With a special hello to the little human friends around the world and especially a little girl in Dubai comes a spontaneous conversation about Halloween memories in Canada, yesterday’s Halloween in Tsuchida, Okayama, Japan including our family’s costumes then reading Ichiro’s brand new book “little blue truck’s Halloween” with a bit of a beatbox :) finally a request for kids’ Halloween costume photos and flipping through a stack of books to solicit request for future storytimes.

How it started: I met him at the parking lot near the Tsuchida cemetery and the camera was rolling from the hop. I don’t get to talk about *all of this stuff* much and he and i had so many common checkpoints (including Internet Service Providers in the modem days!) that our convo turned into a heavy jam session which was released as a 3 part’r – all shared below with his blurbs + a sorta”part 4″ i made while tidying up all the records pulled out during the frenzy.

So, hold onto your toques, sharp turns ahead! All the records, all the time, so much more to say but this will get you started. Many stories, digressions, non sequiturs, a few missteps, mistaken dates, changes in latitude, fogging out mid-sentence as I remember something else meant to tell you about another time.

Really though, give all 3 a watch, ask me questions, tell me *I’m totally wrong*, tell me you were there, and do the whole click and subscribe for this affable gent Michael of Rice Field Records who let me ramble in my “show n tell” (PS vid from the great record fair in Ushimado where i met Michael).

Part 1: “a 150 year old Japanese barn, vintage audiophile gear, and a very eloquent and happy man”

“We meet Dave Olson, an EXPAT who is a music lover and record collector. Dave lives in Higashi (East) Okayama, in a Japanese home which has a 150 year old Kura (barn) that Dave has restored and repurposed to be his art studio and listening room. Featured is a 1980’s rare vintage Yamaha “Gigantic & Tremendous” GT-2000 turntable as part of his listening system.“

Part 2: “a fascinating entrepreneur with stories told through a vinyl journey, tales from around the world”

“A decades long vinyl collection journey that begins in Canada, Dave Olson moves to the Pacific NW. Then criss-crosses the USA. Goes to Japan, Bali, and Europe. Records recently shipped from various storage rooms abroad to this resident of Japan. A fascinating story of music with a first hand knowledge of many Seattle and Canadian, bands, promoters and independent labels beginning in the early 1990’s.”

Part 3: “a 1990’s dial-up Internet ISP, a world traveller, a fantastic record collection, a very happy man”

“Anyone who knows my work history has a big smile on their face the moment this video begins. While Dave was the engine behind OLYWA.NET, I was the the Internet Service Provider marketing manager for Ascend Communications, who was the market share leader of access technology for ISP’s. Dave and I were marketing some form of dial-up access, ISDN, frame relay, and T-1 lines at the same time. There was so much excitement in our first meeting. I don’t know if this video deserves any more introduction. You have to be smitten by this guy’s infectious enthusiasm in the first 30 seconds.”

Bonus

Tidying Up Vinyl Records in the Kura (find the right neighbourhood to *spark joy*)

All these records bring me joy so i am tidying up in the wake of a super enjoyable visit from Rice Field Records  and a used record fair in nearby Ushimado. I putter along talking about how i organize the records into “neighbourhoods” so they have pals to hang out with, pull out some box sets, try to find where i put that “one thing” and where *exactly* this one fits best while wearing an moth-eaten cardigan and noticing my beard is compensating for my thinning noggin (still cute :)). Finishes with flipping through some 7 inches while playing a live clip recorded at Ubud Jazz festival. 

So many name checks for fave artists including: Courtney Barnett, Bill Janovitz / Buffalo Tom, Buffalo Springfield, David Bowie, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Joe Jackson, Talking Heads, Lone Justice, Ramones, Pixies, Weakerthans, more more more… and extra affection for compilations and soundtracks from Nardwuar, Flipside, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Urgh a Music War, Life in European Theatre, Easy Rider, Times Square (movie) etc infinity.

More: Vinyl specific goodness from my Kura barn doing arts and craft

I managed to make a little bit of music – Just me riffing on a song (lyrics by me, circa 2006 and chords by B. Rees⁠ but don’t fault him for my lousiness) banging on a *cheap & cheerful* baritone ukulele while drinking iced coffee from a wood-oven pizza beach shack and waiting for freshly painted toenails to dry – words i wrote on the seabus in maybe 2006, Brad put some chords to it, I kind of go in and out of 3/4 time and digress into a spontaneous ramble about the “lonely seaman” to stretch it out.

Poor fella, just waiting for smokes & grub while crossing tropics no one seems to understand… but hey there’s an iced coffee involved}

Playing “Atlantic City” (not particularly well) on baritone ukulele.

You know this song, written by Bruce Springsteen but really owned by Levon Helm &/or The Band.

Yeah my kid steals the show because he’s awesome, my tracksuit is pretty good too.

