the past she's worked with Head and the Heart, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Destroyer and more. She's now back on the road, tour managing for Sylvan Esso. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 437 also includes an E.W. Essay titled "Oneness." We share a passage on Compassionate Police from Thich Nhat Hanh's book titled "Anger." We have an E.W. poem called "Mid-September." Our music this go round is provided by these wonderful artists: Thelonious Monk, Cracker, PJ Harvey, Middle Kids, the Violent Femmes, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. Commercial Free, Small Batch Radio Crafted in the West Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania... Heard All Over The World. Tell Your Friends and Neighbors... 

This is a Bonus episode to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month. Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's latest album Temple opens with a chunky Vietnamese rock riff, the kind that Thao Nguyen's mother would have grown up dancing to—in the Vietnam of her youth, before war came to define the country. The title track is sung from her mother's point of view and includes snippets of real conversations. The most poignant being her stoic mother's advice to her to now "find her own freedom."Temple is about this quest for freedom and Thao's desire to live her most honest life. A search which has proved elusive, sitting at the crucible of race, gender and sexuality. The very things Thao had avoided discussing when she was coming up in the indie rock scene. While her 2016 album A Man Alive started this process of trying to reconcile her past by dealing with the loss she felt when her father abandoned the family, that was only the first step. With Temple she has finally come out publically as queer, started to come to terms with her own internalized racism and galvanized herself to be more of an activist. I had always admired Thao and her music from afar. She seemed an accomplished musician and songwriter who made singular records. I was not prepared for how honest and searing her work has always been. She might have never wanted to discuss her absent father, ethnicity or queer identity but it's in the DNA of her music. Many thanks for this possible — Thao Nguyen for writing brave songs and allowing me to tell this story. To Ribbon Music, Domino Records and Domino Publishing for use of songs from We the Common, A Man Alive and Temple. Additionally to Adam Thompson for use of songs "Temple," "Phenom" and "Pure Cinema." To Kill Rock Stars for use of "Bag of Hammers" from We Brave Bee Stings and All and NPR's Tiny Desk Concert for the live performance. To film-maker and director Todd Krolczyk for use of Nobody Dies documentary. And to publicist Sydney Yeo at Domino Recording Company. Songs Featured: "Temple," "Bag of Hammers," "Tallymarks," "We The Common (For Valerie Bolden)," "Kindness Be Conceived," "Meticulous Bird," "Millionaire," "Marauders," "Phenom" and "Pure Cinema."To share your thoughts on this episode, email: celine.teoblockey@undertheradarmag.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tune in to another edition of GREEN BUBBLE TEA this Wednesday from 11am to 1pm [05/26] Tune in online at https://993wbtv.org/ and on the radio dial in the #BTV area at 99.3FM.It is the last week of #AsianPacificAmericanHeritageMonth We are going to close the month with a fun set of pop, R&B, hip-hop tunes from young Asian artists: BTS, BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN, Jessi 제시, Saweetie, Jhené Aiko, EPIK HIGH, Jackson Wang, Audrey Nuna, Hayley Kiyoko, Far East Movement; a spotlight of Olivia Rodrigo's debut album 'sour'; some indie pop from Japanese Breakfast Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, & CHAI; & teen punk band The Linda Lindas viral performance of "Racist, Sexist Boy" [pictured].Also: A mini look of Bhangra music, a genre that fuses folk music from the Punjab region of India with British popular music.

This week: Geoff & Alex embrace the delightfully bizarre and walk you through the future-forward sound of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down and their most recent release, TEMPLE. The fellas also play another game of Get To Know Your Host, and this time it's Geoff in the hot seat! Be sure to keep your album recommendations rolling in, and check out our YouTube channel with all kinds of extra goodies: https://linktr.ee/OOTL #OutOnThatLine #Temple #Thao #ThaoAndTheGetDownStayDown #MusicPodcast

For our fifth episode of Season 2 (Album of the Week), we start with a segment about the post-pandemic landscape, and then chat about Thao and the Get Down Stay Down's  May 2020 album "Temple".Thao and the Get Down Stay Downhttps://www.thaoandthegetdownstaydown.comhttps://www.facebook.com/thaoandthegetdownstaydown@thaogetstaydownFor more about Sub Rosa Sound:https://subrosasound.orghttps://www.facebook.com/subrosasoundRecorded by Ariel Wang and Margaret Jones. Edited by Justin Vanegas.

