154 Pink Chairs — Wire Live in New York
I went to see Wire last night, who kicked off the South Street Seaport Music Festival. I wasn’t really so sure if the mix of tourists and Wall Street types would be into the band, currently in their third (fourth?) comeback. But, hey, right in front of me were four guys in their late 50s who looked like they just walked out of a casual Friday at a brokerage. They were smoking pot, chugging beers, passing around a flask of Bacardi and yelling for “Ex-Lion Tamer,” which they...
Read MoreI’d Rather Have S’mores Than Snores
And how was your Saturday night? (photo by author) Laugh if you want. If you’re a snorin’ mofo like me, this could soon be you. I spent Saturday night not in the arms of my lovely wife but in room 909 (anybody else know that Beatles song ‘One After 909′ by any chance?) of the sleep lab of the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary. My snoring has been out of control. So I’ve been told. I saw an otolaryngologist a few weeks ago and he said that tissue just sags as...
Read MoreI’ve Been Shuffled!
Yeah, I took lotsa pics in this doorway. . . Check out my Shuffled! feature over on boston progress radio. I talk a leel ’bout six songs picked randomly from my vast music archive. Artists covered include: Billy Bragg, Asobi Seksu, Taiyo Na, Bad Brains, Asian Dub Foundation and Yellow Rage. I speak of all of them in a rather irreverent tone meant to amuse more than inform. I will actually be in Boston in July to do a reading, too,...
Read MoreEd Lin Granted ‘Observer’ Status
I’d figured this would happen sooner or later. During the Q&A at the Asia Society reading, I was called out by an elder stateswoman of Chinatown for being merely “an observer” not only of the place, but the time (1976). Sure, I hadn’t grown up in Chinatown. Sure, I don’t understand Cantonese and my Mandarin sucks. But apart from that, she wanted to know when my parents and grandfather came over! Shit, my whole family was under attack for not having street...
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Ed Lin is the author of Waylaid, This Is A Bust, Snakes Can't Run, and One Red Bastard. Lin, who is of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards. Ed lives in New York with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung.