Once 'Round Osaka

 

 

My latest at The Japan Times...

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/05/17/travel/osaka-loop-line-walk-27-kilometers/

 

On the turntable:  Tears for Fears, Secret World"

 

This Blog at 20

 

Two thousand, three hundred, fourteen posts, and counting...

 

On the turntable: David Gray, "White Ladder 20th Anniversary Edition"

 

 

 

One More than Zero

 

 

 On the train, reading Slaves of New York for the first time in close to 40 years.   And I immediately think of you, and how as budding creative writing majors we used to rib this book, as well as Less than Zero and Bright Lights Big City, and all those other books by young authors belonging to that genre dubbed, "...and then they fucked," generally brought out on Gary Fisketjon's Vintage Contemporaries series.  (Although by now, both nostalgia and academia have come on board, and the genre is referred to as "Dirty Realism.")

And just as I'm thinking this, you get on the train.  But it's not you, but your Japanese doppelganger, looking as you did back in school, with your bobbed hair and pouty lips and slim build.  And I so much want to sneak this woman's photo and send it to you, so that we can both laugh about the coincidence.  But sadly, you passed away last summer...

And with you gone, and with Zielke gone near 20 years, our little gang of aspiring writers lives on only in me.  Does that bring us back to Less than Zero, with Blair and Julian gone, and only I left to tell the tale?

 

On the turntable:  Ramones, "Too Tough to Die" 

Sunday Papers: Brendan Behan

 

"I respect kindness in human beings first of all, and kindness to animals. I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer."

 

On the turntable:  Jefferson Starship, "Dragon Fly" 

Jazz & The Spoken Word, set two

 

 

 With the Joshua Breakstone group, Bonds Rosary, January 10, 2025

On the turntable:  Archie Shepp, "Four for Trane"

 

Jazz & The Spoken Word, set one

 

 

With the Joshua Breakstone group, Bonds Rosary, January 10, 2025

On the turntable:  Dry Cleaning, "Stumpwork"

 

This Friday...

 

 

On the turntable:  Junior Wells, "Calling All Blues"

 

Happy New Year!

A year in reads: 2024

 

On the turntable: Cowboy Junkies, "Long Journey Home"

Sunday Papers: Chris T-T

 

"Rock has remarkably quickly become just a peripheral, niche art-form, lost within the pop diaspora, similarly to what happened to jazz when rock’n’roll happened in the 1950s."

 

On the turntable:  Jack Johnson, "Jack Johnson's Holiday Jams"

 

Seeking Adventure in Japan's Newest National Park

 

Another piece born out of last summer's trip to Hokkaido. Thank you to Outdoor Japan and Gear Junkie for putting it together.  

https://gearjunkie.com/travel/adventure-newest-national-park-japan

 

On the turntable: Louis Jordan, "Jivin' with Jordan"

 

Sunday Papers: Albert Camus

 

"Note that our age marks the end of ideologies.  The atom bomb prohibits ideologies."

 

On the turntable: Desparacidos, "Anonymous/Left is Right"

 

Tracking the Unseen in the Old Capital

 

 

A nice treat to see my latest article live on The Japan Times...

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2024/10/26/travel/kyoto-haunted-ghosts-halloween/

 

On the turntable:  Phish, "1995-12-07, Niagara Convention Center"

 

Sunday Papers: Kyle Frost

 

"I feel like most travel writing and promotion in 2024 has one flavor – “Hey, visit here, it’s great”. Influencer culture has narrowed the scope of storytelling, minimizing meaningful reflections and stories in favor of nicely packaged Instagram posts, snappily edited TikToks, and SEO-optimized blogs that are more about appealing to every possible Google search."

 

On the turntable:  Phish, "1994-12-01, Salem Armory"

October 14 Elegy

 

 

Sunday Papers: William Carlos Williams

 

"Memory is a kind of accomplishment." 

 

On the turntable:  Neil Young, "Journey to the Past"

 

Venturing into the Garden of the Gods

 

Thank you to the iconic Outdoor Japan magazine for sending me out on a fun and educational journey...

https://www.outdoorjapan.com/activities/travel/venturing-into-the-garden-of-the-gods/ 

 

On the turntable:  Phish, 1993-08-07, Darien center, NY

 

Set-jetting with the Shogun

 

 

Thank you to The Japan Times for publishing my latest piece, on a rather timely subject. The print version is expected to appear on Saturday.

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2024/09/17/travel/shogun-osaka-castle-travel-historical-sites/ 

 

On the turntable: The New Pornographers, "Brill Bruisers"

Sunday Papers: Simone de Beauvoir

 

"In America, the individual is nothing. He is made into an abstract object of worship; by persuading him of his individual value. One stifles the awakening of a collective spirit in him. But reduced to himself in this way, he is robbed of any concrete power. Without collective hope or personal audacity, what can the individual do? Submit or, if by some rare chance this submission is too odious, leave the country."

 

On the turntable:  Neil Young, "Mixed Pages of Storytone"

 

Sunday Papers: Bob Copper

 

"The consequent invasion has taken its toll and, sadly but incontrovertibly, many of our most cherished heritages have suffered the fate of becoming tourist attractions. And you don't have to be madly misanthropic to recognize that the presence of people means pollution. When commercialism comes barging in through the front door, romance and beauty tiptoe hand-in-hand out at the back." 

 

On the turntable:  Spoon, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"