Outside Delano, the book





Some candid shots (not great) of the finished book.
Get in touch with me if you're interested in adopting one- a real wasabi press original.

Haiku, washi handmade paper, linoblock illustrations by Patricia Wakida.
Six blocks printed with silver inks, text xerox transfered. Bound using accordion/turkish map folds. Edition of 5.
$60.00

Shi-ah-ta-ru

Hey, watch that thing! I'm on a big blog bonanza. Its been awhile since I've downloaded pix off of ye olde trusty kamera, so I'm gonna stick up some picture from a couple of random sources.

First and foremost, I wanted to post some stuff about my absolutely charmed trip to Seattle, Washington, that took place in mid-May. The thrust of the whole trip up to the wooly Northwest was sheer research— to meet Shig Murao's 81 year old twin sister, Shiz, to do research on pre-war Seattle's Japanese American community, and to meet with choice JA historians, bibliophiles, writers, artists, archivists and filmmakers, all in a neat seven days. I also had a chance to catch up with friends Tim and Jessica (hi kids!- thanks for use of the airmattress!), James (ditto on the spare room! the midnight motorcycle ride across the bridges and shots of high grade whiskey was just the edge I needed to close that trip off with, and Heidi (brilliant artist, mom, and non-profit founder).

I toured and an astonishing number and variety of Seattle neighborhoods, all for the sake of getting to know the geography and the people who inhabited particular neighborhoods: Green Lake, Phinney, Fremont, Queen Anne Hill, the ID, Madrona, Beacon Hill, West Seattle, Georgetown...I even made a special jaunt out to Bellevue to pay my respects to a certain cemetery, gracing the headstones with petals and poetry.

So without further ado, here are some shots of what I saw in Seattle.

At Saito's in goofy Belltown with the creme de la creme of JA Seattle historians: Kazuko Nakane, Chizu Omori, Alan Lau and (solo on the other side of the table) the legendary bookstore owner and flyfisher, David Ishii.



Signs from the International District









The Bookstore, a Bar!



A study in two libraries (yes, i am a hopeless bookworm. help me). The quaint Fremont Public Library and the spanking new downtown main public library.




Green dogwoods in bloom. Sigh.


Outrageous icelandic poppies in bloom. Double sigh.



"!"

on a telephone pole near you...



that's where my latest original artwork will be showing, yo.






two new linoblock/letterpress posters done for upcoming Slydini and Inner Ear Brigade shows in the East Bay.
in a massive exercise on where to post your band's flyers for maximum visibility, buddyray hit the streets all weekend long, claiming that he duct taped-stapled the posters in/around/above/below here:
Temescal Cafe
Arzimendi
Leo's Audio
Whole Foods on Ashby
Parkway Theater
Woody's Laundromat
Rooz Cafe
Artists' Cafe
Colonial Donuts
Gaylord's
Cato's
Amoeba Records
Rasputin Records
Starry Plough
Mama Buzz
Aquarius Records
Ex'pression Digital Arts College
Gorilla Cafe

SLYDINI Friday, June 22, 2007 at Oakland's one and only Stork Club 2330 Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, with MiRthkon and Fuzzy Cousins, 9 p.m.

SLYDINI Friday, June 29, 2007 at Berkeley's one and only Jupiter 2181 Shattuck Ave in downtown Berkeley, 8 p.m. FREE!

INNER EAR BRIGADE, Saturday, June 30, 2007 at the Starry Plough 3101 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley, wih MiRthkon and Three Piece Combo. time TBA, $7

Homes for Ideas: a book arts show



Homes for Ideas: a book arts show
Opening Reception: Friday, June 1, 2007 from 6-9 pm
Rock Paper Scissors gallery in Downtown Oakland
2278 Telegraph Avenue
www.rpscollective.com







I'm participating in a whole bunch of shows this weekend, which as far as I'm concerned is the official beginning of summer.
The theme of the Homes for Ideas show is book arts (yay!), especially ones that can be handled, so the installation will largely be designed around a cozy space with cushions and bookshelves where zines and books can be perused at one's leisure. I have three (count'em, THREE) arty books that will be on display at the RPS hootenanny.

