Interview with Guitar God John McLaughlin
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- Grammy-winning musician John McLaughlin. (Absolutely Live Entertainment)
By JQ magazine’s Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his NY Japanese Culture page here to subscribe for free alerts on newly published stories.
Whether you call it electric jazz, fusion, or just good old music, John McLaughlin is the forefather of this style on the six string. From his contributions on classic albums by Miles Davis starting with the landmark In a Silent Way in 1969 to his own work with the massively influential Mahavishnu Orchestra and as a solo artist, McLaughlin is a legend who has continued to record with no signs of slowing down.
His 2009 collaboration with Chick Corea, Five Peace Band, won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album earlier this year, and in April McLaughlin then released his new disc with the 4th Dimension, To the One (Abstract Logix). Following a concert at New York’s Town Hall last weekend, the artist graciously took the time to answer some questions.
Tell us about your history with Japan. What attracted you most to the culture?
I’ve been studying the cultures of Asia for many years, and I’m very attracted to the culture of Japan, in particular to the impact Zen has had on the Japanese mind and spirit. That said, any in depth study of Zen will bring you to China and the culture of Chan, the forerunner of Zen. In my opinion, there is one singular problem with religions in general: they are exclusive. To me, this exclusivity is not right. Zen and Chan’s “ways” of discovery are non-exclusive. They speak about the reality of everyone having Buddha nature, and the potential of realizing it. This is the aspect of Zen and Chan that appeals to me strongly: the non-discrimination and inclusivity of everyone.
Are there any Japanese musicians of whom you’re a fan? What other kinds of Japanese performing arts do you enjoy?
I am less of a fan of Japanese music than I am to the poetry of haiku strangely enough, though I do enjoy the koto and shakuhachi music. The Zen calligraphy is something for which I have a great admiration.
Why do you think the Japanese possess such a great interest in jazz?
For sure the answer lies in the culture of the Japanese mind. Perhaps because the spontaneity of jazz appeals to their innate sense of honesty. In improvisation, jazz or otherwise, there’s no room to lie.
Click here to read the rest of the interview.
Interview with Jazz Musician Keiko Matsui
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Keiko Matsui performs at New York's Blue Note Nov. 23-25. (Jun Sato)
By JQ magazine’s Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his NY Japanese Culture page here to subscribe for free alerts on newly published stories.
Contemporary jazz icon Keiko Matsui began playing piano at the age of five. With sales of over 1.2 million units in the U.S. and sold-out appearances at concert halls across the world, she is one of the most recognized artists in the genre.
In addition to being the first Japanese artist to top Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart, she actively supports a range of charities, including the Y-Me Breast Cancer Organization. United Nations World Food Programme’s efforts in Africa, and California for A3M’s charity for the National Marrow Donor Program.
Matsui is now putting the final touches on her latest album, due early 2011 with Shanachie Records. I spoke with her prior to her debut three-night stand happening next week at New York’s venerable Blue Note Jazz Club.
Congratulations on your very first show at New York’s Blue Note. How do you feel about playing there and what do you expect?
Of course in New York, Blue Note is a legendary place, and I’m very happy to be there. At the same time, I have toured in many different countries, and I always feel very fortunate at the concerts to feel that music connects us beyond the culture, history, country, everything. So, I really feel that this experience at Blue Note will be very special.
When did you first come to the U.S.?
In the early ’80s.
What did you do there?
At that time, I was invited to Los Angeles by Yamaha for a special recording. I was also a student, and had the opportunity to make a sample album with Vinnie Colaiuta and Nathan East. That was my first visit to the U.S., and also my first recording there. I invited Vinnie to record on my new album, so I’m glad to see him again.
What were your memories of that experience? Did you have any culture shock?
I only had one week there, so of course I didn’t know much about the music scene in the U.S., but I was so entranced by Nathan and Vinnie’s playing. It was great creating music together with great musicians, but at that time they were so open. Maybe this is a cultural difference, because Japanese language is based on politeness and different words depending on who you talk to, but English doesn’t have that. So, Japanese people speak really strictly, I felt.
You’ve had a successful career for a long time. Why have you decided to play Blue Note now?
That’s true. For me, that’s something I’m kind of questioning myself, too. [laughs]
Click here to read the rest of the interview.
