Hockey Lounge 4:20 24/7, immortalized at Olympic Plaza in SLC, Utah, 2002Preamble: for years, mostly living in Olympia, Washington and later Vancouver, BC I wrangled a website called HockeyNW tracking historic and contemporary hockey culture around Cascadia including teams: Tacoma SaberCats, Seattle Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs, flashing back to Seattle Metropolitans, bits of Portland and of course Vancouver, as well the in-line hockey teams i coached through a YMCA league in Olympia.
During this time my brother Dan and i (something) hosted the “Hockey Lounge” in Olympia, Washington – a speak / toke easy” to spread hockey culture (and provide occasional crash space for rock n roll bands – another story).
Some of the artifacts are shared in this archive, others might be eventually.
Anyhow… what I’m saying is: all of this was anticipating the arrival of another NHL franchise in the Northwest which eventually became the Seattle Kraken. Took a while and now I live far away but, recently shared a bit of an “hockey primer” with a friend who lives in Washington State who is a soccer/football supporter to share a little bit of culture and basics about the sport.
I don’t really write about hockey anymore and my “consumption experience” is generally solo, with coffee in the cottage in Japan, regardless, sharing here for posterity:
June 11, 2021 Hello [redacted],
Been meaning to tell you a few things about hockey and now it’s a really good time for you to start paying attention because it’s almost into the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I’m currently listening to Seattle’s “expansion cousins” Vegas Golden Knights game six against the Colorado Avalanche (who used to be the Quebec Nordiques) yes it’s a little bit confusing especially when you consider the winner of the series will play the Montréal Canadiens, who are from Quebec – Canada sorta / of course but the French-centric part and who shocked the hockey world by running over their long time rival Toronto (a.k.a. the centre of the universe) Maple Leafs and then swept aside the Winnipeg Jets (who used to be the Atlanta Thrashers) it’s things like this that require a good primer.
The good thing about Seattle Kraken is now Vancouver has a natural geographical rival. In the past, the other teams would all match-up with natural dance-partners and Van was sort of stranded in their own little glorious West Coast anomaly. As we’ve seen with MLS, having teams in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver makes for good times for supporters/fans/whatever.
A round-up for musings from the kura grain barn studio with several topics: new records, summer starts, fathers (various), mentors, Kerouac in Kobe event, construction (on-going), summer projects, healing ramble series, and of course Ichiro.
Note: Painting in background by my wonderful niece Hannah Olson
++ Name checks for Ken Bole, Larry Harper, Ed Saukkooja, Matt Theado, Bill Janovitz, RJ Garn, Dan Mangan, Fujita Takushi, Lorne Olson, Joe Strummer, Luca Fogale, Colin McTaggart… Plus a mention of the Seeking sustainability in Japan talk show w/ Walsh JJ and a couple of other radio/pod hits I did about the Olympics with outlets in Vancouver on CKNW & The Breaker News.
It’s a little bit messy right now to say the least but… Big moves in the kura barn studio >> now fortified with proper electrical outlets and a breaker box!
As such, re-ran some cords and connected a cassette /cd / usb player to my early 1980s vintage Yamaha amp and 100 pound record player.
Tested out with vinyl by The Weakerthans and CD by Hey Rosetta and USB by RJ Garn’s Retrospective. Cassettes are all bundled in boxes behind the chaos so waiting until the heat pump/cooler is installed to do a big rearrange including a new shelf for all this gear.
Will be all nice and tidy and ready for relaxing times when you come to visit #hint
Oh yeah, got some new records (shock!) I’ll share with you another time.
The arborist returns home from work with a fully laden Kei-truck / Try to fit allll that in your Ford/Chevy/Dodge *monster* truck >> 650cc on the dime, 5 speed, 4WD!
PS firewood for nighhhhhts / Will need a bucking and splitting weekend in the fall though
Kei-Trucks & Loads at the Tsuchida Station construction site
As it goes, yesterday were 9 different trucks and vans coming and going from the house – electricians, gas fitters, carpenters, painters, oversee’rs, architect, etc etc.
Train which looks like a Wes Anderson movie but was really in Izumo, Shimane, Japan (no longer in service)
While working in the “postcard as a service” and modified foreign passport industry, i don’t do many Zoom(tm)/etc calls but if i did, i’d use these photos from trains and capsules as backgrounds. And, yes feel very amused.
a repurposed/refurbished train moved from service around Chicago to the Utah “front runner” line – pleasing 1960s greyhound/diner vibes
Sharing these in the event you find them amusing and want to use as a backdrop for your next video service conversation. As long as you are amused.
somewhere in California or Oregon on Amtrak Coastal Starlight dining carFirst Cabin “deluxe” capsules within Kansai KIX airport (near Osaka) – lived here just so i cold tell folks “yes i did stay in a capsule hotel”bonus: from the last time i was in Vancouver, an intersection which was once a gravitational centre for me (especially suite 420 of the 1 Alexander bldg dead ahead), now ambivalence
ergo: “New podcast now UP from my talk last week with Dave Olson about his career as a social media visionary for Hoostsuite in Vancouver, and his current projects with house remodel and designing scrapbook style postcards to create social connections during Covid. Look forward to a future chat (when it’s not rainy) more on his house remodel project + look forward to a future chat with his arborist partner about her interesting passion for trees.”
