Friday, April 23, 2010

Tentative steps towards more regularity

Inspired partly by some recent comments from a reader, I've decided to try and post on this blog a little more regularly than I do. It had got to a point where I pretty much only do if I feel I've got something valuable to say, something interesting to share or something I want to promote. This has meant that for the actual writing (rather than just popping up another video), it takes ages to actually get anything said. I spend hours perched in ponderment in front of a little edit window trying to conjure up pearls that are worthy of distribution, but blogs aren't always about that and posts don't always have to be crammed full of pictures or other such design features.

My wife, who blogs in Japanese, posts almost daily. This means that she's built up quite a community around the online musings that make up her digital output. I on the other hand spend far too much time fretting over every word that goes into one of these posts that I end up either writing nothing at all or becoming too distracted by whatever other goodies the Web lures me with. Sometimes, just a few paragraphs of text are enough to get a flavour of where things are at!

Commenting elsewhere is also considered to be a good way of drawing the like-minded towards your own works and I've broken out a little more on that tonight too. To my jaded surprise, in an interview with The Guardian and in response to the rise of the Liberal Democrats on Britain's political stage, David Miliband had the temerity to suggest that Labour had been 'punished enough' over Iraq. I almost never comment on The Guardian's site despite reading it daily, but this time I felt compelled to add my own contribution to the conversation (as Globalism). As if ignoring the views of millions of people against the invasion, the millions more turned into refugees as a result of it, and the hundreds of thousands killed in the name of securing some oil fields is going to be easily forgotten!

Monday, April 05, 2010

'Noughties, But Nice': a review of the previous decade


It was a few months coming and should have gone up in early January, but I've finally completed and posted my review of the previous decade. Titled 'Noughties, But Nice' (click on link to visit review), it was originally intended for this blog but ended up being so long that it seemed to fit better on the Collected Writings site.

The review looks at the previous ten years (2000 to 2009) from a personal point of view and describes some of what I got up to in that time, backdropped with notable global events. I'm hoping that it serves as a full stop on that period and I can move on creatively to new works in the future.

I also created a couple of graphics to go with it, 'Noughties, But Nice' above and 'Social-ist' below. It was great to get my hands dirty on some graphics work again, even though I didn't really have time and they took quite a while to put together. There are full descriptions of the images over at the D1 Designs set on Flickr.

Do drop by to take a look, and let me know how the decade was for you. Any surprises? Big changes? Where were you on 9/11 or when Obama got elected? Do you feel more or less 'green' than when the decade began? What was your favourite music of the period? Is this next decade going to be a good one or a bad one - and why?

Happy reading...



Monday, March 29, 2010

Archive clip: Shelf Life - 'Oh! Darling'



Here comes another video clip from the Shelf Life archive, this time a 2006 cover of The Beatles 'Oh! Darling', from 'Abbey Road'. The quality is similar to the other archive clips I've been posting, but should be enough to hear how we did.

We only played the song live once, and it came as we were starting to phase out cover versions for our own material. It was a gutsy song to sing, and Cheryo did a great job on guitar, as ever.

I do rather miss those Rubber Soul days sometimes, but hey, things move on!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

'Spring Love 2010': free festival in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo (April 3-4)


Building on last year's gathering, next weekend sees the 2010 'Spring Love' event ('Harukaze', in Japanese) in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park.

Last year saw around 40,000 people gathered together for music, dance, talks and discussions about peace, plus healthy food stalls and a market of eco- and organic goods, at this event co-organised by PNWJ. This year sees the festival's return, with more performances, film screenings and talk sessions centred around peace. The event is free and happens surrounded by the beautiful backdrop of this season's cherry blossoms in bloom.

For the full programme, see below (note - many of the talks are likely to be in Japanese):


Date/Time: Sat. April 3rd (1 - 8 PM) / Sun. 
April 4th (12 - 7:30 PM)

Venue: Yoyogi Park Outdoor Stage

Admission: Free


Event will feature:

  • Performances from numerous musicians and dancers representing a variety of artistic genres

  • Peace-related talk sessions, films, and exhibitions

  • Events on two separate stages (Spring Stage and Love Stage)

  • Booths with literature from peace-related NPOs/NGOs

  • Spring Love Market with sales of various eco-friendly goods 

  • Spring Love Kitchen featuring stalls with organic/ethnic foods

  • Live painting

  • Kids’ activities

Peace program (please note that changes may occur):

Saturday, April 3rd

14:30 - 15:25: Military bases and the role of the media



Panelists: Kobayashi Atsushi (documentary filmmaker), 
Shiva Rei (freelance journalist)

Navigator: Inada Hideaki (Solar Inc.)


