Clarendon Hills rock the stage. Courtesy of APA

Playing For AIR

By Bobby Okinaka

Des and Rob of Julie Plug. Courtesy of APA

A band took the stage at Spaceland, a live music venue in the heart of Los Angeles' artsy-fartsy Silverlake District. The establishment was a refugee from the trendy Hollywood club scene. Inside it was bare and dark. The room was split right down the middle with a bar on one side and a stage and floor on the other. In the back was a plastic bubble room where the smokers relived what bars in L.A. used to be like; stepping inside is likely to take 15 minutes off of your life span.

The instruments were plugged in, the lead singer was hiding her stage nerves and the drummer looked like the coolest one up there. The band was named Julie Plug. Their sound reminded me of 10,000 Maniacs. They made the trip down from the Bay Area - that's San Francisco for those of you out of California - for the last night of the Asians in Rock Tour, also known as the AIR Tour.

Nemo finding their own voice. Courtesy of APA

A couple more bands from up north took the stage following Julie Plug. The Clarendon Hills were a trio of punk rockers whose frenetic stage antics were a release from their intellectual pursuits at Berkeley. Scrabbel took the energy back down with a earthly soft rock sound. The line up ended with a local pop punk band in the mold of Blink 182 called Nemo rocking what was left of the crowd. The night was so late only Nemo's friends remainded along with a few barflys.

Easy rock, old-school punk, folk rock and pop punk, an eclectic mix of genres at best, but just what was the AIR Tour?

Jenny Choi plans on taking the AIR Tour to new heights.Courtesy of APA

Jenny Choi is a brassy 25 year old singer-songwriter out of Chicago, Il. For 16 days in August she's been criss-crossing the country on a music tour she put together herself. Admittedly I arrived at Spaceland too late to see her perform, but I was able to find out what motivated her to set out on such an ambitious inaugural endeavor.

"I love indie rock music and there are a lot of Asian performers out there that people aren't aware of," said Jenny. She's put together her own CD's and played gigs in and around her hometown but she's taken her act beyond the music and speaks at colleges and other forums about Asians in music. And with the AIR Tour she's taken her love for music to another level. In her words, "I want to develop a community for rock where Asians can appreciate and support each other."

Starting in Champaign, IL, Jenny toured with Asian bands around the Midwest and East Coast hitting a different city every night. Then on the second week of the tour she took a West Coast swing with another group of bands finishing off at Spaceland. Without sponsors, she footed the bill out of her own pocket. On PR, she could only afford $400 for posters and other materials.

Scrabbel smooths over the crowd at Spaceland. Courtesy of APA

The spirited innovator admitted that it was difficult to find the bands. You can't just throw a tour together by using a google search. But with all the people she's met and the enthusiatic support she received, Jenny promises to make next year's effort bigger and better.

As a reporter, am I writing about a tour of Asian American bands because they play good music or simply because they are Asian? Compared to Latin and Black cultures, Asian music lacks a defining identity even within our own community. Maybe it's because we are known as the assimilators and have shed our cultural roots in order to become more American. Without a distinct "Asian Rock" sound, all the performers at Spaceland sound like most other rock bands. (Which isn't a bad thing by the way.) And just what would an "Asian Rock" sound be anyway, add a zither and some taiko drums to the band or maybe sing only about how we are not all bad drivers or good at math?

What Jenny is doing is not only defining herself as an artist, but exploring the identity of Asian Americans in our society. She's taken her vision to represent Asians in the music scene literally across the country. Rock on Jenny Choi!

For more information on Jenny Choi and the AIR Tour, visit www.jennychoi.com.

August 29, 2003