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Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to the Bay, local news to keep you rooted. So earlier this summer, I got the chance to help put together this really cool thing in my city, Vallejo. Together with KQED, Vallejo’s very own La Russell and the Good Compenny team, we hosted a Bay Area music showcase. To try and find the region’s next big star.
LaRussell: [00:00:34] Today is a showcase and a celebration of our culture and our art and our region and our cousins from different regions. And it’s a lot of brave artists today that’s gonna get to get on this stage.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:47] After more than 200 submissions, the KQED and Good Company teams narrowed it down to five artists who competed on stage for real recognition and real prizes, including a feature with LaRussell, either on a track, a music video, or a live event. And today, we’re introducing you to the showcase winner.
Misa James Singing: [00:01:14] Let me tell you, I’ve been walking for so long, another season.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:27] Misa James is a singer, songwriter, and producer based in San Jose. And today I sit down with him to chat about his roots in the Bay, being an artist in the heart of Silicon Valley, and what it meant to win the Bay Area Music Showcase. Stay with us.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:02:00] Tell me a little bit about where you grew up and what that was like.
Misa James: [00:02:03] So I grew up pretty much all over East Bay and then, uh, after high school, I decided to move out with some friends and lived in Milpitas for a little bit and then migrated to Pleasanton and then down to San Jose.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:02:18] Wow, you really all over which which city do you claim San Jose? Okay. Yeah Misa, can you talk a little bit more about the role that your family and your upbringing played in your music?
Misa James: [00:02:32] I’m Polynesian, I’m Samoan and I’m Puerto Rican, and as anybody knows, if they know any islanders they know that they’re singing constantly all the time. There’s always a stringed instrument somewhere, whether it be ukulele or guitar. We were always meeting up with family members, so there was always eventually a jam session going on, and I always wanted to contribute somehow because I just love music. I was writing songs with my cousin from… As early as like 11 years old.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:03:05] Wow.
Misa James: [00:03:06] Writing like silly love songs, you know, stuff that we would pretty much copy that we would hear online. Um, like, uh, Lemonade, Jeremy Passion, like-
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:03:22] Oh, legend.
Misa James: [00:03:23] I’m a platinum in the streets, you know
Misa James: [00:03:36] You know, Jeremy Passion was a big influence on, like, my guitar playing and also my songwriting a little bit and my style of singing and also Gabe Bondoc. Then, kind of more on like a global standpoint, Michael Jackson was, you know, number one for me. My parents were always listening to oldies, you know like 1960s Motown. My dad and my mom both grew up in L.A. So, they were really influenced by like, lowrider culture songs.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:04:06] Totally How would you describe the essence of Misa James’s music?
Misa James: [00:04:18] Eclectic, raw, and acoustic. For me, acoustic guitar started off my whole musical process. That was really where I did all of my songwriting first. And then once I picked up producing, a whole new world opened up to me. And so I kind of put down the guitar in terms of music production and music writing. And then, once I finally got the right equipment to incorporate more live instruments, then… It kind of dawned on me. I was like, oh, I can incorporate, you know, my roots into my production, which now has led to the incorporation of acoustic guitar fully.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:05:02] Which I think is also the case for your song On My Own, which is the song that you submitted to the Bay Area Music Showcase, which we’ll get into a little bit more, but can you tell me a little more about that song? I’m so curious what it’s about.
Misa James: [00:05:20] I guess it all started when my mom passed away in 2016. She had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis my entire life, so before I was born. And so we kind of always knew that there was gonna be a time that she wasn’t gonna be here. But that time finally came in 2016, and then shortly after we got evicted from our home in Union City, and we had to move to a cheaper place, which was Tracy. And I was still working at Great America at the time. And I didn’t want to make that commute. It was a long commute, and it was like four or five days out of the week, so.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:05:57] Yeah. Wow.
Misa James: [00:05:58] I had to make the decision to move out. Um, kind of not when I wanted to and not when I was ready to at all.