16:35 - 16:50: Hints for carving out natural, sustainable 
lifestyles in today's unnatural, unsustainable modern 
societies



Speaker: Ikue Masudo, formerly known as Takagi Saya 
(TV/film actor, free diver, owner of Furyu organic cafe/gallery)


Navigator: Fukui Hiroshi (Peace Not War Japan music director, 
DJ)


16:50 - 17:50: Why should Japan's Constitutional Article 9 (the 
peace clause) be protected?



Panelists: Matsumari Masumi (Peace Boat), Shiva Rei 
(freelance journalist), Kamebuchi Yuka (gospel singer)


20:30 〜: Documentary film screenings
  • 'We don’t need bases anywhere!'
  • 'ANPO' promotional clip
  • 
'Message from Yanbaru: A Documentary of Takae, Higashi 
Village in Okinawa'
  • 'Alternative Lifestyles: Learning from the 
European Squatting Movement'
  • 'Kukuru' (featuring a live 
performance from singer UA in Takae village, Okinawa)


Sunday, April 4th

14:00 - 14:45: Listen to citizens' voices: No more wasteful, 
destructive construction!

Hear from activists working to stop 
the following projects in environmentally rich areas: a tunnel 
through Mt. Takao; a nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki; and a 
U.S. military base in Takae Village, Okinawa.

Panelists: Sakata Masako (Kenju no kai), Higa 'Marty' Masato 
(documentary filmmaker), Yamato Taka (organic loquat farmer), 
Yamada Sei (peace/environmental activist and author)


15:30 - 16:25: Building sustainable, non-militarized economies:
 examples of organic, small-scale, community-based alternatives 
to a military-dependent economy

Panelists: Kikuchi Yumi (Harmonics Life Center director, Tokyo 
Peace Film Festival producer, Japan United for a Ministry of 
Peace committee member), Tanaka Yu (Mirai Bank Director, 
Japan International Volunteer Center board member, ap bank 
member), Kosaka Masaru (organic restaurant/bar owner, writer, rice/soybean farmer)


17:10 - 17:25: Kikuchi Yumi, a well-known peace/environmental 
activist, writer, translator, and international speaker, shares the
 latest information on 9/11-related issues, the Tokyo Peace Film 
Festival, and more.

Navigator: Kimberly Hughes, Peace Not War
 Japan co-coordinator.


Musical performers:

Ikue Asazaki (traditional Amami Shimauta folk songs) 


Sayoko meets YA MAN RIDDIM (funky reggae + djembe)



Blues the Butcher-590213 + Leyona (rock/soul/reggae/blues)

Rakita (acoustic groove)


Yuppi & Tane (elementary school aged singer/songwriter!)




Rabirabi (percussion/voice duo)


Ailie (roots reggae)




nam



GOCOO + GoRo
 11-piece wadaiko (Japanese drum) ensemble



Kamebuchi Yuka and Voices of Japan (VOJA) (gospel)


Mika Arisaka (jazz)




SandiiBunbun with Earth Conscious and Hula All Stars (Hawaiian)


The Tchiky's (Acoustic/Afrobeat/Dub)

Fukugawa Baron Club (Indonesian gamelan)



YOSHIE (belly dancing) 




Uranagel (folk)



Jintaramuta (fusion unit blending Japanese travelling street 
protest music together with elements of modern jazz)


Abdallah




Mon Kumagai (shamisen)

And more!



Additional Information:

  • Please note that there may be changes in the list of 
performers and guests.


  • Please refrain from smoking within the venue area, 
as well as from taking photographs of the performers.


  • A portion of the sales of food and goods, as well as 
all donations placed in our donation boxes, will be given 
to several grassroots organizations in order to support 
their ongoing work for nonviolent peace action.
  • Spring Love has a 'gomi-zero' ('no garbage') policy. 
Please leave the venue as clean as you found it by separating 
your trash at one of the provided garbage stations. Garbage 
cleanup is an extremely expensive undertaking, and if this 
policy is not respected, we may not be able to offer this free 
festival in the future. Show some spring love by following the 'gomi-zero' rule!
  • Volunteers needed before and during the event!! (setup,
 translation/interpretation, cleanup, various administrative tasks,
 etc.) If you are able to help, please contact us at kim[a]pnwj.org

Supporting organizations: A SEED JAPAN, Solar, Peace Not 
War Japan, TEAM

Official event website (Japanese only)