"Los Angeles, I'm Yours"

Finally have a chance to sit at a computer and update. After a fun show and a few fun days of sight-seeing in Seattle, me and my friend Joyce came down to L.A. to check out the scene.

I had a pleasant surprise when I got into town - check out this article written by Antoinette Bueno at Balita newspaper here in L.A. Super excited about this one!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of appearing on "Kababayan LA" (a Fil-Am local TV show), to promote the upcoming shows. Amazingly, some folks who saw the show actually came to last night's show at Second Street Jazz! I'll see if I can get that clip online to post here.

The Second Street Jazz show was excellent! Had the pleasure of meeting a lot of the local artists and listening to some fantastic music (Joyce Lee, Jinah Kim, Devlin Murphy and Dawen Wang played).

Tonight is my final West Coast show

9 p.m.
Blue Dahlia Cafe
738 E. 3rd St.
Los Angeles
Free (tip jar!)
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Also, if you guys are on Facebook, you'll notice I've been keeping everyone up-to-date with mobile pictures (I'm still obsessed with my new Blackberry) and status updates, so friend me there if you'd like! You can also check out the Facebook FanPage or join the Facebook group.



Alfa

Ah what a fun show! An old acquaintance came down from British Columbia and a handful of friends now living in the Seattle area came by with friends of their own. It was such good times to be had, and a perfectly intimate venue to share my music to... Off to sleep now! Xoxo

On the plane to Seattle! Updates when we get get there. :)

Interview with Boston Progress

So I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Boston Progress, the online website and community for independent Asian American musicians. Check it out here: http://www.bprlive.org/2009/05/21/alfas-second-skin/#more-2213

:)


Much love...

alfa

Dying for your aeroplane to take me in its wings.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of playing at my cousin's wedding. It was a request he'd made to me almost a year ago.


"Alfa," he said. "You're going to sing at my wedding, right?"
"Uh, with my guitar?"
"Yeah."
"Um, ok," I hesitated. "But you know that I have like, literally one love song, right?"
"Yeah, it's cool. We just want you to play," he replied.
So the set list included such anti-love songs as "Love as Tragedy" and "The Lament", but hey... I think it was well-received. I revived "Washington Square" and that seemed to go well. I'm looking forward to taking it out West with me.
So the sojourn begins to Seattle in a few days...
I am still running around trying to do the preparations, feeling a little apprehensive. But I think it'll all be better when I get the first shipment of "Second Skin" tomorrow.

YES! Finally here! Even though it's been more than half a year since most of the songs were recorded (the last track was recorded a just few months ago), it still feels so new. I'm still a little anxious to hear what people think, since it's been undisclosed for so long. What better way to make a splash then go out West (where they don't really know me yet), right? The great Wild West. When I get back, I'm going to see about getting it online. . .

Oh, ANNNDD there's a new shipment of t-shirts coming in. So you can start ordering now at
merch.alfa-music.com.

Drum roll please....

The official cover of "Second Skin", the album:





Yeahhhh... :)

This was thanks to the genius of photographer Virginia Kamenitzer (who took my blog photo at right) and graphic designer Billy Becerra. Holla!

And here's a shot of the back:

Master Your Moods

This is from an e-mail from a fan down in the D.C. area. I thought I'd share (and I'm editing to protect identities here):
Thank you for including me on your list. I thought my daughter was your biggest fan, but sorry I lied about it, just couldn't admit in front of you, I am your biggest fan. Stay positive; master your moods, live by your commitments, not your emotions. Obey God and live all the consequences to Him. I can see success is coming you way.


"Master your moods."

What a piece of advice, eh? That's definitely something to think about, and to work hard at. Particularly for songwriters, who often thrive on mood changes, it's hard not to think that managing our moods would be like ... stifling the flame, ya know?

Anyway, just food for thought. Going to sleep with Ceviche, margarita and guacamole in my tummy...

CAPA Festival!

It was a rainy day, and we had a bit of a bumpy start driving in for the CAPA Festival, but the set was a lot of fun for us and (I think!) for the crowd that braved the damp weather to check it out. We had our stuff huddled under a tent and umbrellas - Jon's upright bass, Dave's wooden kit, my guitar and keys. It was definitely a long haul, but we got through the day! That's all that matters, right? Plus there was some good food and good people. I was pretty happy to get home and dry off though! :) Now I'm just vegging... video and pics below!




It was a day full of challenges, and more than one group prayer was uttered among me, Jon, Dave, my sister, my bf and Jon's girlfriend... but the bright side is I did get to slip a copy of the album to Alan from Sesame Street, who co-hosted the first portion of the performances. He was SUPER nice and very gracious about it. :) Dave's a big fan so he was all for getting that CD to him. We sold CD's and got some mailing list sign-ups so that was all good in the hood.



Pics below!





Saving the equipment from the rain!

Jon on Bass.

Dave on Drums.