Misa James Singing: [00:06:06] Don’t know how, don’t know How to make it Gotta find my way, gotta find my Way, my way
Misa James Singing: [00:06:16] And so being on my own ever since then has been rough. And it’s just kind of a love letter to all my fellow adults that miss being kids, because adulting sucks.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:06:31] Totally.
Misa James: [00:06:31] Nobody really prepares you.
Misa James Singing: [00:06:34] Make myself fat, oh oh oh, oh, don’t know how to make it on my own
Misa James Singing: [00:06:45] I mean, your parents can do the best that they can, you know, but it’s always a balance of do we support them and, you, know, be the safety net so that they don’t fall or how much do we let them grow up and become self-sufficient.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:07:05] It’s such a relatable song. Like you can apply it to any, I mean, even like that’s a very pandemic song too
Misa James: [00:07:15] Yeah
Misa James: [00:07:16] You know, like there are just so many things about it that are relatable. And I, and I think like, even knowing the, the backstory of it, the idea of like people being evicted from the Bay area and having to like, make that commute and, and leaving home, it’s just, there’s just so much to connect with. And it’s so catchy too.
Misa James: [00:07:39] That was just happenstance.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:07:42] I want to talk a little bit more, Misa, about the Bay Area Music Showcase, which was this thing that us at KQED, our art, the arts team really wanted to do with LaRussell because this is really iconic juggernaut, really. And, you know, our goal was to really kind of find the next up and coming artist in the Bay area. I don’t know if you know this, but we had like over 200 submissions. Of people all over the Bay Area, you were one of five people chosen.
Misa James: [00:08:15] Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, it’s not lost on me how insane just that is.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:08:20] Like, do you remember where you were when you got chosen?
Misa James: [00:08:23] Oh, man. Yeah, totally. I was on my way back home from work. So I work in prison and I didn’t have phone access from like 8 a.m. To 3 p.m.. So I was in the workshop, like just stressing out. I was like, man, I hope I get it. They’re gonna be emailing by today at least. So when I got out, there was no email yet, but on the way home, I got the acceptance email and I was, whoa, I rolled down the window. I was like, yes! LaRussell! They heard me!
Pendarvis Harshaw: [00:08:58] Up next. We’re gonna keep this train rolling. We are fortunate to have a performance by the one and only Misa James. Round of applause for Mesa james for the stage.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:09:10] What was it like to perform up there in front of LaRussell, in front of this panel of judges, in front of like, I mean, it was a pretty, it was sold out.
Misa James: [00:09:21] Yeah. It was, it was insane. Like, honestly, that was probably like the best night of my life.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:09:28] Wow.
Misa James: [00:09:29] Yeah. That’s it. I, I had been prepared as much as I knew I could be. But then after seeing just like the vibes of the night and, and knowing what we were going to do, I was just getting more and more excited. And I was, I was ready. And then When I walked up there, I tripped.
LaRussell: [00:09:52] My n***a almost tripped on the way in. That be those words. We didn’t see it. You see? Nope. We didn’t see it! Don’t throw it out. You gotta just act like it don’t exist. Exactly. Hey, that preps you for a perfect moment. You’re like, ah, ah. That’s the universe. Joking with you.
Misa James: [00:10:06] Caught me slippin not today Satan!
Misa James: [00:10:09] And then LaRussell called it out and I was like, all right, the ice is broken. Let’s go. Let’s just have fun.
Misa James: [00:10:15] What’s up, y’all? My name is Misa James. From San Jose, California. Can I get a hell, yeah? Can I go to hell? Y’all are tapped in. Thank you, thank you. All right, so this.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:10:34] Yeah, I feel like you just sort of rolled into it.
Misa James: [00:10:37] That was so funny. I’m glad that he called it out because I wasn’t gonna say anything. That was a little awkward But like he he definitely helped me out with that one. It’s kind of an alleyoop
Misa James Singing: [00:10:49] I don’t know how, don’t how to make it. Gotta find my way, gotta find my my way. One more time, everybody sing. Don’t know.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:02] And he really like set this whole thing up as like, this is your shot, like this is your opportunity to show out and win this thing and you won it, like what, what was it like to win it?
