Projects

This week the boys had some big events to be ready for, and they delivered.
Oliver's band concert with several of the city's schools participating; an ultimate big band!

                                                            He played his parts well!

                         Sunday Dexter set up and broke down the stage for Phat Sunday working with his friend Sam. Sam's duties were with sound but this two man crew had to do a lot with little time between sets.

                             Oliver adores me. This is some type of street sign showing his affection.

Oliver is showing the after effects of his affection but with Maria's help was finally able to retract his fingers.

Able enough to issue his latest portrait of his dear old Dad. 

                                                               It's nice to be loved.

Strong Women

   I always admired my Mom's friends. In her later years- either because their husbands had taken ill, had mobility issues or had taken leave,  these women would gather for lunch and stay in constant communication. Some had some physical limitations and would find ways to have relatives drive them to the group but they found a way to get there. With each other they had a long and special history. They had witnessed many changes in society and in their lives as Asian Americans, women and partners.  It was a shock that my Mom, thought of as one of the healthiest would go first.

     To this day, Helen, Blossom, Bess (and May, who could not attend this date) still carry on; meeting when they can. Helen makes her way from Berkeley often negotiating public transportation on her own but on this day her daughter brought her over to...my parents house.

     After Mom died, the ladies group would make it out to the home to provide my father company, to look after him.  They are so sharp; an inspiration.  On my father's last night - after he had fallen (and unknown to us suffered massive brain bleeding) one of his concerns was that he needed to get the tooth he had just chipped fixed before he saw the ladies next.  I asked him if he was vain about how his looks and he said, "Yes!".

      We've seen them a couple of times in the last three years but it's been too long and not wanting to wait any longer, I reached out to all. Working with Aunt Helen primarily (her sister married Tom Hanks father, so if cousin Tom asks about me, please tell him I'm alright) we found a good calendar date and made arrangements. My sister would get Bess, Mike should get Blossom (Helen did) and we would all bring (turned out to be much) food.

        I also invited Harry and Linda Chuck (he's working on a documentary about Chinatown from the '60's-'80's!) and cousin Ronnie. Harry and Linda made it, and were in on the funniest moment of the luncheon when someone asked "I wonder if Harry Chuck is still alive?". It's nice to be able to affirm unequivocally  the answer of yes!
 
         Kevin and Jen came along too. Maria noticed a nice bond between Jen and Blossom. It was a really fine day; as excellent as any that we have.

                                It was also Aunt Helen's Birthday (+/-a day) This was February 5
                                       
                                     Oh yeah, some more cool women (and more, not pictured)

Birthday Kids!!

                                                     (thanks family for these pictures!)

Maria, aces!

It's Important

This entry is a bit of a cheat, as I'm just forwarding a sensible article originally on Michael Moore's Facebook page but it makes sense. It's something to do and it all adds up to action, not inertia.

Michael Moore, Do These 10 Things And Trump Will BE Toast

Big protests, little community ones, Town Halls or going to the beach and holding hands as a sign of solidarity. Whether its 50 people or more, it all matters.  Even if it's goofy but inclusive, I'm in.

I revisited this yesterday and it's important to be reminded how much an impact artists and the media impacted a situation that was awful and grim for many years. I always liked the video, the energy of the song and the reality shown of the then situation of  Artists United Against Apartheid. (1985)
(Plus Tony Williams gets screen time  for a couple of seconds!)
Here's the story and the video included in the link of :
The story of Artists Against Apartheid
An interesting piece to this to is recognizing how important rap would become in American culture, and having rappers included prominently and  joined by Gil Scott Heron was a smart call.
Miles Davis' trumpet blast at the beginning of the video intensely captures the tension of the situation- it begs for a release, and action.

                                                       Tony Williams and Ruben Blades


And today is John Lewis' Birthday! Thank you, and please stay around to see us out of this mess...

                                     Alameda Journal coverage captures Kathy and Bob!!

March For Truth, March For Justice, March for Kindness, March for Human Decency

No doubt about it. Our President is to my mind, crazy. Not fun crazy but bad, bad crazy. Bad hombre crazy. In my lifetime I never felt that we were governed by a crazy man until now. This is not a good thing by any definition. Not a day passes where this man has taken human decency and the dignity of the office and made it much less, made it into a spiteful little child's reactions to his own fears, proud to appeal to the worst of America.

