Decided to take my collection of images captured in Kichijoji and try to share a bit of the local color of one of our favorite places in all of Japan using a slide show on Flickr with a soundtrack inspired by our recent visits there. Just 13 minutes and 210 yen west of Shinjuku on the JR Chuo Line, it's only a little bit off the beaten path and well worth the trip (at the risk of encouraging rampant tourism which could tarnish its appeal).
I am still experimenting with different file formats to upload and am not fully satisfied with the audio quality after it is convered on Flickr. I initially thought it was better than some other internet options, but this one was not as good as I hoped, so I am sharing an updated remix of just the audio file as well. The cover shot is of the popular Yakitori shop, Iseya, near the entrance to Inokashira Park, with a Starbucks next door.
Summer in Madison means coffee at one of the many sidewalk cafes, biking along the miles of bikepaths, Saturday mornings at the Farmers Market on the Capitol Square, and of course Wednesday evenings at Concerts on Square, among a lot of other options, too. Here is a little slideshow and song about the concerts. The song is unfinished, but the concert season is upon us, so we go with what we have at this point, and Flickr only allows 90 seconds anyway. And I finally have new strings on my D16.
Friday, the 4th of July. I am a bit of a guitar geek so I decided to check out the big sale at the local Guitar Center and at least pick up some new strings for my Martin D16R which was sorely in need of a fresh set. I was also on the lookout for a smaller, cheaper guitar to have handy when a fresh idea appeared. I always feel a little protective of the D16 since it was my first decent acoustic and I wanted something else I could bang around a bit and not worry so much about.
The week before I had seen a Taylor "Big Baby" that seemed to fit the bill and I was happy to see that it was in fact on sale at a nice price, but decided to see if there was anything else available in the same price range before committing. I tried several others but nothing matched the sound and playability of the Taylor until by chance I saw a little black guitar off to the side, looking a little neglected and unwanted. When I picked it up and got a better look, I found it looked more like a toy guitar with "Felix the Cat" splashed all over it and I had my doubts, but it was a Martin with a solid and inviting feel and the price was right, so I gave it a try. Felix sang! For a small guitar the sound was surprisingly clear and full and it almost played itself.
I was still torn between the "Big Baby" which looked more conventional, and Felix which was hard to take seriously until you picked it up and played it. Apparently many others had felt the same because they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. They offered Felix at below cost and about 70% off the original list - almost like getting a kitten free to a good home. I could no longer resist since the price was now less than half of the sale price of the "Big Baby" and the only drawback was the cartoon image of Felix staring back at me. Worst case, I figured I could always spray paint over it, but since taking it home and getting better acquainted, I would not change a thing. Best part was my wife loves Felix and didn't kill me for buying yet another guitar. My younger son, who is a real guitar player, not a wannabe like me, was also impressed and could not put it down once he tried it.
Anyway, I decided to give it a little demo on an old chord sequence and simple tune I have had laying around for more than 15 years. So far I have only one verse for it, but maybe finding Felix will help with that also.
I have always been fascinated with combining music and images on the web but have been unimpressed with the quality of images and sound on YouTube. A direct upload to Vox offers better sound quality in stereo rather than mono, but the images are still not very good. A new video option on Flickr puts a constraint on video length of 90 seconds maximum but with file size up to 150MB seems to provide decent audio in stereo and an improvement in image quality beyond what YouTube or Vox offer, judging from other Flickr postings.
It took some trial and error to arrive at an acceptable combination of file type and specs since Flickr guidance seems pretty limited at this point, but the results were interesting enough to give me some incentive to try again. Here is a shortened version of the song, "sanctuary" (full version posted on 5.28.08) combined with images from Japan to Wisconsin intended to evoke that elusive search for a little time and space to escape the daily grind.
June already. It has taken me this long to collect my thoughts and images from a trip last Fall to Japan where we stayed again with my wife's sister-in-law in Misaki, a small fishing town on the tip of the Miura Penninsula about an hour and a half South of Tokyo on the Keihin Kyuko Line. The line winds down from Sengakuji, where the 47 loyal ronin are buried who revenged their master and followed him in ritual suicide, through Shinagawa, Yokohama and the US naval base at Yokosuka to Misakiguchi at the end of the line. It's a peaceful, even boring place, a bit off the beaten track, where you can escape the bustle of Tokyo. We stayed in a remodeled home, half modern and half traditional, in the Shiroishi neighborhood, an older part of town perched mainly on bluffs overlooking the harbors where small fishing boats still come and go daily, but the days dominated by big tuna boats are pretty much over. Town leaders are apparently trying to reinvent the local economy, partly with daikon and watermelon.
I took daily walks along narrow winding lanes leading down to the harbor, and captured a lot of images some of which are posted in this flickr set: Misaki blues set. I used the color highlight feature in my little Canon SD1000 for many of the shots to focus on the many shades of blue because the color was so common, from the roof tops to the ocean itself.
Now, after all these months, I finally settled on a simple blues pattern, which somehow seemed to set the right tone to match the images with some words to remember our last visit, and remember my wife's elder brother, who passed away a year ago this month. He traveled the world as a freelance journalist on assignments for various publications, but always enjoyed coming home to Misaki.
a year and a half on, i finally watched my 21st bday present
そのものは本当に存在してほしい！
かわいすぎる！！ w
This one had been sitting around half finished for a couple of years when I decided to pick it up again and see where it might go now. Originally I had in mind a physical place as sanctuary from the world of work and worries, but this time around it has evolved into a pure mental escape, with a not too subtle link to meditation through the resonant chanting of the "sacred syllable" Aum or Om, sampled here from a handy web site. I am not an expert, or even a part time practitioner, but I like the idea and respect those who can find a little peace of mind, or even some form of enlightenment with practice. For more information, there is always Wikipedia.
V1: There's a place I go when I need to mend
where the world stands still and all my worries end
C1: sanctuary
give me time and relief
give me hope, give me peace
V2: I can take you there if you want to go
just close your eyes let your heart beat slow
C2
april-may 2007
28 photo albums
march-may 2008
6 photo albums
..WHAT'S GOING ON??
[NB. such fascinating revelations are only made when one has massive assignments due within 24hrs. yes indeedy]
Photos from my wild international trip to Tasmania. Thanks Hunty for being a champ, selflessly driving me all around Hobart, Diabloing til the wee hours and for all the great food and shishah time!
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