essays and collections of photos with a theme or intent behind the assortment –more a dossier or exhibit – not to be confused with snaps and notes
Books, arrived by post, including:
Jack Kerouac “on the road” 2 more copies (I have several)
Gary Snyder “axe handles” (yes another, this one is second printing with dust jacket)
Arthur Rimbaud, selected poems and letters
Murakami Ryu (mot the *other guy* :)) “69“
Plus a Marcel Proust biography, a Bob Dylan reader, selected stories from Paul Bowles, and a novel called “three martini lunch“ thrown in.
Thanks to Infinity Books, Tokyo.
Great books, lousy photos for documentation purposes only
As it goes, legendary Jumbo floating restaurant in Hong Kong closed (c19 conundrums) and *apparently* capsized when towed out to sea – strangely in typhoon season in international waters in 1000 m of ocean –condition unknown as of this memo. Seems a bit odd.
You know as soon as the media articles quotes an international maritime insurance adjuster saying “this was definitely not anything to do with insurance malfeasance” you know it definitely is.
Anyway, here’s evidence of the time I went there and ate food like a mysterious spectre, in the missing and so much forgotten years.
^ Photos taken by my dining companion
I also recall meeting the France Ambassador to HK that evening and crashing a party for fancy French shoe maker, that and the usual endless food and dress-up snapshots.
If you are curious about floating barge restaurants capsizing in international ocean/sea with numerous disputed names, here’s a starting point for reading: NPR Hong Kong’s iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant capsizes at sea.
Recently another batch of vinyl by post, with brief annotations:
First off: REM’s “Reckoning” & “Fables of The Reconstruction”, original Japanese pressings. Quite thrilled with this find, liner notes, art and all. {previously owned in other media but worn cassette in a lousy van stereo just isn’t the same}. I have original vinyl of “Life’s Rich Pageant” and “Dead Letter Office” stashed at brothers house in BC along with an incredible assortment (which was in a time capsule since 1991 in Utah). Eventually will make its way here. The trick now is scoring “Murmur“ on vinyl, maybe even Chronic Town.
Aside: A bit more about the “time capsule” crates of records: I left with a friend in SLC in 1991 heading out on Grateful Dead tour expecting to roll back through in a few months, 20+ years later, picked up at his dad’s house in perfect condition.
Also added to David Bowie collection: specifically more artifacts from the 1983 era “Serious Moonlight” tour (my first big show) by adding Japanese pressing of “Let’s Dance” and interesting assortment of European press conference interviews from Glass Spider tour, on yellow vinyl.
In process is a “dossier“ post of artifacts from that “Bowie summer” at BC Place and later at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver shows which includes my original XS T-shirt, newspaper clippings, ticket stub. pin as well as photos by Steve Rapport from London show of the same tour + Japan Tour book, bi-lingual (my original was lost to time), as well as Let’s Dance pictodisc & Let’s Dance 7” ++
We’ll get that finished up one of these days maybe (then again I *always* say that :))
Also scored a sweet Japanese pressing of The Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper’s” with the 日本語 liner notes and also this great “cut out“ sheet of decorative accessories. I really wannnna cut it out and use and maybe i will.
Was so very pleased to open it up and see all the original liner notes and inserts and everything.
Finally rounded out this shipment with McCoy Tyner, one of my all-time fave jazz players.
Buying used mail order vinyl in Japan works out fantastic 99%+ of the time as the vendors tend to take a lot of pride in the condition and packaging. Hooray @discogs!
PS once I find a vendor with something I really want, often add on a few more discs as the postage amount doesn’t change :-) #LikeINeedAnExcuse In this case, also added “Beatles Rarities & Oddities“ / It’s a legit EMI pressing, not a bootleg but kinda looks like it.
I rarely spend more than 1500 or ¥2000 per each album for the record and i play all of them… don’t keep them locked away. Music is for enjoyment and i love a session of spreading them all over, looking at notes, details. etc.
As for the Japanese pressings, I mentioned this because the quality of the lacquers is historically of a higher quality and on higher weight vinyl with better attention to detail – especially compared to the vinyl you would see at the “tail end” in the 80s where the records were rather flimsy and inconsistent.
Plus, the packaging has all kinds of extra stuff including a usual “obi” wrapping around the front cover to show their name/information/etc in Japanese, plus oftentimes translated lyrics, additional liner notes and primers about the bands. And i find it interesting to figure the nuance of the record label imprints and distribution and whatnot. Plus, I live in Japan so often times the records are obv Japanese pressings by default.
Tidying up the artifacts, as such, here is a subset of paintings at Tsuchida Cottage and/or Giggling Piglet Studio and Consulate or, in one case, a painting which is still in Vancouver. Joins other paintings by Noriko Miyake, Michal Korman, Vincent Gornall and others.
Oh no, oh yes! More vinyl arrived!
