Adding recent postcards, cards and letters to an “accordion” style scrapbook with various tapes and stamps in kura barn studio while listening to records (Aztec Camera and Belle and Sebastian) and discoursing on recent trip to Shimane, the role of monarchy in commonwealth countries, importance of friends, fondness for invitations, sending postcards to self, putting everything on casters, discarded records, and hats – many many hats.
Pausing in the Kura barn from arranging dongles, cables, tripods – trying to upgrade tech aspect of telling stories – Dave starts with Kiana Brassest singing in the background while adding notes about decades of story making & thoughts about continuing with vigor.
Then into a recent Osera magazine cameo from a fermented foods tour (including saké, beer, cheese, wine, miso, shoyu…) in Maniwa, Okayama (which is also sorta son Ichiro’s first publication).
Next onto recent books by post including:
“Waiting for Now” world-traveling “Scarborough dude” Ken Bole *often very* candid letters from Japan, Nigeria, Thailand, Canada etc to friends and family (with numerous coincidences and intersections with my own life).
“Waiting for Now” available via Blurb (part 2 available for preorder) & Check Scarborough Dudes DicknJanes pod diary etc.
“High White Notes” – David S Wills’ brand-new literary biography of Gonzo writer/journalist renegade Hunter S Thompson – available from his Beatdom publishing imprint + riffs include namechecks for Dr. HST’s book of letters “Proud Highway” and references to Joseph Conrad (re: Importance of dedication to art), Henry Miller (re: Big Sur etc), and Jack Kerouac (re: enemy of my enemy is my friend – if he could get write about drugs and get published…)
“First Third” – beat, prankster, railroader, hero “Adonis of Denver” 50th anniversary of Neal Cassady’s partial autobiography, inscribed by his daughter Jami Cassady on behalf of Neal Cassady Estate –including postcards with noted photos of, and by, the elegant poet, photographer, lover and muse Carolyn Cassady – with the aim of “Keeping the legacy alive” ++ a bit about Ken Kesey & the Merry Pranksters Further bus.
Oh yeah a reference to Brian Hassett’s cool “Hitchhiking to Kerouac” book in there too with stories about Carolyn Cassady…
Finally, a whole rundown of poets Gary Snyder and Wang Ping spending time together at Kitkitddizze in Sierra Nevada –working on translation, amplification and edification including coffee, Han Shan poems, Hanko stamps, sons Gen and Kei, Lagunitas IPA and gyoza dumplings and cowboy steaks, the history of Axe Handles poem (and translation thereof), Snyder’s new book “This Present Moment” and me at “home” (finally) in a red velvet robe with coffee cup by potter Marty Thurston Kendall of Utah knowing while our journey is our own, there is precedent for path before (like I can be 91 hanging out with my son Ichiro, living well and making poems in a barn).
See more at @Ping Wang’s Youtube – especially this video about Axe Handles: and website: http://www.wangping.com/ and see also translated “Flander’s Field” (Canadian) John McCrae to Chinese.
More Kiana Brasset at (I guess, sorta need better link or…? anyhow) met her on the Tracks on Tracks trip.
Also, a postcard from a friend wandering in London, a new batch of Moo “friendship” cards [get yer own]
Always more more more projects coming along…
Fondly, dvo/uw
Burning sage, sharing global postal arrivals, variety of historic & alt passports, dropping needle on Ginsberg’s Howl, digressions on reconciliation, exhaustion & <3 for pals & family.
Feeling weary, burning sage and obviously *not at his best* Dave meanders through topics including (not necessarily in this order):
Passports galore! From CCCP, Yugoslavia, USA, Albania, Romania and *alt* passports from The Matinee Band https://thematineemusic.com and Cascadia Bioregion https://cascasdiabioregion.org / with my *important photo choosing process* {and yes this dear old grain storehouse is the Setouchi Consulate of Cascadia}. Come get your passport stamped (just not right now).
Membership for the Beat Museum (join/participate/visit http://kerouac.com) Leading to riffs about Jack Kerouac Alley, City Lights bookstore (http://citylights.com) and my photo tour of the North Beach, San Francisco environs.
First spins of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl on red vinyl (thanks ScurvyDawg) along with ephemera and riffs about the “6 Poets at 6 Gallery” (legendary reading) and how you can do something like that, i.e.: 1) make a poster and postcard, 2) invite folks, 3) pass a hat for wine.