Recorded March 5, 2023 at Tsuchida Cottage #1TakeObviously

A conversation about DIY constructing scrapjournals with board game backs, calendar paper fronts, mixed blocks inside, with a side sewing technique. Including: what materials to gather and adding a few treats to start so you “don’t get precious”. 

Plus using a Tin Tin calendar as a substrate for a travel scrapbook with a ephemera (coaster, tickets stubs, boarding passes, maps, etc) from Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Greece, Rome , Istanbul (with space for Suez).

Plus a few comments about the Vatican’s reconciliation *campaign* with Indigenous people of current-day Canada. Lighting incense and sage in hopes of sincerity and action.

All from the “Giggling Piglet studio” in a historic storehouse barn in provincial Japan with *Special hellos* to Kim in Austin, Jason in Gifu, Dan in Mass, Vincent in Victoria, Aki in the islands, the students of a school near Yokota, and others along the way.

More Importantcy:

* Indian Residential School Survivor’s Society (donate)

* DownieWenjack foundation (donate)

* First Nations reconciliation & shame of residential school (poem)

Just adding beat related ephemera to binders, poems to scrapbooks, cards and letters too, sometimes to one scrapbook, sometimes to another, depending on the form and function, music plays in the background – a compilation for Jack Kerouac – all in a historic kura storehouse barn in provincial Japan.

No commentary, no chit chat, just ya know,… hanging out playing with scissors, glue, tape and whatnot.

Thanks Matt T. and Dan B.

Ambient hang out and putting artifacts and items from the Kerouac “On the Road” exhibit in 2021 at Kobe, Japan – along with a dossier of items from Lowell, Massachusetts – into a plain white binder with sheet covers, while listening to a collection of hep songs assembled for Jack Kerouac’s hundredth birthday by Bear Family records while in “Giggling Piglet Studios” in a historic kura storehouse barn in provincial Japan. No commentary, chitchat  – just hanging out. 

Thanks Matt T and Dan B.

While listening to records by Sonic Youth, Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Husker Du, JFA… maybe something else.

No narration, banter (witty or otherwise) or “action” beyond, playing with papers, scissors, glue, double sided tape and whatnot.

Hang out if you wanna hang out.

While listening to records from Dan Mangan, Bob Dylan, and Courtney Barnett.

No chit-chat, narration or blah blah, just hanging out, playing with scissors, paper, scrapbooks, and cheap cutter knife.

Maybe you wanna hang out too? No big deal.

++ includes Ichiro Stanley a few cameo peeks of our house.

Say hello to メーメーズ  Ryoko, Rie, Hatsumi, Keizaburo & Mitsuko.

PS Find Mae Maes on Youtube & FB if that’s acceptable to you. 

Shot at Live House Bird in Okayama

A shaky and candid stroll from Ceningan Resort with a buncha cute cabins and huge diving training pool under construction to also under construction Alas Manis (Sweet Jungle) Villa – all on Nusa Ceningan island, Bali, Indonesia. 

Konnichi-Mae! To complete the trifecta of tunes from Saturday’s Matsuri comes my favourite!

Ryoko’s band Mae Maes played at a community outdoor festival (you can see video some of the other performers elsewhere in this archive) and several of the usual supporters were out on a sunny and surprisingly hot day, including the effervescent Tadanori Suzumura-san – “the Shacho” (boss) is a singer himself and a huge supporter of local music. 

Here we are hanging out: 

Anyhow, Suzumura-san shot a couple of great lil videos of Mae Maes’ “sweater song” (above) written by Ryoko while we were in Indonesia, plus “Yagi no Christmas” (below) and made a collage… yup, he’s a dynamo! 

Featuring some rollicking ragtime Joplin-eque piano by Kuzuko-san, along with graceful styling of Rie Yanamoto on violin and Hatsumi Kazui on flute, with bonus percussion by the elegant Misuko-san.

[videopress 0ZI5md2u]

Also noting Shacho’s smart use of “worm’s eye view” to fill the negative space with sky rather than cords and feets. Also, he advised the sound guy to try to fix the balance – ugh. 

Ambient “space cruise” around generally Oslo area of Norway by boat, trains and car. That’s it. No narration, action, plot, theme or whatever, just dig the views and ride along. Sound is “as-is” aside form Ilgudin Trio (from Russia, recorded live in Ubud, Indonesia) added whilst in the car. Roll on. That’s it.

Thanks to Mathias and Harald Olson for the footage – wasn’t me). 

Saw a great band Saturday, Nov. 23rd at Mukunomi Fureai Matsuri (where Ryoko’s Mae Maes also performed) called Boocuss , a ska-punk funtime band.

Looking forward to seeing them again in a more suited venue (this was an outdoor community festival which was cool but ya know, not ideal for their style).

Anyhow, here’s a little variety pack video.

An interesting trio with jamming alto sax, quirky on-in-one drum kit, and trad vocals as seen at Mukunomi Fureai Matsuri (festival) on Okayama, Japan, Nov. 23, 2019.