"Rock of Ages" Resurrects the Rockin 80s

"This place is about to become a sea of sweat, ear-shattering music and puke. So start drinking…now!" bellows out club owner Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin) and ahh... I'm home again - That home to me and my tribe in the late 80s, prowling Sunset Boulevard in boots, big hair, and leather. Looking for fame, fun, loud music, and love. We found a little of each back then, and now everyone can - in "Rock of Ages"!

Living a similar parallel life back then, Stacy was my perfect companion to see this movie. We didn't go expecting much, but this over-the-top anthemic 80s musical (yes, musical) blew us away in so many ways. Started out simple enough - Small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rock ‘n’ roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Journey, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake, and more.

But the movie takes so many cool, unexpected twists and turns, and in doing so somehow:
* conjurs the cool, insider's POV like Spinal Tap did,  but characterized and satirized in a fun way rather than the depricating spiral that Spinal Tap was
* doesn't allow Tom Cruise's Stacee Jaxx to descend into the nihilistic tailspin of Pink in "The Wall"
* doesn't even come close to the cheesy camp of other rock musicals like "Mamma Mia"

It found redeeming qualities in characters that Hollywood usually milks for their "train-wreck" value, and managed to not take itself too seriously, but without any Will Farrell-style goofiness. It was at the same time an homage, a roast, and even documentary of a time that those of us that were there remember with a smile, a cringe, and a sigh...
Way to go, Hollywood, this time you got it right. You can still rock in America!

"In Paris"...We're not in Santa Cruz anymore...

We'd had our noses to the grindstone, and it had been too long since we'd escaped this land of tie-dye and tofu to, well, another land of tie-dye and tofu - Berkeley. But on Saturday night, it wasn't Berkeley we were in, we were In Paris via Berkeley. First up, a mind-blowing French dinner at Bistro Liaison, then Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Berkeley Rep Theater - In Paris.

Bistro Liaison, aptly described as "French food for the soul," was lively, yet warm and intimate, and exotic, yet the menu and waitstaff somehow make you feel right at home (or maybe it was leading off with an exquisite cocktail of gin, lavender, and grapefruit juice that did it).

I was feeling adventurous, and tried the escargot, which were amazingly good - poached snails in garlic parsley butter with Pastis - and user-friendly, unassumingly bedded in their marinade/tapenade rather than hiding in their shells.

Next came the pièce de résistance, an other-worldly seafood dish called Sole Farcie - a Petrale sole filled with Dungeness crab baked in a shrimp & Cognac cream sauce. This was one of those times that you discover a food that tastes nothing like you've ever had before, and you don't want it to end. Stacy was almost as enthralled with her Salmon Paillard - Grilled salmon topped with tapenade on a bed of roasted beets, saffron aioli & toasted fennel powder.

After sharing each other's entrees, we figured it would be hard to follow these acts, but the Profiteroles were literally the icing on the cake.

And so we strolled a few blocks and got to the theater with time to spare and enjoyed the photo displays in the lobby, books in the shop, and diverse and lively mix of theater-goers about to be treated to this epic performance.

In Paris uses a nuanced, complex theatrical vocabulary of music, film, mime, video, even an actress flying dreamily suspended by wires, and exerpts of Russian and French to explore the relationship between an older man and a younger woman and its larger theme of profound loneliness.

The story focuses on Baryshnikov's general, who moved to Paris years ago, after his wife left him following the war for a younger man in Constantinople. While in the City of Lights, he meets a beautiful waitress (Anna Sinyakina) whose husband is away at war in Yugoslavia, and we see their relationship blossom. The story is one of loneliness and despair and eventual happiness and acceptance as two foreigners with a common bond find each other in a not-so-new city.

By play's end, the audience was mezmerized, thrilled, and thoroughly satisfied and showed our appreciation with a standing ovation lasting 4 or 5 curtain calls. We learned that the company is headed to Italy, and then Lincoln Center in New York City to no doubt thrill audiences there as well. What great fortune that we were able to experience such a getaway right here, in our own backyard...

“Spectacular but also intimate…An ephemeral dream of last romance, which floats from lovely to surreal [and] keenly captures the ache of solitude and the fleeting bliss of romance…Mikhail Baryshnikov scarcely dances at all until the haunting finale of In Paris. But the ballet legend shows such a genius for movement that his body language is an art unto itself in this fearlessly inventive theatrical adventure. The dancer has such a striking physical presence, even at 64, that he elevates the smallest movements into epic moments of truth. He is mezmerizing.”—San Jose Mercury News / Bay Area News Group

The Edwardian Ball San Francisco 2012

The Edwardian Ball at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco is an annual extravaganza that just can’t be conveyed in pictures or words. Yesterday, my friend Mary called and asked if I would be interested in changing our plans to celebrate her birthday up in San Francisco at this heralded event. Trusting her uncanny knack for discovering cool, quirky, and culturally-rich things to do, I agreed.

