Japantown San Francisco: SANSEI LIVE! Party for All Ages

JAPANTOWN, SAN FRANCISCO: The Gateway to Japanese Culture, Cuisine, and Shopping

For Immediate Release

Hip Hop phenom Lyrics Born headlines Kimochi’s Sansei Live!

Hip Hop phenom, Lyrics Born, headlines a much anticipated night of entertainment at Kimochi’s Sansei Live!,

Saturday, October 17, 2009, 6:00 p.m. – midnight, at the Presidio Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Avenue in the San

Francisco Presidio. General admission $75; tickets can be purchased online at www.kimochi-inc.org or by

contacting Kimochi at (415) 931-2294. All proceeds go to support Kimochi’s culturally sensitive programs and

services which allow Bay Area elderly to live with dignity and independence.

Lyrics Born, the night’s headliner (photo)

Headlining Kimochi’s Sansei Live! is Lyrics Born, the Quannum MC whose career spans the 1996 release The

Album, to 2008’s Everywhere at Once, and recently released mixtape titled The Lyrics Born Variety Show:

Season Pho (4!). The mixtape comes as he finishes up his fourth studio album, As U Were.

Lyrics Born is Tom Shimura, born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in Tokyo, Salt Lake City and Berkeley,

California. He began his hip hop career at UC Davis, where he was a DJ at the college station KDVS. He is a

founding member of the seminal, independent record label, Quannum Projects.

In addition to being the voice of Cartoon Network’s #1 Friday Night Franchise, You Are Here, Lyric Born’s

songs have been licensed by Diet Coke, Verizon and LG and have been featured on TV shows and film. He

also performs with a full live band, The Lyrics Born Re-View, with his talented wife, Joyo Velarde, on

background vocals, and as an Asian American rapper, has managed to redefine the face of independent hip-

hop and become a multi-national, cross genre force.

Kaz-Well, ScoJourners and Expo also perform live

Kaz-Well Photo

Also sharing the Sansei Live! stage is Kaz-Well led by Kazu (Hidekazu Matsuba), including DJ Scotty Doo

and Kode Ice. The Bay Area has long been a haven of experimental hip-hop, and these artists aren’t afraid to

embark into musically uncharted territory. Kaz-Well has created one of 2009’s most remarkable hip-hop

albums, Fish Outta Water.

The members of ScoJourners are Skitz the Samurida, Estairy, Curt Sak, An Na and Max. They are long-time

friends, all San Francisco born and raised, who have been making music together since 2001. Their

collaboration brings together an eclectic flow of rhymes and beats that is also reflective of their Asian heritage

and the San Francisco Bay Area hip hop culture.

ScoJourners Photo

ScoJourners has performed at numerous Bay Area venues as well as throughout the West, plus three tours of

Japan. While their travels take them far afield, they remember and support community and Kimochi.

Also performing live is returning Sansei Live! favorite, EXPO, one of the few bands to feature a three-piece

horn section that mixes soulful love songs and Latin rock. DJ John Jow will keep the music flowing.

The Reason For Giving

This summer, Kimochi was notified of an immediate $100,000 cut in funding from San Francisco’s

Department of Aging and Adult Services.

Since 1971, Kimochi has delivered programs and services that help our elderly live with dignity and

independence. Despite the funding cut, Kimochi remains committed to delivering nutritious lunches to all

seniors who come to us and providing the transportation services, residential and respite care, adult social

day care and social services that 3,000+ Bay Area seniors and their families rely on.

We are working to absorb the budget cut over multiple programs and staffing, but a reduction of this magnitude

cuts deeply. We ask your help: $50 can provide 25 nutritionally balanced meals; $100 provides ten one-way

Trips on our wheelchair-lift equipped ADA accessible vans; $500 provides one senior with three days of 24-hour

respite care at Kimochi Home, our state licensed residential care facility.

For more information on Sansei Live! or Kimochi programs and services, call (415) 931-2274 or visit Kimochi’s

website at: www.kimochi-inc.org.