To celebrate the release of my newest album Permission, I am thrilled to present a brand new type of experience called The Permission Parties!

The Permission Parties is a multi-sensory listening and tasting dinner series. Attendees will enjoy six Chinese-inspired dishes I’ve created that share some common emotion with each of the six tracks on the album. I will share a personal story about each course before serving, and then premiere the track while the guests enjoy the dish.

The dinners will take place in Kansas City in September, followed by several other US cities. Proceeds will benefit groups fighting for AAPI safety and visibility via The Quiet Voice Fund.

KC beneficiary: National Association of Asian American Professionals – Kansas City https://kc.naaap.org/cpages/home

The National Association of Asian American Professionals is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that promotes the career advancement and leadership development of Asian American professionals in all fields. NAAAP is the largest and fastest-growing Asian-American professional organization in the U.S. and Canada. The Kansas City chapter joins Asian Americans in professional development, networking, and community service activities.

In order to make this event more accessible to different budgets, we are offering tiered ticket pricing. If you are able to pay the standard ticket price, we kindly request that you leave the discounted options for folks with financial barriers so we can ensure we are being inclusive. Any additional donations and VIP tickets support our beneficiaries and are greatly appreciated.

The VIP add-on option includes:

– Official cookbook with album artwork, lyrics and recipes

– Signed dinner poster (designed by Alex Wong and Destiny Keller)

– Copy of the album before it’s released

More about The Permission Parties:

The purpose of The Permission Parties is to invest in the idea that everyone has permission to take up space in the world… we don’t need to wait for it to be “given.” Growing up in the US as a second-generation Chinese American, I rarely felt permission to take up space with my body, my voice, or my stories. Movies and media told me I was allowed to be a buddy, a punchline, or a decoration, but there was not enough space for my story in the center of the room. By showcasing the emotional stories connecting my music, food, and cultural identity, I hope to empower everyone, especially those on the margins, to feel permission to take up space with their stories.

The inspiration comes from having synesthesia, a condition that mixes up 2 unrelated senses in our brains. This did more than connect colors to letters, numbers, and musical pitches. It taught me to find connections between seemingly unrelated passions such as food, music, and storytelling, and inspired me to synthesize these disciplines into a holistic artistic event in order to share these connections with others.

Music making and cooking have always come from the same creative place for me. The same elements that make music endlessly fascinating are also what drive my curiosity in the kitchen; pushing for new sounds/flavors, quiet/loud elements working together, and most of all the emotional message at the core of any creation. The way a kick drum makes my mouth salivate when it sounds just right is the same feeling I’m looking for when seasoning a dish. They way my heart flutters when the string arrangement locks into place is the same as when I taste a new combination of ingredients that really works. I’ve always wanted to express these emotional parallels between food and music somehow. My hope is that experiencing them together might offer a deeper enjoyment of each.

I can’t wait to connect with you all!

Much love,

Alex Wong