Tanka challenge 11/23/08

Tides roared, thunder crashed,
Yet we were convention-bound
To sit sedately.
Matsuri rhythms should not
Be caged by a concert hall!

Is it just me?

" “I want people to not only hear the sound, but also watch the sound, see the sound, feel the sound.”
      O-Sensei Seichi Tanaka, San Francisco Taiko Dojo

Then why in the name of all the kami would you ever even THINK of holding a taiko festival in a concert hall?

OK, I admit, this is the first year I've attended the annual International Taiko Festival at Zellerbach Hall on the Berkeley campus. Zellerbach is a terrific performance venue for a lot of things: kabuki for instance, or classical music.

But taiko? An art with roots in the village festivals and the battlefields of feudal Japan? I found Zellerbach stifling to the spirit. You can't feel a thing as you tap your feet or discreetly drum along with your fingers on top of your program, making sure, of course, that you do not jostle the stranger to your right with a too-enthusiastic elbow. You sure as heck can't dance in the aisles.  Cheering and clapping just Was. Not. Enough. 

Why isn't this being held in, say, September, in Speedway Meadow over in Golden Gate Park? And do I have the nerve to write to Tanaka-sensei and tell him just how cruel it is to wind people up and give them nowhere to dance?

***********************************************************************
Andy and Kelly made it in Friday night, lateish due to a delayed flight. Alameda has any number of restaurants that I would like to try, but the only place open on a Friday night until midnight is the Applebees over at the shopping center on South Shore.

Saturday we grabbed brekkies at Albert's Coffee Shop - A's chicken fried steak was disappointing, but they do good eggs and bacon, and K liked the "hippy mix" (fried veggies as a side instead of in an omelette, though you can get 'em that way). ,Japantown. I mostly stayed out of trouble in Japantown, though I did invest in a DVD at J-town Video that looked interesting. A & K found a number of things they liked, and A got one of the famous Soko Hardware hats.  We had lunch at Kushi Tsuru, which has always been a reasonably priced, solid bet for eats: once again, the soba bento defeated my attempts to finish it, though that's partly because I ate two gyoza and a piece of Kelly's Otokoyama roll - it's basically a mammoth California roll with tuna, salmon, three different types of roe and spicy sauces. (The colors were so pretty I jokingly said I'd wear it!)

Kelly had asked earlier in the day whether I knew of a corsetiere in the area. I own exactly one corset and I wear it maybe twice a year and it'll be ice hockey weather in Hell if I ever decide I want another one, but having heard major squeeage from all the people who don't make their own about Dark Garden, I'd looked it up on the web, found an address and store hours and we found the place easily enough even though her Garmin unit was thoroughly confused by San Francisco. She was measured, tried one on in a ready-made size that looked like a very good fit to my eye, and found a ready-made one in a red silk/rayon brocade that she decided to go with. (She of course has a darling figure and would look adorable in anything.)  I was eyeing fabrics and trying not to wince visibly from all the lace and ruffles, but I did buy a ginger and lemongrass lip balm.

We headed over to Pier 39 and walked around awhile. The fog rolled in right around sunset, so my desert dwellers got to experience some genuine San Francisco weather. K had worn the lighter of her coats because it had been fairly nice all day. She looked cold

We met up with the_ri  and her friends at a little Thai joint over in the Outer Sunset. Chabaa, I think it was, 'cause her first choice, Marnee was mobbed. My dinner was good.

We came home and popped The Three Musketeers in the DVD player, then crashed for the evening.

Today we brunched at the Crepevine, then I introduced A&K to Moe's Books before we met karisu_sama and didjiman  and collected our tickets for the taiko festival.

And how was the festival? We had good seats. The performances were terrific, with the exception of the murky set by Kitaro that forced me to sit with my hands over my ears because the amplification was painful. Special treats were the butoh (dance) performance by Master Koichi Tamano, the tsuzumi duet by Masters Saburo Mochizuki and Kiyonari Tosha and the shi shi mai dance. Sacramento Taiko Don, a predominantly female dojo rocked the house and O Edo Sukeroku Taiko were freaking awesome.  Unfortunately, my guests had an early flight so they took off in the middle of the post-intermission sets for the airport.  And I bolted as soon as the lights went up because my parking permit had expired and I was afraid I was going to get a ticket - who knew this was going to be a 4 hour show?

And I just found Kelly's bathrobe on the towel rack when I came home....