Me at the festival in 2010 with Maya Sotero-Ng and Kip Fulbeck

I could not pass up the opportunity to get my book signed by my favorite author, Kip Fulbeck.  I was also lucky enough to get to meet Maya Sotero-Ng, during a reading of her upcoming children’s book, Ladder to the Moon.  I consider both of these educators and authors two of my personal inspirations for a lot of projects that I get involved in.

The Festival is a fiscally sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit organization, celebrating stories of the Mixed experience. Each year the Festival brings together film and book lovers, innovative and emerging artists, and multiracial families and individuals for two days of workshops, readings, film screenings and live performance including music, comedy and spoken word.

Festival co-founders

Festival Co-Founders Heidi Durrow and Fanshen Cox met in New York a decade ago at an audition for a show about multi-racial people.  Both were sure that the other would ‘steal’ the role from the only other ‘blue-eyed, curly haired light-skinned’ girl.  When both were cast, they began a long and fruitful friendship, supporting each other as artists and through the various challenges they faced surrounding their search for identity on their own terms.

Don’t miss it this year. For more info www.mixedroots.org

The 2008 Sushi and Sake Festival is being held on Saturday, June 14 at the beautiful Seawalk Village at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. Festival hours are 10AM – 8PM. The event features music, food,  sushi making demonstrations, sake and beer tasting, tea ceremony, sumo demonstration, taiko and much more!

Admission price: $21 – includes admission to the festival, admission to the Queen Mary and its exhibits, all stage performances, sake classes and cooking demonstrations. Kids 11 and under are free when accompanied by a paid adult.

 Visit their website at www.queenmaryfestivals.com

Steve Byrne was born in Freehold, NJ to a Korean mother and an Irish father providing him with a wealth of comedic material. After stepping on stage for the first time on September 30, 1997, he has never looked back.

His long road in comedy has taken him to many places and appearances. He has been seen on his own Comedy Central Presents special, Premium Blend, The Late Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Call with Carson Daly, The Kims of Comedy DVD, BET’s Comic View and many more TV appearances.  He has opened up for Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Kings of Leon and Modest Mouse to name a few.

He has been a regular at Beachers Madhouse in Las Vegas and has even been a part of Vince Vaughns Wild West Comedy Tour. He has performed at The Bonnaroo Music Festival, The Latin Comedy Festival, The Can West Comedy Festival and most recently, the prestigious Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He was just named winner of the Stand Up Sit Down Competition as part of The Las Vegas Comedy Festival that aired on TBS.

I have seen Steve perform several times and I always leave there still laughing.  He is a great performer and a really nice guy as well.  I think what impressed me most about Steve was when he traveled to Afghanistan with the USO to entertain the U.S. troops.  Being a veteran myself, I can appreciate what a great sacrifice and show of support that was.

Steve will be taping his one-hour special tonight at the Orange County Pavillion.  GET FREE TICKETS TO THE GIG. All you have to do is email your name and how many tickets you need to Brandon@levityentertainmentgroup.com

If you would like to know more about Steve and his fantastic comedy and upcoming performances visit him at www.stevebyrnelive.com or check him out on myspace www.myspace.com/stevebyrne  

I attended the 2007 Festival of Books at UCLA today. My only goal was to get my book, “part Asian, 100% Hapa” signed by Kip Fulbeck. I arrived early and waited at the “Kinokuniya Books Stores of America” booth for 40 minutes.  I have to say that it was worth the wait.  I was very excited and those 40 minutes seemed more like 400 minutes. 

When Kip arrived he was all smiles. I could not control myself, I waved like a little schoolgirl and said “hello, I have been patiently waiting for you”- Good grief, I sounded like a total geek to him I’m sure.  He was very courteous and thanked me for waiting and handed me a sticker which was very cool.  It had his website, www. redsushi.com on it.  I thanked him and he asked me my name.  I said, “Mickey” and I added that “I’m sure you receive hundreds of emails a day but I am the Mickey from Lucky Mango” and he said, “Oh, yes I remember, Lucky Mango.  I like your site. Very cool name” Needless, to say I was pretty ecstatic at this point.  Kip asked for my book and he signed it.  I thanked him and asked if we could take a picture together.  He was very kind and gracious and I was very honored to have him sign my book.

Kip Fulbeck has been making art about Hapa identity since 1990. Known as the nation’s leading artist on the subject, he has spoken and exhibited his award-winning films, performance, and photography throughout the world, including PBS, the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial, Singapore International Film Festival, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Bonn Videonale, the National Conference On Race in Higher Education, and the Honolulu Contemporary Arts Museum.

The director of the landmark video Banana Split and author Paper Bullets: A Fictional Autobiography (University of Washington Press) and Part Asian, 100% Hapa (Chronicle Books), he speaks nationwide on identity, multiraciality, art and pop culture. His next book, Permanence: Tattoo Portraits by Kip Fulbeck, will be published by Chronicle Books in 2008.

Fulbeck currently teaches as Professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a three-time recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Member Award and an affiliate faculty in Asian American Studies and Film & Media Studies. He is also a nationally-ranked Master’s swimmer, avid surfer, guitar player, and ocean lifeguard.

If you would like to learn more about Kip’s past and present projects, please visit www.seaweedproductions.com

Plan now to attend the 2007 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books — Saturday & Sunday, April 28 and 29 — an extraordinary literary event with something for book lovers of all interests and ages.

• 50+ book/poetry readings
• 97 author panels
• Hundreds of book signings
• Dozens of literary/cultural/musical presentations

You can browse among more than 300 booksellers, publishers and book-related exhibitors showcasing every type of literary work — from classics to comics.

Bring the kids and explore two fun-filled children’s areas offering storytelling, crafts, costumed characters and lots more activities for the entire family.

The Festival of Books takes place on the UCLA Campus on Saturday, April 28, 10 am to 6 pm, and Sunday, April 29, 10 am to 5 pm. Free admission. Parking is $8. For more info, driving directions and a map of the campus visit http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/

I  am planning on getting my book “Part Asian, 100% Hapa” signed by Kip Fulbeck. Kip will be at booth #327.

The Hapa Project: The book

A book of intimacy, affirmation, beauty, and powerful self-expression, Part Asian, 100% Hapa is the first book of its kind.  Filled with over 100 Hapa portraits and their individual handwritten response to the question, “What are you?” it is the book Fulbeck always wished he had growing up. An introduction to the rest of the world and an affirmation for Hapas themselves, it presents the individuals and their growing community to the world, a reality that will no longer be ignored.  It features a foreword by internationally known musician Sean Lennon and an afterword by race & ethnicity expert Paul Spickard.

I regret not making the open casting call that was in Los Angeles a few years ago but I am so excited and proud to see the final product. Hopefully, I will be able to catch Kip at one of his upcoming appearances here in Los Angeles so he can sign my copy of his book. 

4/28/2007, author signing, 1:30-2:30, LA Times Festival of Books (UCLA Booth #327)

5/12/2007, Asian Pacific American Book Festival, Spoken Word Performance

10:00-4:00, Japanese American National Museum

Check out Kip’s website www.seaweedproductions.com for more info.