Interview with Competitive Eater Takeru Kobayashi
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Justin with Kobayashi and Friend of JET Sarah Goebel.
By JQ magazine’s Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his NY Japanese Culture page here to subscribe for free alerts on newly published stories.
Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi is a three-time Guinness World Record holder for competitive eating. He burst on the American scene in 2001 at Coney Island’s annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest by downing 50 dogs in 12 minutes, doubling the previous record. Kobayashi went on to win the contest six consecutive times while shattering other gastronomic records around the world.
After a shocking arrest and subsequent dismissal of charges in July at this year’s Nathan’s event, Kobayashi returned to the stage last night at the Japan Arts Matsuri in Brooklyn for another challenge: to become the world’s fastest 12-inch pizza eater. While he fell less than 20 seconds short of the 1:45 record (saying afterward that the pie was softer than he anticipated), there was no doubt among the crowd that the champ will give it another try in the near future. Hours before taking the stage, I spoke with Kobayashi through his interpreter Emiko Watanabe for this rare English language interview.
What kind of training does one have to do to be the world’s fastest pizza eater?
I had to practice how to use a knife and fork, because I have to use it for this challenge. That was the main thing.
That’s interesting. Most people don’t use a knife and fork to eat a pizza.
It would be much easier if I was allowed to use my hands instead. So it’s going to be a little harder.
What’s your favorite kind of pizza?
Pizza Margherita.
How are things after July 4th? Do you find that you’re more popular and recognized in New York from people on the street?
[laughs] I think so; I feel that I’m more recognized than before. I was famous before as a six-time champion [at the Nathan’s contest], but after Independence Day this year, people think I’m more interesting and have humor, so people notice me a lot more than before.
Where do you live in New York?
Manhattan.
Many celebrities in America are known for their talent, but personality is also important. Are you making more efforts to do things like learn English to become a bigger celebrity here?
I started going to an English school last month.
What kinds of things do your fans ask when they recognize you?
They don’t really ask anything, but they do ask to take a picture with me.
Any memorable encounters?
I met this fan who didn’t recognize me at first. She was an African American lady, and when she first spoke to me, she just thought I was a cool or cute Japanese guy. We talked, but then she recognized who I was, saying, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” It turns out that she was scrapbooking all of my articles from Independence Day, and the reason she did that is because she thought I was cute. When she realized that I was the same person, she went out of control screaming.
Click here to read the rest of the interview.
Sake World e-Newsletter by John Gauntner (October 2010)
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The October 2010 issue of the Sake World E-mail Newsletter by JET alum and leading sake expert John Gauntner (aka “The Sake Guy”) is now available online. In this issue:
1. Greetings: Happy Sake Day!
2. Toji Today: The State of the Artists
3. Did You Know? Start with the rougher stuff
4. Sake Basics: Sake Temperatures
5. Announcements and Events: Sake Professional Course in Portland and a new sake educational blog
6. Sake Education Central
Additional Links:
Notable JET alums: Bruce Feiler comments on anti-Islam protests on CNN
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Bruce Feiler (Tochigi-ken, 1987-88), author of Learning to Bow as well as several very thoughtful books on the topic of religion including Walking the Bible, was recently a guest on CNN discussing current anti-Islam sentiment with Anderson Cooper. Click here to read more posts about Bruce Feiler on JetWit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-pVfz8UbZU
Notable JET alums: Rob Cornilles – U.S. Congressional candidate
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JET alum Rob Cornilles
JET alum Robert Cornilles won the Republican primary for Congress in Oregon’s 1st District and will be running against incumbent Democrat David Wu this November 2010.
Rob is also the founder and CEO of Game Face, a successful sports marketing company with a client list that includes the Chicago Bulls, Miami Dolphins, Boston Celtics, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers.
For more information about Rob and his campaign, you can visit his website at www.cornillesforcongress.com.
Notable JET alums: Tim Harms
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Tim Harms (1994-95) is film producer for the indie film The Vicious Kind among other films. Tim was also the line producer for The Harimya Bridge, a film written and directed by fellow JET alum Aaron Woolfolk.