Checking out their website, I immediately discovered I may have agreed to more than I bargained for! Period costume, though not required, was encouraged. And so I found myself in downtown Santa Cruz, first at the Thrift Store, then the Hat Shop, then standing in front of the mirror, complete with a mustache and eye-liner (haven’t worn that since the 80s…) ready for action.

“For 10 years now the Ball has proven, through its collection of the best in local and far-reaching performance talents — from the circus to the music hall — and its inherent power to inspire and produce the utmost in imaginative creativity, to be one of the most defining events of San Francisco.” - SF Examiner

We started the evening at a nearby sushi restaurant – Wayo Sushi – and met her interesting friends Craig, an attorney that plays and writes music and meditates, and Laura, a well-traveled, warm and diverse Osteopathic  doctor – the perfect pair to join us for this evening of debauchery.

Just a block away, the multi-story Regency Building, boasting 2 ballrooms, a neoclassic, Scottish Rite, and beaux arts style architecture, and built in 1909, was our destination for the evening.

Immediately upon entering the building and taking in the sights and sounds, it was clear “We’re not in Kansas anymore…” While almost everyone sported period dress, this was unmistakably 2012 San Francisco, where (almost) anything goes.

We decided rather than foisting ourselves immediately into the main ballroom to visit the vendor faire downstairs, where the juxtaposition of Edwardian-meets-goth-meets-sexy was everywhere, and took the opportunity to pick up a commemorative bauble for my awesome girlfriend, Stacy, back in Santa Cruz. Booth after booth of everything from leather corsets, jewelry, to costume ball masks worthy of Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut”…

From there, we visited the nearest bar, and the drink of the night was Absinthe. But being the designated driver, I opted for something less hypnotic. The Grand Ballroom was everything I’d heard it would be – vast, ornate, and …well… grand. The band was somehow synthesizing period ragtime and waltzes with a techno-rave beat. I still don’t know how they did it, but anything that gets yours truly to dance (let alone waltz!) is worthy of mention.

Taking the intriguing, antiquated elevator to the top floor, we witnessed a vast array of quirkiness – performers jumping on broken glass, a groove-beat ukulele player, and installation art that included apocalyptic scenes reminiscent of “Road Warrior”

But there’s something indescribable that was happening last night. It was in the way that attendees greeted each other, smiled at each other, complimented and amused each other. It was a recognition that we’d found another “tribe” that we belonged to. Unlike Halloween, when everyone is expected to get dressed up, this event was voluntary. Harking back to its’ Edwardian origins, which signaled the end of the repressive Victorian era around the turn of the century and heralded in a greater appreciation for the hedonistic and things cultural, the Ball gives us an opportunity to completely shed the stigma, the persona, the stress of who we are in 2012, and jump on a timeless merry-go-round for a few hours.

“The 10th Annual Edwardian Ball was a fitting, San Francisco-style homage to the cartoon-Gothic writer and illustrator Edward Gorey with a riveting multimedia extravaganza of music, dance, video, art installations, and aerial acrobatics.” – SF Weekly.com

New Year's Day, Old Traditions - 2012

“All that you touch, and all that you see,
Is all your life will ever be..." ...and so it goes as I drive north from Santa Cruz to meet my friend Mary for what has become a New Year's Day tradition for me, and lately for her, too.

Six or seven years ago, I drove up the coast to the Mt. Hope cemetery in Pescadero on a cool, crisp, sunny New Year’s Day. Parked my car, pulled out my iPod, and took in the sights while listening to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” And every year since, I’ve gone either there or to another for the same reason – to try and appreciate and better understand life, by reminding myself of its finiteness. It’s a wake-up call on the first day of the year to live each day to its fullest this year, and appreciate my health, my friends, my love, and my life.

“And then one day you find ten years have gone behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.”

After meeting Mary at Peet’s coffee on Piedmont in Oakland, we drive a few blocks to the granddaddy of them all – the Mountainview Cemetary : http://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/

A beautiful, seemingly endless expanse of rolling hills, valleys, lawns, trees, gravestones, crypts, and mausoleum unfolds driving through late afternoon, and we find a spot to pull off and walk.

