Jenni's Hournal - July 2004

July 2004

July 27 - J-town Mural Madness!


			Be one of the first to see a color comp of the J-town Mural that was designed by my very talented partner, Tony over the last two weeks. Since July 13, he has logged over 100 hours designing the mural, pulling 6 all-nighters. It's an interesting process to watch our living and dining rooms transformed into mural madness with books, photos and clippings all over the floor. As of now the 16' X 40' design needs to be presented to Cultural Affairs and approved by the City before painting can start. The picture on the far left is taken at 1am a few days ago. At left, Tony presenting the finished color comp tonight. Detailed close-up images and description to come soon. Check out Tony's previous Murals here.

Tuesday am - Click here to comment:

July 26 - Another Obon Weekend
On Friday, I worked until midnight--ugg--but it had to be done. On Saturday, I went with Ayako to see "Camp Dance" by the Grateful Crane Ensemble at EWP. It is a musical of camp-era music and the target audience is Nisei - 2nd generation JAs. I even saw my parents and their friends there! Afterwards, we ran over to Higashi Buddhist Temple to see Bombu Taiko, the group I used to play with, perform. It was so fun to watch. I ate chili rice, somen, a snow cone. I got teriyaki chicken, chirashi rice, and cookies to go. Then we stopped at the Obon Market and I got a cucumber, canteloupe, 2 plums, 3 tomatoes, green onions for $2. Quite a deal. It was fun to hang out with my friend Ayako, who I haven't seen in way too long. Afterwards, I went shopping at Target, conveniently forgetting a gift card we got a long time ago. Then yesterday, I slept in, took several naps, and then Tony and I started moving furniture around - moving our office to the den.
Monday pm - Click here to comment:

July 22 - Butts in Seats
Today, I saw on the news about some possible new airport security plans to let you go thru security quicker if you agree to fingerprints, retina scan and personal information that gets run through a computer, then you get a special pass. WTF. This Big Brother crap is so disturbing. I don't have anything to hide, and I would like to go thru security faster, too, but this is not the answer folks. What do you think? The government has no right to this info. Just another assault on our civil liberties in this country. I don't think this is going to stop the terrorists, any more than making my friend's 95 year old mother take off her shoes in the airport.Anyways, it's not something I'm willing to put up with to get my butt on the plane any faster.

Oh, I'm exhausted. It's been a long week. I was in rehearsal on Monday and Wednesday nights, and had meetings on Tuesday and tonight. My mantra is butts in seats. Our show "To All Relations: Sacred Moon Songs" opens in 8 days, and we have tons of tickets available. Did you hear us on KPFK yesterday? It's going to be a great show. I wish people wouldn't wait until the last minute to buy tickets, cause usually our shows sell out and we have to turn people away--but I'm guilty of that too, not wanting to commit until the last minute, even for things I really want to go to. If you're interested in seeing the connections between different cultures, Muslim, Japanese, Mexican, African American, in a beautiful, spiritual, deep and entertaining way, come to our show - it opens next Friday, July 30 and runs thru Sunday, August 1. For ticket info, see my blog for July 11 below. Butts in seats... Butts in seats.
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July 21 - Good, Bad, Ugly
Good: Kudos to Linda Ronstadt for her positive words about the Michael Moore film "Fahrenheit 9/11" during her concert in Las Vegas recently. She didn't tell anyone how to vote, but she urged people to see the film and decide for themselves. Bad: Boo hiss to the drunk fans who walked out on Linda Rondstadt's encore because they disagreed with her--and for causing a little riot at the Aladdin theater, ripping down posters. Ugly: Really unbelievably tacky and mean-spirited for the owner of the Aladdin for banning her from the hotel, and packing up her bags and throwing her out. That is so disrespectful to treat a performer in that way. On the morning talk shows, hosts were saying that people go to get entertained, not to hear a performer's politics. Give me a break. Practically every concert, mainstream or progressive, that I have gone to, it is not uncommon for the artist to express their political views. In fact, it's what I often respect most about them is their politics.