Notable JET Alums: Maynard Plant and Monkey Majik
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Members of Monkey Majik with Deputy Minister Len Edwards
Maynard Plant (Aomori-ken, 1997-2000) is the founder of the well-known Japan-based band Monkey Majik (www.monkeymajik.com), which consists of two Canadian members (Maynard and his brother Blaise) and two Japanese members-tax and DICK.
For more information you can check out their:
- Website: www.monkeymajik.com
- Wikipedia entry (where you’ll learn about the origins of the band as well as how Maynard is fluent in Aomori-ben): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Majik
- Embassy of Japan in Canada press release: “Goodwill Ambassadors, Monkey Majik, arrive in Ottawa to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of Japan-Canada Diplomatic Relations”
Here is their song Change with the Yoshida Brothers (a video all JET alums will appreciate):
Do you know of any notable JET alums? Let us know at jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Notable JET Alums: Aaron Woolfolk’s “The Harimaya Bridge” wins at Pan African Film Festival
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Aaron Woolfolk (Kochi-ken, 1991-93)
Aaron Woolfolk (Kochi-ken, 1991-93), director and writer of the Kochi-based film, “The Harimaya Bridge,” recently won a director’s award at the 2010 Pan African Film Festival.
Click the link below to read the article and learn more about Aaron and his acclaimed film.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/12/18655970.php
Singer Hikaru Utada Announces ‘Artistic Activity’ Break
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By JQ Magazine’s Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his NY Japanese Culture page here to subscribe for free alerts on newly published stories.
Singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada is going from exodus to hiatus.
According to a message on her homepage from Aug. 9, Hikki (as she as known to her army of fans worldwide) has wrote that following the release of this fall’s Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 album, she will take time off from her musical career effective next year.
The message finds the musician in a reflective mood, recalling the music video from her single “Automatic,” released 12 years ago when the singer was just 15 years old. She commented that since then, “part of my growth has stopped…as a person.” Hikki now intends to focus on “human activity” over “artistic activity” in the next year for an indeterminate period.
Read the full story here.
Event: “Sake With the Haiku Geisha” reading, August 13 (NYC)
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JET ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK (JETAA NY)
with support from the Consulate General of Japan in New York
Presents
A Special Play Reading of critically acclaimed Off Broadway Play
SAKE WITH THE HAIKU GEISHA
Graphic by JET alum Amber Liang
The JET Alumni Association of New York is pleased to present a limited one-night reading of the critically acclaimed play “Sake with the Haiku Geisha,” written by JET alumnus and playwright, Randall David Cook (Fukui-ken, 1991-93).
Date: Friday, August 13
Start time: 8:30 p.m.
Location: Tinker Auditorium (between Park & Madison Aves.) 22 E 60th St, New York, NY 10065, (212) 355-6100
Cost:
- $5 in advance ($10 at the door) for JET alumni
- $10 in advance ($15 at the door) for Friends of JET
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS ON-LINE VIA PAYPAL
“Sake with the Haiku Geisha” premiered Off-Broadway in 2006 and was based on the collective experiences of three JETs who were placed in Fukui-ken from 1991-1993: an American from South Carolina, a Canadian from Nova Scotia and an English woman from Devon. The structure of the play is inspired by the classic Noh play: an opening ceremony, five acts (each of which uses a different speaker and a spirit or ghost), and a closing ceremony. The show starts on at a farewell party for the visiting JETS, and first three acts are told from the perspective of the visiting JETs, and then the tables turn, and the final two acts are told from the perspective of two Japanese: the supervisor of the Canadian JET, and the geisha’s story, which closes out the play.
The first act, “Sushi and Scones” was a finalist in five major festivals in the USA and England, won the “Best Play” award at the Southeastern Playwrights Conference and was taped and broadcast by as a BBC radio play in late 2005. See a full review of the play in the New York Times.
This event is being organized in cooperation with the Consulate General of Japan in New York.
Kobayshi Cleared of Charges From Nathan’s Arrest
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Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi with interpreter/publicist Maggie James and attorney Mario D. Romano. (Associated Press)
The case, of which its misdemeanors also included charges of obstruction of governmental administration and disorderly conduct, ended with an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (A.C.D.). This means that if Kobayashi, 32, stays out of trouble for six months, his record will be restored. This is good news for the Nagano native’s New York fans, since he moved to Gotham earlier this year after receiving a 0-1A work visa in February for his “extraordinary ability or achievement.” His visa status should remain unaffected by the court’s decision.