This article from 2/24/17 : Slate, Jamelle Bouie
Who Matters In Donald Trump's America

     Money buys freedom so to this extent it has welcome qualities. To the reality that money, the desire for power and oil, to impose your will on those less fortunate, are qualities that I equate with evil, then I equate this administration as evil, uncaring, narcissistic, greedy, shameful.  It's not worth tempering words. It is no longer worth respecting the office if the office does not respect the many people it should be representing.

     How is this different from how very conservative people felt about President Obama? Very different. Obama's Presidency was not about the man or his ego. Obama's past and dedication was born from community work. He could be approached. He respected the media. President Obama acted with decency, humility. He practiced this in office, when he engaged with other leaders, and the Americans he met.

      Protests in Oakland and San Francisco, despite cold and wet weather, across the country were peaceful and loud. In this united community was joyful resistance,  If the crowds in the Bay Area were larger than expected led to some confusion as to the where and when, or created an impasse in movement, all the different faces, ages of Americans with their clever pointed signs lifted the spirit and provided hope. This does not end. This is the beginning before we begin.  These are the sparks before the fire of our action. But it will need to be more than words, more than signs, more than a weekend.

      When the President activated his Muslim ban that he said was not a Muslim ban (contradicted by his adviser, Rudy Giuliani who boastfully said that Trump asked him how to create a Muslim ban legally), Americans gathered in force at  airports in the nation. At SFO, thousands peacefully and loudly protested. This was well organized as there was many snacks, pizza, water bottles and fruit passed around, shared and offered that everyone could be fortified to continue. Dexter even slid some airport police a case of water as a peace offering as we were recruited (must be the muscles) to distribute food and water. We are inspired by everyone across the nation who participated and will continue to protest. This is a long haul.

        We have to lose many battles (Trump's nominees to his cabinet will likely all be approved) before we win some.  It is as rebuilding a team. You build heart, character and a strategy. You expand on it, practice it, learn from your losses, get everyone on board and push, push, push. The wins will come. The change will come. It won't be easy. It will take time. The fight continues. It will not die.

This generation of young voters now know that nothing will be given to them. They must be advocates, activists for justice. They must seek knowledge and question authority, and provide care for those less fortunate.  We aren't all from the same start point. 

Together, we will overcome.

Tony Williams

     We went to a Tony Williams tribute night at SF Jazz loaded with musicians. I found the most invigorating joyful piece to be the very first with Zakir Hussain, Eric Harland and Joshua Redman. Here the interplay between the musicians was constantly changing, rapid, fun, with sustained bursts of ideas, call and response, stumbles, recovery, tension, release, a journey we all were invited to.

young Tony with Max Roach, who gave Tony a cymbal that he used on his early recordings with Miles

     As a young drummer, Tony Williams served as a mentor to Cindy Blackman and she led the second act of music played with some of the SF Jazz Collective, later playing with an electric jazz rock group after the full performance of  Williams' suite, Rituals, with the Kronos Quartet.  Nearly 30 years ago we saw Kronos perform this with Tony and Herbie Hancock; a beautiful piece but never recorded.  Tonight we learned that in some of the rehearsals then teenager Cindy Blackman played the drum parts while Williams conducted or listened to make adjustments. Very cool that Blackman would perform this now.

SF Jazz bandstand for the tribute night

     Who was Tony Williams? Tony Williams was my favorite living musician from my mid 20's-until he died twenty years this month from complications from what was supposed to be minor surgery. The story has it that he suffered a heart attack after relatively minor surgery. He had been working on long forms of writing, already having building a book of strong work.  As a teenager Williams was a drumming phenom, already a brilliant musician (runs in the family) in Boston playing early with Jackie McLean's group, and then at sixteen/17 with Miles Davis' band of musical warriors that also included Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. They penciled a mustache on Williams so that he could sneak into the clubs to play. According to Miles, Williams was the most responsible member of the band, and would wake everyone up in the morning besides duties driving the music on the bandstand, at night.

     His playing style was influenced by those before him and he quickly learned and built on the playing of Max Roach, Art Blakey, Philly Jo Jones, Kenny Clarke. He mastered his craft. He found his voice. To me, his solos never felt showy or as traditional drum solos. His work always connected to the composition or was a complete composition in itself. His use of pace, sense of swing, incredible dynamics from a whisper to thunder, several rhythms played out on one or different drums and using the ride cymbal more extensively perhaps than anyone else before him. His shimmering cascades of sound, always crisp and full.