Remember I had tried to arrange a group of friends for opening night to F9/11, but wasn't able to get tickets that day. I did actually see the movie during open week. I thought it was fantastic, although I was frustrated by the level of news that has been censored in the mainstream media. The only negative I saw, was that he made his point loud and clear, and maybe 10-15 minutes could have been edited down, with still the same end result: Bush & Company has got to go! We read on commondreams.org this morning that 2-3% of voters swinging from Bush to Kerry could have a significant impact on the election.
Wednesday - Click here to comment:

July 19 - Obon Weekend

Food booths galore! Eating Dango with Lily Lisa with Jay and Kai Kai eating chicken Dancers at Venice Obon

It was a fairly busy weekend. On Saturday, I went to the Farmer's Market, then went to visit my sister Gayle and her two kids. I had so much fun playing with my nephew, he's at such a fun age, laughing and giggling at just about everything. Words like coinky-dink and tizzy got him hysterical. Then I got to spend some time with my niece who is 2 1/2 months old - she's getting very cute. On Saturday night, Tony went to a bbq with high school friends, and our friends Mike and Laura came over with a DVD called "The Vanishing" with French and Danish subtitles. It was one of those thrillers, pretty good movie. Me and Mike went out on a search for donuts, but alas, it's hard to get donuts on the westside on Saturday nights.

On Sunday, I went and got a haircut (see new bangs below),then went to Trader Joe's, came home did two loads of laundry, and hung them out in the backyard. Then for dinner, Tony & I went to the Venice Obon and met Lily and Kent, Lisa, Jay and their baby Kai there. Obon is a Buddhist tradition originally from Japan, created to honor the ancestors--but it is also a festival with lots of Japanese American soul food, game booths, small fundraisers for the various temple groups, a place for teenagers to stand around checking each other out. I ate chili rice, corn-on-the-cob, chirashi rice, and brownies with kisses. Tony ate a teriyaki chicken plate and fried won ton and took lots of pictures. The only thing we missed was the udon, and I didn't get a chance to play Bingo. I saw a teenager in a kimono with a cell phone tucked in her obi (belt). Such a nice evening, eating good old JA food, seeing old friends, playing games, and watching people eat, dance and have fun. Looking forward to the Higashi Obon in Little Tokyo next weekend - Bombu Taiko, my old taiko group, performs at 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

For the last week and a half, Tony has been working like crazy to finish the design for the Little Tokyo mural. He has been working literally day and night, often going to sleep after I wake up. But, it's coming along real nicely, and hopefully we'll be able to start painting in August.
Monday - Click here to comment:

July 14 - Bento Box of Love

Tony bought me a cute little bento box (Japanese-style lunch holder) with four small food containers and a pair of hashi, which sits in a bigger container and then fits in a little black canvas bag that I can wear on my shoulder. On Monday, he made me the greatest lunch, which I brought to work. It had rice with turkey chili, corn, green beans and gyoza, somen with tomatoes and a King's Hawaiian custard fruit tart. It was all so delicious.

Yesterday he came home with two stackable black lacquer bento boxes and a plastic container with a movable center divider. We're ready to go back to the Hollywood Bowl with our bento boxes. Then today, he made me gyoza with broccoli and grilled tofu, rice with spam, cold tofu and apple slices with cinnamon and peanut butter. It was so sweet.
Wednesday - Click here to comment:

July 11 - Sacred Moon Songs

I have been very busy at work this month, so it will probably be light blogging in the coming weeks. I am producing "To All Relations: Sacred Moon Songs" which will have 3 performances from July 30-August 1st. We have only sold about 50 tickets, but we have 700 seats available--so we have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks. Tomorrow night is our first production meeting with the stage manager, lighting designer, sound designer, set designer with a full run through rehearsal.

It is a theater piece highlighting the middle passage of Africans, relocation of Japanese Americans, repatriation of Mexican Americans, to the deportation and detainment of American Muslims since 9/11. The show is an offering of peace, woven from stories, songs and poetic visions--a cross cultural oddyssey that sheds a light of hope in a world of chaos. It's a combination of personal stories from 12 community participants who wrote their own pieces in workshops we've been having since Fall 2003. I urge you to come see this unique Great Leap performance. We will also feature Leimert Park poet Kamau Daa'ood and choreographer Young-Ae Park, and musicians Derek Nakamoto, Brad Cummings and Kevin Higa. Full press release is here.

