By Jia H. Jung, California Local News Fellow
From 5-10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27, community-focused entertainment company 82ALLNIGHT will co-host a Kimchi and K-Pop night alongside the Saranghello K-pop shop and TXT Korean boy band fan hub Magic Hour Cafe at the Fort Mason Center at 2 Marina Boulevard in San Francisco.
The K-pop culture celebration will close out eight themed fall Friday food festivals put on by Off The Grid. Known as “OtG” for short, the roaming food truck market started as a neighborhood affair in 2010. Now, the iconic Bay Area experience says it is the largest mobile food gathering in the United States, with additional operations in catering, work meal provision, and relief services.
The other OtG events of the season included an I Love San Francisco party, a noodle fight night, the Mabuhay Filipino feast, an Asian Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Taco Takeover, Klaycon in an ode to basketballer Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, and One Night Only.
Kimchi and K-pop, last but not least in the series, is free and open to all ages. The open-air party will draw an estimated 1,500 people hungry for the offerings of more than 20 food and beverage purveyors serving Korean and pan-Asian fare. In line with the night’s theme, guests will also find the delights of official K-pop merchandise, freebies, trades, and prizes.
82ALLNIGHT is in charge of the music and performance program for the evening. DJ Romeo will spin K-pop hits and OTG Dance and the Vyral Dance Team will perform K-pop choreography. The event will also involve K-pop random play dance – an opportunity for those in the crowd who know the choreography of select songs to jump in and perform on the spot, syncing with one another through body language.
Jun Shao, 82ALLNIGHT’s founder, CEO, and director, has been a dance instructor, choreographer, and avid K-pop fan since the early 2000s. He grew up in San Francisco’s Sunset District listening to the first-generation K-pop artists at the start of the Hallyu “Korean Wave” of Korean popular culture around the world.
In 2010, Shao and a friend founded a K-pop (Korean pop), J-pop (Japanese pop), C-pop (Chinese pop) dance club at Abraham Lincoln High School in the Sunset District and co-led the group vice president and Director of Dance. The team is still going strong.
As an adult, Shao went on to support Korean cultural events and underground K-HipHop events in Washington State and California. This April, he launched his community-oriented entertainment company to bring together musicians, dancers, businesses, vendors, K-pop fans, live music and performance aficionados, and passionate locals with events in the Bay Area and beyond. The 82 in the name stands for Korea’s phone country code.
The first 82ALLNIGHT event started big with the K-Pop, K-Hip hop Night party hosted in May at The New Parish live music venue in Oakland, CA. Five musicians and four regional dance teams filled the program.
This was when Shao became formally acquainted with Filipina American visual artist Fiona Jane Orolfo after meeting her in passing at a concert for boy group OnlyOneOf a month before. Orolfo had been a K-pop fan since 2001 and was content creation curator at the global-facing OK-What media company.
The two joined forces, and Orolfo became vice president, promoter, photographer, and videographer of 82ALLNIGHT.
The company has grown fast since then, with the mission of bridging gaps in the AANHPI community through themed parties that highlight diverse creatives and attract people within and beyond the K-pop sphere.
In an email, Shao expressed to AsAmNews that 82ALLNIGHT is excited to expand its collaborations with more businesses, brands, organizations, and talent such as DJs, musicians, dance teams, vendors, artists, and other creatives from the Bay Area’s AANHPI communities.
He added, “We hope to partner with non-profit organizations in the future to provide resources and connections in the AANHPI community as we continue to host our themed parties to highlight various aspects of Korean culture.”
After this event, 82ALLNIGHT looks forward to its 21+ K-Pop & Glam event at the Record Bar in San Francisco on Nov. 18. The company’s first K-pop and Korean-inspired fashion show will include sets by DJ Cazius Clay, performances from Soul Berkeley and 2JUN, and prizes. 82ALLNIGHT encourages folks to dress to impress.
Join me, @pyjammah, and @jexxicuh for an Instagram Live today, October 25, at 3 p.m. Pacific/6 p.m. Eastern as we speak with June Shao, executive director of 82 All Night about his career as a choreographer and KPop professional. Also joining us will be Fiona Jane Orolfo, 82 All Night promoter and photographer about how she got into KPop.
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