What’s Going On?

The Miss Chinatown USA Pageant sponsored by the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce crowned Steffi Hu from Sugar Land, TX as this year’s Miss Chinatown USA 2012 on February 4th. The Miss Chinatown USA Pageant put on it’s 55th pageant at the Palace of Fine Arts and this lunar year marks the Year of the Dragon. The pageant theme for this year was Imperial Splendor - Promising Dreams. The ladies were judged based on four categories: Introduction and Poise, Fitness and Form, Talent, and Question and Answer.

The program highlighted the many talents that contestants from around the country had to offer. Contestants came from near and far to participate in this pageant, from as far west as Hawaii and as far east as New York. The Queen will receive a $10,000 scholorship in honor of winning the prestigous title and will be making several appearances in the community and throughout the week with her court and the rest of the contestants until the Chinese New Year Parade that will round out the week. During the parade, all of the beautiful contestants will be on parade floats waving to the crowds and hopefully will be able to inspire other young women to become representatives of their community.

The results of the program are as follows:

• Miss Chinatown USA 2012 / Steffi Hu / Sugar Land, TX
• Miss Chinese Chamber of Commerce/First Princess / Amanda Lee / San Francisco, CA
• Miss San Francisco Chinatown / Snow Feng / Fremont, CA
• Second Princess / Jenny Chin / San Francisco, CA
• Third Princess / Elizabeth Leong / San Mateo, CA
• Fourth Princess / Si Liang / Flushing, NY
• Miss Talent / Steffi Hu / Sugar Land, TX

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The Miss National Asia Pageant is an national Asian pageant that is held locally in San Francisco. The pageant is in it’s fifth year and was held at the San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts Theatre. The show consisted of four segments: Ethnic Costume, Swimsuit, Evening Gown (Question and Answer portion + Platform Speech); there was also an optional talent segment with four contestants competing for the title of Miss Talent.

The pageant results are as listed below:

Miss National Asia: Michelle Nguyen

First Princess: Mari Saleh

Second Princess: Phan Nguyen

Third Princess: Ashley Yu

Miss California Asia: Mari Saleh

Miss Talent: Phan Nguyen

Miss Charity: Michelle Nguyen

Miss People’s Choice: Michelle Nguyen

Other Contestants: Bianca Doria, Selena Du, Jana Hsu, Leena Nguyen, Grace Shao

Pictures of the Miss National Asia Pageant can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

One of the hottest funk bands to ever perform at the Fillmore Jazz Festival has taken the stage at the legendary Boom Boom Room located on Geary Blvd. and Fillmore St. This awesome funk band originates from North Carolina and brings to California some of the most upbeat music of our days. The band first started out from a group of friends and originally named the group Audioform, however, due to the growth of the band by adding additional members the group comprised of 8 members and thus the band known as Groove8 was born.

Although the group is still in its infancy, the group has a lot of promise and the turn out to hear them play is always amazing to see. This year they street performed in front of Marcus Books (one of America’s oldest all Black bookstore) and will later play on July 4th at the Jazz Heritage Center located at Eddy and Fillmore Streets.

The band perform locally on the East Coast, but when the Fillmore Jazz Festival rolls around all 8 members get together and take a short tour out here on the West Coast. If you haven’t heard of them please check them out. They are a funk groove band waiting to be discovered and signed by a major record label. There website can be found at www.groove8.com

Pictures of their performance can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

This year Radio Alice did not fail to put on a good show. It was anything, but dull. Summerthing has to be one of summer’s best free concert open to the public. Again the show was held at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park and the featured performers were Thriving Ivory, One eskimO, Kris Allen, and Lifehouse.

The weather this year was amazingly sunny and the crowd sure packed the space well. Vendors lined the sides of the venue as well as the far back space behind the audience. People came early to camp out good spots for great views and the crowd sure packed it in at the front of the stage.

Great times at the park with great music and tons of blown bubbles throughout the air made for such a great time to have a picnic and time to relax in the sun.

Pictures of the Alice Summerthing can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

The Haight Ashbury Street Fair is a San Francisco fair that promotes love, not war. It is one that brings back nostalgic memories for those that grew up during the 60s and 70s when Flower Power and spiritual freedom reigned supreme. Although, the fair promotes this much differently than how they did almost half a century ago, there are still a few people present at the festival that are there to talk and educate you about how the way things were and some there that are unable to change and are living according to the way of life back in the day. Some of their ideologies are still promoted, but protesting is done in a more calmer way with signing of petitions.

