Your Olson pals at Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto (wiki / map / inside kyoto) on a trip in April 2022.
Blurb: Ginkaku-ji (銀閣寺, lit. “Temple of the Silver Pavilion”), officially named Jishō-ji (慈照寺, lit. “Temple of Shining Mercy”), is a Zen temple in the Sakyo ward of Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the constructions that represents the Higashiyama Culture of the Muromachi period.
Your Olson pals at Ginkaku-ji
Note: I might start making this year’s festive holiday cards just because there is a great photo (taken by a stranger on an iPhone 5) *except i look a little bit chubby, Ichiro just woke up, Ryoko is perfect.
Curiously Punctuated (and Ready) ~ Beat Sushi with Jason Emde
Spontaneous riffs and readings from world rambling renegade letter writer with a new master’s thesis, Jason Emde who, as it goes from his home in Gifu also makes a podcast called “writers read their early sh!t”.
oh Hi, let’s try on hats and listen to records
From the Kura barn studio, Dave meanders about Japan geography and “things not done” and hat selections for Kyoto before reading Jason’s letter to Molly, then rambles on about similarities in geography, points of view, adventures whilst recounting how he came across Jason’s work stretching over a decade or more (and including naval officer Bob), oh then 2 freeverse poems (after Gary Snyder) with Jason’s streams about “usual days” in Gifu and Vernon.
Beat Sushi with Jason Emde at daveostory (art by Ichiro Stanley)
Plus name checks for James Joyce’s Ulysses, Christopher Trottier, Marshall McLuhan, Ken Babbs, Ken Bole, music bits from Bachman Turner Overdrive Live at Budokon, John K Samson (of The Weakerthans etc), hooray for ampersands and em-dashes! Also Amsterdam, London, Vancouver, Bali and most points in between, except Africa, haven’t gone there.
Thanks to Dan for the package of friendship, ephemera, artifacts and goodness
Taking a break from chainsaw noise cutting down bamboo, DaveO rambles on about the importance of community and correspondence (yes spelled incorrectly) – especially while in a rough patch with a chronic and complex illness #MECFS – and shares a remarkable package sent by Kerouac enthusiast Dan Bacon in Massachusetts including: scrapboook, artifacts, ephemera and memorabilia from Lowell, Jack Kerouac’s 100th birthday, and other events including the impending Town and the City music festival which inspires playing of lovely blue Tanya Donelly and Parkington Sisters vinyl record.
Also shows new-ish Cascadia passport and meanders about Gary Snyder in Japan years ago and his recent convos with poet Wang Pang ++ love of maps, letters, stories, and how we’re all part of the erstwhile Beat tradition if we are living intentionally, respecting others’ voices and creating goodness.
Happy to be your fan, fondly etc. from Giggling Piglet Studio in a historic Kura storehouse in Tsuchida, Okayama, Japan.
A rollicking rapid-fire, mixed-media introduction to The Beat Generation – made especially for youth (specifically, a 11th grade lit class at a DoD base school) – with topics including:
what made The Beats, the beats (ergo: time, place, circumstance, intentions, global mindset, searching for “holy”)
characteristics of style (freeverse, spontaneous prose, collaboration, diversity, art + craft + integrity)
notable writers and characters including: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg William S. Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Neal Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
roots and branches extending from the Beats like: Merry Pranksters, folkies, hippies, yippies, punks, DIY and even “digital nomads”
riffs about censorship, “obscenity” trials, sexuality, religiosity
call to action about the importance everyone with something to say “saying it” – including YOU
plus more notable writers: Gregory Corso, Richard Brautigan, Ruth Weiss, Diane DiParma & currently working Ron Whitehead and Anne Waldman
namechecks and cameos for: The Clash, Tom Waits, Jello Biafra, Ken Kesey, Wang Ping, Masa Uehara, Nanao Sakaki many more…
Presented from a historic barn in provincial Japan with vinyl records, artifacts, ephemera, loads of books, postcards etc – by storymaker Dave Olson who invites you to ask questions via postcard (address included within).