And *Loads* of postcards and packets from:
* Sri Lanka (see Rasika’s YouTube channel @CeylonRelation)
* Powell River, BC; Olympia (Greece, not Washington); Kentucky
* Estonia with items from Aqaba, Jordan (maybe you’ve heard from Lawrence of Arabia)
Musing about phone calls with Uncle Mark, buddies Scales in Montreal and Kemp in Vancouver, and pal Cam’s 50th birthday (I made a video with ukulele)
And even:
* Being good papa and hubby (so lucky! hot dinner and bath)
* Visitor Ted (mountain guide) and a new book case so filled with wonder!
* Gord Downie’s Secret Path and final days
* First Nations reconciliation & shame of residential school (poem)
* DownieWenjack foundation (donate)
* Indian Residential School Survivor’s Society (donate)
* Brother on Diego Garcia and flashback to Ghandruk, Annapurna district, Nepal
* Miracle of Death” and being weak and making art through the transition
* Larry’s Dark Star Ranch and not knowing whether a particular beast is an Elk or a Deer (indeed! we collectively know so little)
Other rambling meanderings about feeling a bit exhausted from this year of house renovation, firewood (first fire and making firestarters) and getting adorable son Ichiro into school, plus so many medical appointments and endless paperwork to get properly settled. Whew.
How to find my address: tip = anywhere/everywhere.
Yes I do send a lot of postcards. You can join the club if that’s of interest ($5 gets you a piece of handmade art each month) https://daveostory.com/shop
Plus thanks for Banghi and Maddog for holding books and records (support book stores and humans)
So much, so little, such nothing and everything and anything. Settle in.
Fondy, daveo, Tsuchida Cottage
PS tips of how to improve lighting and sound welcome (memo: there is no natural light in the barn, i want to make well-lit 2 camera videos with quality sound with as minimal processing (moving stuff and files around) as possible. hit me up with ideas
Typhoon Weather and Usual Days
After catching up on the laundry, making tomato soup, washing dishes and tidying up the carport, Dave checks in with a bit of ukulele and gratitude for friends who pick up phones &/or send messages, books and quilts when bit blue from “the illness” which is *a challenge* – and through it all, mixing in a little bit of Ramones and Gordon Lightfoot and the usual stuff about Post offices and making fermented items while trying to be a good papa to a wonderful nursery schooler and hubbo to a delightful arborist and diligent landscaper.
Dave enjoys a moment of leisure after busy days of construction and sortganizing to scribble art postcards, arrange records by neighbourhood, think about the of cycles miracle of death, flashback to the hemp “essentials bag” project, and gingerly mention the difference between “adapters and whiners” in the kura barn atelier with (apparently) new festive lights.
Special regards to friend en route to Sundance ceremony and mothers dropping their babies off to college.
Castles, Foundations and Pyjamas (from Saskatoon to Tsuchida)
Along with {amusing} ukulele meanderings, daveo recaps recent year including hot springs trip, nursery school colds, new pajamas, house building, legitimate emigration, stopping time, hospital visits, finding home, and various birthdays and gravesites, brain strain on new chords and kana, meditation & patience while waiting for sashimi and vanilla ice cream to arrive.
Plus musings about company advising (really), Kerouac exhibit (story pack forthcoming), gratefulness for “go bags“ and other treats in the mail, conundrums about “not doing enough“ and struggles with computer eyes, usual stuff about postcards & paintings but especially about being grateful for family and friends and you and life and perpetual motion while sitting still sheltered.
Gratefully and Fondly, daveo51
From the front porch of the kura studio with cicadas chirping on a sunny day in Okayama come riffs and reflections about tatami mats revealing generational touchpoints, thoughts of friends passed on, reminiscences about american road trips with bands in renegade youth, sickness and healing, tree doctor tests, mystery old-timey radio shows, submarine films and evasion tactics from the signal corps.
Overall: home is where the projects are, planes can take you places you forgot (or try to) and phones can call anyone anywhere and the ¥10 is optional. Importantly, do you remember the number?
Brought to you (unofficially) by Sri Lankan cricket team, giant hat for ¥642 and Jevitty who are helping me live well past 100 (note apple watch).
From a rainy porch, riffing gratefulness for friends with kind words and packages, minimal commentary about ridiculous Olympics and various public health situations, hello to my favourite arborist and rain songs ++ tree doctor tests, Kerouac exhibits, future global expeditions with in-laws and importantly, the elusive D chord.
Just back from cleaning the grandparents’ graves and regrouping in century+ old barn studio, i riff a few things in my head about communities, hubris, restitution, sincerity, safety, life and death, empathy, seeds, cycles and children and everything.
As well as attempt a few chords on ukulele and talk about an air conditioner.
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.
