Despite the fact that I’m a total Grinch during the holiday season, I have to acknowledge that this time of year isn’t only about consumption (monetary and culinary) and bad music. It is also a time for helping out those less fortunate. With that in mind I’d like to recommend two holiday parties to our readers (and I shall be at both). The first is tonight at 10 pm. in Washington D.C. at Cafe Asia:

In the years past we have worked with many organizations in the Greater Washington area to help bring local children a wonderful holiday season and give them encouragement and assistance in bettering their lives. We have also worked with a number of international organizations to help bring children hope who have been orphaned, affected by natural disasters, displaced by war and or have been born with disability. These organizations through our generous donations have been able to help build schools, provide education and sustenance for kids and provide hope for those that may have had none.

The Sumil Shah Foundation for Children is looking for your support this year for the seventh annual toy drive. Through the Toy Drive we are able to collect numerous toys that are further distributed throughout the local DC area by way of our network. We also collect cash donations which we rely on greatly to help many unfortunate children locally and internationally. We welcome you to visit our website at sumilshah.org to get more information on these wonderful organizations.

The second charity party is in Houston next Saturday night at 9p.m. at Zimm’s Martini and Wine Bar:

Join us on Saturday December 15, 2007 for a fabulous night! We are throwing a charity party benefitting the DePelchin Children’s Center – a Houston area orphanage.

Zimm’s is ours for the night! All we are asking is you bring a toy for the kids or an item off of the orphanage’s needs list. If you prefer you can donate money and we will buy the items for you.

If you guys know of any other charity parties thrown by desi organizations or individuals, please throw them up on our Events Tab (and mention them as a comment in this post). Please remember to drive responsibly when leaving these parties. And remember, if not us, WHO will think of the children? Continue reading →

Normally a post like this would go on the Events Tab, but some SM bloggers are involved in one event, so perhaps it’s not too out of place to put it here. Both events have their main speakers this Saturday (11/3), though SAWCC actually has a reading/performance on Friday night and creative workshops and panels on Saturday.

First, for people in and near Washington DC, you may wish to attend the SALTAF festival, which features Madhur Jaffrey, Amitava Kumar, Thrity Umrigar, Rishi Reddi, and Canadian filmmaker Vic Sarin (whose film, Partition, is screening at the festival). Kicking off the festival as a whole is the much-hyped Hindi film, Loins of Punjab Presents, which I’ve been waiting to see for months, damnit.

In New York, it’s the SAWCC conference, which this year has the charming title, “Electric Ladyland.” SAWCC participants are younger and more “Up-and-coming,” and the conference itself (which I attended last year) is very much a hands-on, get-involved type of event — you don’t just sit back and sample the wine-and-samosas. I am on a panel called “Pop/Politics,” with Mira Kamdar, Sita Bhaskar, and Sunita Mukhi. I am not 100% sure what I’m talking about yet — probably something involving Bobby Jindal and the Tehelka/Gujarat spycam affair. And SM blogger Anna is on a panel called “Eat, Pray, Love: Writing/Crafting/Cooking the Personal Narrative,” with food writer Chitrita Banerji, and Janki Khatau.

I probably won’t be in New York long enough to participate in an official meetup, but it would be great to see/meet some SM readers at the SAWCC event itself. The panels, incidentally, are FREE.

Incidentally, if you’re interested in the creative writing workshops on Saturday morning, you should email sawcclitfest@gmail.com (they may already be filled up; the workshops are limited to 12 people each). Continue reading →

Since I have been traveling almost non-stop for the last several weeks, I never got a chance to report out on the Beats, Rhymes, and Life event that I organized with some friends in Houston a couple weeks back (July 19th). As a reminder, I was trying to emulate the success of Washington D.C.’s Subcontinental Drift series by bringing some soul to the south (by getting some of Houston’s South Asian artists together for a night). I was hoping that word of mouth would get about 50 people to show up. Half an hour into the event I was sweating as only about a dozen people showed. Thank goodness for the reliability of Indian Standard Time. Well over 100 people showed on a Thursday night! The drum circle was ridiculously good and we had spoken-word pieces, belly-dancing to Dhoom 2, a comedian, and DJ Raj Swift among the acts. The lesson here is that all you need is a city and one mic. Just make it happen in your city if you really want to see something like this there. Click below for larger pics of the event:

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Pahtee In Thee Ghe-tto…

One of the best things about summer in San Francisco is the annual Stern Grove summer concert series. The festival brings in some of the best in lesser known music with a particular emphasis on international / world beats.

