Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Photos from the concert at International House Japan

Yesterday I got the official photos from the dress rehearsal and concert at the International House Japan on July 2. Thanks to Manami for taking the photos and forwarding them to me. Here are a few...

All participants in the concert: Nozawa Tetsuya - shamisen, Christoper Yomei - shakuhachi, Leza Lowitz - spoken word. We are rehearsing Glenn Horiuchi's "Optics." This is a new experience for Leza. She had to be a musician in this piece, not a poet. She had injured her knee a few days before playing soccer with her son.






Shots from the concert the next day...

Christopher acted as host and interpreter. 


This is from a collaboration with video artist Joseph Santarromana - "La Petite Malambing Thang." Performing this was an emergency fix. The original plan was to show and perform to another piece in the Malambing series, "Bleu," but there were problems with the projection quality. We used "La Petite Malambing Thang" instead to which I improvised a live part to. 










Tuesday, July 23, 2013

I was wrong...there will be photos from the IHJ concert.

In a few hours up to a day or two, I will post photos from the IHJ concert.


There and back again...the end for now.

Very good. I have been home for a week. I had hoped to do this close-out earlier, but I had to hit the ground running as I had agreed to perform in the premier of Gregory Lenczycki's "Mont Blanc," for soprano, clarinet, tuba and electronics. It took a bit of doing, but I mostly got it together. I don't have a lot of photos for you in any case - some final station shots, a few of the ride to Narita Airport and a U.S. portion of pig, once I arrived home. The beginning of the flight had so much turbulence that even the pilot was on the verge of cursing. He certainly had a few words for the weather forecasters. 


So there you have it. What is left for me to do is a final report and accounting tasks. I hope you have enjoyed the photos. I will probably use this blog for any trip away from Los Angeles that results in some interesting photos, so check back occasionally. There is nothing on the books at the moment, however projects are swirling around in the air. Keep your fingers crossed.

Dress rehearsal of Lenczycki's "Mont Blanc." Juliette Dwyer - soprano, Jorge Martin - clarinet and electronics, Gregory Lenczycki - composer, electronics, William Roper - tuba. 

The last day...

Tokyo station on the way out.


I had extra time, so put my things in a locker and took a last stroll around the station. The big red symbols read, "coin locker."

On the platform waiting for the Narita Express.



I took the Green Car. Thaddeus taught me the wiseness of taking the Green Car in such situations. 





A monorail I didn't know about. Shucks!

Finally home and big meat...

A carnitas burrito. The steak had to wait a day.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Leaving today...

checking out of the hotel in about 30 minutes.

It must be wedding season. They are having weddings everyday here at the International House. The groom in this photo is wearing Hakama. I got some.



Yesterday was goodbyes with Mark and Michiyo and Craig and Emi. Had lunch with Michiyo and Mark at a restaurant run by a former chef on the Orient Express. He managed to get a car from them...




Summer vegetables, herring, cured ham.

Swordfish, some other fish.

Palette cleanser. 

Duck breast.

A tiramisu variation.

In the railroad car.
I met Craig and Emi near the hotel for beverages.


As Craig read me the menu I had an inspiration...


a beer float. The management was taking no responsibility, so gave me the ice cream separate. I was on my own.



Everyone agreed that it was very tasty.

I have recently (Sept. 2014) put together a Google Earth tour of the trip. Below is the download button for the file. It is 20.1 MB. If it stops downloading before that, it will not work. Just try it again. Open it with Google Earth and enjoy. The "street views" in the tour don't always resolve. Just click once on the image, it will stop the tour and resolve the image. In the left-hand corner of the browser you will see a "Play" button, click that and move on. The tour takes about 20 minutes.

Happy viewing. As of 09/26/14, the tour has better audio.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Trial-run and unexpected wish fulfillment.

Did a trial-run to get to Tokyo Station and find the Narita Express platform. I also needed to reserve my seat. The upshot of it is that I am going to take a cab to Tokyo Station when I leave tomorrow. I just don't want to be dealing with the horn and whatever else I have in the subways. Especially in Azabu-juban station. You are walking forever in that place, all for only two subway lines. Also, Monday is the national holiday Marine Day. No telling what will be going on in those subways.







Then I headed back to the the Asahi Beer Hall area because there seemed to be exciting things afoot around there that I didn't have time to deal with when I was there on a mission. Walking only a few yards, I saw that I could take a river cruise. I had given up on the idea of a river cruise. I had gone checked-out a couple of websites and couldn't make hide nor hair of what was on them. But here I was, with a little time, so I jumped aboard.






My fellow passengers.




An encampment of homeless.









There are lots of these gates. I assume they are for flood control.











You know what they say in Zimbabwe, "Beware the mouse, because he is really a rat."

Just when I was beginning to think that I would get through this trip without being hassled by the cops...

All the podcasts on living in Japan I listened to before coming here had episodes on being hassled by the cops. Sometime recently I was in conversation and the subject of my passport came up. A person was surprised I had it on me. I was surprised he didn't have his on him. I don't remember who it was, but he was a foreigner. I always have my passport on my person when I am in a foreign country. Having it just settles things real quickly. Yesterday in Ueno Station having it settled things real quickly. They could have not stopped there, but they would have needed a good excuse. Not having the passport on me would have been a real good excuse. There is something real wrong about being hassled by cops who are not even half your age.

Politics.

And Echo Park is supposed to have a lily pond?