We have a special treat for you lovelies today. Tunes & Tumblers welcomes one of the most impressive voices we've ever had to the airwaves. Thao Nguyen of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down steps onto the mic to discuss her latest project For the Record, a blog documenting the process of writing and recording of her forthcoming 7th album. Pedro also mixes one of our most ambitious cocktails to date. The Marrow pays homage to both Thao's 2020 album Temple and her Vietnamese heritage. Peep the recipe below and dive in. Cheers! Listen to Temple by Thao & the Get Down Stay Down Subscribe to For the Record: https://www.thaofortherecord.community/ A Marrow: Combo 1 1 oz Coffee Liqueur 1/2 oz Coconut Milk 1/2 oz Grenadine Combo 2 1 oz Rum 1/4 oz Banana Liqueur 1/4 oz Coconut Milk Grated Ginger Combo 3 Midori Lemon Grass Mint Crushed Ice Mix combo 1 together and pour into glass. Fill 2/3 of the glass with crushed ice. Mix combo 2 and layer into glass over the back of a bar spoon. Slightly overfill glass with crushed ice. For combo 3, lightly drizzle midori to create vibrant green layer and garnish with stock of lemon grass and mint. Enjoy! Thao Nguyen on Facebook Thao Nguyen on Instagram Thao Nguyen on Twitter Episode Playlist: Theme Music by New New Girlfriend #Mood Jingle by Jacob Jeffries & Jesse McGinty Tunes & Tumblers on Instagram Tunes & Tumblers on Twitter Tunes & Tumblers on Facebook Tunes & Tumblers on Spotify Call the Tunes & Tumblers Hotline: (626) 604-6477 Cover art by Pedro Isaac Chairez --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tunes--tumblers/support

Episode 413 also includes an E.W. Essay titled "Confide." Our Associate Producer Dr. Michael Pavese shares three poems by Adrienne Rich. We have an E.W. poem called "Yellow Hue." Our music this go round is provided by these wonderful artists: Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grapelli, Jenny Lewis, T-Rex, Todd Rundgren, Lucy Dacas, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Bransford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. Commercial Free, Small Batch Radio Crafted in the West Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania... Heard All Over The World. Tell Your Friends and Neighbors... 

"Enter the Listening Booth where music discovery awaits with R&B from Yukon Blonde and Frazey Ford, along with some trippy alt vibes via Jack Name and Boniface. And tune in for anthem alternative from the likes of Postdata and Slaughter Beach, Dog. DJ RePete also demonstrates the range that is the self-titled Call Me Spinster record, and Arlo Parks gets a bloc spotlight in this very week her first record officially drops. And catch up with Thao & The Get Down Stay Down and news of a fall fundraiser to save democracy complete with new tunes. 00:00 - Mic Break 00:45 - Here You Are - Call Me Spinster 04:08 - Nobody Knows - Postdata 07:14 - Bullfrog Choirs - Told Slant 10:36 - Traffic! - Katy Kirby 14:06 - Postcard from Spain - Quarter-Life Crisis feat. Frances Quinlan 17:29 - Notes From A Brief Engagement (at the Boot & Saddle) - Slaughter Beach, Dog 22:27 - Mic Break 23:23 - Baby All You've Got - Tom Sanders 28:29 - Little Human - Tom Sanders 31:56 - Pictures of Flowers - Jess Williamson feat. Hand Habits 36:03 - Nothing (Cape Town Version) - AMANDALA 39:11 - The Arthur Brothers - The Arthur Brothers 43:06 - Mic Break 43:31 - Sacred Place - Jack Name 47:08 - Losing My Way - Jack Name 51:24 - Miracle - Katy J Pearson 55:04 - Take Back The Radio - Katy J Pearson 59:53 - Stealing Glances - the soods 63:46 - Sonoran Snoball - Calexico 66:47 - Mic Break 67:38 - New Skill - Henriette Sennenvaldt 71:59 - The Highest - The Nix feat. Kwamie Liv 75:10 - Aura - Rexx Life Raj 78:32 - Favourite Kind Of Girl - Gotts Street Park feat. Flikka 83:05 - Phenom - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down 85:39 - You Were Mine - Yukon Blonde 90:23 - Mic Break 90:59 - Stop Wait - Call Me Spinster 93:58 - Money Can't Buy - Frazey Ford 97:00 - outro: the journey - Nyallah 100:53 - Caroline - Arlo Parks 104:26 - Green Eyes - Arlo Parks 107:30 - Mic Break 108:11 - Wavey - Grand Pax 111:16 - If I Had An Experiment - Osees 115:09 - White Rooms And People - Working Men's Club 117:34 - I Will Not Return As A Tourist - Boniface 121:47 - Finish "

