South Bay First Thursdays

06.07.12 – The Fast Lane: Rise of the API Entrepreneur

alexl — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:32:47 +0000

Join South Bay First Thursdays as we explore the risks and rewards that APIs face when starting a small business in the Bay Area. Whether it is opening up a shop or running a food truck, come hear from local successful entrepreneurs on their personal stories, starting from the time their ideas began, the financial investment of their lives, and the challenges they face.

Don’t miss an opportunity to try these excellent Bay Area food trucks after the event!

Don’t forget to invite your friends and RSVP to the event on Facebook as well as Eventbrite!

(RE)present 2012 Perfomer Info

kenw — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:49:39 +0000

Here are all the people who performed or contributed to (RE)present 2012, including their bios and links! Enjoy!

Niki Escobar

Niki Escobar studied creative writing at San Francisco State University. She blends her poetry with her visual art, while addressing and challenging issues around social justice, politics, and love. She shows her work around the Bay Area and currently sells paintings out of her garage and through her website: nikiesco.bigcartel.com

DJ Mad Antics

Anthony Papas, also known as Mad Antics, experimented with music at an early age. After completely destroying the needle on his home stereo turntable, Anthony realized that he needed to practice and learn how to perfect his craft. Throughout the years, Anthony has had the pleasure of DJing for breakdance events, house parties, and clubs in San Francisco. Check out some of his mixes on soundcloud.com/madantics

Pacific Soul

Pacific Soul band members are representing San Jose / Milpitas CA. The band consists of 8 members, most of Filipino descent. 3/4 of the band are actually blood relatives! They perform songs from various musical genres of different eras.
Members Peter Abellera, and Dojo will be performing with guest percussionist Nate Licayan.

www.pacificsoulband.com

Anna Minh-Giang Nguyen and Rabiah Khalid

Anna is a 5th grade educator in East San Jose. She’s written poetry since she was able to rhyme (like Dylan), but gathered the courage to perform more often since she took “Poetry for the People” at UC Berkeley.

Rabiah Khalid is the Voices Assistant Project Coordinator at Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI). Rabiah is a Cal Alum (Go Bears!) with a B.A in Development Studies. After a taking the Poetry for People class at UC Berkeley, Rabiah was inspired by the power we can give to words and has had a few stints here and there.

Corey Wolffs aka CryWolffs!Violin

Corey is a classically trained violinist and has been playing for about 20 years. After graduating from college, he started to branch out and play songs of his generation and now performs within the urban spheres of music throughout the Bay Area.

He comes from a truly multi-cultural family. While he is proud of his Filipino blood and heritage, he is actually adopted with German and Irish parents, a Korean brother, and a Caucasian Sister. www.crywolffsviolin.wordpress.com

Pikmin Crew

This street dancing/breaking crew comes from Evergreen High School, where they perform regularly at school rallies. They are under the mentorship of San Jose urban style entrepreneur Bobbi View.

Christsna Sot

Christsna is a Cambodian-American Spoken Word Poet/Activist. He was born and raised in Oakland, CA and cares a lot about his community. He started writing in the 8th grade because he was inspired by his English teacher, who really helped to shape who he is today.

He was featured on HBO for Russell Simmons’ show, Brave New Voices when he was only 14 years old. Christsna’s favorite animal is the sea turtle.

Thao P. Nguyen

Thao is a comic storyteller based in San Francisco. She’s been performing since 2007 when she joined the Solo Performance Workshop taught by W. Kamau Bell and Martha Rynberg. She debuted her full-length show, “Fortunate Daughter” this year and has been invited to perform it at the New York International Fringe Festival this August.

Her next show coming up is called “ATYPICAL: Stories from the anomalous Asian American”, on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 8pm in San Francisco: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/235038

Alex Carbonel

Alex Carbonel is a 3rd generation Filipino American from Fremont, CA. She is also a recent graduate from Saint Mary’s College of California where she also starred as the Point Guard for the division 1 women’s basketball team. Alex grew up doing Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake impressions and after hearing a song an Ernie Halter song on myspace music, she decided to pick up the guitar and learn how to play for herself. Her debut will be released this fall, but until then you can check out all of her videos and free downloads at www.alexcarbonel.com

Soulful Obsession

With it all beginning in the summer of 2011, at San Jose State University, Soulful Obsession is an American R&B, Jazz, Blues, and Hip-Hop musical group that is currently on the rise in the Bay Area. The group is composed of Bennet Roth on the keys, vocalist, and MC; Veno Bender on the bass and MC; Kosuke (also known as “Sake”) Okamura on the drums, and Lily Tran as lead vocalist. Together, this ensemble of artists concocts distinctive and compelling tunes that draw elements from a variety of genres, allowing the music to stretch beyond the contemporary norm. Prepare to let your heart absorb Soulful Obsession’s sound of love, revolution, drama, lust, and excitement.

www.facebook.com/soulfulobsession

05.03.12 – (Re)PRESENT

richardn — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:43:13 +0000

South Bay First Thursdays is back this May for our annual API talent showcase that celebrates API excellence in the arts. Join us for a night of wonderful performances in music, dance, and spoken word. Be a part of the community that supports these artists and works towards the inclusion of API artist in the mainstream media.

Acts will be announced as they are finalized.

* If you know of any talented API artists who would be interested in performing in our show, please have them send an email with a link to a video of a previous performance to kenneth.wong@sbft.org

Doors open/registration at 7:15pm.

Event is free to attend, donations are greatly appreciated.

This event is made possible by the generous support of Asian Americans for Community Involvement, San Jose District 2 Councilmember Ash Kalra, The Theatre on San Pedro, and the Tabard Theatre Company.

