My Big Gay Ears

Journalist and former record executive Joseph Dalton has a blog called My Big Gay Ears. It’s a funny title and super resource. He was kind enough to mention my upcoming projects in a recent post.

Talk about bringing music to the people! Composer/performer Byron Au Yong is putting opera in bottles (no deposit required)….

Like a musical Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the Seattle-based composer created a series of 64 musical miniatures, each for a singer and a percussionist….

Read more at My Big Gay Ears (!)

 

Stuck Elevator 2009 Demo

Aaron and I are busy revising Stuck Elevator for two readings in New York in mid-November. To that end, we created a demo from the September reading. This was recorded in the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at the Tisch School of the Arts by audio engineer Mark Aiken.

Already one of the songs, A River Running, is cut from the November version of Stuck Elevator. I am fond of the music, so I included it as part of this online demo.

 

World AIDS Day

Lyrics for Stronger Together performed as part of World AIDS Day in Seattle.

Stronger Together MP3 Excerpt

Stronger together?
I don’t know.

How can I sit
and eat with you
when every night
I ache from hunger?

I know I’m strong,
yet I’m afraid
that you will leave me
in the clinic graveyard
turning feet all blue from needles
stuck in those who cannot walk.

These were my neighbors and teachers,
my lovers, small children, and God
I wish I had sores in my mouth
so I could blame the sores
for what I’m about to say…

I look out and
see a sea of ribbons
bobbing all alone.
Ribbons frame holes
around our hearts.

I have lived
through a million lives
opening and closing
the doors of death.

Each death became a ribbon
until my bedroom filled
with ribbons, too many
dying that I swept them
all underneath the bed.

I forgot them until one day
my nine-year-old daughter
pulled the dust and the ribbons.
out to play.

She asked,
“Daddy, why so many
ribbons hiding here?”

I told her about the people
I had cared for who had died.
She held her head high
knowing that it was her time.

We tied the ribbons together.
No more hiding secrets from my girl.

I now wear this ribbon
for a life that should have lasted
so much longer than mine.

When my daughter died
those ribbons tied together
strengthened me with knots
all twisted, ugly, gnarled, hopeful,
painful, sad, and calming.

Let your ribbons sing.
Tell their stories.
Tie them back into your lives.
Even when you cannot smile anymore,
Remember:
all the dancing,
all the questions,
all the faces of the living.

Touch them all to be
stronger together.
Tie them together
to be together now.

---

Vocalist Dennis Saffer and I premiered this song at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center on December 4, 2008. Stronger Together was written as part of a benefit luncheon for Multifaith Works in conjunction with Gay City Health Project, Seattle Counseling Services, and Dunshee House.

 

Creating a Community Song

Here’s the obon song, I created with a bunch of folks for the 75th Anniversary of Seattle’s Bon Odori. I’m honored that my friend and fellow taiko player Karen asked me to help out. In less than four meetings, we created, rehearsed and recorded a fun tribute to Seattle’s past as well as a new dance song for future generations.

Press play to hear Seattle Omoide Ondo (duration 2:56)

Thanks to Karen Akada Sakata, Dennis Yamashita and Yukie Fujiwara for their great voices, Esther Sugai for her awesome fue music, and Marcia Takamura for her enthusiastic kagegoes and shimisen playing that kept us all in line.

I was in the UK during Seattle’s Obon, but heard that Gwen and Suzanne made a super up-beat dance for this fast song. What impresses me the most is the ease of the collaboration. Everyone contributed to the music and lyrics. In our brief recording session, I felt the energy that would carry the dancers on July 20th and 21st (even in this year’s Seattle summer rain).

Seattle Omoide Ondo

Ji-chan, ba-chan, odori ni koi.
To-san, ka-san, kodomo mo koi.
Shinseki kamawazu minna de koi.

Ah,
The summer time would be strange without song or dance.
Bon Odori makes me feel alive;
Se-a-to-ru romance.

Ev’ryone ( ) kachi kachi ( ) all in sync.
Colorful kimono fill the streets.
Taiko keeps the beat.

Ji-chan, ba-chan, odori ni koi.
To-san, ka-san, kodomo mo koi.
Shinseki kamawazu minna de koi.

Ah…
Together young and old gather on Main Street.
Queens and Pirates circle round and round,
dancing in the heat.

I eat somen and yaki onigiri.
Ev’ry year my fingers get sticky
from eating kori.

Ji-chan, ba-chan, odori ni koi.
To-san, ka-san, kodomo mo koi.
Shinseki kamawazu minna de koi.

Ah…
I nod to friends and to those who have passed away.
Sensei Kiki dances next to me
on this happy day.

The sun goes down on the lanterns; they sway and yawn.
I watch children as they learn new songs.
The future carries on.

Ji-chan, ba-chan, odori ni koi.
To-san, ka-san, kodomo mo koi.
Shinseki kamawazu minna de koi.

 

The Color of Memory

If mem’ry were a color, mem’ry would be white.
No. White is not a color, white is ev’ry color so
White is ev’ry color as is memory.

If mem’ry were a color, mem’ry would be light.
No. Light is not a color, light is ev’ry color so
Light is ev’ry color as is memory.

If mem’ry were a color, mem’ry would dance here.
No. Mem’ry does not dance here
Memory just sits and waits and sits and waits and
Wants to dance but sits and waits…

For Toru to be home.