Poem: Earliest Recollections (Lansing, MI, 1973 with tornado)
Lansing Michigan, 1973 eating macaroni & cheese in a damp basement while adults whispered windows shivered radio crackled
and i wondered why the tornado was coming
and then my memory began
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Note:
this is brother Bob’s (straight ahead) birthday March 1973 so i (front right) was 2.5 years old / for years i recalled this photo somehow and then going through my dear late Mom’s slides, found this and *knew it* instantly / that screened in porch, the sun, and everything.
Aside:
this memory was described elsewhere in a riff…
“A brief stint in Lansing Michigan is where I remember my first thoughts, hunkered in the basement easting macaroni and cheese during a tornado, sitting in a big screened-in porch eating birthday cake with my glasses on.”
Well this is well over a year ago now, but… a few days after our wedding, fellow MaeMae’s band member Hatsumi-san was married at a lovely event to a dashing gentleman who works in the alcohol beverage industry. Ryoko and some other musicians played some music (have video of this somewhere #NoteToSelf).
Aside from all of that, a few snaps surfaced recently which brought back some lovely memories of us dancing, and me hanging out with my pal Hama-san and Ren-san who is the proprietor of “the piano bar” and is on our mind recently as his business is really struggling of course.
Anyhow, this is my memory and these are two snaps and I can’t remember the photographer.
Uncovering artifacts from my first time in Japan in 1992, living in Tottori, working at the mushroom farm, quitting that lousy job then roaming around by thumb from Shikoku to Nagano etc. / maps, brochures, postcards, visa applications, a few business cards, various phone cards etc.
Scrapbook: Wonder Hotel / rejuvenations, inspirations + amusements (2018), cover
I make scrapbooks and journals for all sorts of reasons, sometimes for my own creations and writing, sometimes for specific project and in this case, for inspiration or dareisay therapy.
Background: I was having hard go of it in life or whatever and moved into a very small room at a boarding-house-type place. While basic, i quite loved having a place which kept me safe and allowed me rest. Reminded me a sign i saw in Vancouver for the “Wonder Hotel – Rooms for Rent – Clean, Quiet, Free Cable, Fridge, Secure” – all the attributes this Ankangan Guesthouse possessed.
Memory book: GD50 for brother Dan / tile mosaic from Terrapin Crossroads (cover)
Brother Dan and I went to Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary (and final) shows – 2 in Santa Clara, California and 3 in Chicago, Illinois. We roadtripped the whole she-bang from Vancouver, BC to Olympia, WA to Pacifica, Santa Clara, then Las Vegas to Provo where we switched vehicles and rode with some pals across the midwest (camping in an epic storm in Nebraska along the way). We hit all 5 shows and enjoyed the community and music.
Other stops included Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael California and Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado to see Neil Young and Promise of the Real. We parted ways in SLC as i had to head to rescue a broken RV in Mendocino (unsuccessfully as it turns out) and Dan headed back to BC.
Along the way, stopped at various craft breweries, made loads of arts and crafts (including an massive scrapbook of ephemera, road poetry, set lists, newspaper clipping and other sundries) and a series of photos by Lomo camera. Also documented a series of two-fer photos of us enjoying beers or joints or scenery and the company of conspirators. Several of these became a “memory book” i created (via an online publishing service) for Dan as a wee present. When visited his home, i snapped quick shots of the pages (note to self: take better ones next time). Here the are the lousy pics of an otherwise lovely book – for my amusement and your curiosity.
Memory book: GD50 for brother Dan / at Ninkasi Brewing garden in Eugene, OR
Often times, I make scrap journals for no particular reason, just for enjoyment of gathering interesting paper tidbits and ephemera which I enjoy… Then somehow a “theme” or story of some kind emerges. Especially after being stuck/fermenting in a suitcase for months or years, as soon as I open a booklet of artifacts, so many memories return. Some of you might see oddities in here wish you recognize and enjoy as well presented in a different context.
Just arrived a wonderful letter & gift from Dave. Maybe I think I lost or wasn’t taken the photos of our good old days that we having time together 23 years ago. But he found it in his old box. Thank you Dave. You and me, my wife and daughter 1-year-old before. So nostalgic feeling.
As seen at Vancouver Art Gallery, Aug. 28, 2014 – ergo: lost in the memory palace was a series of rooms with odd situations occurring in or around them – storms, film loops, records in cacophony, and an online component too
mixed-media art library, global diary, project dossier and whole life documentation