And immediately it hits me as I see a modest gravestone with the inscription “A FRIEND TO MEN.” And wonder what the inscription on mine might read…

The gravestones date back to the mid-1800s. From simple, humble squares, to majestic crypts, these weathered limestone icons, mottled with moss, tell many a tale for those willing to listen. From a cerebral level, it’s interesting to follow the family timelines, thinking about the 25 years that a widow survived after her husband’s death, or find the grave of a prominent businessman, performer, or politician, for example.

One such stone told the story of a famous Japanese-American named Korematsu, an ardent civil rights activist that fought against Japanese internment during WW2, and who Mary had actually met a few years ago.

And from an existential perspective, these silent sentinels remind one of the fleeting, temporal nature of our lives. How even these will wear away someday. And to me, how the contributions I make to friends, family, and this world are the important, lasting legacy that one leaves behind in the end.

“All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.”

After sunset, we made our way back down Piedmont, had a drink at a fabulous place called Cesar, and then landed at the heralded restaurant called Commis for dinner. http://www.commisrestaurant.com/ . This is a place that needs no sign out front. It is a place that takes “food-as-art” to a whole ‘nother level. GQ Magazine has called it one of the "10 Best New Restaurants 2010 in America." The nine-course meal started out with a bowl of rocks – literally. But our waiter explained that we would find a rosemary/polenta version rolled in “vegetable ash” amongst them.

“Choose wisely,” he said, and walked away.

The sumptuous, liesurely meal was a feast for the senses, and a noble way to ring in 2012.

Lastly, we ducked into a nearby bookstore called “Owl & Company Bookstore” http://www.owlandcompany.com/ . You could tell looking in through the windows outside that this was a classic, old-school bookstore, with books from floor to ceiling along the walls, some over 100 years old, with that smell of old books – organic, slightly musty, and real.

 The owner, Todd, was sporting a day’s unshaven visage, blue jeans and a black t-shirt, and from our literary conversation about everything from Amazon.com to Rabindranath Tagore, his passion for books, knowledge, and visceral truth was palpable.

And so ended our beginning of this new year – 2012. Full of guarded optimism with the groundwork I’ve laid in these last few months, steeling and re-tooling myself to survive this economy, to stay close to family and friends, and to continue to build this awesome life together with Stacy. And full of hope for friends far and near, that this year will bring light at the end of the tunnel, peace, and prosperity.

 “The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.”

Hashi.org in 2011

Hello, and a Happy New Year, friends!

Most of you know about the non-profit organization I started back in 2006 – hashi.org – which is a California Non-Profit organization dedicated to promoting cultural exchange opportunities between East Asia and America. “Hashi” means “bridge” in Japanese. This year, in particular, has been an inspiring yet tragic time, with the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March, and the sudden changes brought about in North Korea by the death of Kim Jong Il.

And as you know, we’ve been having a tough time right here in America. At times, it seems all we can do to take care of ourselves and our families in this down economy.  And with so much unrest and division in the world right now, it’s hard to know how to help. I consider the $1000 scholarships that hashi.org gives out each year to be a small way of helping to ease that unrest and division, and instead,  building  a bridge by investing in the education, travel, and experience of those most worthy scholarship applicants. Here’s a sample of recent recipients.

	Trevor is our American winner this year, and is majoring in advertising with a minor in Japanese and Business, who is now studying at Toyo University through the ISEP exchange. He is a musician as well, and writes his own music and is deeply interested in Japanese music, and looks forward to sharing and performing while in Japan. And while there, he'll be joining up with a group to help with the tsunami and earthquake relief effort in the Sendai region.
	Our Japanese winner has come to research as a Fellow at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. Although he is a PhD student of Yokohama National University in Japan, his study is a joint research project between NASA and Japan.  He's volunteering a few times a week to teach Japanese. That Volunteer Club is working with people from many countries, such as South Korea, Taiwan, India, USA, and Israel. He’s teaching about Japanese culture and customs in addition to language studies.
	Our recent Korean scholarship winner, Kim Eun Young, is in her senior year at University majoring in political science and diplomacy. She has taught children, participated in cultural exchange programs between Korea, China, and Russia, and wants to intern in America and write her thesis on applying ‘American Federal Government’ to international politics.

As we ease into the New Year, if you feel  drawn to help with our efforts, your donation would be so appreciated! Because I volunteer my time and office, we have almost no overhead, and your donation will go directly to help fund these scholarships.  And as a 501c3 non-profit organization, it will be fully tax-deductible, too!   http://www.hashi.org/donation.html

Thank you for taking the time to learn about hashi.org!