The fair is held for one day and extends from Stanyan Street to Masonic Blvd. Two main stages are on opposite ends of the fair. The main type of music that is performed at this fair is mostly rock; however, there are a few exceptions to this. Almost in the middle of the fair is a smaller stage where other bands and groups play in the kid’s zone. In addition to these official stages, there are a few other musicians throughout the fair that perform in random corners or public spaces. Some of the musicians that freelance on the streets played Jazz, Rock, and Peruvian music.

Similar to the Union Street Festival, the Haight Ashbury Street Fair has similar types of food. Most vendors from the previous weeks festival were also there for this festival and pretty much show up to other various festivals throughout the San Francisco festival circuit.

In contrast to the Union Street Festival, the Haight Ashbury Street Fair (HASF) brings about a different vibe and culture. The fair of Love, Joy, and Peace is one that seems to promote a bit more liberalism out of all festivals throughout San Francisco. For example the air is filled with abundant smells of marijuana, the homeless population populate the streets, a few people with petitions to sign are scattered throughout, the sale of “special” treats and glass pipes are available, and various types of fortune reading and spiritual freedom representatives are present as well.

If Rock music, tie-dyed shirts, spiritual freedom, and a festival that you just want a sense of relaxation and letting loose, then the HASF is the place to be. To some, the fair can be seen as extreme, but it is part of American culture and for those that want to see just a little taste of what things were like back in the mid to late 20th century then coming to the HASF will help enlighten some people.

Pictures of the HASF can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

The Carnaval Grand Parade is a parade that takes place on the last day of the Carnaval Festival. This year’s theme for Carnaval was Colors of Sound / Splashes of Culture. The parade kicked off at about 9:30am, however things were a little backed up and so the parade started a little later than that. The parade started off on 24th Street and Bryant Street and continued until it hit Mission Street. The parade then turned onto Mission Street and continued all the way down until 17th Street where the parade then did a final right turn towards the festival grounds at Harrison street.

The Grand Parade was great this year with many attenders this year. The weather was amazing and a little too hot for myself, but I’m sure most of the people there that day enjoyed it. The lead float of the parade was led by King Miggy and Queen Carmen. They are the winners of the Carnaval King and Queen competition that was held prior to the Carnaval Festival. Both winners of the competition won their titles with their performance of Samba. Each competitor during the competition is given the option of singing, dancing, and/or playing a musical instrument. They are given three minutes to perform and must compete in a Carnaval costume.

The parade consisted of numerous cultures through out the Americas. The majority of the parade consisted of music and dance of the native land from which they represented; however, there were a few countries represented that walked the parade demonstrating the clothing and some of the traditions that was signature to their country. The parade seemed to last forever with probably more participants than previous years. This parade I believe was a little over three hours long. It seems much longer when you’re standing in the sun.

The parade grand marshals were Benjamin Bratt and Peter Bratt. They were followed in part with the rest of their cast in the movie “La Mission”. The actors sat in the restored vintage car portion of the parade and cruised in style while being applauded as they travelled down Mission Street. Some cars were tricked out with hydraulics enabling the cars to bounce, be raised and lowered from the back axle and also the front axle with the ability to be raised and lowered left and right as well.

The theme for Carnaval this year was truly played out to the fullest as all the units in the parade displayed vivid colors. This festival is probably ranked one of my favorite festivals to attend every year because of the vast amounts of color, happy participants, and enthused on-lookers.

Following the parade, attenders were welcomed at the festival that was located on Harrison Street where the festivities continued with food, drink, fun, and other various performances. The festival following the parade is probably the time when people who feel claustrophobic shouldn’t attend purely for the fact that thousand upon thousands of people pack the venue. As with the previous day of the festival, Sunday is just jam packed with people and sometimes trying to get around can get a little frustrating when you move throughout the 6 blocks at a snail’s pace.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the turnout of the festival and I’m sure I’ll be back again to enjoy another year of awesome fun and food. I hope to see you all there next year. Bring your family and friends because it’s going to be a great time.

