Japanese English 1

I've collected Japanese-versions of English since I started going to Tokyo in the early 1980's. I found this today on ebay for a "HeartWarm" toy chick and egg. The description reads:

Thank you for bidding a Chibun-no-ichi hiyoko chicken and egg. If you touch its head, it will talk to you. If you leave it along, it will sad.

Friends

Two of my longtime, dearest friends, Bailey and Laurie, came for a brief visit on their way back to NYC from a vacation in Merida, Mexico. We had less than 24 hours together, and yet it felt like we had all the time in the world. We went straight from DFW airport to the Nasher Sculpture Center. Laurie is an urban landscape designer in NY, and she was most interested in seeing Peter Walker's landscaping of the Nasher. She had just heard a talk of Peter's and he seems almost transcendent in that field. Very highly regarded. Laurie has done a lot of major gardens in and around the NYC area.
Bailey had a hankering for ribs and beer, so that was our next stop. Lots of great conversation, hearing about their trip and what has been going on in our lives. I used to go to New York several times a year for 15 or more years, so we used to see a lot of each other, but I have no reason to go as much these days, so we keep up mostly by phone and email.
I got to know B & L back in the early 80's when I started collecting Japanese toys. They ran what I regard as the premiere store in the world of new and vintage artifacts chronicling our cultural mythology, and was called, naturally, MYTHOLOGY. The store was a work of art in itself, with the most fabulous window displays you could imagine (some with performing artists in them!). The store was frequented by everyone from Andy Warhol to Waylon Jennings. It inspired and, as they say, informed, my store Right Brain/Left Brain. Bailey went on to "frame fame" when Kirk Varnedoe hired him at the Museum of Modern Art to come up with a frame vocabulary for the Post Impressionist works. Bailey designed and had frames built for a dozen or more works, which included Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and Cezanne's "Bather". He also put together a wonderful book, published by Abrams, about the vital relationship a frame has to the artwork it surrounds. Check out Defining Edges.
I seem to be in a phase of my life currently when friendships, new and old, are being re-evaluated. And I realize how intensely I value the ones that have proven to weather time and distance.

Children

Several friends of mine are going through the painful part of relationships right now--poor communication, bad break-ups, sad endings. The kinds of things that make us not want a relationship. I've been there, too, of course. I found this photo today that I took of my children, Britt and Anna, several years ago. Sometimes when I've just talked with one of them, or am just thinking about some memory of them as children, I can hardly contain the emotions.

You Say It's Your Birthday....

...Happy Birthday to you. We celebrated Dad's 80th this weekend. My cousin Amal made all the Lebanese food, and it was a feast. I had to photograph the baba ghanoush, with the "80" in pomegranate seeds.

Roswell Incident 1947

Some friends and I went to Roswell, New Mexico, in 1997 for the 50th Anniversary of the "Roswell Incident". The whole town got on the bandwagon. The local hair salon covered its walls in aluminum foil and featured alien hair-do's, the bridal shop had an alien mannequin in the window with a bridal gown, and so on. People dressed up like aliens and paraded around. At night, a band played out on the former site where the UFO was purportedly discovered. It was a great event.
To see a few more photos, check out my flickr site.

B

This is my stepson Britt at Prince Hamburger's in Dallas (above left). I've been involved in his life since he was 3, and it's been one of life's great experiences. He must have been around 6 or 7 at the time of this photo. He's now 27 (above right), living in L.A., writing freelance, and running his own record label with his wife Amanda. You can check it out at notnotfun.com.

Fito y Fitipaldis

Despite the internet and digital downloads, we're sometimes so insulated musically here in this country, it seems, or at least, limited to music in English. When I lived in Berlin in the late 70's, it was an eye opener to hear great German bands and singers that I never would have heard back in the U.S.
Last year, a roadie in Spain sent me a bunch of unused tickets he picked up working shows in Spain, in trade for some other memorabilia. Most of the bands I hadn't heard of, but it's been an adventure checking them out. One, in particular, really rocks. It's a Spanish band called Fito & Fitipaldis. Check out one of their new songs Por la boca vive el pez. I think you'll like it.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr. DAY

As I listen to old speeches and film footage from Martin Luther King's life, how can one help from comparing it to modern day America? The so-called conservatives and so-called "born again" Christians (I love the bumpersticker that says "Born O.K. the first time") tout this country as a fundamentally Christian country. And there's an element of superiority when comparing us to other nations around the world. And, yet, as King reminds us, this country was built on the backs of enslaving other races---Native American, African American, and Chinese American, to name the primary ones. Remember that, in the 1950's, mixed marriages were seen primarily as immoral. This country, officially founded in 1776, is, to this day, antithetical to its founding principles 231 years down the road.
And now, that Americans have somewhat agreed that African Americans should be more or less equal, we've found a new group to discriminate against--gays. Okay, so it's now no longer seen as immoral for blacks to marry whites, but it IS immoral for gays to marry. To quote Susan B. Anthony:

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."

It's astounding what humans will do to each other, especially in, but not limited to, the name of some god. We're on this planet together, and you'd think we'd figure a way to co-exist, but bloodshed and religious superiority seem to be the order of the day.

