“If you run the beast catches, if you stay the beast eats.” – Brazilian saying

Hyoroku, Yoshida Toshi, woodblock print, 1951

“What is called enjoying a summer evening by the river goes on from sunset until the last glimmer of the moon at dawn. Balconies line the river banks for drinking and feasting. Women knot their obi in splendid bows, men come turned out in long cloaks, priests and old gentlemen mingle with the crowd, even young apprentices of coopers and blacksmiths sing and make merry as carefree as can be. Truly a scene of the Capital!

The river breeze…
Out in a thin russet kimono
On a summer evening.”

Basho, quoted in ‘Beauty and Sadness’ by Yasunari Kawabata.

Curtis W. Hanson in his studio, Cornubia Hall

Following my trip to Gasshuku and my sandan promotion exam I spent two days visiting with my old friend, the painter Curtis Hanson and his wife Onwarin. It was an excellent visit, very relaxing. Curt has made a name and a life for himself in the small, scattered communities of the Connecticut greenbelt, and currently divides his time there with extended visits to Thailand, Onwarin’s native home. His work reflects his split loyalties, with half of the paintings depicting the lush grounds of his Cornubia Hollow home, and half showing the monks, fishing boats and markets of Thailand. (more…)

Mount Saint Alphonsus Retreat Center, Esopus, New York

I’ve recently returned from a weekend on the East Coast. The occasion for my travel was the Annual World Seido Karate Gasshuku, held at the Mount Saint Alphonsus Retreat Center in Esopus New York. It was also the site of a special promotion for out of town black belt candidates. I was traveling with my instructor, Jun Shihan Tom Tanaka, and two other candidates for shodan (first degree black belt) promotion, Becca Taylor and Jack Foy. I was promoting to sandan, or third degree black belt.

We took the redeye from Seattle to Newark, rented a car and drove the two hours to Esopus. Upon arriving at the center we had a brief orientation, followed by a long workout. The promotion candidates were then separated out for about three hours of formal testing, followed by an hour plus of non-stop kumite. The kumite was very lively, and I fought both promotion candidates and other black belts that were there to assist with exams. As if on cue, for the last and longest fight the sky opened up and it poured rain and thunder on everyone. (more…)

Star Spangled Banner by Jean-Paul Bourelly, from ‘Tribute to Jimi’

It’s the Fourth of July, a good day to reflect on how tenuous our democracy is, under siege by corporate interests and ideological zealots. I hope the dream that launched our Independence continues to bear fruit in the Real World.

Me Da Igual This is a great tune by Colombian artist Juanes, from his album “Fijate Bien”.

Juanes - Fijate Bien

An old clip of Frank Paris, the man who originated Howdy Doody, performing with his marionettes.

An early photo of Paul Winchell w/ Jerry Mahoney.

In 1994 I began collecting puppets; marionettes, hand puppets, sock puppets, shadow puppets, stick puppets, puppets from Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand, China, Europe and elsewhere. I had been interested in puppets and ventriloquism as a child, even performed regularly with what is now called a ‘vent figure’. My vent figure was a highly modded commercially available character named Jerry Mahoney, by Paul Winchell. My father wrote scripts on yellow legal pads, primarily old vaudeville jokes that he remembered from his childhood. I had an agent that booked me into VA hospitals and local children’s television shows like ‘The Captain Cy Show’, where I would be sandwiched in between the Popeye cartoons and the kids picking their noses. I did this from age 9 through half of my tenth year.

My interest waned, and other things took over. I still really enjoyed watching puppets and ventriloquists, and had the usual fascination with the darker side of the art as depicted by the young Anthony Hopkins in the movie adaptation of William Goldman’s “Magic”. Around 1993 my then girlfriend gave me a marionette, a Pelham Puppet made in Marlborough, Wiltshire. I began searching for other puppets and marionettes, and reading books about their construction, history and performance methodologies.
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This clip from the 1980s shows Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, doing “Brand New Friend”. Lloyd Cole is still one of my favorite songwriters, one that I think has been seriously underrated over the years. He’s still writing great music, as evidenced by recent albums “Antidepressant” and the even more recent “Broken Record”. He is currently on tour with a small ensemble, and if you get the chance to see him live, I’d jump on it. You can check his weblog for dates and venues: http://www.lloydcole.com/weblog/ .