Pictures of Carnaval can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

Asian Rock Fest is a celebration of music. Four performances took to the stage at the Rockit Room in San Francisco’s Richmond District. Tickets went on sale about two weeks prior and tickets also were on sale at the door for $8. Guest performers for the Asian Rock Fest were Jack Tung, United High, Lion Riding Horses, and the night finished off with Johnny Hi-Fi.

A medium sized crowd of locals came out to support these artists and the work they call their music. At the venue guests were encouraged to mingle prior to the performance and to purchase band CDs and memorabilia. Members of the bands signed and took pictures with guests. A full bar was also available to guests throughout the evening.

Pictures of the Asian Rock Fest can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

May is Asian Pacific American Month and one of the last events during the month was a privately held Asian Pacific American Month Celebration thrown by employees of the Federal Building. The event took place in the ceremonial courtroom of the Federal Building at Civic Center. The turnout for the event was very successful. The large crowd filled up the benches of the courtroom and they were able to see several Polynesian dance performances, along with a couple of songs, a Samurai sword demonstration, and a speech given by keynote speaker Miss Chinatown USA Crystal Lee.

The performances for the afternoon were pretty enjoyable, but among the top of enjoyable moments was when a few State and Federal workers were asked to perform some hula and that’s when things got a little interesting. Having been able to attend, I really had a great time being able to enjoy the moment.

Following the performances, guests and employees enjoyed a luncheon with a taste of Asia where the food was vast and abundant. Different types of Asian cusine lined the tables. There was Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Hawaiian food available. Everything was delicious and the event was fun.

Pictures of the APA Heritage Celebration can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

The 6th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration filled Larkin St. from Civic Center all the way up to Little Saigon. The street festival started with some cold gloomy weather, but heated up by mid-afternoon. Early Asian festivities started with the Faces of Asia parade. The parade started at the Asian Art Museum and went through the festival all the way to the top of the festival at Eddy Street and back down to the Cultural and Jazz Stage.

Featured entertainers of the festival were the West Coast Lion Dance Troupe, Frances Ancheta Becker, Kapakahi, Native Elements, Trackademics, Kat o1o (Crown City Rockers), Far East Movement, The CounterParts, Curt Yagi, Kazha, akai Sky, Chung Ngai Dance Troupe, Argonne Elementary School, Purple Orchids, ASEAN Corner, Chardi Jawani Stanford Bhangra, Gen Taiko, AHSC Best Dance Crew Contest (hosted by WILD 94.9), SF Pinoy Jazz Revnue, Balut Eating Contest, YoYoJoe, Planet Infinity’s More Than Medals Taekwondo Team, Unity Tuy Ngoc Nguyen, and Animemyu.

One thing that this street celebration does not lack in and that is entertainment. It is very difficult to catch everything in one day, but if you can pull it off to catch half of it you did a pretty good job. Just the entertainment on the stages alone was a lot, but don’t forget the street celebration itself. The street festival not to mention has vendors that sell arts & crafts, gifts, food, information, a kiddie carnival, they also have sponsors that give out free things and booths that can even teach you how to play mahjong. If that’s not enough, there’s import cars to check out and if that’s not entertaining enough, there’s Muay Thai Kick-boxing going on all day.

For a festival that starts at 10am and lasts till 6pm, it is one that is jam packed with stuff to do and see. It is a lot of fun and every year it seems to get better and better. What will the festival have in store for San Francisco next year? Who knows, come out to find out.

The Asian Pacific American Heritage Awards kicked off the Asian Heritage Month here in San Francisco at the Herbst Theatre in Civic Center. The Awards ceremony first started with classical music by cellist Charles Wang. The evening progressed with the granting of awards to the following from local dignitaries:

For Emerging Leadership: Thomas Li

For Lifetime Achievement: Dr. Edward Chow

For Community Impact: Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center

Throughout the award ceremony three performances took to the stage with a glow stick performance, a Southern Asian dance troupe, and folk dance from a Burmese group. The finale for the awards ceremony was remarkable with community involvement from all parts of Asia, including that of Vietnam, China, Japan, Pacific Islanders, Burma, South Asia, and many others. The finale was very colorful, not to mention very entertaining.

Following the awards ceremony was a time of Asian styled refreshments from local restaurants and sponsors on the second floor of the War Memorial Building. The food was delicious and the attendance was great. Ending off the night with food and mingling, what more can one ask for. Congratulations to all the award winners and thank you to all the sponsors who made this night possible.

Pictures of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Awards can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.