      No other musician contributed to the joy Maria and I found in being together and enjoying the Tony Williams Quintet, the band he formed in the mid-80's, in his return to playing in a more traditional jazz setting, with musicians that had moved through Art Blakey's school of Jazz Messengers. We often would run out to Oakland or SF, or wherever they were playing to catch a set or two of this great band. He was the only one who could keep Maria up late!  The arrangements of this band were always interesting, not following any of the usual patterns of solo, solo, solo.  Sometimes the leader would share smiles with his band enjoying the playing of the other musicians. They were always very good and very inspiring to us. One particular evening we remember distinctly; watching Pharoah Sanders at Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill then driving out to the old Yoshi's in Oakland, where we embraced the sound and joy of this fine band.

I grabbed a copy of this photo from a club after the last set. Favorite thing I ever stole.

     At the tribute concert there were to my mind, too many Miles Davis compositions  due to the lack of time the musicians had to prepare. While Tony's contributions to the Davis band of the 60's were crucial, his own writing (he spent years in the 80's studying composition) are more than worthwhile and excellent.  Besides Rituals, SF Jazz did play two or three other Williams works. Originally Williams asked Terance Blanchard (tp) to join the quintet but he couldn't (Wallace Roney, Bill Pierce, Mulgrew Miller and finally Ira Coleman, bass) but he played tonight, and sharing the stage with Joe Lovano (ts) it was nice to hear their playing and their spin on the music although the ensemble pieces were not nearly as tight as the Williams Quintet.

later used as the cover for Diane Ackermans History Of The Senses

    Williams/Hancock/Shorter/Carter/Davis pushed jazz into a different place; with harder rhythms, playing without convention, using space and silence or roaring sounds, each individual equal contributors to the music. After leaving Miles, Williams led some of the first Jazz-Rock groups, Tony Williams Lifetime! and played with many musicians from Sonny Rollins to Bill Laswell, Artists United Against Apartheid, John Lyndon, and Carlos Santana.  At the time of his death he was about to work with Max Roach.  I left work early for his memorial service at the chapel at USF and I remember Max providing a memorable eulogy, as well as Hancock, Wallace Roney, Wayne Shorter and others in attendance.

     I wanted to believe in karma when I was working at Double Rainbow on the night Williams came in with a friend for ice cream sundaes.  I couldn't believe my fortune! Are you kidding me??? I knew that he lived in the Bay Area but this was still too incredible.  He was in a great mood that night, and I was happy to make them sundaes and engage in short discussions about Duke Ellington, and inquire why Bill Pierce didn't play in the Jazz In The City (now SF Jazz)Tony Williams concert at the Herbst Theater. He let me know that Pierce ( an underrated player that Williams wrote well for) had just gone skiing for the first time and broke both his legs. I made a ridiculous joke about how they should have considered having Pierce play in a wheelchair and just moving him around on stage. Fortunately Williams was amused and played along with the idea. All was good in my world. The Original Bad Hombre, Donald Trump could never be President of this country (well okay, Reagan was President at the time). When I made a comment on how I was impressed with the record art, Williams called his friend over Michelle Clement and we talked about her art design.(There's a piece he wrote for her called, "My Michelle").  Then, with my discreet phone call, Maria came charging down the hill but fortunately we didn't lose our cool. How often do you get to serve your favorite musician an ice cream sundae?

   
         What we all need to be now: Warrior, Tony Williams Quintet
          A standard for his sister        Sister Cheryl, Tony Williams with Bobby Hutcherson
           A sweet melody                  Geo Rose, Tony Williams
           and we can play hard           Birdlike, Tony Williams Quintet (Freddie Hubbard)
           tribute to Miles                    Elegy, (Williams), Hancock, Shorter, Carter, Williams, Roney
           or cover a pop tune             Blackbird, Tony Williams Quintet (Beatles)
            An article from Jazz Times : max-roach-remembers-tony-williams/jazztimes

         Tony Williams at 51. Lara at 41. Gone far too soon. So much we all will miss.

    Oddly I found on YouTube a tune (sung!) by Williams called, "Lawra", (and an instrumental version)                  which is funny to me as I always was concerned about saying Lara's name incorrectly.

                                         (Nearly are the photos are from the internet)

Two drummers that I enjoy when they come around are Brian Blade (The Fellowship Band, and plays with many others) and Stanton Moore (Galactic+side projects).