Sunday, August 31, 2003
The first day of school today...
It's cool and cloudy, as I remember the weather in Seattle.
My son donned his high school uniform and on his bicycle headed out to his new school semester.
I will get my canvas today.
September is here,
bringing the gradual changes that come along with it.
I remember the Septembers of my childhood;
new leather shoes, plaid dresses
and wool sweaters-
Loose leaf binders and yellow pencils with pink erasers.
Looking at all my classmates that I hadn't seen all summer
and thinking "they've grown" over the vacation.
And trying to get in the groove of school again.
Although I liked school and all the mischief making I participated in,
I've had reoccurring nightmares of being trapped in my senior year at high school,
anxious to finally graduate...
I am going to do a large painting this time.
I have a vision of it already finished, in a frame.
Isn't that weird?
I already see it.
I'm going to create a "Lotus Pond"...
Yesterday, I went broadband.
Really nice not to have them NTT bastards
waiting for their blood money for my old dial up connection.
They charged a phone call fee for each "dial up" connection
online, and at a snail's pace to boot...
This is one corporation I would like to see go KAPUT.
This cool September morning,
I am reflecting on this summer that was so different from past ones.
It had it's own charm.
Not much swimming-
The summer in the rain.
The good times came in small concentrated doses-
I could only know that now that the summer is all but over.
And so now I can lollygag online and not have to sweat out the NTT bill...
Till next time, 'Mela
7:07 PM
Thursday, August 28, 2003
I hate it when things people said long before I was born, all of a sudden make sense.
It makes me feel so embarrassingly dim.
But it’s a trial and error life, and mysteries are revealed in their own true time.
I’m introspective today.
My brain is racing with ideas;
songs, images, moods, words-
If I don’t grasp them somehow,
they’ll all escape,
like waking from a dream where I was about to eat a Reese’s cup.
Welcome to the second annual end-of-the-world-party...
Summer's almost gone.
I feel such a loss for it- for this summer never seemed to take off-
Like buying a dress for a night out that never happens...
Oh, there were EVENTS,
but not the ones I associate with summer fun in the sun.
Autumn is, and has always been for me, my favorite season.
I’m going to start a new painting...
"As long as I have two nickels to rub together,
I’ll have a canvas to fill-
But I need more paying performance gigs
that would be better still..." - Pencil Neck Blues
Dead cicadas fall on the steps,
plunk.
“When it gets too hot for comfort, and you can’t get ice cream cones,
T’ain’t no sin to take off your skin, and dance around in your bones...”
-William S. Burroughs
Till next time... 'Mela
10:48 PM
Sunday, August 24, 2003
Late Summer Sunday
Ueno Park
In the heat of the lotus pond
I saw a butterfly-
Although the opening flowers were
magnificent
the black and blue wings caught my eye...
I was surely wilting fast
as I watched it flutter it’s wings-
I chased it in vain for a snapshot
to catch the illusive thing...
But off in the distance
I heard a water tap
as someone rinsed their laundry
I took off my hat
and poured cool water
down my face
and paused in the shadow's black
The flowers waited patiently
The opening party at last!
I am a one girl crew
with my camera intact
I found them in different stages of repose;
budding beauties,
lilting, full open,
petals falling, seed pods exposed.
To linger in their presence
brought such peace and splendor
a welcome breeze at last occured
and I saw a coconut vendor...
A little restaurant up the way
was playing Hawaiian music
I stopped for soba noodles
and an air conditioned visit
And so adieu my lovelies
I hope to see you soon
On my canvas I hope to paint
this lovely afternoon...
Special thanks to Julianne, a fellow musician and artist,
who also loves the lotuses, and inspired me to get out and see them!
Till next time... ‘Mela
9:29 PM
Saturday, August 16, 2003
A rain soaked train ride to the winery.
An absolutely lovely place.
The gig went off like a charm.
It was a pleasure to work with Mike Price and the quintet.
Tom Pierson was phenomenal.
Andy Wuulf on tenor was a nice surpise.
The last time I saw him play, he was happenin' -
but this time, he was blowin' smoke!
