Simon Tam is one of the few, if any, rock musicians to have received a major award from the American Bar Association. Co-founded in 2006 as an all-Asian American dance band paying homage to 80’s music, the Portland-originated The Slants were denied the right to trademark their name. Tam had to fight a case all the way to the US Supreme Court in order to get the band name trademarked.  In 2017, Tam won his case against the US Patent and Trademark Office which initially refused saying the name The Slants was “disparaging to people of Asian descent.” Simon later wrote about the experience in “Slanted: How An Asian American Troublemaker Took On The Supreme Court.”

The Portland Chinatown Museum is currently featuring The Slants in an exhibit called “What’s Worth The Fight: The History Of The Slants.” The exhibit runs until May 11, 2025.

The museum holds its 9th annual Lunar New Year Dragon Dance Parade and Celebration on February 9, 2025. Starting at 10am, members of The Slants will perform to kick off the parade. Then at 11am, other performances follow with the International Lion Dance Team, Lee’s Association Lion Dance Team, White Lotus Dance Team, the Yo-Yo team and Rip City Crew.

Featured music: Sakura, Sakura by The Slants

In this podcast, Simon Tam talks about…

The Trademark Office denying the trademark of their name:  ” And the government said that’s not good enough because of urban dictionary. com. It just seems like there was such a disconnect with trying to do like the right thing or the politically correct thing and went against you. They’re being offended on our behalf. And actually the Oregon Commission on Asian Pacific Islander affairs wrote to the trademark office asking like ‘what folks from our community, did you have involved in this decision?’ And they wrote back and they said, ‘Well, nobody, but we have a lot of Asians that work in this building.'”

The work of The Slants Foundation:  ”We serve maybe 500 artists across North America and we, we both provide trainings and funding and research for them. But we are also in the midst of doing other things like filming television shows and, and film and filming movies to try and highlight the next generation of troublemakers.”

About being half-Taiwanese and moving to Taiwan: “ After spending a few years here in the States doing our respective arts, I think we realized we (partner and him) wanted to be in a place that we felt better represented our values. And it’s a culture that really takes care of its own people. And that was something I really liked. Plus, I want to be at the epicenter of the very best food on earth. So, Taiwan is definitely the place to be for that. It does. It does have the best food, I have to say.”

Simon Tam talking with Dmae from his home studio.

See a video clip of the opera Simon Tam and Joe X. Jiang created about their Supreme Court fight. Slanted: An American Rock Opera was commissioned by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Mellon Foundation.

More about Simon Tam: As the recipient of the Mark T. Banner award from the American Bar Association and the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award, Simon Tam may be best known for winning a landmark case at the Supreme Court of the United States in 2017. The case (Matal v. Tam) was named Milestone Case of the Year from Managing IP Magazine. His memoir, Slanted: How an Asian American Troublemaker Took on the Supreme Court was named “One of the Best Books on the Constitution of All Time” by BookAuthority and won an award for Best Autobiography/Memoir from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Simon’s work in arts and activism has been highlighted in thousands of media features across 150 countries, including: The New York Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, NPR, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He is the founder and bassist of The Slants, one of the first all-Asian American dance rock bands in the world. He is also a co-founder of The Slants Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is pushing the boundaries of what is possible for arts, activism, and civic engagement.