Sunday Papers: Charles Simic

"For knowledge, add; for wisdom, take away."

On the turntable: Ben Folds Five, "Ben Folds Five"

Band Wit

Back in the days when I was playing live music in Yonago with Tim W, we would appear under a different band name at each gig. The following is a list of the names we used, or intended to use.  (Some may offend, so be forewarned.) Table of the Leg Damn Flies Spooky Temple Dudes Stony Curtis Obstinate Camel Nazi Pope Perceived Diss Sayu Gyaku （左右逆） Anal Mix Tape Psychological Sabotage The Knot in the Y Wood Moratorium Goethe's Werther Vanity Organ The Noble Source Mullah Fucka Grok the Koan Bovine Intervention Bovine Comedy Zulu Porn Reverse Vasectomy Veda's Dairy Androgynous Zone Acid Milk Truck Spank the Monarchy Puppy with Verbs High Brow Connotation Singed Fringe Glass Water Starfish Avalanche of Creme Tambourine Damage Transportation Misadventure Wiley on the Bridge Institutional Conformity Two-Dimensional Asshole 3D Lunch The Usual Inattention Roppongi Hillbillies Ovarian Sisters Casanova Hijinx Conquistador of the Useless The Gilligan Four Al Pachinko Phallus Cowboys Fudo Hanbaiki (不動販売機） Kill Gilligan Traveling Dingleberries Impenetrable Orpheus Ramadan Nachos Back-up Bellringer Genghis Karma Shakuson 5　（釈尊 5）　 Snooty Vegan Keisei and the Sunshine Band Infidel Castro Scott Baio Wolfe Guns 'n' Moses Felonious Punk Ozzy Gillespie   On the turntable:  Chet Baker, "Lullaby of the Leaves" On the nighttable:  Natsume Soseki, "The Gate"

Megijima ,Ogijima

The third in the Inland Sea series:

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/megijima-ogijima


On the turntable:  Charles Mingus, "Mingus at Carnegie Hall"
On the nighttable:  David Sedaris, "When You are Engulfed in Flames"

(untitled)

Days of darkness part, 

To reveal the blue skies of 

Possibility.

On the turntable: Bob Dylan, "Live 1975"
On the nighttable:  Stephen Armstrong, "The Road to Wigan Pier Revisited"

Sunday Papers: D.T. Suzuki

"When traveling is made too easy and comfortable, its spiritual meaning is lost"


On the turntable:  "The Beatles, "Strawberry Fields Forever" 
 

Shodoshima

Second post of a six-part series on chasing Donald Richie. On Shodoshima.

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-gui…/shodoshima-drive


On the turntable:  Boards of Canada, "Music has the Right to People"
On the nighttable:  Michael Pollan,"Cooked"

(untitled)

Tipping their caps
From the top of the hill,
To the lands they once knew.

On the turntable:  Begin, ”BEGIN シングル大全集”

(untitled)

All along the watchtowers,
You'll find a source of strength
For when the heart is wounded.

On the turntable:  Bruce Springsteen, "Tunnel of Love"

Imbibing Bibliophile #8

No Direction Home by Richard Shelton

Matsumoto Brewery, Traditional Bitter

On the turntable: Cactus, "Cactology"

Sunday Papers: Robert Brady

"Travelers come to need their own company more than stayers ever do."

On the turntable: The Beatles, "Final Rhine River Tapes"
On the nighttable:  D.T. Suzuki, "Zen and Japanese Culture"

October 14 Elegy

Inujima & Teshima

First part of a six-article series on Japan's Inland Sea, for Japan Visitor.

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guid…/inujima-teshima


On the turntable: Bob Dylan, "Blues"
On the nighttable:  Robert Shelton, "No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan"

(untitled)

Strolling the beach
looking for shells,
All we find is rubbish.

On the turntable:  Boubacar Traore, "Mali Denhou"

Sou Fujimoto and the Primitive Future

My next article in the architect series discusses the permeable, light-filled architectural designs of Sou Fujimoto. 

http://www.zenvita.com/blog/sou-fujimoto-and-the-primitive-future.html


On the turntable:  Boston, "Greatest Hits"

Sunday Papers: Marcel Pagnol

"No history textbook in the world has ever been anything but a propaganda pamphlet in the service of governments."

On the turntable:  The Continental Op, "Stitch Music"
On the nighttable: Alistair Horne, "Seven Ages of Paris"

(untitled)

Often through this scene,
Details ever changing,
Painted with a different brush.

On the turntable:  The Beatles, "Anthology 3 Outtakes"
 

Mountains Beyond Mountains

The gods of the three directions

Take on solid stony forms.

Days of rain and winds from yet another typhoon have scoured the skies clean. I've stood upon this spot 20 times or more, but I've never had the visibility of today. Ontake-san, Norikura, Kiso Koma-ga-take (with Kitadake photobombing in the far distance in the middle of the last pic).

On the turntable:  Brian Auger & The Trinity, "Definitely What!"

All our Gayn

Reading Gayn's fascinating Japan Diary, which entails his time working as a journalist from just a few months after the end of the war.  Most interesting is that you can see the seeds being sown for the political system we have here today.  It's really no wonder that democracy doesn't work in Japan, imposed as it was by the military. And militaries are generally not the most democratic organizations. On the turntable:  Bob Dylan, "The Genuine Basement Tapes"