Pulled out a lot of stories that I’ve kept it hidden for sometime. Thanks for the space to riff out the long jams. Topics around building a holistic life in Japan, i.e. our generational house project, story making as a biz, living cheap and cheerful, possibly fermenting, and yeah my arborist/jazz singer wife Ryoko and my exceptionally adorable almost 1-year-old Ichiro Stanley.
Even a pitch for my DaveOShop at Buy Me a Coffee and mentions of loads of other creative output you’ll find in this very archive.
Harvesting Ume: Ryoko Olson in her professional environment climbing trees (note her awesome boots and toolbelt), trimming branches and raining down Ume. No cape required for this superhero! She totally re-did the tree & harvested the fruit while talked to neighbour obaachan & held basket.
The construction folks have a day off, the cleaners came this morning, the protective sheets came off yesterday so,… did a “cheap and cheerful” look around the new big room, the renovated room, the hallway and closet with maple flooring showing off a couple things including: hand wash sink, vintage doors on genkon, woodstove alcove, tile backsplash, strategically-placed windows, and pickle storage etc.
Anyhow, hang out for 5 mins and see how we are time traveling in Okayama.
Entranceway to our new living/everything/music room features vintage sliding doors (from their parents’ house remodel) + outer (new) genkon doors plus (quite brilliantly) a hand wash sink as soon as your enter / Will be fantastic for our little guy and his buddies, as well as everyone else, keeping it clean. Wood counter, tile backsplash – lots of different textures and surfaces throughout the house.
Note the maple floors, plaster walls and a hint of the big patio doors to the carport which will become party/barbecue/multipurpose space and has another sink, 1.5 m stainless steel with counter for pickling, tool washing, plant potting etc.
a certain angle required to unlatch the door to everything which exists “out there”
What follows comes from my erstwhile “Healing Journal” – written/compiled on a foggy meandering journey to various countries visiting all manner of hospitals, clinics and exploring various healing modalities and technique dealing with #MECFS.
This entry from Phitsanulok, Thailand Oct. 2016 riffs in between 2 extended parts of the trip while flashing back on a few parts which we might get to (chronology be danged).
For reference, its now June 2021, i live in Japan, am stable if far from “normal”. Carry on.
sure, break the glass but the door is still locked
Phitsanulok, Oct, 2016
I wrote this declaration upon waking up,
“This past summer after literally losing my mind {long story, didn’t end well, not recommended}, I decided to step into the abyss, bravely, intrepidly and without compromise.
While holed up at a mountain cabin while chaos swirled around my life, I’d listen to the messages from records stashed in a basement 25 years before like an unintentional time capsule. I hotboxed my beloved old VW bus, which is now a sauna, where so many memories – happy memories – happened. I reunited with charming characters from my past and even better, met their children who were adults, moreso than me anyway.
Then with a solid head of mushrooms and MDMA (therapeutically), a plan came to me. So on this psychedelic carpet, i clicked enough buttons on the internet to purchase an abstract variety of plane and train tickets to send me around like a manic board game in such of a new flavour of truth and reality >> Salt Lake City to Las Vegas to Pacifica to Chaing Mai and now to this rather-anonymous-work-a-day city Phitsanulok where I’m practically the only foreigner in a city mourning the death of their beloved King. I’m finding comfort and solace and healing.
In scant days, I will leave again into (for me) un-charted territory beyond what science and reason says it’s capable of this haggard body, but I refuse to accept anything but finding some sense of joy.
I can live with pain, i accept this (i suppose, begrudgingly but practically), but i cannot accept living without my brain and without my heart and soul. I am born to give, i exist to share and i am empty without these.
Without a safety net, without an emergency escape route, without language skills, without the strength to punch my way out of a wet paper bag, i built a tiny universe and painted the walls just the colour i chose.
So, who will return to the West Coast on December 6th? Will i return? What will i look like? Who will i be? I am indifferent to all of these questions as the destination is simply a byproduct of the journey.
The journey is me and I am the journey, brick by brick, stride by stumble, i will gently apply the mortar to rebuild, to renew, to replenish and regenerate from the very mitochondrial cells outward.
Whatever the results, it will be me.”
all the colours are possible, sometimes, i suppose, beyond the black… “let’s imagine” i suggest
Me and the little champion went up to the grandma and grandpa‘s graves to light some incense, give a clean and have a little hang out together. We met a snail, Ichiro fell asleep. Evidence of all follows:
Ichiro lounging in the “baby car”we light incense, clap and talk to give Grandpa Ichiro and Grandma Tomiko an update