This idea of this day needs to be seen in a larger context of just blacks and whites; it needs to be a platform for us to be introspective about the way humans treat other humans.

I know these thoughts all sound like platitudes. But large truths tend to get buried that way.

Bridge School Benefit 1999

I went to Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit on Halloween night 1999 at the Shoreline Auditorium outside San Francisco. I met my friend photographer David Warrington there. He knew Neil's manager and was able to get a photo pass. He that night, which I particularly liked. On Neil's left are his wife Pegi and Eddie Vedder. On his far right is Emmylou Harris in a shocking pink wig (remember, it was Halloween!).
Neil and Pegi started the school many years ago to help their son and other kids who were born with severe speech and physical impairments. Starting in 1986, Neil started annual benefit concerts to raise money for the project. He has had the most stellar of guests, all of whom perform for free. Some include The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Tom Waits, Green Day, Emmylou Harris, The Who, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews and many more. And let me tell you, there was so much smoke in the audience, there was no need to bring your own stash.
You can read more about the Bridge School here.

Sam Emmett

I came across this portrait I shot of my grandfather Sam during in the 1970's. Sam was a great storyteller, and a teller of tall tales. His stories fascinated us as kids, and we still refer to imaginary characters he created, like Mr. Perkins and Mr. Abernathy. The fact that both sets of grandparents were Lebanese made we children's life very rich, because it was steeped in a culture separate from the West Texas culture all around us. I think it must have given me a sense that there was a greater world outside my hometown of Lubbock.

New Year's 1955

Found this photo tonight, and there's a funny story behind it. One day in December 1954 I went over to my friend Greg's house to play. There was a photographer from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal taking Greg's photo with the same hat (and cane, which is lying unceremoniously on the chair behind me) for the New Year's Day 1955 front page. Then the photographer shot me as a possibility.
My brother Matt was there, and HE happened to have a black eye at the time. The photographer set him up for a photo as well....and, of course, MATT ended up on the front page of the paper on January 1, 1955! I always wondered if it didn't annoy Greg's mom that her son got cheated out of his 15 minutes. I'll have to dig up the photo of Matt with his black eye and post it here later.

Happy 80th, Dad!

My Dad turns 80 today, and is still going strong, healthy and working 7 days a week at his specialty store, Malouf's, in Lubbock, one of the premiere individually owned clothing stores in the country. A few years ago, the Daily News Record rated Malouf's in the top 10 in the country.
I've always loved this photo of Dad, because I've always known him as a parent and this reminds me that he was once a little kid.
Like Hugh Hefner says, "80 is the new 40". I sure hope I got Pop's longevity genes!

HAPPIER 2007!

It's a sad commentary when the execution of Saddam Hussein pales against a background of worsening violence in Iraq. I'm not sure "happy" new year is appropriate. How about "happier new year"?

Merry Christmas!

The best Christmas Eve ever! My sister Beverly (second from left) came from San Francisco, with her husband Tom (far right). I haven't seen them in years, but we email and phone all the time. Tom has a great series of podcasts featuring 60's music, called Sonic Daydream . Check it out! You'd think Tom had spent his former reincarnation hanging out in Haight/Ashbury.
We all had dinner, then sat around the Christmas tree and had such great energy together, telling stories, laughing until out sides split. It made the season. Beverly and Tom are an extraordinary couple. They complement each other perfectly--Beverly is gregarious, extroverted, witty, funny and smart. Tom is laid back, measured and equally smart. They're so much fun together.
That's my brother Matt on the far left, then Beverly, my daughter Anna, my sister Leslie (who has the most infectious laugh EVER) and Tom.

Morning in Park City

This morning, early, I got up and looked out my window, and saw this.

Eddie R.I.P.

Our cat Eddie left 2 weeks before last Christmas, after a long undiagnosed illness. This is Anna with Eddie in 2004. We think of him every time we get the house ready for Christmas. There's really a void there. He was a great personality.

United Mining Co.

All the stuff we ordered for this project is stored in an old mining company building with shafts inside. When the United Mining Co. was in business, they built a little mock mining village to show what the city looked like in the 19th century. Here's my friend Leon in front of a mural made from an old photo of miners in the region.

Speaking of Christmas...

I'm in Park City, Utah, this week on a project. It just snowed for the first time this past weekend, and look at the snow. Amazing, and there must be big ice crystals in the snow, because it glitters like diamonds.

Aaaahhhh.......Christmas!

Well, it was tons of work getting everything ready. The lighted Peace symbol/wreath has been hung on the eaves (13th or 14th year); the Nativity en masse is set up (attending: the usual suspects, as well as robots, travelling salesmen, Homer Simpson and more) and the 9' Blue Spruce with our Xmas ornament collection and lots of lights. Obviously, Christmas here is a big production. But it's all worth it. Just to sit and look at the tree is one of the most visually pleasing and peaceful things to do. It does for my eyes and brain what a massage does. Total relaxation, and all is right with the world.

More Tokyo Photos

A children's mask vendor in Asakusa, an older part of Tokyo.



Display in a Tokyo building. No idea what it represents (below).