Read the full story here.
Tom Baker interviews “Airbender” cast
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Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. As another example of JET ROI, he is one of at least four former JETS to have been on the newspaper’s staff in recent years. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
Recently he interviewed two members of the cast of “The Last Airbender” movie during their promotional visit to Tokyo, asking them for their views on the “racebending” controversy surrounding their film. He also covered an insect show now running at a Tokyo museum, reviewed the manga “Otomen,” and weighed in on a couple of other movies now playing in Japan. Here are some excerpts:
“Last Airbender”
In the United States, some fans of the anime-style cartoon on which the movie is based have protested against the casting of Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz, who are white, in roles the fans saw as Asian.
Asked to comment on that, Rathbone said: “I originally was a finalist for Prince Zuko [a Fire Nation role that went to Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel]. Almost a year later, I was brought back in for the character of Sokka…I think what they were really looking for was the qualities that people represent, not so much focusing on race…All these characters [in the cartoon] have so many different features, you can’t really say that they are one race…It’s a shame that people really focus on the race thing and they don’t understand that it’s a story for everyone.”
“And there are over 120 different types of people in the film,” Peltz added.
“In terms of a big-budget film, it’s the most ethnically diverse cast there’s ever been,” Rathbone agreed.
Read the rest of the interview here.
“Insects festival”
Open your window on a hot summer day and you may hear a sound that caught the ear of haiku poet Matsuo Basho in the 17th century: the voices of cicadas, seeping into the rocks. Of course, Japan today is a lot more urbanized than it was in Basho’s time, and cicadas are more likely to sing against a background of asphalt and cement. Yet year after year, the buzzing bugs never fail to show up, even in the heart of Tokyo.
Visitors to Insects Festival, an exhibition now running at the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku, Tokyo, are reminded of such persistence right away with a display of six-legged critters that live in three different Tokyo zones: mountains, fields and downtown areas.
While city-dwellers often resent sharing space with the likes of cockroaches and ants, the emphasis of this show is on seasonal outdoor insects whose diverse shapes, bright colors and occasional songs actually enhance city life…
Read the rest of the article here, or visit the exhibition’s site here.
“Otomen”
Anyone writing a graduate thesis on the presentation of gender in Japanese pop culture will find abundant material in the manga series Otomen. Readers looking for laughs will also find what they seek in Otomen, but rather less abundantly.
The main characters are a trio of high school students, with the focus on Asuka (a boy who has a name more common for girls), who is in love with Ryo (a girl who has a name more common for boys). Their would-be romance is complicated by the constant presence of their friend Juta, who tries to play cupid, but is more often a third wheel.
Asuka is the captain of the school kendo team, and is admired by everyone as a “real man.” But he is secretly an “otomen,” a boy who is into girly things, such as cute stuffed animals and delicate pastries. He is at least as skilled at cooking and sewing as he is at sports, but he keeps that side of himself hidden. Ryo is Asuka’s mirror image in that she has been raised by her socially inept father to follow in his footsteps as a martial arts champion, but she strives to put up a feminine front at school. Juta has a secret, too, as he is actually a best-selling manga artist who is using the couple as a model for his stories…
Also playing…
You can read Tom’s review of “Inception” here, and his review of “Zombieland” here.
JQ Magazine’s May/June 2010 “JET Author Issue” Out Now!
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It’s a veritable JET literary review in the new issue of JQ, featuring an interview with bestselling Learning to Bow author Bruce Feiler and three-time Stephen Leacock Medal winner Will Ferguson! Click here to view.
Additional contents below. Thanks to JQ editor Justin Tedaldi (Kobe-shi CIR, 2001-02) for another solid issue. Contact Justin if you’d like to pitch or write a story for the next issue.