The opening reception is part of a rather messy and convivial monthly gathering known as ART MURMUR--a collective opening of galleries downtown where everyone gets to check out other people's work and talk trash while bumping the streets between Telegraph, Grand, and Broadway.


Also on the same night, 21 Grand (at 416 25th Street at Broadway) is holding their annual No Art Over $100 benefit sale, and I have two lino /wood block prints in that show for sale as well. So screech down to 21 Grand and support them thar gallery too. I'm a donor, why not you?

Opening the very next day is the brand spankin new RHYTHMIX CULTURAL WORKS arts center in Alameda, with its own book arts bookstore known as Another Room. Free! All Day! I'll be volunteering the book gallery, if you need a book demo, or a hug or something. http://www.rhythmix.org/

Yours, till ribbons get seasick riding on permanent waves...

Outside Delano





I've finished carving four out of the five blocks for my new book, "Outside Delano", a series of seven haiku on migrant workers in California's Central Valley. The book will make its premiere at next weekend's Art Murmur, specifically at the Rock, Paper, Scissors gallery book arts exhibition. If all goes well, I will be printing the blocks and poems onto papers using the turkish map folds/accordion binding, but let's see how the printing on my press goes tomorrow.

What's unique about this particular book is that it is the first time that I am using my writing entirely as the text- I wrote this series of poems many years ago and have only just now illustrated and found them a suitable home.

Here are those raw, freshly carved blocks for ogling.

ex libris



Today is May Day. Everyone should be hunkering down in search of freedom, reading a book.

Two color lino blocks, printed downstairs on the baby c&p platen last night.

love, Oakland


Yesterday was a perfect, balmy day in Oakland, cerulean skies with nary a streak of cloud and a nearly full moon rising come twilight, natch. I took the opportunity to bike solo style through the Highland, Glenview, and Fruitvale districts, in search of cool gardens (it was part of an organized, free Bay-Friendly Garden Tour).

As I rode down Foothill, I must have passed a half dozen fleets of "paletas"- those pushcarts you see up and down the boulevard. If you want a cool and refreshing snack, slam on your brakes, pull over yonder, and order a bag of freshly cut-up watermelon, mangos, strawberries, cantalope, jicama, cucumbers, pineapple, papaya, cactus fruit, and coconut. They'll squeeze fresh limes on it, sprinkle salt, and as much chili powder as you want. They'll give you a bamboo skewer to poke the pieces out of the ziplock bag. Most carts also offer super delish steamed corn on a stick, rolled in mayo and then heavily flocked with grated cheese and another hit of the chili powder. But yesterday I wasn't about that. I just cruised in the sun, getting nutbrown and shining of face, riding up strangers' driveways to look at their backyards and to talk native plants, or listening to the corner gab about the MacArthur Maze collapse. (People were actually screeching up to the corner and marveling about the melted road phenomenon to folks just waiting at the taco truck for their burritos). I found a house not six blocks from here with a huge beautiful garden replete with artichokes, pineapple guava trees, and flock of beautiful chickens. Chickens! Buddyray asked how many eggs they got a day, and the host gardeners said five- one from each hen, which sent BR reeling.

Thus, in tribute, I went downstairs to the garage today and reprinted this linoblock, in loving tribute to my home for the past 19 years.

10th anniversary poster in progress





Ish not quite done yet, dearies...plus my scanner can only handle papers 8.5 x 11 (the poster is actually 8.5 x 17) so you're getting a mighty truncated view of the finished poster. Two color linoblocks, good old Panatone Yellow and something called Dutch Pepper (!) inks.

