SOCIETY OF SEVEN

Society of Seven, after 31 years headlining the Outrigger, has attained the position as the greatest show band in Waikiki entertainment history

From 1966 at the Betty Riley's Copacabana as the Fabulour Echoes, to the Hong Kong Junk-Llikai Hotel, to Duke's (where they changed their name to Society of Seven), OHH Main Showroom and to the Outrigger WaikikiHotel - they survived numerous personnel changes to constant success.

Their impressions, the choreography, the strong lead voices and smooth harmonies are still intact after all these years and changes.

SOS's "Chicken Dance" is their pick as the "Most Outrageous Dance" of the past century, their staging of "Phantom of the Opera" was their career-best mini production and their celebrity impressions include many well-known celebrities. They include the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.), Wayne Newton and Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire.

JEST JAMMIN - CHINATOWN SOUL BAND

Jest Jammin' aka "Chinatown Soul Band", has entertained the public for thirty years.

In 1968 Norman Fong, Brad Lum, & Ed Toy, got together with a couple of other friends, formed a band that was unnamed until 1971 when they added more members and officially called themselves Jest Jammin'.

They are the last of the "Local San Francisco Chinatown bands" from the 60's and 70's, and are still enjoying popularity from an enthusiastic public.

CALVIN NGUYEN - RACE HORSE OWNER

Calvin Nguyen, a 28 years old immigrant from Vietnam, bought his first Thoroughbred (Freedom Crest) two years ago. This 5-year-old gelding has already earned more than $600,000, and along with it the reputation as one of racing's biggest bargains.

His interest in thoroghbreds was by mistake. It started by an aborted outing to see Nolan Ryan pitch that ended up viewing Quarter Horse Races at the Los Alamitos Race Track. Upon witnessing the excitement of horse racing, he was captivated.

In 1983 at the age of nine, Calvin Nguyen was on a fishing boat was less than 100 feet long, crammed with 140 Vietnamese refugees and piloted by a so-called captain clueless about their destination. After a journey of more than 500 miles across the South China Sea, they found the coastline of Malaysia. Through friends at a Catholic Church, they found their way to Florida - in route to California.

It wasn't until 1990 that he was reunited with his two brothers and parents (mother - Vau Nguyen ) who were left behind in Vietnam. Only his aunt and uncle and a 12-year-old brother went with him. Their father (Khai Tran), a South Vietnamese Navy man, was in his seventh year of what would be a 10-year incarceration in a POW camp.

Along with his trainer, Richard Baltas, he has purchased Freedom Crest along with five others at Hollywood Park. He co-owns the horses with Joey Tran (10% ownership) - his brother and boss at a company that sells nutritional supplements to Asia.

LINKIN PARK

Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory" sold 96,377 copies, despite selling more than 6.3 million copies since its release early last year but has never reached No. 1 in February 2002 - though it won a Grammy in the "Hard Rock Performance" for their song Crawling.

In one year, Linkin Park (band named after "Lincoln Park" in Santa Monica) went from an opening act a a local club to having the biggest-selling album of 2001, making the cover of Rolling Stone and nominated for three Grammys.

The band deals with frustration and confusion, layered with such optimism and hope that Rolling Stone refers to the band's sense of "brotherly compassion" within their music that mixes elements of hip-hop with the basic guitar-bass instrumentation of rock.

The band's connection with its audiences is cemented by its regular feature of signing autographs after its concerts.

BOB CHINN

The success of the movie "Boogie Nights" featured the success of AVN Hall of Fame director Bob Chinn.

He started as a film school graduate, got a job building sets, and then got a major break during a cameraman's strike when he was promoted to assistant cameraman.

"I worked my way up to cameraman, and the only jobs I could get as a cameraman were on soft-X films, which they were doing at the time. I got quite a few jobs doing that, and I got into directing. I directed soft-X for a while, and then hard-X. Beaver girls, actually. 16mm."

A book-length study of Chinn's work, The Erotic Cinema of Bob Chinn, will be released in 2002.

IN 2002
- Click2Asia and aMagazine both ceased operations. Click2Asia was created in late 1999 out of the merger of two Asian-themed dot-coms founded in the mid-1990s with $10 million round of venture capital money and costly ad campaign featuring billboards of pop singer CoCo Lee in cities with high numbers of Asian Pacific Americans. aMagazine was founded in 1989 and purchased by Click2Asia in 2001 while becoming a respected source of information on the APA communities.

The purpose of this section is the following:
OPPORTUNITY
to discover more about our dreams
UNDERSTANDING
our fears and our hopes and
UNCOVERING
invaluable and missing information

JACKIE CHAN GETS AN ISLAND
Hong Kong press is reporting that production on the sequel to Disney's "Shanghai Noon" will be pushed back from a start of shooting date to sometime in May for insurance reasons.