CONTENTS
- Page 3….From the Editor, New Country Reps
- Page 4….Nippon News Blotter / Wynne Memorial
- Page 5….JETAANY Election Recap
- Page 5….Gorgeous Entertainment by Anthony Waldman
- Page 6….Int’l Center of New York by Pamela Kavalam
- Page 6….Yoko Shioya of Japan Society by Lyle Sylvander
- Page 7….JETlog Feauturing Gail Cetnar Meadows
- Page 8….Bruce Feiler: The JQ Interview by Justin Tedaldi
- Page 9….JETAANY Society Page Photos
- Page 10…Nihonjin in NY: Nobuya Nagahama by Stacy Smith
- Page 11….Echostream Rocks the Anime Circuit by Earth Bennett
- Page 13.…Robataya Restaurant Review by Nancy Ikehara
- Page 13….The Niigata Sake Book by Yukari Sakamoto
- Page 14.…Will Ferguson: Canadian Cousin by Joshua Graubart
- Page 15….The Funny Page
Tom Baker interviews 2 movie directors, pans one manga
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Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the paper’s arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
He recently interviewed Shane Acker, director of the animated film “9” and Richard Kelly, who most recently directed “The Box,” a thriller starring Cameron Diaz. He also reviewed the manga “Hot Gimmick.” Here are some excerpts:
Shane Acker
[The characters in the movie are all animated dolls with numbers instead of names.] A different personality aspect is dominant in each one. Rigid orthodoxy is represented by leader 1 (voiced by Christopher Plummer), creativity by inventor 2 (Martin Landau), bravery by warrior 7 (Jennifer Connelly) and so on. Elijah Wood does the voice of 9, the truth-seeker of the group, and John C. Reilly voices his timid friend, 5…
The most amusing character is 8 (Fred Tatasciore), who embodies sheer physicality. In one scene, he achieves a moment of strange bliss by stroking his head with a large magnet, an activity that Acker called “degaussing himself.”
“In film school, especially in the days of video, if you had a videotape and you wanted to just wipe it clean, there’s a degaussing machine, which is basically like a supermagnet, and you would wave the videotape over the degausser and it would just take off all the footage that’s on there,” Acker explained. “So that’s the kind of idea, he’s sort of wiping his memory banks. You realize why he’s so dumb.”
Richard Kelly
Imagine that a mysterious stranger has just handed you a wooden box with a red button on top. He explains, rather convincingly, that if you push the button two things will happen: Someone whom you don’t know will die, and you will receive a payment of 1 million dollars…
In writer-director Richard Kelly’s movie The Box, based on a short story by Richard Matheson, the stranger’s name is Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), and he is conducting a high-stakes social experiment by visiting the homes of middle-class American couples and offering them the choice of pushing the button or not.
“Tonally this movie crosses a lot of genres,” Kelly, who previously wrote and directed Donnie Darko (2001) and Southland Tales (2006), told The Daily Yomiuri in a recent phone interview. “It’s a science fiction film, it’s a domestic melodrama, it’s a suspense film, there’s elements of horror in it, and there’s also some black comedy inherent…The conceit of pushing this button on this contraption and someone you don’t know dying is very mischievous. Anyone who would build this contraption and make this offer is smirking when they do it. And Matheson was smirking, I’m sure, when he wrote this short story.”
…[The story is set in the 1970s because] the mysterious stranger is a character type whose day has passed, according to Kelly. “When I set out to write this screenplay, I initially was trying to figure out how to make it work present-day, but when you introduce modern technology and the Internet, social networking sites, Google maps, satellite maps, reality TV, just our media-saturated world that we live in…there is no such thing as a real stranger anymore. Everyone can be found on the Internet. You can find anyone’s house, you can go onto a satellite map with a 360-degree view.”
“Hot Gimmick”
[In this manga, a high school girl’s seriously unhealthy relationships with her would-be boyfriends is presented as perfectly normal.]
For example, the day after one of her suitors is unable to reach her by phone (for reasons that are no one’s fault), he slaps her across the face so hard that bystanders rush to offer first aid. But Hatsumi chases after him to make the following speech, which he receives in stony silence: “I’m sorry. For being so clueless. For…never being able to get your calls…I’m so sorry. I’m really sorry. For not understanding how you feel about me. I’m sorry.”
Later, when one of the boys proposes to her, she thinks, “Maybe if we got married, he’d finally be nice to me.”
She seems unaware of some basic principles of healthy human interaction, such as this simple standard: If a friend arranges for you to be gang-raped, that person is not really your friend.