The poop on the actual Moekestra show is:

MOE!KESTRA! 10th Anniversary Show
10 years of orchestrated cacophony
THE LAB
2948 16th Street @ Capp Street
San Francisco, California
$10
May 25th, 2007, 8PM

tigers happen





Worked intensely over the weekend to do three new linoblocks— two of them as illustrations for a cd package.
everything is still a work-in-progress, but I sort of like these three pranksters, named after Vicky the Bassplayer's song, because sometimes it is true, tigers do happen. they just do.

I also have a sign language block (do re mi) and a decorative Ex Libris block coming up, as soon as I get onto the press.

the ear catches the eye



This Thursday, at the Luggage Store Gallery. My first time helping out with electronic arts. Please, God, don't let me trip and fall on the millions of cords and cables and break my neck. On a more cultural note, Buddyray's spinning disks are beautiful beyond belief.

On a somewhat related tangent, BR and I hustled over to Mills in the pouring down rain last Sunday to see the Partch Assemble performance and were treated to two sets of loopy, drunken compositions on the just intonation scale. Somehow magical, dreamy, sad, and very human all at the same time. The cloud chambers were great. The diamond marimba was great. The man standing on a stool to play the tall marimba which skewed all perception so he looked like a midget was totally totally great.

APA book fest in los angeles



that's right, the Asian Pacific American Book Festival in Los Angeles (with cherry blossoms subbing in as 'o's) is a mere two months off. us san francisco literary types are gonna rent a big ol' bookmobile and hustle highway 99 to make a big stink in the city!

a whole bunch of writerly types will be doing free readings, workshops, and panels (i'm slated to speak on some crazy panel myself). Book signings, poetry readings, writng workshops, book vendors, wheeee! A complete listing of such and such from so and so will be listed here. soon. watch me.

Saturday, May 12, 2007
11 a.m.- 4 p.m.
at the Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street- Little Tokyo- Los Angeles, CA

for more information visit www.apalc.org

mad poppies



since i have all this crazy extra chipboard in the garage (leftover paper from the pig calendar), I'm printing them with linoblocks on one side, and printing my business card business on the other.

here's the poppy print, which I kept intact, since it would make a purdy nice postcard for a righteous, sweet penpal.

laurel music festival poster


i didn't have a lot of time, and there are clearly things I'd fix on this design, but all in all I'm pretty ok with the illustration and look of it. For one, I would have hand drawn the instruments and stuck a drum in there somewhere...but oh well, the deadline was March 15th and I barely squeaked in. Good practice, me thinks. Now let's see if my poster design is actually chosen...

did I happen to mention...

A few people of late (hi mom!) have asked me why my dumb bloggie thing doesn't whisper a thing about my work as an editor and development pariah at the non-profit publishing company, Heyday Books. I suppose I was subconsciously separating my daytime book life from my OTHER nighttime book life, hence the psychosubversive division of personality.

For the past eight years (count 'em, eight!) I've worked diligently behind the stacks at Heyday, a true gem of a publisher based in good ol' Bezerkley, California. Heyday occupies a unique niche in the publishing world, specializing in books that encourage a deeper understanding of California's literary, historical, cultural, natural and social resources. It's a dream job, really, reading manuscripts all day about the era of prospecting miners and hard tack. Some of my favorite projects over the years have been the gorgeous photography and art books, the shepherding in a tiny poetry collection that went on to win big awards, and acquiring our fine list of books on Japanese American history. Seeing that I have unlimited work energy, I not only raised tons of money for our annual $1 million plus budget, launched a Central Valley writers' conference, published forgotten internment artists, helped a nature illustrator paint every living thing the Sierra Nevadas, culled photos from the California State Library's collection of snapshots of family photo albums, and mentored young book interns in our office, I also co-edited three books that were published in house.

The first, Only What We Could Carry, is an anthology of literature from and about the Japanese American internment experience. I shared the helm with Oregon's poet laureate, Lawson Fusao Inada, who is not so secretly also a Fresnan with a literary bent.












A year later, I researched and edited a collection of one of my favorite author's short stories, novellas, and letters: Toshio Mori.














