American Idol reject William Hung gets an extended 15 minutes of fame, and Kim Wong Keltner's first novel sets off an online firestorm.
AsianConnections pre- sents the adventures of Ben Fong-Torres, our very own Renaissance man: author, broad- caster, karaoke nut and former writer and editor at Rolling Stone. Ben was a featured character in the acclaimed film, Almost Famous.
Ive got a feeling about this William Hung guy. Hes going to last about as long as an iPod download. Hung, of course, is the diminutive UC Berkeley student who auditioned for American Idol with a goofy version of Ricky Martins She Bangs, got featured as one of the really bad singers (and he dances like a marionette, to boot), and is going through his 15 minutes, and then some, of fame. Hung, a native of Hong Kong who moved to the U.S. in 1993, has been on big TV shows Tonight, Dateline, Entertainment Tonight, and Ellen ; hes being booked for personal appearances, hes got fan Web sites, and hes constantly mobbed on campus, where hes a civil engineering student. Best, or perhaps most frightening of all, he got a $25,000 recording contract and a CD, True Idol , coming out.
All this because, as clunky a performer as he is, he offered an innocently sweet and gracious response after the judges dissed him. I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all.
And that was it. Because he didnt scream back at Simon Cowell, burst into tears and stomp off and because hes so bad its almost funny hes a cult...
You know our Ben, the writer, the editor, the broadcaster. But Ben, the songwriter?...
AsianConnections presents the adven-tures of Ben Fong-Torres, our very own Renaissance man: author, broadcaster, karaoke nut and former writer and editor at Rolling Stone. Ben was a featured character in the acclaimed film, Almost Famous.
First, before the musical portion of this column, a couple of quick hits: If you've been waiting and waiting for a bright, hip TV show focused on young Asian Americans, all you gotta do is stir it up -- that is, find Stir , a 30-minute maga- zine show produced by Jeff Yang. Hosted by four attractive youths, Jeannie Mai (who's also on MTV), Sabrina Shimada, Brian Tong, and Tony Wang, the show covers lifestyles, personalities, trends and issues. It's on the International Channel and various indie stations, including KTSF-San Francisco, whose studios serve as Stir's home base. The hipness quotient declines severely when I make an appearance, interviewed by Jeannie. For more info, go to the show's Web site, www.stirtv.com...And for a sober look at the William Hung phenomenon, check out Emil Guillermo's essay, "William Hung: Racism, Or Magic?" at www.sfgate.com...And I'm with Leonard Chan, editor of the newsletter for the Asian American Curriculum Project, a bookstore in San Mateo, Calif., when he writes: "If you're interested in an Asian American that truly could sing, we still have some Larry Ching CDs. The Chinese Frank Sinatra beats the Chinese Ricky...
Ben Fong-Torres, our very own Renaissance man: author, broadcaster, and former senior editor and writer at Rolling Stone Magazine, writes again. An old letter triggers thoughts about today's radio scene. Also, a visit to the beautiful new Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.
The other Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a letter from one Vic Dertimanis, saying: On Feb. 22, I met Ben Fong-Torres at a benefit for the beautiful Signe Anderson [the original lead singer for Jefferson Airplane]. I expressed to him how much I missed the joy of hearing him on the one and only KSAN and reading his articles in the Pink section. The next day, as I was lazily making my way through Sunday Datebook, I realized that I was drawing steadily nearer to the Aidin Vaziri zone. [Note: Mr. Vaziri does a Q&A interview each week with a pop artist.] Even as inspired as I was by the great happiness of my chance encounter the night before, I realized that there was only an outside chance that Vaziri's writings wouldn't be caustic, cynical and uninformative
When I'd finished his column, I felt solemn, then decided to get up and take on the day. But first I thought back to those earlier days and smiled at how much fun it had been to read articles by someone who gives a damn
I am glad to have given Mr. Dertimanis great happiness, but, lest you think Im a 24/7 people-pleaser, let me revisit a comment I ran across years ago on the Internet, on a radio site. This is from a broadcaster named Bob...
Ben Fong-Torres, our very own Renaissance man -- author, broadcaster, and former senior editor and writer at Rolling Stone Magazine -- visits with pop icon Pat Boone.
Twixt? Whats THAT mean? The word was part of the title of the best-selling book back in the late Fifties by pop star Pat Boone. Its short for betwixt, as in, betwixt and between. Its one of Dianne, my wifes favorite phrasesespecially at restaurants. Shell tell the waiter, These two entrees both sound good. Im betwixt and between.
Anyway, Pat Boones book was Twixt Teen and Twenty, and offered advice to teenagers. Im thinking of Pat because I just interviewed him in front of a gymful of high school students at Campbell Hall in Los Angeles. (The assembly, part of the schools focus on diversity, was produced by Diannes sister, Eileen Powers, an administrator.)
Pat, who is almost 70 but looks nowhere near that age, had a lot to say to teens back in the Fifties and Sixties, when he was a bigger pop star than anybody, except Elvis. Pat had almost 40 Top 40 hits, including April Love, Love Letters in the Sand, Aint That a Shame, Tutti Frutti, and Moody River.
In a month dominated by the fear of war and the disturbing visage of Michael Jackson on TV whenever some reality show wasnt on, it was good to spend some time with a true role model.
For many, Pat was too squeaky-clean back in the day. He was the safe alternative to the hip-swinging Elvis. A devout Christian, Pat was (and remains) a good family man. His idea of...
Our Renaissance Man wins an Emmy for his work on the Chinese New Year Parade broadcast. And he honors winners of the Women Warrior Awards.
I wont lie to you. It feels good to win an Emmy. Thats what happened the other night at the Northern California Emmy Awards in San Francisco, when the Chinese New Year Parade broadcast, which Julie Haener and I co-host on KTVU (Fox 2), won a bunch of the gold-plated statuettes. As one KTVU anchor kidded afterwards, Jeez, you work part-time and you win one!
Part-time is right. Each February, I go into the stations offices for two script-reading sessions, and then we do the parade from our perch in Union Square, and then we pick up our Emmys. Easy as custard tarts.
Other big winners: Wendy Tokuda of KRON, who got two Emmys for Students Rising Above , a series of reports on low-income, at-risk kids who nonetheless strive to get into college, and Emerald Yeh, formerly of KRON, who won her ninth Emmy, this time for Lost Childhood: Growing Up in an Alcoholic Family. The win was redemption, of sorts, for Emerald, who fought hard to get the show produced and aired, and whose dismissal from KRON last year (owing, the station said, to budget cuts) caused a local stir. But she proved, once more, that shes a winner.
Sydnie Kohara of CBS 5 co-hosted the event with Frank Somerville of KTVU, and offered her usual blend of glamour, professionalism and good humor, while Tokuda and Kristen Tze of ABC 7 were among the presenters. Before the ceremonies,...