It's been a minute since our last update, but there's a lot brewing: some of it musical, some of it legal, all of it a bit Slanted. Here's what's been happening:
Joe and Simon Are Cooking Up a New Musical
For a while now, Joe and Simon have been quietly working on something new: a musical theatre show called At the Edge of Chinatown. It's an emo/pop punk story about three Asian-American teenagers navigating fractured identities while their family restaurants face extinction in a rapidly gentrifying Chinatown.
We has already had a workshop reading at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center's Rough Draft Festival in Queens, and now it's coming home to Portland. Joe and Simon will be performing songs from Act 1 acoustically at the Portland Chinatown Museum.
This isn't a Slants reunion or an official band project, but it's still very much us: two people who spent years making noise together, now making a different kind of noise. If musical theatre, Chinatown history, or just watching two old bandmates try something new sounds like your evening, we'd love to see you there.
Portland Chinatown Museum
Saturday, August 22nd at 4pm
RSVP Here!
Catch a Performance at the Jade International Night Market
If you can't make the museum date (or just want more), a small cast will be performing a live excerpt of At the Edge of Chinatown at the Jade International Night Market on August 29th.
If you've never been, the Jade Night Market is one of the best nights of the year in Portland (we've played it several times over the years). Imagine 100+ multicultural vendors slinging incredible food, drinks, art, and handmade goods, with thousands of people out celebrating the Jade District and East Portland's cultural mosaic. It's free, it's open to everyone, and it's the kind of event that reminds you why community spaces like this matter.
The concert performance starts at 8pm. Come early to eat your way through the vendors first!
PCC Southeast Campus
2305 SE 82nd Ave, Portland
Market runs 4–10pm | Performance at 8pm
Free & all ages
More info at jadedistrict.org
It's Been Nine Years Since the Our SCOTUS Ruling
This summer marks nine years since Matal v. Tam, the Supreme Court decision that came out of our fight to trademark our own band name.
A lot has been written about the case since then, and honestly, a lot of it gets the details wrong including, ironically, the Supreme Court itself. At one point, the court referred to Simon as the band's "lead singer" (he's never been, never will be). So Simon put together a plain-language breakdown of what the Court actually decided, what it deliberately left unresolved, and how those open questions have kept surfacing in completely different fights, from "immoral or scandalous" trademarks to academic freedom cases decided just this year.
The short version: the Court didn't rule that our name wasn't offensive. It ruled that the government doesn't get to be the one who decides that.
If you want the longer version of why a trademark case about a dance rock band keeps showing up in cases across the U.S. that have nothing to do with trademarks, it's here: What Matal v. Tam Actually Decided — And What It Didn't
That's it for now. As always, we're not on social media, so if something here moves you (or you're going to be at the museum or the night market) just drop us a note through the contact form. We read every message.
With gratitude,
The Slants