Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 and ending with this dispatch.
Thank you for your perceived interest and erstwhile support.
Sunday, 16.8.20 #daveo50 / Fondly from #Okayama #Japan
Various artifacts in situ, as seen in “Kura Grain Barn Art Studio / Music Lounge” (which needs a proper name).
“Anytime is a good time for a vacation” (clock, detail)Roar & BurnThinking about my dear mother, I love you more than words can tellGuest book for kura barn art studio & music lounge (from Nepal)Hygrometer and Thermometer
Note: Inside the kura grainbarn studio/music lounge. It’s a magnificent 150+-year-old wooden structure but dang, gets hot and humid in the Japan summer and with so many books, records, papers, artifacts, etc, im working to keep the temperature and humidity under control. ~ Under 70% humidity now which is a big step as a few days ago it was over 80%! Still too high to be comfortable and ideal for sure. Have two fans and a dehumidifier going on timers, a whole bunch of those little packets of salty kind of stuff, and some other “boxes“ of dehumidifying agents. ~ Most of these items were stored in climate control storage for years so want to keep them in good condition and avoid any kind of unnecessary deterioration. Not a professional archivist but I’m doing what I can.
I was recently a guest on (my occasional co-conspirator) Bob Mackin’s excellent PC/Pacific Rim/Cascadia news podcast called “The Breaker” talking about the postponed/cancelled Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well as riffing about personal archiving project, life lessons at 50, and birth of Ichiro Stanley Thorvald Olson.
In this 6-ish min. trimmed excerpt, i offer a few audio annotations about what i learned about myself, life as we know it etc whilst curating #daveo50, i.e.: how we really are who we are at a young age (in my case anyway), the importance of being kind, fostering and nurturing long-term relationships, that hobbies are the real thing, and the Internet is for communication not just a business construct.
Here’s another in which I offer a variety of snapshots captured for no particular reason of records listened to from the variety grab bag. There are hundreds of records, this is not comprehensive representation, though it is representation that this experiences existed in some space and time. This is all, just evidence of lounging time w/ Strummer, Bragg, Bowie, Keithley and Assoc, Cobain and cohorts, Lightfoot, Fitzgerald, Mangan, Janovitz and Co, and many others. Pull em out, rack em up, repeat. So many, just a few here.
As an aside, before lil incredible Ichiro arrived, I was spending several-hours-long sessions in here getting projects captured and queued up for #daveo50 but now, the time is delightfully scant so it’s usually just focussed on sitting, enjoying a beverage and listening to a record or two.
I make art, document the art and document, the documenting of the art and I’ve done some of my whole life (as you’ve noticed in this personal archeology project).
Digression: There are paths for an artist – to chase fame or fortune, or personal satisfaction, or admiration from others (there are others). You can choose a couple of these *aims* but to get all at once is probably/possibly a bit much to ask. As for me, i make things for an audience 100 years from now and to amuse myself (and now so son Ichiro has a record of me).
Ergo: to make sure i am making “things i really wanna make”, I don’t check traffic/view numbers, I don’t make sales funnels, I don’t gather information, and at this point I don’t sell anything aside from paintings and poems on special request… but, in doing “all of this” project, I couldn’t help but notice a few notable numbers popping up, 420 everywhere. This is all, i am amused.
All-time views: 42,040
Oh yeah, a friend in Jamaica was concerned that he wasn’t getting “paid” for a video he appeared in which had more views in a day than all the rest of my little videos put together. He was convinced it was enough to buy a house, I sent him this detailed statistical report. .11 cents. Yeah, i’m a bigtimer on the tubes :).
#daveo50 ~ 2020 / photo booth for zairyu (foreigner registration) card, Okayama, Japan
Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 with intent of chronicling existence through various primary evidence sourced from studio portraits, class photos, ID / passport photos, or occasionally other “casual/group/random” shots when the above don’t exist in my archive (note: not “artificial intelligence,” really me, pulled from shoeboxes, journals, wallets and whatnot – diligently scanned and dated via glasses and haircuts, lightly annotated).
Project: Upon turning 50 years old on August 16, 2020, Dave Olson (me, hello) is posting a photo (or maybe photos) a day / per year – starting with 1970 with intent of chronicling existence through various primary evidence sourced from studio portraits, class photos, ID / passport photos, or occasionally other “casual/group/random” shots when the above don’t exist in my archive (note: not “artificial intelligence,” really me, pulled from shoeboxes, journals, wallets and whatnot – diligently scanned and dated via glasses and haircuts, lightly annotated).
I made some “spoken word with loops and samples” songs somewhere along the way, released on various channels/media (under Archeology Records), and now making more songs with other people who are recording and releasing.
As such, i duly registered with SOCAN (Society of Composers, Arrangers something something) – the Canadian analogue to BMI or ASCAP in USA (all rather confusing).
Anyhow, i have a few songs published. SOCAN will collect royalties on my behalf for live performance and radio transmission. Mechanical royalties (physical media) are another story, again confusing but duly noted.
Fire em up. Find under “Uncle Weed” on usual streaming channels.
