giles li

UpcomingShows
Nov 3 2007 7:00P Brown University
with Bao Phi and Ewuare X. Osayande Providence, RI
Nov 8 2007 8:00P Beats, Rhymes & Rice Tour
Northeastern University Boston, MA
Nov 10 2007 5:30P IMPAACT Conference
University of COnnecticut Storrs, CT
Dec 1 2007 tbd ASA Culture Festival
Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, PA
Feb 6 2008 11:00A Holyoke Community College Holyoke, MA
The BEATS, RHYMES and RICE Tour is scheduling dates NOW!!!
"Beats rhymes rice be the breakfast of champions..."
- Blue Scholars
Poets Bao Phi and Giles Li along with former Native Guns emcee Kiwi will be hitting the road this Fall at a campus or venue near you!!!
Click here to download a PDF of the press kit
(or go to http://www.gilesli.com/beatsrhymesandrice.pdf)
To book a show:
[email protected]
Info:
WWW.BAOPHI.COM
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/KIWI
WWW.GILESLI.COM
About the artists:
“Giles Li’s political poetry...offered his audience of students and faculty a world view that turned their assumptions on end.”
- Hotchkiss School
Giles Li is a spoken word performer from Boston, and has performed at community centers, campuses, and conferences across the country, sharing stages with legendary poets such as Louis Reyes Rivera, Jesus Papoleto Melendez, and Tato Laviera, as well as activists and community leaders such as Helen Zia, Norman Mineta, and Mel King. A community-based educator, artist, activist, and organizer, Giles founded the Boston Progress Arts Collective in 2002, and currently works as Arts Coordinator at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. He also serves on the board of directors for the Asian American Resource Workshop, and is a trainer for the national campus organizing training series APIA U.
“Kiwi’s rhymes roam the plains of social injustice, protesting gentrification, imperialism, and racism.”
- SF Weekly
Kiwi has been holding it down in the independent hip hop scene for nearly a decade, rocking shows from California to New York to points in between, sharing the stage with the likes of Common, the Visionaries, Blue Scholars, Black Eyed Peas, Dilated Peoples and others. Formerly of Filipino hip hop group Native Guns, he recently released his latest CD “The Summer Exposure Mixtape,” and is currently working on his upcoming full-length album, “The People’s Pistol.” He also coordinates and co-facilitates the Hip Hop Workshop series for young folks at San Francisco’s Filipino Community Center, and most recently had the honor of being featured as a Keynote Speaker at the 2007 Sandiwa Conference.
“Phi’s tone can shift easily from serious to humorous, although many of his funny lines are delivered with bite.”
- Star Tribune
Bao Phi has been a performance poet since 1991. A two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and a National Poetry Slam finalist, Bao Phi has appeared on HBO Presents Russell Simmons Def Poetry, and a poem of his appeared in the 2006 Best American Poetry anthology. He has performed in venues and schools across the country, from the Nuyorican Poets Café to the University of California, Berkeley. Currently he continues to perform across the country, remains active as an Asian American community organizer, and works at the Loft, where he creates and operates programs for artists and audiences of color.
(photos by poeticdream.com)
RecentReviews
“Li stands out in a crowd; speaking to a crowd of about 50 mostly Asian students, Li seemed to have an easy rapport with the audience. Li didn't just gush out a few spoken-word poems for the audience. He kept things interesting and spoke to the crowd as if he had been their friend for a long time. His performance of Usher's "My Way" on his acoustic guitar had the audience singing along with him.”
- Central Florida Future(4/11/2007)
“Finally, the evening ended with Giles Li’s poetry and spoken word,offering amazing poems about world peace, Washington, D.C. and hisfiancé.”
- George MasonBroadside(5/1/2006)
“Giles Li's political poetry...offered his audience of students andfaculty a world view that turned their assumptions on end. In poemsentitled Mathematics, Prayer for Peace and Woman, hespoke in one breath of war and wiretaps, of prison and patriarchy, of oiland honesty.”
- Hotchkiss School (1/18/2006)