"I'm an immigrant to Heaven." - George Koo.

A little video I made on Animoto featuring this boy's dance that I photographed minutes after learning that my grandfather was dying. RIP, George Koo, we will meet again.

Thank you, Eddie Pages...

Eddie Pages & I representing "Workers" at our joint Birthday party last Friday.

My friendship with the Talented Eddie Pages began when I met him on the ANSWER bus to a GAZA protest in DC. Soon, we discovered that we were 5 days apart, born the same year, and both shared a common love for the visual arts, him with film and me with photography....And, lemme tell ya, when us Scorpio Metal Monkeys get together, you can expect all kinds of creative collaboration happening!

Our first collaboration was March 21st, when ANSWER organized their annual national March on the Pentagon against the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan & Palestine. We dropped off mock coffins at war profiteers parking lots while laughing at the robocops who surrounded the front doors with their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle outfits. The experience was militant, dramatic, loud, and visually stunning. I went down super early to organize and take photographs, and Eddie compiled my photos and made a video out of them to an MIA song. So here it is below....and thank you Eddie, you made my photos come out alive!!!

March 21st March on the Pentagon from Eddie Pages on Vimeo.

Today he sent me a link of my performance at last Saturday's Lyrical Revolt 13, and it was edited so beautifully. It's kinda weird seeing myself on video, but heh....here it is:

Vanissa W. Chan from Eddie Pages on Vimeo.

Thank you, Eddie. You're the BEST!!! One Love.

Me...On Stage!

Me performing my poem for the first time ever at the ANSWER Coalition's 13th Lyrical Revolt at the Rebel Arts Collective in the South Bronx. My buddy, the talented Eddie Pages, is next to me recording my performance.

Ever since my very first spoken word event at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, a few years ago when I was very new to NYC, I desired to be on stage. I never thought I'd ever muster up the courage to do it, but things change :). I wrote a lot of poetry when I was in high school and throughout college, but never had the idea of reading it outloud..the concept was just foreign to me. Where I grew up, a poetry reading was very...hmm, bookish and bit boring! But here in the city, where a multitude of cultures collide and ways of expression intertwine,....a spoken word event is quite an event (ok, that was the understatement of the year...it's POWERFUL and ....awe-inspiring!!)!

When I asked my friend Jinnette (kickass activist/poet/superwoman) to go over my first poem with me, she encouraged me to perform at the 13th Lyrical Revolt...at first I was like, "HELL NO.." but the idea grew on me and I practiced for a few weeks. I was the second performer on stage, which I think worked out well because I had to take photos, and I would have been freaking out the whole time if I was going later. The experience was magical and indescribable. It felt liberating and it was so well received by the warm crowd which I really appreciate because the content of the poem was very personal and difficult for me to share.

Thank you to my friends for their genuine love, support, advice, feedback....and presence. I couldn't have done it without you! I'm grateful. X.

Thank you to Libor Koznar for the photos!
http://artandstruggle.com/

LYRICAL REVOLT 13...Success!!!!!

Baron of Red Clay.....tellin' it!!!!

Hasan Salaam & Rugged N Raw on stage.

The Lyrical Revolt 13 was amazing! I'm not yet finished with editing, so bear with me,...a week..a week and a half...but, I wanted to blog because I was soooo thrilled to get up on stage and recite my first poem in like ten years of not writing in prose, and the response, the love and support that I received afterwards was soooo perfect, I'm so grateful to have such wonderful friends. So..that's the reason for this post...just a big THANK YOU to my friends who helped me practice, encouraged me to go on stage, and convinced me to believe in myself - helped me not to shit in my pants, THANKS!!!!!

XO.

Not Just A Pretty Face...

I've recently been obsessing over beautiful, intelligent women who know their power, and have been fortunate enough in the last few years to really get to know some very respectable ladies :). My close friend, Christina Empress, is one of them. I met Christina through my friend Trevz, who publishes The New Pop, which is one of the dopest online magazines covering NYC artists (go check it out!!!!), who a few years ago, recruited Christina and I to be in a music video featuring NYC artists. The event brought many artists together, and when Christina and I met, it was love at first sight, lol. On the surface, you can see why - she's totally freaking gorgeous - but skin deep, she's even more awe-inspiring.

Christina has been DJing internationally for several years, and is currently working on the finalities of her solo album featuring her as the singer/songwriter, titled, "Disconnect" which will soon be released. I have been fortunate enough to hear a few songs and....my mind is blown. This girl is TALEN-TED!!!! She's going to go Platinum, I have no doubt. You can hear samples and get updates of this beautiful, intelligent, musical vixen at her website: http://www.christinaempress.com. She's in the middle of scheduling her tour dates and album release date, so stay tuned because her show is going to be off the hook!

Earlier this fall, I had the privilege of photographing her in a very intimate setting - her apartment! I enjoy shooting people in their environment because it reveals so much about their life, personality, and what inspires them. Enjoy the photos and check out her links...you don't want to be missin' out!

Become a fan of her's on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Empress
Check out her new website: www.christinaempress.com
Listen to older songs: www.soundcloud.com/empress
Link to her old website: www.djempress.com

Lyrical Revolt XIII

Rebel Diaz performing at the Lyrical Revolt X.

Denice MsMisconception Frohman performing at Lyrical Revolt XII.

Abraham Velazquez of The Peace Poets, at the Lyrical Revolt X.



So it's that time again....The ANSWER Coalition's popular spoken word/hip hop event, the Lyrical Revolt (number 13) will be happening again this Saturday, at the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective located in the South Bronx. ANSWER stands for Act Now to Stop War & End Racism, and is a coalition of fantastic, compassionate, driven community activists. The event is a fundraiser for ANSWER which organizes these insanely huge and powerful national marches against war and racism, so if you come out, you'll be coming out for a very important cause. I'm super excited about this event..this will be my 4th Lyrical Revolt, and the 4th one I've photographed! Also, if I don't chicken out ..I'll be performing my first poem on stage EVER.....I'm a bit jittery when I think of it now, but I know a miracle will happen when I get up there and I won't be nervous at all! :)

Doors open at 8:00PM, show begins at 9:00PM...seriously, be there or be missin' out!!!

Location, location, location:

478 Austin Place, 2nd Flr.
South Bronx, NY 10455
by 149th and Bruckner
6 train to E. 149th St.
BX19 to 149th and Southern

Review the old Lyrical Revolts through my Flickr site:
LR X: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157613501426095/
LR XI: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157619288867194/
LR XII: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622026506911/

The Lid Popped Off....

..At work and I've decided to play hookie tomorrow. My first time this year.

I'm sick with some kind of bug, and I have too many fun, important plans to allow some kind of nasty bug to get in the way...so, I'm relaxing and working on a few photos.

I was able to work on a few concert photos of VERITAS, my friend Thai's band, that I photographed (and had a blast with) a few weeks ago. They're still doing their nationwide tour, so be sure to try and catch them in your area. You can check out their stuff at http://www.myspace.com/veritasband

Please see the added photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622543085625/

My favorite shots are shots like this of them in the convenient stores:

Which I realized when I was with them that they must walk into so many convenient stores per day just to get their munchies fix and restroom breaks. They could do some sort of sociological study on their convenient store encounters. Somebody should tell them......They could start a convenient store blog. Or maybe I just need to go on tour with a band and document their adventures..aahhhh...did I ever mention that one of my favorite movies is Almost Famous?? :D

Happy entrails.