And coming soon (by this summer) I will have a third research/editor title under my belt, when Heyday publishes the revised and updated 10th anniversary edition of Highway 99: A Literary Journey through California's Central Valley. My lovely co-editors on this are Stan Yogi (the original editor of Highway 99) and Gayle Mak.









If you're dying to know more about my writing, editing, and publishing experience with the aim of hiring me for your fabulous new magazine or chapbook, just give me a ring. I've got more book covers stuffed under my shirt.

In search of...Shigeyoshi Murao















photograph by Rob Lee.

As many of you know, I am deep in the shadowy, sometimes linty pockets of a major research project, which I hope will emerge intact as a published book. The hullabaloo concerns a certain cultural figure from San Francisco's past— a man named Shigeyoshi Murao.

Shig was the legendary bookstore manager of City Lights Books for over two decades. He was a consumate book man, a nisei who served in the Military Intelligence Service's occupation of Japan, and the man responsible for creating the very ambience, the "cool" of City Lights' physical space.

In 1956, City Lights owner and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti released poet Allen Ginsburg's book, "Howl", as Number Four in the Pocket Poets Series, which led to the arrest in May 1957 of Ferlinghetti and Shigeyoshi Murao on the charges of selling obscenity. "Howl" is often referred to as the "Beat Manifesto," and became one of the most influential books of twentieth century American poetry.









Against the background of heightened publicity, Judge Clayton W. Horn, a Sunday School bible teacher, found Ferlinghetti and Murao not guilty in October 1957, a triumph for twentieth century literature and the freedom of speech for generations to come.





Shigeyoshi, attorney Jake Ehrlich of the ACLU, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti at the trail.



I am actively seeking people who remember Shig (the omnipresent guy behind the counter) and who would be willing to be interviewed for this project, in exchange for a cuppa joe, a slice of pie, and my undying gratitude. Having never met the man (he died in 1999) I can only speculate about the depths of his extraordinary character and fierce pride, countered by a boundless capacity to share in his knowledge of books.

High on the Hog!

wasabi press and Shortwave Productions proudly present our














In honor of this year's zodiac animal, each month features a whimsical porcine illustration by cartoon artist Garret Izumi, which are handcarved in linoleum and printed onto brown paper chipboards with a C&P platen letterpress by Patricia Wakida. 6.5” x 7.5”. $45 per calendar, plus $3.50 for shipping.

To order, please send a piping hot request to me at wasabipress@yahoo.com. This is a limited edition of 75 calendars, so go hog wild while you can!

koi pond coma


Over the past few weeks, have been blessed to take a woodcut carving class with the truly gifted landscape artist, Tom Killion. My first time working with wood (bleh. wood flakes in unexpected ways, and as Buddyray puts it, is like working out with weights on. My arms were like overboiled noodles after working the blocks). On the upside, I got me some fancy new japanese woodcarving tools and a leather strop (!!) and compound for honing my tools between uses.

A million things I would change about this multi-color block, but I'll chalk it up to new experiences. The image would make a sweet poster for the right band though, me thinks.

We heart AsAm comics and zines

Thank you, Nirmala, Derek, and Sam especially for making APAture 2006 the most funnest ever. Scenes from the closing night bazaar, which immediately followed the gocco/letterpress workshop I kvetched about earlier. Twas loads of fun.

All snaps by Jay Jao: www.mochamonkey.com




Thien Pham, the featured zinester of the whole fest. Thien's restaurant review comix are featured weekly in the East Bay Express (I Like Eating).























Mark and Jing, king and queen of gocco. no, like...really. Plus they had this crazy addictive gambling machine (the pink ferris wheel) that you spun- if a white ball fell out, you got to put your hand into a bag for a "surprise gift"; if the gods smiled and red ball fell out, you won a punkpunk gocco teeshirt WITH embroidered felt heart on sleeve!





Jason Shiga, the genius behind "Bookhunter". Jason is also a librarian at the Piedmont Oakland branch!