A new stash of Japanese pressings of (mostly) early Bob Dylan, plus the obligatory “live at the Budokan” also Ornette Coleman, a Woody Guthrie tribute, Syd Barrett “wouldn’t you miss me?” CD & something called “Zion train presents Natural wonders of the world”.
Quick/lousy photos of exceptional albums, all in wonderful condition, beautifully packaged and all around $15 each, or less from Deadstock records who also included a very nice note and a link to his interview on Discogs.
Dylan stash includes an “live at the Budokan” because it seems it was a certain rite of passage for artists of a generation. I’m curious to look up how many recorded there (BTO, Cheap Trick are also in the collection) but I’m gonna leave that rabbit hole to someone else.
Dropping needle on the vintage Bob, hearing songs I’ve heard hundreds of times – but in completely different renditions/artist/jams/live (especially by The Byrds, The Band and Grateful Dead) – can imagine the excitement as his expressionalist poetics & choogling all-out-highway riffs burst through the speakers in an otherwise Perry Como world. In context, the words & music feels quite different than all the various compilations, box sets, “best ofs…”.
Note: have a load more new (used) vinyl recently but generally don’t bother to snap and report but eventually (maybe) will catch-up on that topic, in the meanwhile…
Items, (not) forgotten: Grey glen-plaid pyjamas with black piping plus fierce tiger-inspired smoking jacket/robe.
Left in Little Bay, Westmoreland, Jamaica.
Note (at the time, June 17, 2014): “As always, choosing which smoking jacket to take is always the hardest part of packing. I think I’ve decided on one though and which set of pajamas to take too. So you can cross that off your list.”
I bought Kevin Kelly’s massive Asia photo book series through a crowd-funding-dealio >> [intro at his website] arrived recently and it’s massive, colossal, dense, fascinating, (literally) heavy series – 3 volumes packed in a slip case, plus I got a signed artist proof )carefully flattening now).
Such an interesting layout as (for example) there is a whole page spread of nothing but doors, and another nothing but spires, and another of nothing but women’s faces and so on. Such attention to detail with maps in flyleaf and all sorts of maximalist nuance.
(I took photos of “unboxing“ but heaven help me if I remember where they all are… Drowning in data, but it’s all so wonderful)
[Update: Found the snapshots, here we go!]
You can still get one for yourself, not *cheap* but very worth it as this is an Asia which is very different (coming from a guy – me – who has rambled alot of these places):
Continue reading Item: Kevin Kelly’s (massive) Vanishing Asia photo book + bonus adviceToday my 50-year passion project goes on sale on Amazon. The 1,000-page Vanishing Asia is a bargain at $270 with free shipping. Ask anyone who has seen it. You’ll enjoy the long trip.
https://amzn.to/3sVRMgz (no affiliate code)
Did some sortganizing in the archive & took a few quick snaps of interesting items, snip’d, collect’d, curat’d.
Now into plastic sleeves and binders of personal archaeology and inspiration. None of these by themselves are “important“ and it’s not any kind of complete collection on any certain topic, but they’re all *just* decorations accumulated throughout my life which collectively, colour in the white space.
Ergo, evidence: (brief annotations in captions)
Four portals of various kinds in Olympia Greece, 2017
These photos surfaced when I mailed a postcard to a friend of a painting of a postbox – juxtaposed by a café table – in Olympia, Greece 2017.
Sent a postcard to a pal in the Berkshires. He asked me “what’s the story here?“
Olympia, Greece… Home (obviously) of the ancient Olympic games and all the various ruins, tracks, museums, artifacts etc.… but i got off the bus quickly early when we passed a “just right“ café with a couple of tiny tables out front, in the back were old men playing backgammon and drinking Ouzo at 10 AM / The thick armed boss brought me a wonderful little variety plate along with sturdy espresso.
Fortified, I scribbled & mailed postcards, watched people hurriedly walk by, saw the throngs leave by buses from the Olympic site, sauntered up there and looked around by myself – On the way, I looked at some rental listings to think about just staying indefinitely… that’s sort of “just right“ size town that I enjoy – instead paid too much for a taxi back (sat in the front seat) to catch the ship in time >> met a pal named Nikos playing a Tzouras, I sent him postcards just to complete the circle.
There’s a cat in this empty road as well… (Or was there?)
The original painting was sketched in situ in Greece and then combined with a postbox and painted with acrylics on Nusa Ceningan, Indonesia along with my darling wife.
As such, found the inspiration shots and then found the geo-location and Google Earth screenshot where you can see someone sitting in the chair where I sat making the painting. It’s all very recursive.
Πραξιτέλη Κονδύλη 32, Archea Olimpia 270 65, Greece (next droo/ downstairs of Hotel Appolon, at which sometime, i will stay for a forthnight, perhaps)
[Update: found screenshots from Ggle Streetview showing cafe´and table + clothing store next door where i bought a dress – not for me. ]
As it goes, this café is the exact measured point for the “Olympia, Greece“ (not Olympia, Washington) direction on my sign post.
See: Portals, 4 More Views of Olympia for more context
