THIS IS THE WAY MY MOM MAY JAN MEW LOOKED AS SHE GREETED THOUSANDS OF IMMIGRANTS FOR OVER 40 YEARS!

MY MOM BEING BILINGUAL WAS A PIONEER IN HELPING IMMIGRANTS FIND WORK. SHE WORKED HER ENTIRE LIFE FOR THE CALIFORNIA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT SOME 40 PLUS YEARS. my mom was able to sell employers on hiring some hard working asian immigrants!

some of the people who she placed as waiters in chinatown later became millionaires, and they remembered my mother. my mom was never one to sit still. once she retired she was selling cars for FORD MOTOR company, and it looks as if FORD MOTOR WILL MAKE IT WITHOUT TAKING GOVERNMENT MONEY. i recently drove a FORD FOCUS to bay area and back; not bad, not like the PORSCHE i once owned or my present TOYOTA CELICA. but with another MUSTANG, i think FORD CAN MAKE IT.

MY MOM ALSO VOLUNTEERED AT MASTICK SENIOR CENTER IN ALAMEDA, OUR HOMETOWN WHERE I WAS RAISED, PLAYED SPORTS AND MUSIC. SHE WOULD STILL BE THERE VOLUNTEERING, BUT RIGHT NOW SHE'S AT KAISER OAKLAND. (she can still drive unlike the guy who plowed through the santa monica farmers market.)she doesn't want any more operations (scroll below); so she'll have to live with the pain of stomach cancer. SHE'S A FIGHTER! she loved to socialize with her colleagues in EASTERN STAR!

she instilled in me and my brothers the strength to do our best in whatever we decided to do. for me right now is trying to play like BIRD! but i'm realistic; i just do the best i can.

and the reason i'm a musician i believe is because my mom sang to me when i was a baby. she's not a professional singer. but my family on both sides like to sing. MY UNCLE HARRY WANTED TO BE A CHINESE PAUL ROBESON, BUT PAUL HIMSELF HAD PROBLEMS, CAN YOU IMAGINE A CHINESE OPERA SINGER?

so i heard music when i was very young. i didn't scat with louie and ella when i was two like ROBERTA GAMBARINI, but i knew BLUE SKIES, THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE, I'M LOOKING OVER A FOUR LEAF CLOVER, APRIL SHOWERS, TEA FOR TWO and others by the time i began kindergarten. THEN WHEN i began saxophone in the 6th grade, i began playing DEEP PURPLE, TENDERLY and other tunes my mom liked. am still trying to play them today.

since i've written about my mom and my family before, i don't want to repeal a lot.(just scroll below) however i learned something about having to continue to START OVER IN LIFE FROM MY MOM AND MY FAMILY.

first when my ancestors landed in california shortly before 1900, can you imagine what they faced? first of all, gold was bullshit. no chinamen were ever going to get any gold claims. so what did they do? my grandmother and great great grandmother happen to be great seamstresses. they were soon sewing jeans for the miners, washing clothes, growing veggies, doing whatever to survive. what happenened when GOLD MINING DRIED UP IN PLACERVILLE? well they migrated to san francisco chinatown; they couldn't live anywhere else. better to stay close to people who look like you. THEN CAME THE 1906 EARTHQUAKE. (SCROLL BELOW TO READ MY GRANDPARENTS DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAPPENED.) my pregnant grandmother ran from van ness avenue to the dock to escape the flames; she and my grandfather made it to alameda where they began growing veggies and started ALL OVER AGAIN. then they became pioneers in OAKLAND CHINATOWN (NEAR YOSHI'S); my mom was born, then me. (for more scroll below).

i recorded LAMENT today for my mom. i won't be going to the bay area unless things get worse, but MY MOM'S A FIGHTER, I'M GOING TO CALL HER RIGHT NOW!