Sam is a cellist living in San Francisco. He plays recitals and chamber music not just as mode of performance, but as a social venture, performing with different friends and getting to know various musicians and audience members. Oh, but he’s not just a cellist. He also recently dislocated his shoulder snowboarding (though it’s getting…
Not five minutes into my first conversation with Claudia, the violinist of Trio Jubilee, I discovered she was born in Ann Arbor, grew up in the East Bay, and taught at Duke University as part of the Ciompi Quartet. No way! I was born in Ann Arbor, live in the East Bay now, and went…
It was still early morning when I drove in to the sunset district of San Francisco, thankful for my Fastrak as I whizzed by the traffic on the Bay Bridge. I found Sasha’s apartment on a wide, busy street. Cars were flying by loudly, but inside, it was all peace and quiet. A beautiful space…
Western music very often comes in fours: 4/4 time, 4 strings on a violin, and all those beautiful 4-member groups: string quartets, barbershop quartets, brass quartets– even the standard rock band is usually two guitars, a bass, and a drum kit. But a bit more uncommon is the guitar quartet. No, not a band with…
We met up in Jack London Square, the waterside district of Oakland where century-old warehouses and new businesses coexist, an area in the midst of a transformation to chic before our very eyes . When Mark pulled up and stepped out of his silver sports car, it was clear that he was a man with a…
As photographers, so much of the work we create depends on who we are and how we relate to the world around us. For me, a large part of that perspective is shaped by the people who come into my life. My friends and family have long supported me in my “creative” and “unconventional” ventures…
It comes upon you and envelops you. It’s so warm and rich that you want to pull it around you and curl up in it. I’m not sure how such a sound comes out of her petite frame, but one thing is certain– Alice Tong has a beautifully capitvating voice. I got ten thousand ways…
On Saturday, I got to meet Yasuko, a pianist from Cal State East Bay for a brief headshot session. We ended up having a cool spontaneous adventure on our shoot. Walking up Oak Street from the Lake Merritt BART, we saw a restaurant with a cool brick and window facade. When someone from the restaurant…
I had a wonderful double session with two lovely ladies at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Apparently we have a lot in common: we discovered that all three of us had lived in Michigan and gone to school in North Carolina. And then we all converged in Cincinnati! haha. Amy, cellist, and Holly, violist,…
Wow. It’s been a year. At this time last year, I was visiting the Bay Area and interviewing with Oakland Teaching Fellows. It’s amazing to think how quickly life moves by. The week I was visiting also happened to be Taiwanese American heritage week, and I got to be here for part of the Taiwanese…
Three Taiwanese-American Female Singer-Songwriters It was an epic meeting as three Taiwanese American female singer-songwriters converged upon Berkeley and were introduced to each other for the first time. From left to right: Cynthia Lin from New York, Alanna Lin from Los Angeles, and Alice Tong from San Francisco. I was lucky enough to enjoy performances…
last night, ho chie, a couple friends, and i went to cafe la flore in the richmond district, SF, to see chinese-taiwanese-american indie singer-songwriter alice tong perform. she has an absolutely amazing voice; it’s the type of deep, rich, sound that surprises you as it billows out of such a small, unassuming person. watch a…