SHOW YOURSELF
A Benefit Residency Celebrating AAPI Stories
Celebrate the stories of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) artists through music and conversation in this residency that runs during AAPI Heritage Month and benefits The Quiet Voice Fund. Tonight, hear from KAYE, Alex Wong, and Dylan Adler as they lift their voices and show themselves to New York and beyond.
This series is co-produced by Alex Wong. Sign up to join his Patreon and receive free livestream tickets to every show!
Doors open: 7:30pm
Tickets:
Live at Rockwood Music Hall: $35
VIP at Rockwood Music Hall: $50
*VIP tickets include:
Meet & greet with all artists for 20 minutes after the show
Signed show poster
Laminate VIP badge
Mixed audio recording download (mp3)
Permanent access to edited video recording (link)
Livestream Tickets:
Livestream only: $20
*Livestream VIP: $30
*Livestream VIP tickets include:
Meet & greet with all artists for 20 minutes after the show
Mixed audio recording download (mp3)
Permanent access to edited video recording (link)
KAYE
As the former frontwoman of the critically acclaimed New York-based group San Fermin, KAYE (Charlene Kaye) has played network television and has toured with St. Vincent, Arctic Monkeys, alt-J, and others. She recently released her newest full-length album “Conscious Control,” which earned praise from Rolling Stone, NPR, FLOOD Magazine, and more.
Alex Wong
Alex Wong creates music to help people remember who they are and show themselves to the world. He has always had a complicated relationship with his own memories, unable to remember his own childhood birthday parties yet possessing many vivid, sensory memories from dreams, places he’d never been, and what seemed almost like isolated vignettes from another life. That dissonance led to the songs on his latest album, “The Elephant and the Seahorse.” As he looked closer at his memories from the past, he was forced to acknowledge that he had been “hiding” his identity as a second generation Chinese-American for much of his life. Memories of being told to downplay his ethnicity in school, social groups, or in the mostly-white music industry, assimilate to white culture, speak with no accent, and keep himself small rushed to the surface, along with waves of shame and anger for buying into this conditioning. A lot of deep questioning followed, which he chronicles for the first time in his song “Show Yourself.”
Alex is a Latin GRAMMY-nominated artist and producer known for his work with Delta Rae, Vienna Teng, Melissa Ferrick and Morgxn, among others. Alex’s music has been featured in movies including “The Last Song” and TV shows including “True Blood.” Alex has toured all over the world, performing at festivals like Coachella, Outside Lands, and Corona Capital, in arenas in Mexico City and theaters in Europe and Japan, and on NPR’s Mountain Stage.
Alex has previously performed in the Keepsake House shows From Story to Song and Foresight and is a 2022 Keepsake House Artist in Residence.
Website | Spotify | Instagram | Patreon
Dylan Adler
Dylan Adler is a comedian, actor, writer, and musician based in New York City. He performed musical comedy at the New York Comedy Festival, Asian Comedy Festival, and was featured in the New York Times and Vulture. He was also featured on Hulu in the series “Eater’s Guide to the World.” He performed sketch comedy as an actor in Maude Night at UCB and was featured in the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival as well as in Vulture Magazine, Elite Daily, and the NY Post. Dylan is the co-composer of the musical “Goodmorning New York,” which played Off-Broadway at the Players Theatre in 2020 and at the NY Musical Theatre Festival.
Dylan has previously performed in the Keepsake House shows Unmute Yourself and Foresight and is a 2022 Keepsake House Artist in Residence.
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube
With special virtual guest…
No-No Boy
Dr. Julian Saporiti is a Vietnamese American songwriter and scholar born in Nashville, Tennessee. His multi-media work "No-No Boy" has transformed his doctoral research on Asian American history into concerts, albums and films which have reached a broad and diverse public audience. His latest album "1975" released through Smithsonian Folkways has been hailed by NPR as "one of the most insurgent pieces of music you'll ever hear" which "re-examines Americana with devastating effect" and American Songwriter called it "insanely listenable and gorgeous." By using art to dive into highly divisive issues such as race, refugees and immigration, Saporiti aims to allow audience members to sit with complication as music and visuals open doorways to difficult histories.
With all tickets benefiting…
The Quiet Voice Fund
The Quiet Voice Fund was created by Alex Wong and shares its name with one of his songs, written around a simple idea: our voices don’t have to be LOUD to be strong. Alex believes that true power doesn’t come from being aggressive, selfish or dominating, but rather from the courage to be authentic and empathic, and to speak for those who can’t. The fund supports incredible organizations and people who embody this belief as they fight every day for the most vulnerable among us, through education, individual empowerment, and community strengthening. The supported organizations for this series are Stop AAPI Hate, Hate is a Virus, Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit, AAPI Women Lead, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, and Yellowhammer Fund.
And keepsakes sponsored by…
Diana Ho & From Here to Sunday
Diana Ho is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work often focuses on the transformation of everyday objects, exploring the mundane, yet deeply intimate relationship we have with our belongings. Diana received a BFA in illustration from the School of Visual Arts and has since worked with off-Broadway theatres, indie musicians, and world-renowned fine artists. Her latest venture is From Here to Sunday–an art gift shop and gallery in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
From Here to Sunday began in a fake bodega within a real museum by artist Diana Ho with the simple act of sharing baked goods. This gesture is at the root of the business, which values creating an inclusive community through artful gift-giving. Each product is lovingly made in limited quantities by talented artists—ranging from paintings, to zines, to jewelry, to baked goods, and beyond. This small business continues to evolve in different contexts, whether it is a pop-up shop or an art exhibition. Now with a brick-and-mortar space, From Here to Sunday strives to utilize its platform to uplift marginalized artists through a decolonized lens.
Even Keel
Even Keel was founded by En Tsao, who was born and raised in tropical Singapore. She moved to New York 13 years ago to study art and design. She eventually transitioned to natural skincare and started incorporating what she learned into her soap recipes, which slowly led her down the path of just making recipes for everything she would generally buy to treat herself—candles, diffusers, bath salts, etc… except she gets to dictate and KNOW that everything is 100% natural and from sources she would feel comfortable personally using.
Kam Hing Coffee Shop
Kam Hing Coffee Shop is a landmark of [Manhattan] Chinatown. It opened its doors about 35 years ago and is famous for its light, fluffy, and moist sponge cake. Chinese American owner Liz Yee and her family opened Kam Hing Coffee Shop as a way to pass down memories from generation to generation. Besides the original sponge cake version, you can find a multitude of flavors such as pandan, matcha, ube, black sesame, and coconut. (Bio by Izzy Chan and With Warm Welcome for The Infatuation.)
Kwohtations
Kwohtations was founded by Janine Kwoh, and is a handmade stationery company and letterpress print & design studio, based in Brooklyn, NY. Kwohtations is an ever-changing collection of greeting cards, art prints, and other curiosities that reflect and celebrate a diversity of identities and life experiences, and always with some humor and whimsy that is so critical to savoring the good times and surviving the hard ones.
Sarula Bao
Sarula Bao is a Chinese American illustrator and graphic novelist based in Brooklyn. She graduated from RISD’s illustration department in 2016 and has since published a graphic novel, Lissa: A Story about Medical Promise, Friendship, and Revolution and currently works as a comics instructor and freelance illustrator. Her work explores aspects of Chinese culture, aesthetics, and narratives through a 2nd generation American experience.
Spring Cafe
Casual choice for vegan burgers, bao buns & smoothies, presented in a counter-serve format located right outside the Canal St. subway station in Manhattan’s Chinatown.