Asia hit the stage self-aware, yet self-assured. He was recognizably a veteran of many shows, one who had already received any possible reaction the crowd could give him in his time as a performer.
The messages he brought were tried but true. Asia presented them with polish and openness, even with his guitar-toting brother-in-law sidelined by sickness. He had experienced quite a bit in his life, and he wanted to share what he’d seen.
Asia performed each poem with well-honed delivery and heart-on-sleeve emotion. He worked every piece, whether it was a light piece professing “I want to love you like Nintendo” or a tearjerker with the climactic line, “how fitting; her heart was the last to go.”
Ferris criminal justice senior Alina Harrington said, “I loved it. It was really, really cool. I was reluctant to actually come out, but like he said, everything happens for a reason.”
Love, light-hearted fun, parent appreciation, meaning, pursuing one’s dreams: These were his messages. Most were as old as the Ten Commandments, but he imbued them with a personal touch and story.
Asia crafted the set much like a movie. There was a balance of fun, emotion and heft throughout. He opened with more wistful, broad poems designed to get a crowd interested.
The second, “Love you like the ‘90s,” was the real icebreaker. Riling the sporadically seated attendees with references to trapper keepers, beepers, K-Swiss, Boy Meets World and Boyz 2 Men, he quickly got a quiet crowd invested and on his side.
Revealing first the unexpected death of his sister and then his own brush with cancer, Asia turned from innocent expressions of love to heavier emotion. He wrapped up with these more dramatic notes, and it seemed to affect the crowd, too.
Sophomore in political science Michael Miller said, “It was pretty good. Energetic. I got a little sister, man, that was hard.”
It wasn’t the biggest crowd to fill Williams Auditorium, but it was one of the more successful ones. Asia shared his experiences and his love and the crowd roundly took to him.