Change of adddress.
Well, I'm still working on it, but all the archives seem to be up at guavalog.wordpress.com. That's where to go for new posts too! See you there, beautiful blog people.
A name with stories.
I went to a library event during Litquake last month at which Ben Fong-Torres spoke (about a new book co-written with some of the band's members on The Doors). I had been a little curious about the hyphenated last name at the time, and thought to look it up later, guessing that it was something he acquired after marriage by adding a spouse's name. I was wrong. (I was also busy so, later turned out to be today.)
In the introduction to "Not Fade Away," I wrote: "On the job, meeting with musicians, managers, publicists, concert promoters, and record company executives, I never sensed any surprise on their part as they discovered that the guy from Rolling Stone was Chinese. Far more often, I would hear that, from having heard my name on the phone, they expected a Latino ("Torres" or perhaps a Scandinavian ("Von Taurus," maybe?)
But despite the name - the result of my immigrant father acquiring a Filipino name to defy the old Chinese Exclusion Act and gain entry into the United States in 1921 - I am indeed Chinese. (benfongtorres.com)
and from another interview...
JournalismJobs.com: Coming from a strict Chinese upbringing, how did your parents feel when you wanted to become a journalist -- and to cover Rock 'n Roll? Were they disappointed you didn't want to take over the family restaurant or become a doctor or lawyer?
Ben Fong-Torres: I came from a family that very much adhered to Chinese culture. In terms of strictness, it was really more the feeling of responsibility to be a part of the family business, which was the restaurant. You were simply expected to be there and to work pretty much every day and night and weekends and summers [laughs]. But aside from that, hey, we're loose man. Not to mention the language barrier. They were shouting at you, but you didn't know what they were saying. I was not inclined to tell them very much. Or I wasn't very able to articulate what I was getting into. They knew that I was kind of heading toward the newspaper racket because they would see that I was bringing home newspapers with my articles in it. But that was as far as they knew. They didn't express a great disappointment. (October 2001)
This past summer he wrote about visiting an Emerville restaurant he had worked in as a teen in the late '50s, a location now serving tapas-styled "New Wave Asian" dishes.
... an earlier lunchtime customer had left a $6 tip.
I couldn't help but laugh. Six dollars was just about what I used to make for an evening of work in that restaurant. Well, it wasn't Furenzu, and we certainly didn't offer any wine. Nor were there any such things back then as sake-based cocktails ...
When I worked there, it was Moon's Chinese Kitchen. It was the late '50s, and I was all of 14. Yeah, I know. Child labor. But my brother Barry (who was 16) and I were earning a little extra money for the family. And so, after classes at Oakland High School, I'd take an AC Transit bus to San Pablo Avenue, into the town of Emeryville. I'd trudge a block over to Adeline Street, and to Moon's, a tiny, six-table operation that specialized in cheap food for takeout and home delivery. Shrimp fried rice was 75 cents, fried prawns 80 cents and a ham sandwich 40 cents.
My job was to take orders over the phone -- invariably, people wanted shrimp fried rice and fried prawns (talk about Old Wave Asian) -- and then pack the food into a paper sack for the delivery guys.
...
There was one weekend afternoon I remember well. I was reading back an order to a customer on the phone, when, suddenly, my voice cracked. When I pieced it back together, it had slipped a notch. At age 14, I had reached adolescence -- in a Chinese restaurant. ("Many Moons Ago")
The photo above is from reelradio.com. The caption is "In 1960, while in high school, I did some weekend work at KEWB, where I met the morning man, Gary Owens."
On Vox: Kitty cake.
For a few someones I know who are fans of Hello Kitty. "The 3D Heavenly Hello Kitty Birthay Cake is marzipan bordered in puffs of icing clouds. Cake board is finished in silver metallic fabric trim." - Lovin Sullivan CakesP.S....