Here’s to a peaceful and prosperous new year in 2012,

Michael

http://www.hashi.org

The End of an Era – From My Space to Less Space

It was July, 2006, and I was in LA recording the “Bridge of No Return” CD, and my producer, David Longoria, said something like “Man, you gotta be on MySpace!” And so it started, the voracious monster that was My Space for Music five years ago – Get more friends! Get more comments! Get more Likes! It set a new standard for independent DIY musicians’ ability to reach fans, promote their music, tours, merchandise, and ideas.

There was a lot to love about MySpace back then. Customizable profile pages, a super-slick streaming widget for songs, robust blog platform, and Friends! Thousands and thousands of Friends!!! Meanwhile, Facebook (2004) was starting to catch on, and then Twitter (2008) became the SNS du jour . Slowly, but surely, our attention-span for producing and consuming an online dialogue was being whittled down to 164 characters or less.  

I took the plunge to Facebook in early 2010, wanting to connect with real, here-and-now “friends,” while staying active with MySpace to promote my music. But at the same time, MySpace was making desperate attempts to recapture the mass exodus that was happening. Before the dust settled, they had neutered the blog platform, and instead put energy into Facebook- and Twitter-like functions like “Check-in,” et al. Somehow, I’m thinking when Shakespeare uttered the words “Brevity is the soul of wit,” he wasn’t thinking Facebook- or Twitter-brevity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as interested in what you had for dinner, how your commute to work went, what you’re listening to on Spotify, spiritual mandates, political rants, and pet photos as the next guy. I also appreciate the friends, writers, and organizations that contribute to the online dialogue that in some ways make up for the loss of human interaction that technology has brought on, and post comments, blogs, photos, and articles that inform, inspire, and involve us.

And so, I am closing my MySpace page, and with the help of my talented assistant, Sara,  have launched an exciting, multi-platform way of  “putting it out there.”

Facebook -   https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=667837430

Nothing changing here. Still the best way to stay connected with friends, old and new.

Facebook Music Page - https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Michael-J-Downey/10150161100620145

Great new page with music, videos, photos, etc from Michael J Downey and the World. Now check it out and LIKE me, dangit!

Michaeljdowney.com – http://www.michaeljdowney.com/

We’ve completely re-tooled the home page with new links, a live RSS feed of recent blogs, etc. And I’m very excited that we were able to save all the blogs from MySpace and make them available via the new blog page – http://www.michaeljdowney.com/blog/blog.html

Japan tours, Korea trips, recording in LA, and random thoughts on music, travel, and life!

Hashi.org – http://www.hashi.org

My California Non-Profit Organization dedicated to furthering cultural exchange between the US, Japan, and Korea. Home page has live RSS blog feed, and searchable database of cultural exchange opportunities (e.g.- student exchange, homestay, volunteer opportunities, et al).

...the ancient art of conversation...

Don Henley at the Mountain Winery

He was with me on my old car radio some 30 years ago, cruising through hot, Indiana, summer nights with the window down, singing "Witchy Woman" and "One of Those Nights."

He was with me a few years later, cruising up Hwy 395, then finding myself at a campfire at the foot of the Sierras singing "The Boys of Summer" and "Sunset Grill." The "End of (his) Innocence" coincided with mine, seduced by my new town at the time - LA. And he was with me in spirit as I played and sang "Heart of the Matter" for the 527th time at bars, coffeehouses, parties, and a girl's front porch.  

Tonight he played these songs, and songs from his days with the Eagles, and all the best songs from his celebrated solo years, and with the help of a rock-solid band, diverted down a couple of funky, 80’s by-ways including a “Tears For Fears” song. Watching and listening to him tonight, I realized that he’s been with me my entire adult life. His songs have moved me, validated me, as if to say “You’re not such a freak. There’s other people that think this way. Other people that see the world this way.” His lyrics, his causes (Walden Pond, et al), his tenacity, his seeming balance between the bohemian of the 70s to the spokesman and poet he is today – he’s been one of the few, modern-day, “moral compasses” in my life.  

And to see him tonight with my awesome girlfriend in this amazing place – the wistful “New York Minute,” the spiritually powerful “Everything is Different Now...” and I’d look over at her and think “All those years. I thought you’d never come,” and get a little misty-eyed.

Maybe he’s at a place in his life, maybe it’s this place, or both, but he put on such a  performance. He was so in-the-moment - responding to the crowd, telling great stories, and singing and playing with passion. And at times looking around at the crowd, singing along with songs we’ve known for years, and again feeling that validation that “oh yah, there’s other’s like me. This is my tribe…I want them all to be my facebook friends.”

Starting off the evening with a great dinner there on the Chateau Deck, and finishing the evening by running into our good friends Stacie and John, the night couldn’t have been more perfect. And everything is different now…



Photo by Stacie Tamaki