Uncle Weed shares an annotated version of the HempenRoad: Cascadia Journey (imdb) film featuring the 1997 commercial industrial hemp symposium in Vancouver, BC, Canada / Cascadia.
Includes clips from notable speakers, an interview with HempWorld pub/ed/writer Mari Kane along with discourse about borders, eco-systems, harm reduction, and bits of transportation and sustainability mixed in.
Eiji and Dave on the HempenRoad with 16mm camera
Then an extended montage of (lousy early generation) digital camera snaps of important entrepreneurs diligently building businesses to utilize hemp in all forms. Along with the documenting is Ms. Kane’s report from the event, with UW”s comments – including the conundrums around organizing groups and importance of diversity.
Includes loads of magazine, artifacts, ephemera, and anecdotes from California to Yap. Come along this Cascadia Journey.
Thinking about “going home in October” or even more, going far away with this video version of the audio-first podcast.
+ Lost the Plot (Finding Home) – Postcard #85 podcast, but video(!) +
Take some spoken word poetry and add some shaky tuktuks and random trains with assorted filters and voila, ya got a podcast you can watch AND listen to if that’s your thing.
+ Lost the Plot (Finding Home) – Postcard #85 podcast, but video(!) +
Blurb: Thinking about “going home in October” or going far away via freeverse poetry backed by trains from Moncton to Sri Lanka and tuk tuks from Kerala and Thailand, read by a weary fella in barn in Japan.
Note: Postcards from Gravelly Beach, literature podcast, est 2006, now with 85 dispatches, each handcrafted with affection.
Thinking about “going home in October” or even more, going far away from home via freeverse poetry, read directly from scribbled travel scrapbooks and backed by trains from Moncton to Sri Lanka and tuk tuks from Kerala and Thailand, by a weary fella in an olden barn in provincial Japan. Fondly home.
Olympics are over if you want it. Pod’d some thoughts with Vancouver journalist Bob Mackin a few days ago about the lay of the land here in Japan and the cognitive dissonance between Tokyo2020 Olympics on TV and for the people hosting / paying for it.
this photo has nothing to do with the post but it is a baseball game at the Olympics on teevee just to decorate the post a wee bit
As such, i call it “The Lonely Olympics”.
But first listen in browser or you know, all those *other podcast places*.
I was sorta the “warm-up act” for Jules Boykoff, authour of NOlympics. who has rocked the media during Tokyo 2020/1 including this riff on my pal Bob Mackin’s heavy news pod.
I had *a lot* fo say and maybe said “too much” but felt a lot of frustration being a “regular resident” on the ground in provincial Japan awaiting vaccinations and paying taxes while the IOC’s debacle continued with excuses, conundrums and constant bubble-breaking. But, nobody asked me… well, except for Bob :) .
Mostly though, I’m curious about your opinion from wherever you are.
From Bob Mackin’s podcast description from week of Aug. 8, 2021:
Click to listen to Bob Mackin’s “The Breaker” podcast with me riffing from Japan
The Tokyo Olympics are over.
Postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, but they happened in the pandemic anyway.
The International Olympic Committee is claiming success, because the Games eventually opened and closed on time. But the Japanese people are stuck with the bill and more coronavirus infections than there were when the cauldron was lit in an empty stadium surrounded by protesters.
On this edition, hear expert analysis from ex-Vancouverite Dave Olson in Okayama, Japan and Jules Boykoff, political scientist, author and Olympics industry critic from Portland, Ore.
Plus commentary and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.
{Artisan roasted coffee across lane from shrine, Ichiro carried on family tradition batting eyelashes at baristas}
Backstage at the oasis… Was surprised to find a painting of me in this mural :-) >> Complete with suitcase, backpack, hat and scarf, glancing at a tree thinking about a chair and coffee. Yup, def me.