Misa James: [00:11:19] Honestly, the winning part of it was not as exciting as the show itself.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:29] Hmm
Misa James: [00:11:29] That moment, I mean, you were there. That moment where everybody was just paying attention. They were bought in. They were into it. And they were participating with the crowd participation parts. I just felt like so supported.
Misa James Singing: [00:11:46] All right, everybody turn to your neighbor. Say hi. Say it’s nice to meet you. All right now say I need you. Say I need you!
Misa James: [00:12:00] And especially from what all the judges says. You know, Tieta mentioned she’s like, even if you don’t win here, you’re gonna win in life.
Tietta: [00:12:08] That was incredible. You have a great stage presence, a great personality. The fact that you almost tripped and then you made all of us laugh about it. You made everybody join in and enjoy. You brought a bunch of smiles to people’s faces. You, you’re golden. Even if you don’t win here, you gonna win in life. Cause that was amazing.
Pendarvis Harshaw: [00:12:26] Amen.
Misa James: [00:12:29] You know, I had already felt that I had, you know, scaled a mountain at that point already. So, you now, when it got announced that I won, it was just like a confirmation that like, yeah, that feeling that you felt on stage, like that’s a winning feeling.
Pendarvis Harshaw: [00:12:43] Here we go. Bring it home, bring it home.
LaRussell: [00:12:47] First place, Misa James!
Pendarvis Harshaw: [00:12:55] How you feeling? Some words to the people, speech, speech! Speech! Speech!
Misa James: [00:13:00] Uhhh… Wow, uh, thank you? Wait, hold on. Shout out Bay Area Music. If it wasn’t for every single one of us choosing to either move or stay here in the Bay and make music, this shit would die.
Misa James: [00:13:18] I wonder like to just what it must be like to be an artist in the Bay Area right now and especially in San Jose, which is not really a place that I think of, I don’t know, a lot of music necessarily coming out of.
Misa James: [00:13:35] Right, right, yeah. It’s rough, it’s definitely rough. I mean this isn’t the market for, you know, artists as compared to you know like LA or New York. If I’m not playing you know corporate gigs at Google then like there’s you know it’s kind of a steep climb. It has been a hard balance to strike but I ultimately appreciate the dynamic that the Bay Area kind of creates. You have to still be kind of a human, kind of be grounded in a way, you know, my head can’t be too far in the clouds. And I still feel like I relate to just like common people still. It kind of strengthens my desire to be an artist even more. Because even though there are all these limitations, I still know that deep in my heart, I can’t live any other way than to be a musician.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:14:31] And I feel like, too, so many people in the Bay Area often, especially musicians, leave the Bay, but you stick around, why?
Misa James: [00:14:41] I love it here. I love the people here. It feels like home and that’s mainly in the people. All my friends are here and they’re all like really big dreamers but I also appreciate just kind of the pace also of the Bay Area. Things kind of move just a little bit slower so you have to be a lot more strategic about what you’re selling and how you sell
Misa James: [00:15:10] Yeah, you gotta hustle.
Misa James: [00:15:11] Yeah, yeah. If I can sustain myself by creating content and doing more shows and then also in turn collaborate with my favorite artists from the Bay Area and also compensate them for their time, that would just be the dream.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:15:30] All right, so Misa, you brought your guitar, your baby to the studio. Can you tell us what you’re gonna sing for us today?
Misa James: [00:15:39] So this is just going to be an acoustic rendition of on my own
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:15:44] All right, let’s hear it.
Misa James Singing: [00:15:59] Let me tell you i’ve been walking for so long another season well but if i go wrong it’s not the way it used to be it’ll even look the same no guess it’s where i’m supposed to go but i’m still afraid because i don’t know how to make it on my Learnin’ how to take a windin’ As I find a way to make myself at home Don’t know how, don’t know How to make it Gotta find my way, gotta find my Way, my way find the strength to be alone, learning how to take a winding road. As I find a way to make myself at home. I don’t know how to make it
