After last year’s four-day, sold-out JANM concert, Harry Manaka and his newly formed Sansei Rocker band will play an encore performance on Saturday, May 11, 2 p.m. at JACCC’s Aratani Theater, 244 S. San Pedro St. in Little Tokyo.
Known back in the ’60s and ’70s for playing the behemoth Hammond B3 organ with the premier dance party band Somethin’ Else, Manaka’s ensemble of talent was revered as the most popular dance band of its time in the L.A. area.
After a half-century departure from the music scene, Manaka was encouraged to write his memoirs and published a book, “Chronicles of a Sansei Rocker,” during the COVID pandemic. It soon became a best-seller within the JA community. Now in its sixth printing, its popularity spread like wildfire.
As a result of overwhelming book sales, Manaka created a symposium and book-signing at the Japanese American National Museum’s Tateuchi Democracy Forum in 2022, drawing a sold-out crowd. Many members of the audience who fondly remembered Somethin’ Else asked if he would consider performing again.
In the summer of 2023, Manaka took on that challenge and reunited the last surviving members of the original Somethin’ Else, including himself, Royce “The Voice” Jones and bass player Bobby Flores to form Sansei Rocker.
Due to overwhelming demand, the four shows and 800 seats at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum sold out completely within 50 minutes and hundreds of disappointed ticket seekers were shut out. There were many concert-goers after the show who expressed their wishes to have Sansei Rocker perform again. Thus the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center’s Aratani Theatre was chosen to accommodate a much larger crowd.
Ticket sales have been robust but there are still a few remaining seats available.
For tickets, call the JACCC box office at (213) 628-2725 or order tickets online: jaccc.org/sansei-rocker.
The book and a Sansei Rocker V-neck T-shirt can be ordered through janmstore.com.