" Kicking off the show today with a new single from Tulsa based phenom, Branjae! The track is called "Free Facts" and you should get yourself acquainted with the story and message on her bandcamp page. While you're there, show your support by purchasing the music as well. Also new to rotation on Ladies Skate Only, INEZ. An incredible vocalist, songwriter, producer and more. Her album Voicemails And Conversations dropped in 2019. It's an album packed full of just that. But these conversations are really making me feel something. I'm gonna keep exploring this album over the next few episodes and I hope you'll do that with me. Plus, new music from Pisha! The project is that of Madeline Kassen (also in Tada!) and all of the tracks keep creeping back into my head. The new album Threnody is both haunting and vibrant and you'll enjoy this new track in the mix. Finally, I've got a set of tunes featuring music from Dirty Projectors, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down and Gemma. I've been listening to music from Thao and Felicia Douglass a lot before bed and I swear it's giving me the coolest dreams. Maybe you should try it too. As always, click the links and SUPPORT these artists by buying their music. After you buy... then stream away. 00:00 - Emily (What I Need by Pearl Charles) 03:19 - Free Facts - Branjae 05:56 - Change - Mavis Staples 08:48 - War - Waxahatchee 11:50 - High Horse - Samantha Crain 15:58 - Clouds (feat. Clara Kent) - INEZ 20:09 - Emily 22:13 - Keep On Dancing - Gemma 28:00 - Lose Your Love - Dirty Projectors 30:47 - Phenom - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down 33:25 - Disclaim - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down 36:33 - Emily 37:21 - I'll Be Your Dog - Pisha 40:23 - Bliss Out - Death Valley Girls 43:44 - Play With Fire - L.A. Witch 47:02 - Dissociative Tally - Babehoven 50:31 - Modern Feminist - Black Bra 54:17 - Emily 54:59 - Ice Cream Song - Laura Jane Grace 56:36 - Finish "

" Kicking off the show today with a new single from Tulsa based phenom, Branjae! The track is called "Free Facts" and you should get yourself acquainted with the story and message on her bandcamp page. While you're there, show your support by purchasing the music as well. Also new to rotation on Ladies Skate Only, INEZ. An incredible vocalist, songwriter, producer and more. Her album Voicemails And Conversations dropped in 2019. It's an album packed full of just that. But these conversations are really making me feel something. I'm gonna keep exploring this album over the next few episodes and I hope you'll do that with me. Plus, new music from Pisha! The project is that of Madeline Kassen (also in Tada!) and all of the tracks keep creeping back into my head. The new album Threnody is both haunting and vibrant and you'll enjoy this new track in the mix. Finally, I've got a set of tunes featuring music from Dirty Projectors, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down and Gemma. I've been listening to music from Thao and Felicia Douglass a lot before bed and I swear it's giving me the coolest dreams. Maybe you should try it too. As always, click the links and SUPPORT these artists by buying their music. After you buy... then stream away. 00:00 - Emily (What I Need by Pearl Charles) 03:19 - Free Facts - Branjae 05:56 - Change - Mavis Staples 08:48 - War - Waxahatchee 11:50 - High Horse - Samantha Crain 15:58 - Clouds (feat. Clara Kent) - INEZ 20:09 - Emily 22:13 - Keep On Dancing - Gemma 28:00 - Lose Your Love - Dirty Projectors 30:47 - Phenom - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down 33:25 - Disclaim - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down 36:33 - Emily 37:21 - I'll Be Your Dog - Pisha 40:23 - Bliss Out - Death Valley Girls 43:44 - Play With Fire - L.A. Witch 47:02 - Dissociative Tally - Babehoven 50:31 - Modern Feminist - Black Bra 54:17 - Emily 54:59 - Ice Cream Song - Laura Jane Grace 56:36 - Finish "