Please RSVP at:

https://www.facebook.com/SBfirstthursdays

http://represent2012.eventbrite.com/

04.21.12 – San Jose Project

richardn — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:48:50 +0000

The concept of San Jose Project (SJP) began in May 2011. The purpose of SJP is to bring together everyone in the community, young and old, to show how one little deed can make a big difference. SJP Day is one large scale, full day of service throughout the City of San Jose.

Date:
April 21st, 2012

Time:
9:00am – 4:00pm

Location:
PAL Stadium
680 South 34th Street
San Jose, CA 95110

04.05.12 – The Affordable Care Act and the API Community

alexl — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:29:59 +0000

The Affordable Care Act-also known as Health Care Reform-was signed into law on March 23, 2010. You may have heard that it promises to expand health care coverage to 32 million people in 2014, but have you ever wondered how the law actually applies to you and your community? Do I really have to buy health insurance? What happens if I don’t? How will the law improve health care? South Bay First Thursdays has assembled a team of policy experts to answer all your questions, and will provide an overview of the law, focused on relevant information that best applies to you and the API community.

——————————————————————————————-
Panelists:

Wendy Ho, Advocacy & Public Policy Program Manager, United Way Silicon Valley

Linda Leu, Senior Policy Analyst, Health Access

Ashley Roybal-Reid, Congressional Aide, Office of Congressman Mike Honda

Joey Vaughan, Field Representative, Office of Assemblymember Rich Gordon

Rebecca Ruano, Health Coverage Initiatives Coordinator, Community Health Partnerships

Moderator: Grace-Sonia Melanio, Health Policy & Communications Director, Community Health Partnership
——————————————————————————————-

We hope you’ll join us for this wonderful discussion about something that affects almost everyone in the community!

Date:
April 5th, 2012

Time:
7:00pm – 9:00pm

Location:
Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) – Room 210
2400 Moorpark Ave.
San Jose, CA 95128

Free to attend (Donations appreciated)
Food will be provided.

RSVP via Facebook or Socializr.

Resources from our event:

APIAHF-Factsheet10d-2010

HA ACA Two-Year Report 3-20-12

Health Insurance Options When Youre Out Of School CA

How to Join Your Parents Insurance Plan National

PA-Factsheet12-2011

NILC-How_Are_Immigrants_Included_in_Health_Care_Reform-1

03.01.12 – Widen Your Aperture: Film Festival Awareness

howardl — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:43:39 +0000

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) will be in high gear during the month of March. Join us as we learn why film festivals like these are important to the Asian Pacific Islander community and for filmmakers. We’ll be screening the short film “Making Noise in Silence” provided by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), the great people who run the SFIAAFF. Afterward, hear from a panel of independent API filmmakers consisting of participants of our very own Movie Mini-Fest.

“Making Noise in Silence” – 19min – Directed by Mina T. Son
Follow two Korean American teens as they discover what it means to be both Deaf and Korean. Winner, Best Short Documentary, 2011 San Diego Asian Film Festival.

Panelists:
John P. Raposas – Director of “Mother”
D.B. Cheng – Director of “My Name is Seven”
Henry J. Kim – Director of “No Rest for the Wicked”
Jason Nou – Director of “For Closure”

Date:
March 1st, 2012

Time:
7:00pm – 9:00pm

Location:
Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) – Room 210
2400 Moorpark Ave.
San Jose, CA 95128

Free to attend (Donations appreciated)
Food will be provided.

RSVP via Facebook or Socializr

02.02.12 – Winter Fundraising Mixer

howardl — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:43:05 +0000

Join South Bay First Thursdays for our first event of 2012 as we come together to mingle and support Bay Area filmmaker, Henry J. Kim. Henry, a past participant of our movie screening events, has been working hard on his next short film which stars James Kyson from NBC’s Heroes. He needs our help though. Get a chance to take a sneak peek at some of the footage while we collect donations for him to be able to complete this project.

Date:
February 2nd, 2012

Time:
8:00pm – 10:00pm

Location:
Koji Sake Lounge
48 S. First Street
San Jose, CA 95113

$10 Suggested Donation

25% of the night’s donations will also go to SBFT.

RSVP via Facebook or Socializr

No January Event

howardl — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:23:44 +0000

Just a reminder. We will not have a January event as us organizers will be busy having our retreat planning our next year’s calendar along with brainstorming on how we can put together better events for everybody. See you all in February!

12.01.11 – Movie Mini-Fest

howardl — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 05:30:03 +0000

South Bay First Thursdays (SBFT) is bringing together Asian Pacific Islander filmmakers from the Bay Area together again for another evening of movie watching. Come watch short films and hear about what the makers have to say about filmmaking.

Date:
December 1st, 2011

Time:
7:00pm – 9:00pm

Location:
BlueLight Cinemas – Theater 5
21275 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014

RSVP via Facebook or Socializr

FREE TO ATTEND (Donations appreciated)

SBFT is pleased to support Asian Women’s Home, the domestic violence program of AACI, this holiday season. Please bring new unwrapped toys, new warm clothes, and $40 Target gift cards for low-income families affected by abuse. Donations are tax-deductible.

Go here to find out more about the films.

11.08.11 – Fundraiser at Sweet Tomatoes

howardl — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 05:29:00 +0000

Come out and eat with us. SBFT will be having a fundraiser at Sweet Tomatoes. If you present the flyer below to the cashier, 15% of the sale will be donated to us. Please come out and support us!

Date:
Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Time:
5pm – 8pm

Location:
Sweet Tomatoes
625 Colemane Ave.
San Jose, CA 95110

Flyer(PDF)
Print this and show to the cashier.