In other news: the Thailand government was so grateful of his location choices for "The Highbinders" that they've offered him an entire island in return.

MICHELLE KWAN NEWS
Seattle Times apologizes for the headline "Hughes as good as gold" with the secondary headline that stated "American outshines Kwan, Slutskaya in skating surprise" after Sarah Hughes won the Gold Medal. They stated that they understood why the comments angered and upset people.

JAY LENO & HIS "DOG-MEAT" JOKE
NBC's host Jay Leno made a joke about South Korea's 2002 Winter Olympic short track skater Kim Dong Sung being so mad about being disqualified (for impeding USA rival Apolo Anton Ohno ) that he kicked his dog and then ate it. When the joke was broadcasted on South Korean TV it drew sharp criticism from the South Korean press and politicians.

Karen Narasaki of the Multi Ethnic Media Coalition and the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition said she spoke with Jay Leno and Charles Kim of the Korean American Coalition over the telephone.

Narasaki said that Leno state he was surprised that the joke was perceived to be hurtful. Narasaki said she explained to Leno that the context of the joke amounted to ethnic stereotyping. Narasaki said that while Leno did not apologize Leno did state that if he was aware of how the joke would be perceived he would not have told the joke. NBC is owned by General Electric.

MING-NA & LAUREN TOM IN TV PILOTS
ER's" Ming-Na has been cast as the female lead in ABC's interracial-couple comedy pilot. Ming-Na -- Dr. Jing-Mei Chen on "ER" -- will play a woman married to an African-American man.

Lauren Tom ("DAG") and Byron Mann have been cast as parents Jean and Chuck in ABC's untitled martial arts family drama about a family of Wutan Temple warriors who battle evil. Rona Figueroa and Dante Basco also have been cast, as kids Kelli and Jason.

PARK & NA WINS LITERATURE AWARDS
Linda Sue Park, author of "A Single Shard," was one of the 2002 winners of the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals, the most prestigious awards in children's literature.

Park takes readers to 12th-century Korea to tell a timeless story of dedication to one's dreams and art in "A Single Shard." Tree-ear, an orphan who lives under a bridge with his wise friend Crane-man, becomes fascinated with a nearby community of potters. Drawn by their exquisite craftsmanship, the adolescent boy begins to assist the master potter Min.

Tree-ear's determination and bravery in pursuing his dream of becoming a potter takes readers on a literary journey that demonstrates how courage, honor and perseverance can overcome great odds and bring great happiness. Park's writing is powerful and precise as she explores universal themes about loyalty and art."

An Na is the winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults. "A Step from Heaven. She tells the tale of Young Ju as she grows from a toddler in Korea to a high-school graduate in California desperately trying to be a 'true' American while her immigrant parents try to make her stay close to her Korean heritage.

Both intimate and universal, this powerful story of Young Ju's coming of age is rooted in the conflict between her traditional Korean immigrant family and the need to find her place in the United States. These lyrical vignettes create a heartfelt account of every teen's struggle between family and self."

Na was born in Korea and grew up in San Diego. "A Step From Heaven" is her first novel.

TRANSITION OF FLUSHING'S KOREATOWN
Within the last ten years ago, NYC's Flushing has been changing from Koreatown to a Chinatown, as the result of Chinese banks and investors have been financing Chinese businesses on Main Street.

This situation has caused the Chinese immigrants have moved to Flushing at more than double the rate of Koreans, the script on those signs has changed almost entirely, from Korean to Chinese, Korean and English.

SURGERY FOR MINETA
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta (currently the oldest member of the Bush Cabinet and the first APA to be appointed to the President's Cabinet under Bill Clinton) was hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. for a hip replacement.

WIE - YOUNGEST GOLFER ON LPGA TOUR
Hawaiian native, Michelle Wie became the youngest golfer to qualify for an LPGA Tour event at the age of 12. She shot an 83 at Waikoloa Beach Resort in Hawaii to earn a spot in the 2002 season-opening Takefuji Classic.

In January 2002, the 5-foot-10 Wie became the first female golfer to qualify for the Hawaii Pearl Open, an amateur tournament.

INFERIOR HEALTHCARE GIVEN TO ASIANS
Asian Americans, along with Hispanic and African Americans, are more likely than whites to have difficulty communicating with doctors and accessing health care, states a new study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private New York-based health research foundation in November 2001 from 6,722 people (669 were Asian Americans).

Twenty-seven percent of Asian Americans said they have experienced similar communication difficulties. Access to language interpreters also was limited. Among non-English speakers who said they needed interpreters during a health care visit, fewer than half said they always or usually had one.

One in 10 Asian Americans said they felt they would receive better health care if they were of a different race. Only 1 percent of whites felt that way.