Enjoying the show? Please support BFF.FM with a donation. Playlist Comfort, Edge by Helena Deland on Someone New (Luminelle) 9′10″ anything by Adrianne Lenker on songs (4AD) 11′49″ Moon Shots by Merce Lemon on Moonth (Darling) 14′10″ Sucker by Madeline Kenney on Sucker's Lunch (Carpark) 18′40″ circle the drain by Soccer Mommy on color theory (Loma Vista) 23′05″ Half-life by LAUNDER on Half-life (Ghostly) 30′12″ Aterrizar by Mint Field on Sentimiento Mundial (Felte) 33′27″ Featherweight by Fleet Foxes on Shore (Anti) 37′08″ Rain by Whitney on Candid (Secretly Canadian) 40′49″ Waiting On Design by Westerman on Your Hero Is Not Dead (Partisan) 45′12″ Selfless by The Strokes on The New Abnormal (Cult) 51′27″ Black Dog by Arlo Parks on Black Dog - Single (AWAL) 54′53″ Everybody by Mac Miller on Circles (Warner) 59′07″ Pure Cinema by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down on Temple (Ribbon) 63′27″ Agua De Rosa by Angelica Garcia on Cha Cha Palace (Spacebomb) 66′55″ Invisible People by Chicano Batman on Invisible People (ATO) 73′18″ Neither/Nor by Moses Sumney on græ (Jagjaguwar) 78′18″ Cosmonauts by Fiona Apple on Fetch The Bolt Cutters (Epic) 82′04″ I Know the End by Phoebe Bridgers on Punisher (Dead Oceans) 87′40″ Stoned Again by King Krule on Man Alive! (True Panther Sounds) 90′57″ Gospel For a New Century by Yves Tumor on Heaven To a Tortured Mind (Warp) 96′21″ 4 American Dollars by U.S. Girls on Heavy Light (4AD) 101′34″ Need Your Love by Tennis on Swimmer (Mutually Detrimental) 105′16″ Useless by Omar Apollo on Apolonio (Warner) 108′12″ Social Cues by Teezo Touchdown on Social Cues - Single (RCA) 111′21″ how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?// by KennyHoopla on how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?// - EP (Arista) 117′06″ You Don't Have to be Lonely by The Undercover Dream Lovers on It's All In Your Head (Self Released) Check out the full archives on the website.

This episode is a live recording of the Bay Area stop on the virtual tour for our new book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music. We were immensely honored to have our friends at Oxfam America as our partners and hosts for this event which featured a lovely, insightful conversation about food, music and activism with singer-songwriter Thao Nguyen of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down and acclaimed chef Preeti Mistry. Isra Chaker, Senior Advisor for Global Campaigns at Oxfam America, moderated the discussion, and Omnivore Books, the Bay Area’s premiere culinary bookshop was our sponsor. We encourage everyone to support Oxfam America in their important fight against the injustice of poverty. For more info and to donate, please visit www.oxfamamerica.org. Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music (Phaidon), is now on shelves at bookstores around the world. It features 77 of the world’s top chefs who share personal stories of how music has been an important, integral force in their lives. The chefs also give personal recipes and curated playlists too. It’s an anthology of memories, meals and mixtapes. Pick up your copy by ordering directly from Phaidon, or by visiting your local independent bookstore. Visit our site, www.snackytunes.com for more info and tour dates.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Snacky Tunes by becoming a member!Snacky Tunes is Powered by Simplecast.

Jordan Kurland is the founder and owner of Zeitgeist Artist Management, LTD. Formed in 1999, with offices in San Francisco and Manhattan, Zeitgeist focuses on cultivating long-term careers for independently minded artists. The company's roster includes Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, She & Him, The Head and the Heart, Bob Mould (ex-Husker Du and Sugar), New Pornographers, AC Newman, Surfer Blood, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, and Rogue Wave. Jordan has also helped to grow San Francisco based music festivals Noisepop and the Treasure Island Music Festival. JC got a chance to sit with Jordan to chat about how he got into music management, the music festivals, and the future of the music industry.

Songwriter Thao Nguyen performs with one of the best band names in the business: Thao And The Get Down Stay Down. Their 2013 album We The Common, marked a turning point both in Nguyen's musical career and in her life. During a hiatus from touring and recording with the band (Thao released a collaborative album with singer-songwriter Mirah in 2011), Nguyen spent time connecting with family and volunteering at a women's prison, where she met an inmate named Valerie Bolden. Bolden's story inspired the title track, one of three songs that Thao and her band played in-studio. (From the Archives, 2013.)  

Beau Sorenson is a freelance audio professional (producer/mixer/ engineer) based in California. He also writes, records, and remixes music as Beaunoise.As producer/engineer, He's worked on multiple albums for Death Cab for Cutie, Bob Mould, and Superchunk, as well as albums for Tune-yards, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Mac McCaughan, Mike Krol, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, The Dodos, Sparklehorse, Field Report, Jars of Clay, Yellow Ostrich, Camera Obscura, and many more. I've engineered sessions for Chris Walla, Merrill Garbus, Tucker Martine, Butch Vig, John Vanderslice, Dangermouse, Ryan Hewitt, and Al Weatherhead.While studio recording is Beau's primary focus, He's also composed and recorded soundtracks for films and podcasts mastered music for release, worked as a studio tech, taught audio engineering, and consulted on studio construction and design.Beau spent six years as a staff engineer at Smart Studios in Madison, WI before leaving to work freelance. He is currently a staff engineer at John Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone studios but he also works at other studios as well. About this interview:Beau joins me for coffee to discuss hardware stores, being kind, respect for studio owners, having patience, and getting out of town to record. Enjoy! -MattLinks and Show Notes:Beau's Site: www.beaunoise.comhttps://www.workingclassaudio.com/wca-119-with-tucker-martine/https://www.workingclassaudio.com/wca-220-with-butch-vig/https://www.workingclassaudio.com/wca-047-with-john-vanderslice/https://www.workingclassaudio.com/wca-156-with-justin-perkins/https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocusCredits:Host: Matt Boudreau Guest: Beau SorensonWCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell Announcer: Chuck SmithEditing: Anne-Marie Pleau & Matt BoudreauAdditional Music: The License Lab