The audience was very receptive,
and I met some nice people.
Thanks for your help, Ayako...
The rain fell all through the night,
but today
it looks like a break.
A change in scenery always perks me up,
and I'm feeling renewed, somehow...
To all my family and friends in NY,
welcome back online.
Does anyone remember the song:
"Where were you when the lights went out, New York City?"
That was for the 1977 black out.
I guess it's just a matter of time before the 2003 version will be written.
They had a news story here about it-
A Japanese lady visiting NYC, was locked out of her hotel room, and alone.
She couldn't speak much English, and the Japanese Embassy was offline.
I imagine it was scary for her-
But those kind of times are what makes New York-
New York.
The people you meet who help.
I hope this lady got a break.
"They say the neon lights are bright ON BROADWAY
They say there's always magic in the air
but when you're walkin' down the street
and you ain't had enough to eat
the image of it all somehow seems no-where..."
Find a friend and hold on tight.
till next time 'Mela
6:01 PM
Thursday, August 14, 2003
“Love, reign o’er me” -The Who
It has been raining for awhile now- going into the second day, nonstop.
Time to paint my nails
I’m going with a perfect red-
not orange-y not purple-y
but RED.
Red rules.
It speaks volumes,
and I like the “oldness” of it-
the classic red.
My gig's tomorrow with Mike Price and the guys.
A great line up, I look forward to it...
Tom Pierson-piano Mike Price- trumpet Andy Wuulf-tenor sax
Mark Tourian- bass
and the drummer, all I know of him is he’s from the Navy jazz band...
The clients requested “all foreigners”.
I find this practice a drag, not in this case, but in others,
when it keeps a person from being hired
because a certain "nationality" or "color" doesn’t “fit” the criteria.
But this type of discrimination works ALL kinds of ways here.
Some times it’s only white- some times it’s only black-
in Japan, but no Japanese, etc.
You get the picture.
It is a different type of discrimination, but it's the same 'ole thing.
Ah, to be picked and sorted like hot house flowers...
An American jazz artist who goes to Europe to live and perform is deemed an “International Artist”.
Here, you lose this status, and they call you “local”.
Japanese artists who go and live in New York for 6 months,
come back and call themselves, and are billed as: “from New York”.
Grassland mentality.
It used to upset me greatly, and has probably inspired more drinking binges than I care to want to own up to.
But I don’t drink anymore,
and although some practices are downright offensive to me here,
to stay on I have had to let it all ride,
and focus on just doing what I do, well.
"If you wanna get to heaven
lemme tell ya what to do
you got to grease yo' feet
in mutton stew-
Slide right over in the slippery sand
and ease on over to da Promised Land"... - Spiritual
Till next time ‘Mela
7:58 PM
Saturday, August 09, 2003
Riding on the train, on this typhooned afternoon,
with my CD walkman playing Tangerine dream-
I feel like I’m back in the “Thalia” movie theater in NYC, watching an “art film”...
Surreal scenery puts my worried mind in a complacent mood...
My gig was a bust last night.
I can’t complain, actually.
My true fans came out to see me, although there had been a typhoon warning for much of the day-
The beating of the storm drums...
Musically, I was happy with my performance-
I did a few new tunes, and the trio
was definitely happenin’...
Hiroshi Tanaka on piano.
He was subtle,
but he could plink down on them ivories, too...
Mark Tourian on bass-
He brought his new bass, it’s a beauty, and he sounds as great as always playing it.
Tomoya Hara on guitar. He was playing some nice bluesy stuff.
We should have done a song called: “Bus Fare Home”,
‘cause that was the deal last night.
C’est la vie.
Next week it’s a summer festival with Mike Price and his quintet.
I’m looking forward to that.
Well, we’ve gone from rainy season, to typhoon season...
-Surf City here come the sharks
Look pretty here come your self-
I don’t know where that song came from, I just thought of it this instant, from years ago-
When my sister and I were listening to this album, “Crack the sky”...
Till later, taters... ‘Mela
4:14 AM
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Photo: Michio Yves Ueda