This Sunday they’re doing it up Desi and will feature the Grammy-nominated Anoushka Shankar, Karsh Kale, The Non-Stop Bhangra Collective, Dholrhythms, and more.

Where: Stern Grove Park

When: Sunday, July 22; Concert starts @ 2:00 but seating is first come / first serve and once they’re at capacity, they stop admitting new folks. So be there by 1230 or so just to be safe.

And, of course, no gathering of Desi’s this large is complete without an obligatory shout out for folks to come out get their cheeks swabbed and help Sameer & Vinay find a bone marrow match. Sameer’s team is looking for volunteers to help out with the cause. I’ll be there with a few other mutineers so stop by and say hello!

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Almost 20,000 have been registered but we don’t have a match yet… NYC mutineers can do their part this weekend at Pianos bar [158 Ludlow b/t Rivington & Stanton] on Sunday, July 22.

If you’ve already registered, go again & bring a friend. Either way, the last event was, to put it mildly, a hoot. This time around, Rashmi and Reena (Vinay & Sameer’s wives respectively) will both be in attendance and will certainly appreciate the show of support.

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p>And, as with last time around, Sepia Mutiny’s “send us a good swabbing pict and we’ll put you on the homepage” offer still stands. Do Good, have fun, and help your marriage / dating / social prospects by getting your mug in front of SM’s vast & cultured readership – not a bad deal

Just a gentle reminder that it’s still on like Donkey Kong:

Houston has many South Asian artists, musicians, and other creative individuals who never seem to get the type of attention that their counterparts in New York, L.A., and D.C. receive. This summer it’s time to change all that. Join us on Thursday, July 19th from 8:30-11:00 p.m. at the new downtown venue “Bar Bollywood” (basement of the Butterfly High Lounge) for a FREE night of Spoken Word, Live Music, and Visual Arts. DJ Raj Swift will also be on hand to lay down the backbeat.

If you are an artist of any kind and want to perform (especially a spoken word, literary, or dance piece) or just want more information, then email abhi [at] sepiamutiny.com ASAP.

Although this event is meant to spotlight South Asian artists, ALL are welcome and encouraged to attend. Spread the word.

Finally, Roopa Vasan will be on hand to cheek swab people for the South Asian Bone Marrow Registry in hopes of finding a match to save her cousin Vinay’s life.

Bar Bollywood
902 Capitol Street
Houston, TX 77002

We’ve also added a stand-up comic to the line-up. If you are still interested in performing please email me (and keep spreading the word)!

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A few weeks back when Anna wrote about D.C.’s Subcontinental Drift, a series of spoken word and performing arts events featuring South Asians in the D.C. area, I mentioned in the comments that I was going to borrow (ok, steal) their idea and implement it down in good ‘ole Texas where there is also a growing arts community. Well now it’s on, just like that:

Houston has many South Asian artists, musicians, and other creative individuals who never seem to get the type of attention that their counterparts in New York, L.A., and D.C. receive. This summer it’s time to change all that. Join us on Thursday, July 19th from 8:30-11:00 p.m. at the new downtown venue “Bar Bollywood“ (basement of the Butterfly High Lounge) for a FREE night of Spoken Word, Live Music, and Visual Arts. DJ Raj Swift will also be on hand to lay down the backbeat.

If you are an artist of any kind and want to perform (especially a spoken word, literary, or dance piece) or just want more information, then email abhi [at] sepiamutiny.com ASAP.

Although this event is meant to spotlight South Asian artists, ALL are welcome and encouraged to attend. Spread the word.

Finally, Roopa Vasan will be on hand to cheek swab people for the South Asian Bone Marrow Registry in hopes of finding a match to save her cousin Vinay’s life.

Bar Bollywood
902 Capitol Street
Houston, TX 77002

Please let anyone you know in or around Houston know about this if you think it would interest them. Hope to see you there. Continue reading →