With parts one and two in the books, the trilogy is now over, as Akiva and Alex discuss the greatest QBs in NFL history. This week's outro song is Holy Roller by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode #88: Last year, we went to Oregon's Pickathon music festival and caught up with some promising acts in Pickathon's interview video series. With this year's festival around the corner, we bring you extended interviews with some of our favorite artists. We talk with rapper and host of Comedy Central's The New Negroes, Open Mike Eagle. Then we discuss everything from Avril Lavigne to anxiety with Ellen Kempner (Palehound). Thao Nguyen joins us to recount how she first got signed to Kill Rock Stars, and Seattle's La Luz talks business. Watch the full interview series on YouTube and stay tuned for more from this year's Pickathon. Subscribe to The Future of What on iTunes: http://apple.co/1P4Apk0 Follow us: Twitter: http://bit.ly/2gOYMYM Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefutureofwhat/ Instagram: http://bit.ly/1L6T8fl

Edward P. Jones is a New York Times bestselling author and has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World. His first novel The Known World is about the ownership of slaves by a black master in the antebellum South. Reviewers lauded Jones for the novel's epic grandeur, vernacular, and lyrical prose, fully realized characters, and lively dialogue. Comparing Jones favorably with William Faulkner and Toni Morrison. After winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Jones told Publisher's Weekly : "I want to write about the things which helped us to survive: the love, grace, intelligence, and strength for us as a people." Jones also received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, Lost in the City, won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short-listed for the National Book Award. The stories recapture the life Jones knew growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, especially the rich vernacular of his mother and her associates. "I remember black people's poetic language," His second story collection, All Aunt Hagar's Children, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. He has been an instructor of fiction writing at a range of universities, including Princeton. He lives in Washington, D.C.                                                      2. From the Archives: Rhodessa Jones talks about her work: "SHE:The Rhodessa Jones Story," which opened at Brava in SF, March 28-April 7, 2013. Music: Sweet Honey in the Rock; Teri Simmons; Thao & the Get Down Stay Down; Ethnic Heritage Ensemble           

If Thao and the Get Down Stay Down and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were related and they had a uniquely uncompromising third sibling it would be vocal-and-guitar-wailing Weaves. The Toronto four-piece isn't afraid to push the envelop in an free form, experimental effort to expand their own style of indie rock. Having been a band for two years and just released their self-titled debut album this summer, Weaves have already struck it rich in music scenes around the world with their mercurial song arcs, devious display of offbeat distortions, and playful panache. Watch as they play it up, live in-studio at KEXP with DJ Cheryl Waters. Recorded 08/16/16 - 4 songs: Birds & Bees, Sentence, Hulahoop, One MoreSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down visit KEXP to play songs from their fourth LP, "A Man Alive". Recorded 03/03/2016 - 4 songs: Hand To God, Astonished Man, Guts, Nobody Dies.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down teamed up with Merrill Garbus of tUnE yArDs for the new record. Here's music and conversation from this week's show. Catch the full opbmusic session over here: http://www.opb.org/opbmusic/series/sessions/thao-the-get-down-stay-down-live-at-opb/

Navigating the Delta: Meeting the People Who Live in California's Water Hub; and Growing Up with Thao and the Get Down Stay Down.

Laura and Sean Duncan discuss Laura's 24th anniversary in broadcast radio. They talk about the 55th Annual Grammy Awards and some of the tougher categories with some insight on some of the artists. Finally, LSD Show Producer, Kelly Walker, drops by to talk about his experiences, podcasting in 2013 and his role in all things Lauramerica. Discover Thao & the Get Down Stay Down and enjoy a free download of "We The Common" from the new album. For more on LSD Show topics, visit www.lauramerica.com.

Singer/Songwriter Thao Nguyen (of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down) join us live in studio for conversation and live musical performances.