Happy Coachella to all who celebrate. I was lucky to go 2008, 2009, and 2011. Prince, Kanye, Big Audio Dynamite, Lil B with Odd Future, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lauryn, crab fries and so much more.
It’s a marathon of heat, dust, bass, tinnitus, B.O. and dodging bros in throwback NBA jerseys. Pre-influencer days too. 😂 Hydrate, you crazy kids.
Grateful to cosplay as a press person for SBLX week. Cranked out three stories in four days which is lightweight stuff for real journos. 😰 Got to experience Super Bowl Opening Night, cruise around DTSJ and DTSF and check out the scene, see @larussell@phsmsb@djumami and @kehlani rip it, had quality catch-ups with my old boss and rap journalism pioneer Smokey Fontaine, KRON’s k-pop head @atolentino2 , fellow Chron writer @zaraishad , my great editor @cariemarthecat , San Mateo’s hyphy harpist and cover subject @geowav , and San Jose mayor Matt Mahan, who I ambushed at his upbeat State of the City address.
On Sunday I grilled some meat, cracked open some tall cans and watched Benito Bowl from my couch, satisfied I had experienced something new and contributed to the coverage. Let’s run it back in June when FIFA World Cup comes to Levi’s; that’s my wheelhouse. ⚽️
Do what you love, y’all. ♥️
If you watch the Super Bowl today, pay attention to the band playing during timeouts and touchdowns. Back in December, I first met with harpist @geowav at a coffee shop in San Mateo. I was already familiar with her clever harp interpretations of Yay Area classics and her membership within @larussell backing band, the @yeesection . To have a harpist onstage at a rap show is crazy work, but Geo makes it seamless through a mix of artistic chops, grit and authentic love of music.
Since our initial chat, her opportunities blew up in a major way with performances with @saleniebeanie at the San Jose @kehlani show, various SB week functions with Larussell, and the big game itself. Read my latest SF Chronicle Datebook cover story to learn how Geo went from church stage to rap stage to the Super Bowl stage. It took a community — her family, teachers, fellow musicians — to lift her up.
Happy 7-inch Friday! Big up to @nattotodd on his article about the South Bay indie band, @koreagirltheband , which inspired this post. 🙏🏼
Repost: @nattotodd
What if a song you made in 1996 suddenly inexplicably blew up? Had a lot of fun catching up with @koreagirltheband about their viral success after 30 years of dormancy for @sfchronicle_datebook . It’s such a surreal circumstance for them. Thanks Tobin and Liz for sharing your story, Mike Park for the tip, and @cariemarthecat for the green light. It’s on the racks in SF today, pick it up! Link in (Todd’s) bio
📸 : @ttruongphoto
What if a song you made in 1996 suddenly inexplicably blew up? Had a lot of fun catching up with @koreagirltheband about their viral success after 30 years of dormancy for @sfchronicle_datebook . It’s such a surreal circumstance for them. Thanks Tobin and Liz for sharing your story, Mike Park for the tip, and @cariemarthecat for the green light. It’s on the racks in SF today, pick it up! Link in bio
📸 : @ttruongphoto
Grateful for all the 2025 experiences and hangs with new and old friends. Looking ahead to more in 2026 — the year I break 60. Golden horse represent. And I promise to smile more in pics
🎤 📸: @dokiet
Branham Soccer Alumni Game 2025
Branham Alumni 3; Branham Varsity 2
It was important to reclaim the field from the negative attention it’s received. Mission accomplished
I didn’t score but I passed it to someone who passed it to the scorer so that counts for something.
It’s been a week since our Japan trip and finally over jet lag. Since nobody asked 😄 here are the top 5 things we ate during our two weeks in Fukuoka and Tokyo:🇯🇵
1. Hashidaya @hashidaya_nakameguro - Winner winner eight-course chicken dinner featuring chicken sashimi, yakitori, wings, and hot pot (the best). You can see chef give us broth shots lol. S/O @solesides for the recc
Tempura Hirao - Freshly made tempura fished out of the oil and served as its cooked piece by piece with all the fixings was the sleeper hit. I exhaled “This is probably my favorite meal of the trip so far.”
Sushi Matsue - 3000 yen (19 usd) omakase lunch that started our trip on a high note. Shout out chef Yuki who passed us his business card afterwards.
Hassaku @yakitori_hassaku - Unassuming Fukuoka yakitori spot, cash only, no English, just fresh meats and veggies over charcoal. We over-ordered, ate it all, and would do it again.
Shin Shin Ramen @hakata_shinshin - We ate a lot of tonkotsu ramen — from chains to mom and pops — but Shin Shin’s broth to me was superior. It had a deeply roasted flavor like the concoction was simmering for days.
Bonus:
&Locals @andlocals Miso Cheesecake - I don’t know if it was the Ohori Park environs but this cheesecake was really freaking good. miso is the not-so-secret ingredient and we ran it back before we left. &Local is a Fukuoka cafe chain that sells all these cool Japanese condiments, tea and kitchen stuff.
Arigatou 🇯🇵
Two weeks flew by. We ate all the things (chicken sashimi, oil-to-hashi tempura, and AYCE natto), explored Fukuoka, hung in Naka-meguro, stayed in Shimokitazawa a neighborhood I absolutely love. Thanks to @optwomist@jason.thinh for quality hangs and @bighapa75@soulsides for solid intel. Gonna need a transfusion to regulate my bloodstream of tonkotsu broth and highballs. Last pic is me on the last night 🙀. We will be back ♥️
This one is special. Bruce Lee is a huge symbol of strength and power in the AANHPI community. The homey Jeff Chang @zentronix did the work, ignored the myths and wrote the definitive biography, and at the same time, told the parallel origin story of Asian America. I wouldn’t trust any other writer to take this on.
Jeff and I go back to the ‘90s when I was trying to get my bylines up. I remember the Tower Pulse one-page on N.W.A I got him to write for me and it was above and beyond the 75 cents a word that I was offering then. He was already all-league ACC (Asian Cultural Critic) and I was a WAC(k) walk-on ha ha.
So happy for his book to be out there, and it was an honor to kick it and eat beef stew & rice at his Berkeley crib on Labor Day to get the story for the SF Chronicle (a pink section cover story no less). Plus I got to chat with “Number one Bruce Lee expert (non-Asian Division)” @wkamaubell for it.
Read the story (gift link in bio) and pick up the book. Much aloha to the Chang ohana, Kamau and, of course, Bruce.