Among those 50 and older, 18 percent of Latinos and 16 percent of Asian Americans said they had been screened for colon cancer in the past year. Among African Americans, 31 percent said they had been screened, and 28 percent of whites said they had been screened.

DENVER NUGGETS GO CHINESE
Menk Bateer, the most valuable player of the Chinese Basketball Association All-Star Game, made his NBA debut Feb. 27 in the Nuggets' 110-93 loss to the host Warriors.

Bateer, 26, a native of Inner Mongolia, becomes the second Chinese player in the NBA, joining Wang Zhizhi of the Mavericks.

TIGER IS TAXING
Tiger Woods paid 4.2 million yuan ($500,000) in taxes on his appearance fee for a November exhibition match in the south China city of Shenzhen, making Woods the biggest taxpayer in that city last year, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

FILIPINO LOTTO WINNER
Welma Naguit, a Montebello Filipino woman, was one of three winners of California's $193-million state lottery. This single mother, a resident alien who came to the United States a year ago from the Philippines, will collect her winnings in a single payout, will get $33 million before taxes.

Paul Briscoe, 49, and his wife Rose, 45, and a Half Moon Bay man, Andy Kampe, are the other winners.

The jackpot was the largest California prize ever won.

FRED LAU & BILL LEE RUN FOR MAYOR
Both Police Chief Fred Lau and. San Francisco's Chief Administer Officer Bill Lee are being courted for running for the 2003 San Francisco Mayoral seat in November.

The Chinese wild card in this race is Rose Pak, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce - a Lau supporter and sometimes referred to as Mayor Willie Brown's "gatekeeper" in Chinatown, who has earned her share of political enemies over the years.

YOYO AT JOHN WILLIAMS' BASH
YoYo Ma's participation in the John Williams's 70th Birthday Celebration Concert was filled with his joy in making music reached out to the audience, back to the orchestra and over to Williams on the podium. He played Williams' music with heart and with subtlety, with energy and with commitment. He savored every melodic line and each climatic moment.

CUSHMAN/PREMAS TAP INTO CHINESE MARKETPLACE
Cushman & Wakefield Inc., the second-largest U.S. real estate company, formed a joint venture with Premas International Ltd. to provide real estate brokerage and other services to companies expanding in China and Chinese firms looking to expand abroad.

INTERNMENT CAMP PICTURED IN THE LONGEST MURAL
The Great Wall of Los Angeles (billed as the longest mural in the world at ½ mile) was completed in 1983. Yet the broad reach of history is clearly apparent on what is billed as the world's longest mural.

Rosa Parks and Albert Einstein are on the wall. So are Adolf Hitler and Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The wall is a memorial to pain and anger and war and ideas. It celebrates inventors, poets, film stars and thousands whose names will never be recorded: deported Mexican nationals, abused Native Americans, laid-off workers of the Great Depression, coolie laborers and people of Japanese heritage imprisoned in internment camps.

A non-profit group organized more than 400 people--most of them disadvantaged youths--to design and paint the landmark, a project that took years and changed the lives of some of the teenagers involved.

The mural is 13 1/2 feet high and stretches 2,470 feet down one side of the flood channel, along Coldwater Canyon Avenue. It extends from Burbank Boulevard to Oxnard Street.

TIM DONG - CA'S REP IN SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH
17 years old Alhambra High senior, Tim Dong, is California's only contestant in the Intel Science Talent Search.

The winner of the nation's most prestigious contest for budding young scientists will receive $530,000 in college scholarships. Each winter, the finalists are selected from thousands of high school seniors nationwide who conduct original scientific research.

Previously known as the Westinghouse for its first sponsor, the 60-year-old contest has a proven record of identifying groundbreaking thinkers. Finalists have earned five Nobel Prizes, two Fields Medals (the Nobel of the math world) and 10 MacArthur grants.

Other APA finalists include the following:

• Jennifer Christy Alyono (Potomac, MD),
• Jennifer Sayaka Balakrishnan (Mangilao, Guam),
• Wenyi Cai (Naperville, IL),
• Jessie Cheng (Armonk, NY),
• Kevin Gao (Austin, TX).
• Angela Kim (New Hyde Park, NY),
• Jean Li (Potomac, MD),
• Albert Leung (Brooklyn, NY),
• Suhan Li (Rego Park, NY),
• Yang Li (East Setauket, NY),
• Jonathan Lii (Manhasset, NY),
• Raminder Kaur Parihar (Floral Park, New York),
• Siddharth Srivastava (Baton Rouge, LA),
• Samir Sur (Cambridge, MA),
• Vivek Venkatachalam (Berkeley Heights, New Jersey),
• Dheera Venkatraman (Flemington, New Jersey) and
• Kevin Yang (Naperville, IL),