If you want tickets I will give you the $15 discount tickets by mentioning kuidaosumi.com. You can order tickets thru Paypal through the Great Leap website--at the $15 discount price. Click here. July 30 @ 7:30 pm, July 30 @ 7:30 pm, August 1 @ 2pm at David Henry Hwang Theater (East West Players), 120 Judge John Aiso Street (between First & Temple) in Little Tokyo. Tickets are $15 discount, $20 general admission, $50 VIP (reserved seating and opening night reception).

Salaam, heiwa, paz, shalom aleichem... salaam, heiwa, paz, shalom aleichem...
Sunday - Click here to comment:

Simon & Garfunkel at the Bowl

July 6 - Nine Years in L(u)V(egas)
On July 1st, Tony and I celebrated our 9th anniversary together by going to see Simon & Garfunkel at the Hollywood Bowl. I think I might have blogged about how I missed the farewell concert at Dodger Stadium 22 years ago because I had the chicken pox, so getting to see S&G was the fulfillment of a long-awaited dream at the "Old Friends" reunion concert. During 3 of the songs, "Sounds of Silence," "Feelin' Groovy" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water," I was totally tearing up. It was surprising, but it meant so much for me to see them after all these years. We were seated pretty high up in the 20,000 seat venue, and I hadn't been there in maybe 10-15 years, when I used to sit in the $1 seats back in college on a fairly regular basis. Traffic sucked, and the stacked parking was $17! Tony was on me for not making shuttle bus arrangements. Unfortunately, we never hooked up with my friends Maria & Eduardo who were also there.

The next morning, we went to Las Vegas to continue our anniversary weekend. I had wanted to go somewhere and lie on a beach or hang out by a pool, so we went to the Mandalay Bay, which has a sandy beach, with a wave machine. When we got there, we checked in to our nice room, with a bathroom the size of our bedroom, and then went down to the Bayside Buffet for dinner. With tip, it came to over $50! On Saturday, we went to the breakfast buffet, which was a better deal, but the food was so-so. Then off to the beach! It was over 100 degrees, so I laid out for short periods of time, and spent the rest of the time in the water, floating on my back and staring up at the palm trees, my favorite thing to do.

The hotel was pretty hi-tone for us, so on Saturday night, we went downtown to the California Club--we ate Hawaiian food for $10 for both of us, and gambled a bit in the smoky casino, kind of looking for people we might know. When I couldn't handle the smoke anymore, we went walking on Fremont Street, and checked out the almond duck on the menu at Golden Nugget ($15.95!). We went back to the California Club, which starts serving oxtail soup at 11pm. Tony enjoyed the soup, but probably wished he hadn't eaten the mixed plate (beef/fish/chicken) 2 1/2 hours earlier. I enjoyed a late night root beer float. We went back to the Mandalay, which was nice because there was no smoke. Did I mention that we are high rollers when it comes to gambling? Tony put $10 in what he thought was a nickel machine, but to his surprise, it turned out to be a $5 dollar slot instead of a 5 cent slot. It was a funny moment, one of those times when the lesson is to check the machine first. We were out till almost 3 am and we were exhausted.

Anyways, we came back on Sunday afternoon. There was a car on fire which caused us to stop for about 5 minutes in the hot 105 degree desert. The total bummer was that once we started back up, the a/c in my car stopped working for about 2 1/2 hours, I was melting fast. We stopped to visit Tony's mom and stepdad who live in the high desert and took us out to dinner. Got back Sunday night, and went straight to bed, sleeping for 12 hours (and sleeping through the neighbor's obnoxious fireworks), waking up in the morning and taking a 3 hour nap. That's it. That's the weekend. And to my love, I want to thank you for nine wonderful years so far, for going with me to the HB, and for a terrific weekend getaway.
Tuesday - Click here to comment: