Since we’re on a high from JindoMaster808‘s excellent guest blog post (Big MLC Mahalo once again, JM808), I thought we’d do a Thursday 3 about Makin’ Music.
Copy and paste the 3 questions and answer them or just answer them by number, order, whatever. And don’t forget to leave any comments, stories, memories, etc. relating to the topic. So, with a one, and a two, and a three…
If you woke up one morning and had the magical ability to play, I mean really jam, any musical instrument – what instrument would you choose? And why?
If you used to or still do play a musical instrument, what made you choose that specific musical instrument?
What’s your take on music?
Here’s my replies:
If you woke up one morning and had the magical ability to play, I mean really jam, any musical instrument – what instrument would you choose? And why? In my younger days, I would’ve liked to play the electric guitar – like Eddie van Halen. But now, in my MLC age, I’d choose the saxophone. To me, the sound of the sax is both sexy and soulful. The way the notes have the ability to blend together. How you can almost feel your passion through the music that you play – like it’s an extension of your soul. Now that’s Makin’ Music.
If you used to or still do play a musical instrument, what made you choose that specific musical instrument? Since my brother had a guitar, I tried to learn how to play it. Didn’t happen. I think with my short and stubby Okinawan fingers – it just wasn’t meant to be. In high school, I tried taking a few slack-key guitar lessons. Nope. Nada. Nuttin’. I even tried the harmonica. No go. Then it dawned on me – even if I knew how to play something, if I’m simply not musically inclined – it wouldn’t sound good anyway (which leads me to question #3).
What’s your take on music? Since Makin’ Music was so hard for me, I gained an appreciation for music. It’s so amazing to me that individual instruments making all different sounds can come together and produce something so beautiful in harmony. And when I’m tired, stressed, or just need to relax – music calms me down. And one of my biggest loves for music is how it can transport me back in time and trigger my memories to when I used to hear that song. In fact, it still does that to me today. For example, a couple of times when we were playing at the Main Street casino, this song was playing in the background. I heard it although I wasn’t really listening to it – I’m guessing that my subconscious was soaking it all in – and the song was suddenly burned into my memory. So of course whenever I hear this song now, I remember sitting at the poker machine at the Main Street casino, relaxed and having fun.
Today we have a Guest Blogger: Our very own JindoMaster808. I’ve been keeping in touch with JM808 via Facebook after we parted ways from the break up of The Honolulu Advertiser and I saw that he had picked up an old passion – playing music. I wouldn’t call it a Midlife Crisis – but rather a passion that he’s put aside for more important things in life – like family, career, health, etc.
And now, like many of us MLCers – we’re finding more time for ourselves as our children have grown up and our careers are more stable. In other words, we got our lives back to do the things we loved – like JindoMaster808′s love for playing music. So I asked him if he’d be willing to share his story with us – which he graciously has done. So without further ado, I present to you:
JindoMaster’s Magical Musical Rediscovery
I sit here writing and reflecting upon tonight’s rehearsal with the Honolulu Community Concert Band. We’re preparing for a big concert next week and we’ve been covering a lot of material during rehearsals. I’ve only played with this band since January 2011. I didn’t know what to expect back then. Fortunately I’ve fit in with the group and I’ve made many new friends in the band. Best of all, I’m having a blast performing in a band once again.
The story of how I came to this point in my musical experience started in the early 70’s. During my first concert band class at Moanalua Intermediate School, I decided to choose clarinet as my instrument. I guess my dad thought it was a good fit for me. Playing a musical instrument gave me great joy and a sense that of accomplishment. I continued playing at Moanalua High School where I also played saxophone and piano. At the start of my senior year, I even entertained the idea of majoring in music. However once I started attending UH, I decided to pursue a career in Management Information Systems. Due to the time commitment with my studies, I stopped playing in my freshman year.
Fast forward 35 years to June 2010. As many of you fellow MLC’ers know, I worked at The Honolulu Advertiser with Rodney. During that month, hundreds of us were laid off due to the sale of The Advertiser. At first I found it enjoyable to not have the pressures of the job. But after a few months I only received a few invitations to interview for jobs. Things got quite boring and very depressing.
Then one day, while surfing YouTube, I discovered a young Japanese saxophonist named Kaori Kobayashi. I was impressed at how this demure young lady could play the saxophone so well. It started me thinking… I used to play, I wonder if I could eventually play like that.
That how it started again. I was hooked. I purchased a used student model Yamaha alto saxophone on eBay. I started taking lessons. Finally I had something to do while I was unemployed, something that I really enjoyed. I was so obsessed that, during my morning walks around Windward Mall with the retired folks, I’d be moving my fingers to the most recent sax exercises that my teacher assigned to me.
But something was still missing. What fun is playing music if there’s no venue to play at? So I asked my teacher about performing with bands. He mentioned the Honolulu Community Band and also the Thursday Night Jazz Band. To make a long story short, I made a few calls and I now play with both bands.
Which brings me to today. I am fortunate to be employed now and I still make time to practice and attend rehearsals and concerts. I recently purchased a used clarinet, too. Playing music again gives me great joy. When I play, I forget the stresses of work. Depending on the music, performing transports me to a different world – the old west, an Irish countryside, the Far East. When I play with the Jazz Band, I’m transported to the 40′s playing those big band hits. Best of all, I like being with my new friends who are as passionate as I am to make wonderful music and to entertain the audiences that we perform for.
If there’s one regret I have, it’s that I didn’t start playing again sooner. My parting words to you, dear MLC readers, is to seize the opportunity to do what you’ve always wanted to do. Don’t put it off because that opportunity may not come again.
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Note: JindoMaster will be performing with the Honolulu Community Concert Band in a joint concert with Omiya Community Band at 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at Pearl City Cultural Center. He will also perform with a saxophone quartet on KZOO radio at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, January 24 to promote the concert.
I remember when I was in the 4th or 5th grade, I ripped my pants. I don’t mean ripped like by the knees or at the bottom of my pants leg – I mean ripped right at the seam that starts from the inseam and UP towards the back. And big enough for the tighty-whities to show – to really stand out against the dark colored pants.
See, all this hand-me-down clothes I had to wear. By the time the pants got to me, the double stitched seams were single stitched seams. And I grew faster than my older brothers so it was always snug on me – and not to mention “high-waters”.
So during first recess playing chase-master or something rough – I ripped my pants. Of course I quickly quit playing and spent the rest of the recess leaning with my back to the wall.
Then I remember my friend, Stanley, had a red parka that was long enough to cover the puka pants. I told Stanley about the predicament I was in and asked him if I could wear his parka for the rest of the day. And I told him to keep it a secret. Stanley was cool and maybe since I confided in him only, he let me wear his parka for the rest of the day.
Luckily, no one asked why I was wearing a jacket on a hot school day, but it served it’s purpose and concealed my ripped pants. In fact, I think I wore his jacket home and returned it to him the following day.
Sorry, Losthawaiian – but you didn’t have a jacket with you on that day…
Then there was the time in college when I was wearing a velour hoodie jacket – the kind with the drawstring around the bottom of the jacket. Well, the drawstring somehow got mixed in with a bodily function – but let’s not go there.
A friend at work was sharing a story with me about the time her club was at a social and during the games, one of her club member had to run and sit quickly – probably the “doo-doo, shi-shi, fut” game – and as she quickly sat on the floor, her dress got caught in her foot and resulted in the top part of her Otaheite dress being pulled down! I think they changed the name of the game to “doo-doo, chi-chi, fut”. LOL
That reminded me of this one time when we used to play volleyball every Sunday at Ala Mo’s “keyhole” area of the park. There were a few girls playing on the other team when one of the girls lifted both her arms up over her head to hit the ball and… you guess it, her boob popped out of her bikini top. She hit the ball over the net but wondered why nobody tried to return the volley – as the ball just dropped to the ground – with all us guys standing still, mouths (and eyes) wide open, staring through the net.
Do you remember any wardrobe malfunctions stories that happened to you? Maybe a broken zipper for the guys? Or a bikini top lost in the surf for the girls? Or how about glasses when the screw comes loose and the arm falls off – and you would rather wear the glasses with the missing arm rather than put tape to hold them together and look like a nerd? Remember ripping the “fruit-loop” on guy’s shirts? Share your memories with us.
A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history
In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.
Hard for me to fathom that this actually took place in America. I guess by the time I was old enough to understand what prejudice was, there was equality for all. Well, at least from what I read in the papers or saw on the news.
But can you imagine – there was a time when African-Americans HAD to ride in the back of the bus or give up their seat to a white person? They couldn’t vote. They weren’t allowed to play professional sports. They had to dine only in certain areas of a restaurant – if they were allowed to dine there at all. Unreal…
I guess we’ve come a long way:
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it
Since we’re talking about hair – Volleymom2 emailed: I just thought of another topic.. since you were on the subject of bonnet hairdryers… maybe something along the line of bleaching one’s hair?? Remember how popular “Sun In” used to be?? I remember everybody wanted the surfer hair color. What were some of the secrets MLC used to lighten hair back then??
I remember when I was in the 8th grade (before I started surfing), I found my big brother’s bottle of peroxide and decided to make “surfa hair”. I applied it on after I pau bocha but the next day I didn’t notice any change. So I applied more again after I pau bocha the second night.
I don’t remember how many times I applied it, but I definitely had surfa hair. In fact I looked like Peg Bundy! And this was back in the 70′s when we had a LOT of hair!
But later when I started surfing and hooked up with a bunch of other surfers, they teased me about my red hair in the 8th grade. The said I looked funny having red hair and pale white skin. Good thing I didn’t know about them teasing me at the time. Would’ve made “A” big time.
But as much as I used to surf with all of my friends, I never had surfa or “ehu” hair. I even tried putting on lemon juice but still no surfa hair!
Meanwhile, my surfing buddies had natural bleached out hair. Long, straight, with bangs, and all ehu. They had Gerry Lopez hair. I was so jealous!
Then one day, my hair finally did start to turn color. But unfortunately it was after I stopped surfing. And unfortunately the color wasn’t sun-bleached, but white…
Now I just tell people it’s highlights.
Did you have “surfa hair” in your teenage days? Was it natural or did you cheat like me? What did you use? Know of any other secrets to making “ehu” hair?
I remember my mom had one of these Bonnet Hair Dryers. And since we grew up in a house of all males except for mom, these girlie things were foreign to me. So of course, when mom wasn’t around I had to check it out for myself. I don’t remember plugging it in, but I do remember taking it out and putting it on my head – but it covered my whole head – face and all.
My mom’s one looked something like this:
Whatever happened to these anyway? How come they’re not used anymore? Is it because women no longer have “Perms”? And remember when it used to rain, all the women used to bust out the little folded up plastic hair cover thingies? And how come some older ladies have blue hair?
Okay girls – time to chime in and educate us clueless guys.
eh Rod, since we talkin’ about mochi, and since mochi usually is done at New Year’s, how about the next blog entry (first of the year) be about New Year’s traditions/customs? Could talk about kadomatsu, mochi, food, or whatever other customs and traditions you/we have, whether it’s because of culture/race, or because of family.
So let’s wrap up the New Year celebration (at least until lunar new year arrives) and talk about New Year traditions/customs as DIO mentioned.
Small kid time, new year’s eve only meant one thing – blasting firecrackers. But we were restricted from popping firecrackers until my dad got home. And it was a regular work day for him so we had to wait until 4:20 when his car pool dropped him off.
But during new year’s eve day, the tradition was going all around town with my mom as she picked up all the things she needed to make her new years maki sushi. I remember one stop was at Shimaya on River street. Then a stop at Chun Hoon market on the way home.
On new year’s eve night, my mom would roll about 30 rolls of maki sushi while we were outside popping firecrackers. Come to think of it – maybe my mom did that to distract herself so she wouldn’t have to see the crazy things we were doing and not worry about us blowing up ourselves. You know: Out of sight, out of mind.
Then on new year’s day, we’d wake up late – about 8:00 AM – which was considered late during small kid time. And the first thing I’d do – okay, the second thing I’d do (after making shi-shi) is go outside and hunt for any unpopped firecrackers. I’d collect them in my empty coffee can. The ones with the short fuse? Keep ‘um. Still good for making shoo-shoo baby.
Then we’d all pile in the car while mom grabbed about 20 rolls of her maki sushi. First stop was at halmuni’s house where we’d get served her delicious duk (Korean mochi) soup. And mom would leave a few rolls of her sushi with halmuni for the other relatives that would be stopping by during the day.
Next stop was “soda uncle” house in Nuuanu. What was cool about soda uncle’s house – besides the huge stock of bottled soda that he kept in is outside refrigerator was that he’d blast a HUGE string of firecrackers the night before and he never cleaned it up until Jan. 2nd. That meant I’d get to scrounge the ground for all the unpopped firecrackers that went straight into the coffee can. And aunty Eva used to bust out her toong-mai that was so ono! After mom gave them a few rolls of sushi, it was off to the next place.
The next stop was at aunty Alyce’s house. She always had the nicest house inside so I was always on my best behavior. What I remember about aunty Alyce’s house was that she had those louvered swinging doors as you entered her kitchen. I used to play Cowboy as I walked though those doors pretending like I was walking into a saloon. More sushi dropped off and it was off to Waimanalo.
When we got to my uncle’s house in Waimanalo, my aunty and cousins were always there already. This was the big finale. The parlor would have a long table made from sheets of plywood laying on short sawhorses and it was covered with all kinds of Japanese food. Everyone would be sitting around the table on zabutons eating and drinking. My mom’s sushi would be sliced up and added to the smorgasbord of food: shrimp tempura, tako with miso sauce, nishime, kanten (which I always mistook for jello), namasu, – you name it, it was there.
But the best part was that my uncle had a banana patch in the back. And to get to the banana patch, you had to cross over a rickety old wooden bridge that spanned over a small stream. This is where all those firecrackers I picked up and put in my coffee can came in to play. We’d light the firecrackers from the bridge and try to time it perfectly so they would pop just as the firecracker hit the water. All our cousins would be on the bridge dropping lit firecrackers into the stream. And in between playing with firecrackers, we’d run into the house, eat some stuff, drink the unlimited cans of soda and back out again to burn more firecrackers. Then when it was time to leave, my uncle would always give everyone a huge shopping bag of bananas.
