In the introduction to "Not Fade Away," I wrote: "On the job, meeting with musicians, managers, publicists, concert promoters, and record company executives, I never sensed any surprise on their part as they discovered that the guy from Rolling Stone was Chinese. Far more often, I would hear that, from having heard my name on the phone, they expected a Latino ("Torres" or perhaps a Scandinavian ("Von Taurus," maybe?)

But despite the name - the result of my immigrant father acquiring a Filipino name to defy the old Chinese Exclusion Act and gain entry into the United States in 1921 - I am indeed Chinese.

And I’ve been writing about Asian subjects and matters since my college days in the mid-Sixties, when I met Gordon Lew, publisher of the bilingual weekly, East West. My articles have appeared in Parade, Pacific, the San Francisco Chronicle, A., and, online, on Channel A.

This page, then, will be devoted to some of those writings, and to new articles I’m contributing to AsianConnections.com, the vibrant new site that ranges from Feng Shui and Food (with Martin Yan, no less) to news and discussions of a world-wide range of interests and issues. AsianConnections.com is by no means limited to Asian affairs, no more than your or my interests are limited in that way. Check it out.