Beyond blending in

I’ve seen photos of people wearing experimental, electro-flexible plasma “clothing” that projects the scene directly to the rear, giving the (near) illusion of looking right through the wearer, but the technology has yet to be perfected. While an interesting proof-of-concept, I’m more impressed by the trompe-l’œil work of artist Desiree Palman. You really have to look two or three times at some of her photos to find the human hidden within. (And there really is one, too!)

Who doesn’t have days when this ability would be welcome relief?

Dabbling in tabs

I’ve really been enjoying having my guitar back (the Tokai that Todd mailed me recently). It’s also been fun looking up guitar tabs on the Web — mainly for intro licks that get me to sit down and practice for a few minutes. Man, gone are the days (for the most part) of plunking down big bucks for pricey sheet music. I still have a whole boxful at Dad’s house — but only those titles that made it past the culling: the others I flogged years ago at Logo’s Books in Santa Cruz to scrounge up some cash.

(Trivia: first sheet music I ever purchased was U2’s Joshua Tree; bought at Crow’s Nest music in Naperville, July 1989. I remember coming home and trying to work out a D chord on the back porch of our house. It seemed unlikely I’d ever train my fingers to automatically configure themselves in that position and I wondered how in the hell anyone could simultaneously sing and concentrate on finger placement. It was one of the more deflating moments in my life with music.)

Anyway, some of the easy licks I’ve “de-coded” are the opening chords/intros to the Doobie Bros’ “Long Train Runnin’” and “Rockin’ Down the Highway”, INXS’ “New Sensation”, “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath, and, the crown jewel so far, Matt “Guitar” Murphy’s intro to “Sweet Home Chicago” from The Blues Brothers. (I have to say, though, that when I try to replicate what Matt’s doing in the film it doesn’t sound right at all, but I like the fact that I’ll have to work at it a bit more.) Just having fun, that’s all.

What’s surprising is that most of these riffs are fairly straightforward, which is a bit anticlimactic. I mean, it still takes a lot of practice to get them down well, but the notation is not rocket science by any means. I guess it’s just weird in some way to be able to “get inside” or crack musical referents that have a strong personal association. Don’t get wrong: it’s great — and way cool — but also a touch disillusioning.

I remember a story Lyle Larson once told when I was taking his courses on Twain and Hemingway at SMC. He was relating the time someone showed him how to play the basic melody of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata on the piano. For years he’d held that piece in such high esteem that it crushed him to learn how just about anyone could pick it up in a few minutes. Ever since, he’s heard the song with somewhat jaded ears, having lost some of the reverence and awe he held before, which is sad, really. Maybe some things are better left a mystery. Either that or I’ll just go back to Steely Dan, which is always a challenge…

The Police come to Honolulu

Concert ticket (plus surcharges): $114
Concert t-shirt: $35
Beer: $7 x ?
Chance to see The Police in concert for the first (and most likely last) time in my life?: a hell of a lot!

Last Saturday Adam and I went to The Police concert here in Honolulu. I almost didn’t go because of the absurd price of tickets, but we don’t get many big name acts out here so you take what you can get; and besides, it’s The Police! I never saw them back in their heyday and I simply couldn’t justify not seeing them. Sting said the last time they played the Blaisdell was back in 1981. (They toured here in ‘84 in support of Synchronicity, but I’ll bet they played Aloha Stadium for that one.) Plus, Honolulu is the final stop for this reunion tour that’s been on the road since last May.

(On a side note: Adam and I were both trying to remember the last big-time concert we’d each been to. The nearest I can remember is perhaps the H.O.R.D.E. Festival at the Shoreline Amphitheater in ‘97 or ‘98? I remember seeing Ben Folds Five, the highlight for me.)

The boys have all grown older (which was true of the crowd, as well) and the songs were a bit mellower, but their musicianship was still tight as ever. Plus, the Blaisdell Center only seats about 10,000, so there really wasn’t a bad seat in the house. Adam and I sat through the first half but spent much of the second hour on our feet, circling around the mid-level walkway. The cool thing there is we were able to walk right behind the stage, with the band maybe 20 yards away. (Can you imagine getting to check out Stewart Copeland’s drumming from that proximity? Hello!…) The security detail wasn’t down for loitering so we had to maintain a slow, measured shuffle, making at least 4 or 5 circumnavigations in the process.

Here’s the set list:

Message in a Bottle
Synchronicity II
Walking On The Moon
Voices Inside My Head
When The World Is Running Down
Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Driven To Tears
Hole In My Life
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Can’t Stand Losing You
Roxanne
King Of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
Next To You

Of note:

Fiction Plane (the opening act, featuring Sting’s son), were pretty good. The guy sounds just like his father, though I don’t know how much he’s trying to work that angle. Another Julian Lennon? He probably hates that criticism.

Ann, I was thinking of you often during the night. You and The Police will always go hand-in-hand in my mind (even though I developed my own relationship with their music years later).

And yes, during “Walking on the Moon” I sang as much of the lyrics to “Bussing in the Lounge” as I could remember. (John, I would have tipped a beer in your honor but I got a little ahead of myself when moving to let my neighbor pass by, accidentally knocking over the reserve I had stashed under my seat. I was thinking of you all the same.)

None of the t-shirts featured images of the band members today.

Though recording devices of any type were strictly prohibited, I’ll bet half the audience at any given time were staring at their cell phones instead of the stage. (While a good proportion of the remainder took in the jumbotron rather than squinted to see Sting…) For the time being, there are still quite a few videos posted on YouTube from the show that we saw. Just do a search for police concert honolulu.

(Honolulu Advertiser concert review)

(KameraKozo’s photos from the concert)

Leviathans in love

Before I forget, I want to mention the short trip Yumi and I recently took to Maui with Yumi’s mother. (It was my first time to visit one of the outer islands in the four years that I’ve lived here, if you can believe that.) I wasn’t expecting much — I mean, Hawaii is Hawaii, right? — but a short 25-minute plane ride away and it really did feel like we were off on vacation. Or at the very least, off O’ahu.

The weather was fantastic and Haleakala even more spectacular. But what I want to comment upon is the crazy amount of whales we saw there. The humpbacks have returned in droves to their winter mating grounds and, by all appearances, are having a ball. I didn’t realize that whale watching could be done — satisfyingly so, at that — from the beach! Even while driving (though I don’t advised it) you can see whales breaching, slapping, and leaping right out of the ocean. I’ve never seen anything like it.

The topper came when Yumi and I went snorkeling maybe 75-100 meters off the Kaanapali coast. (The water is so clear and scenery so inviting that you find yourself pretty far offshore before you know it.) Yumi’s mother chose to stay on the beach but I had both room keys/cards in my suit. I was thinking she might want to go back to the room so Yumi and I swam in to shore to give her one of the cards. As we pulled ourselves out of the surf several enthusiastic onlookers dashed over to ask about the whale.

“What?”

“Look.” They pointed out to sea.

We turned and caught sight of — I kid you not — a massive whale gracefully arching back down into the water right about where we must have been swimming. Yumi’s mother said it looked like the whale was right on top of us.

I couldn’t believe it. After an entire day of mounting giddiness brought on by glimpses of whales cavorting on the horizon, something that large swims right by us and we don’t even notice? How the hell did that happen? We saw sea turtles, sure, but no whale. I was brimming with excitement and frustration at the same time.

The next day we went swimming again but were not able to recreate our near-encounter. (No matter: the snorkeling alone is out of this world.) What we did discover, however, is that you can actually hear whales singing, popping, laughing, and communicating with each other! Yumi picked up on this first as she wasn’t using a snorkel. (I couldn’t hear much as the sound of my own breathing blocked most external sound.) But sure enough, when I held my breath under water, the eerie yet playful sonic traffic of whale pods scattered offshore was clearly discernible. I can’t even begin to describe how cool it was to eavesdrop on this other world where we were but distant witnesses.

I’m now determined to return to Maui each and every winter and bob on the surface until that whale glides past me once more.

Unless I get eaten by a shark first

(photos from the trip)

Battle gratitude

You have to admire (and, at times, tremble before) the depth and complexity of reciprocal thanking in Japanese culture.

Sometime last year I asked a favor of Yumi’s mixi friend Daijiro. (They found each other on the Japanese social-networking site through happenstance, each having the same last name.) He’s an artist by trade and I’ve always enjoyed the work he posts, so I asked if he wouldn’t mind doing a couple of quick logo mock-ups for me. Daijiro was more than happy — downright enthusiastic is more like it — to get on board and pretty soon I had a whole slew of graphics flooding my in-box.

I wanted to send Daijiro a thank-you gift but had a hell of a time trying to buy a gift certificate from the U.S. that could be redeemed in Japan. I thought he might appreciate some music from the U.S. iTunes store (since he’s a musician and avid music lover, not to mention that songs available for purchase through iTunes are different depending on where you live). After a bit of sniffing around I discovered how to circumvent the system, and soon had an iTunes gift card in the mail to Japan.

A few days passed, we went to Maui with Yumi’s mom, and upon our return Yumi had this super sweet manga-of-appreciation awaiting in her email. How cool is that? The only thing now is I have to consider how far I’m willing to carry out this “battle gratitude”, a veritable tit-for-tat of indebtedness. But who am I kidding? I’m culturally outgunned and don’t stand a chance.

Thank you. Thank you very much…

Though “Young Elvis” edged out his older and gaudier (yet grotesquely captivating) incarnation for the postage stamp, it’s the sequined, high-collared jumpsuits and capes of the later years that have become as integral a part of American national consciousness as the apple pie I’m holding in this photo. Last month, the designer of those iconic stage costumes, Bill Belew, passed away at the age of 76.

When I had the chance to borrow this homemade (and totally kick-ass!) Presley jumpsuit for Halloween in 1998, well, needless to say I jumped at the chance. (The glasses I had to find on my own, but they come with their own hard-wired sideburns. Yes!)

(photo)

Exhibit B: the Trader Joe’s bag

Continuing on this theme from the previous post, take a look at these fabulous multi-purpose bags from Trader Joe’s. I just love them: beautifully designed with a color palette that will brighten anyone’s day. I’m harping on this issue because the few stores here in Hawaii that even sell reusable bags have such bland offerings for sale that most purchases can only be motivated by guilt. I have a hard time believing that people would ever freely use the bags in public because they actually like them. Which is my point: as long as you’re going to go to the trouble to make something, why not make it pleasurable, imaginative, and just happy?

Color my world

Tickle your fancy (and grab a few delightful desktop images while you’re at it) over on swirlingthoughts’ Flickr page. (link)

Tim Biskup

I’ve recently become a big fan of Tim Biskup’s pop-surrealist visions. A lot of his stuff — this poster especially — reminds me of the Magic Kingdom attraction posters which line the entrance tunnel to Main Street U.S.A. There’s more good stuff for your viewing pleasure on his website.

(Some clever faux-Disney attraction posters…)

Pop-up pulp

These are wonderful. Photographer Thomas Allen creates graphic pop-up illustrations from the cover art of classic pulp thrillers, with each element still attached to its original book. A collection of Allen’s work is now available in a new book, Uncovered. I just love them.

(link to images of Allen’s work at Joseph Bellow Gallery; link to more images at Foley Gallery )