By then it was early evening and my aunty Betty and our cousins would follow us back to our house where we’d eat more sushi and play with whatever firecrackers we had left over.
*sigh* – Those were the good ol’ days…
The new year’s day traditions are quite different now. For one thing – no more firecrackers. The new year’s day tradition now is waking up about 10:00 AM, having coffee and reading the first newspaper of the year, then getting ready to head out to lunch with my in-laws and uncles and aunties and cousins. Then after a nice lunch (this year it was at Gyotaku restaurant) it was either home to take a nap, watch football, or hit the malls for some new year’s day shopping. Remember when every place used to be closed on new year’s day?
One thing I always try to do is make sure I buy some kadomatsu (bamboo and pine) and put it up at all the entrances to our house on new year’s eve. It’s not a tradition we did when I was growing up. It’s something I picked up later in life.
I guess as old traditions die, new ones start up.
What kind of new years traditions/customs did you have as a child? Do you still practice those traditions today? Or do you have new traditions?
A lot happened in 2011. But the one thing that really stands out in my mind was the 9.0 Japan earthquake and the subsequent tsunami.
I remember I was having dinner when daughter #2 came out from her room and said that she just read on Facebook that Japan was hit with a 9.0 earthquake. I went to the back and turned on the TV just in time to see the first wave washing across the Japan farmlands. It was so surreal. Watching it on TV made it just seem like I was watching a NatGeo program or something. I had to remind myself that this was live TV and it was all unwrapping right at that moment.
But the Japanese people are resilient and in less than a year, they’ve already started to rebuild their cities.
But what really touched me was how the WORLD pulled together to help Japan. Especially here in Hawaii where we are like the sister country to Japan. So I just wanted to share this special video from the Japan.
More on a personal note, 2011 was quite a turbulent year. I started off the year working at Kamehameha Schools and ended the year work at Oahu Transit Services. And there was an 8 month stint working at Kuakini Health System tucked in between those 2 jobs. And the waves of emotions that went with the moving around. There was excitement, anticipation, and disappointment. But best of all – there were a lot of great people I’ve made friends with. I guess it’s a sign that we’re all getting older…
During 2011, I had to say good-bye to a number of people as they’ve left this Earth to our heavens above. One of them was my old girlfriend that I knew since the 9th grade. I also had to pay my respects to a good friend’s father and a co-worker from the Advertiser. And just last month I lost my aunty and my cousin.
2011 brought us the last 70′s Nightclub Reunion with Greenwood, Aura, Nueva Vida, Powerpoint, and Phase VII (but word has it that a Hana Hou 70′s NCR is in the works). If you’ve never been to one, this is a sample of what you missed.
btw, that video was just a sample of the 70′s Nightclub Reunion IX DVD which is still available. If you’re interested in getting one, just email me and I can hook you up.
As you look back on 2011, what memories stand out in your mind? Whether triumph or tragedy, tasty or yucky, elating or disappointing. Share your thoughts and memories of 2011.
I remember when I was a kid, it took forever for Christmas to arrive. I guess that’s because I’d see all the toy commercials on TV and would be checking out all the presents under the Christmas tree everyday.
Nowadays, Christmas is here before you know it – ready or not!
This Christmas season we took a break and went to Vegas with our girls. When daughter #1 turned 21 years old, we took her to Vegas. Then we were planning to take daughter #2 to Vegas when she turned 21 years old also – but with the closure of the Advertiser, that trip was delayed. Then with school and work for daughter #2 and me working, the timing was all wrong.
Until earlier this month when we finally could take daughter #2 to Vegas (daughter #1 also came along), It took a while as daughter #2 is now 22 1/2 years old. But she had a great time – as we all did. Shopping, eating, and gambling.
Christmas day was spent with the in-laws and aunties/uncles/cousins having lunch at Nice Day Chinese Restaurant, then opening gifts at the in-laws house. We scored a nice Keurig Coffee maker from daughter #2. Actually, I knew we were going to get that as I had to go out and buy it for her. But Paula didn’t know. So I bought Paula some Donut Shop K-Cups coffee for the Keurig machine. I guess we’ll be trying it out in the morning.
But I’ve saved the best for last. One of the best presents I got this year was, and I have to believe that Rob@96744 (Rest in Peace, Bobby) had something to do with this – a job at TheBus. Yup, last week I started at Oahu Transit Services (OTS) as a Technology and Planning Analyst.
Over the 5 days that I’ve worked at TheBus, I’ve met a lot of coworkers who are nice. I mean genuinely nice folks. They are warm and welcoming and really make me feel like part of the ohana. Thanks Jon, Ginger, Tracy, Jerome, and Michelle. I think I’ve found my home.
