You at 6 without cheating!
Liholiho Warrior: At age 6, I performed my first music cassette recording of me beatboxing! This is a photo of me at this age holding an orange “Les Murakami” baseball bat on the Liholiho Warrior baseball field in a Kelly Green “Bear” picture frame!
Within this school year, my teacher popped in the Moonwalker VHS 📼 and played it in class to watch! By that time, Moonwalker had already become my favorite movie musical that I first watched at my grandparents!
Michael Jackson x Jason Tom beatboxing “Who Is It”
Can you believe Jason Tom dot com, my official website and blog has been around for 12 years and counting? This is a testament of what commitment looks like. Longevity. I am grateful and elated to share with you that JasonTom.com is not stopping on documenting my beatboxing journey.
Jason Tom dot com works tirelessly around the clock to compile 31 of my beatboxing years and beyond.
Again, Happy Birthday JasonTom.com! And yes, some of my friends offline do actually refer me as, "Jason Tom dot com." What great friends they are. They've got a great sense of humor.
31 years? My first 15 were my amateur years of cultivating and honing the beatboxing craft. My next 16 years are my career years as a beatboxer.
How did my beatboxing journey begin??? Let's go back to 1989. My amateur years.....
In 1989, I was six-years-old, and I remember it as though it happened yesterday that I began beatboxing at my parents' master bedroom in the concrete jungle of Honolulu. It took place after I watched Moonwalker VHS in my first grade class as a Liholiho Warrior, and at family gatherings in Pearl City.
I loved how the King of Pop's Bad short film took place in the New York Subway. I loved the energy of the song, the assertiveness of the message, and the dance sequences. I loved Moonwalker's kid version "Badder," and Weird Al Yankovic's parody "Fat." Michael Jackson's song "Bad" got stuck in my head, and I had to record myself scat singing, beatboxing, and singing "I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it, you know" on music cassette to get it out.
I then got hit with an early setback when I failed the first grade. I transferred to Kauluwela and I became a Tiger Cub. During my Kauluwela years, I continued to cultivate and hone my music beatboxing skills. I practiced for hours imitating the music, vocals, instruments, and percussion sounds from Michael Jackson's Dangerous music cassette album. I continued to hone my beatboxing craft with that album as a Kawananakoa Ali’i Warrior. At that point I listened to my music on music cassettes on my boombox.
Then as a McKinley Tiger, I worked on practicing for hours imitating the instruments and songs of Michael Jackson's CD albums History: Past, Present and Future Book 1, and Blood on the Dance Floor: History in the Mix. I also studied his History on Film Volume 2 on VHS for hours. I studied a lot of Michael Jackson's interviews, music videos and concerts on VHS. Then I got that on History on Film Volume 2 on DVD and Dangerous: the Short Films DVD. I studied them for hours.
That's what I primarily did musically to cultivate my beatboxing during my amateur years.
I had no plans or goals of becoming an entertainer. It was the last profession I'd ever thought about pursuing. My first career choice was to be like a Stan Lee, and get into the comic book industry. Then it was to get into a sports career in soccer or judo. It was not until I collided with a SUV that my life was nearly taken from me that I realized I needed to pursue a career I am passionate about. I chose beatboxing, and I got into the music and entertainment industry. Here's to many more years of beatboxing to come.
Beatboxer of the Decade,
Review: E’Casanova “Halloween Thriller”
by Jason Tom (Honolulu, Hawaii)
I first knew of E’Casanova through a friend from California, Frank, who knows that I am Michael Jackson fan. Frank said that he saw the VH1 FanClub show that featured E’Casanova, and Frank said E’Cas is great at performing like Michael Jackson. Few days after Frank had told me about E’Cas, I was able to tune in to that VH1 FanClub show, and that was how I came to know a little more of him. Several months ago, my sister told me about E’Casanova’s show at Ala Moana Hotel’s Hawaiian Hut. I messaged E’Cas about that event under his tenderoni’s MJIFC chattersgallery profile, and he would notify me of the “Halloween Scream Thriller.” That event recently took place at Blaisdell’s Hawaii Suites, which also had a $3,000 costume contest, and a nearby haunted Shockhouse attraction. E’Cas had his shows from October 28-31, 2004; he would perform four shows hourly between 8 and 11pm. I knew this event would be a great opportunity to possibly meet E’Casanova.
Plans were made accordingly to schedule, I went to the 9pm show with my friends, Jenna and Harry on Halloween night. I paid tickets for the three of us. We weren’t allowed inside until a certain time, so I asked the Blaisdell staff to pass a note to E’Cas inside. I told the staff to also let him know that I would like to meet him before or after the show. The staff sent my note, then came back to tell me that E’Cas agreed to meet me after the show. Then it came time for us to go in, and the room was filled entirely in fog. Chairs filled up immediately with Halloween Aloha spirited folks. Two movie screens located at each side of the stage began to play Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” short film. It was around the short film’s scene when Michael Jackson and Ola Ray left the theatre that E’Cas broke through the smothering fog on stage. He had a mask on and would take it off as Thriller’s music played LOUDER! I could feel the music vibrate throughout the room. As Michael Jackson, E’Cas banged it up with a thrilling solo, and near the end a group of zombies appeared from no where. E’Cas sounded eerily like Michael Jackson when he threw out his own vocals. This was an intense 10-minute live “Thriller” performance with amazing spins that transitioned into great choreography. I felt the positive energy throughout the show, and wanted more. The zombies vanished within the mist. E’Cas greeted the audience, mentioned about the $3,000 costume contest signup, and then made his exit backstage. Unfortunately for the contest, my two friends and I was not dressed for Halloween. The announcement of the winning costume contestant would be made after E’Cas’ 11pm show. My friend, Jenna commented that E’Cas really does look like Michael Jackson, and that she enjoyed the show. We all did!
We stayed after the show so that I could finally meet E’Cas. After waiting for several minutes, he came out and for the first time in person we greeted each other. I was surprised of his generosity, when he refunded our tickets. He said I was his guest for the show, and that he originally wanted me to be there at no charge. I felt very honored. E’Casanova agreed to take photos with me, and then with my friends as a whole. He also agreed to do an interview for our MJNewsOnline community. Then E’Cas told me about his upcoming Michael Jackson Tribute to take place in Hawaii. This tribute will be a release party to happen some time in November for the upcoming Ultimate Collection box set. I would be at a lost for words for Michael Jackson to make it to this release party in Hawaii. It is unheard of or a rarity in Hawaii to have such an MJ event. As soon as I get further details, I will look forward to get the word out. Much respect to E’Cas (Michael Jackson Tribute Artist)!
Originally published on November 3rd, 2004.