Let there be light

I missed updating the blog last week and I’m getting more and more busy with the Christmas rush of performances beginning so it’ll be difficult to keep up to date. Last night, the jazz band performed for a Christmas Tree Lighting festival at Camp Lester at the hospital and they did very, very well. The students presented themselves in a professional manner, looked good, and played much of the music to a very high degree as well.

Now we get into the thick of Madrigal Dinner rehearsals, a Santa Parade next weekend with another jazz band gig that night and a jazz combo at the General’s house the next afternoon. Then we have Madrigal Dinner three times the following weekend, and the Band Winter Concert the week after that. Finally, we perform at Bechtel Elementary the last day of school before Gina and I fly out to Vietnam for 10 days.

Thanksgiving morning I took this picture from our balcony. Truly amazing view here sometimes. Click on it to see a bigger version.

Let there be light

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Tom Arnold at the Kadena Special Olympics; True Lies II is coming!

My band combined with the Kubasaki High School Band last weekend to perform for the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics. There were over 800 athletes (mostly Japanese) invloved with over 3000 volunteers and support staff as well.I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to do the gig. We weren’t even allowed to meet at the band room that morning because the whole area was used for parking. My students had to take all their gear home the night before and meet the school bus at the USO on the other side of the base. Students weren’t even allowed to be dropped off near the facility because of the crush of people inolved.

The weather turned out to be very very warm, but it had rained hard the previous day (and the next day) so we lucked out on staying dry. However, the Okinawan heat can be unbearable and not all of the band fit under the tent they set up for us. We did get plenty of water to go around though.

I had heard that Tom Arnold would be around to help out with the event and had hoped to catch a glimpse of him. Turned out that he was eating breakfast with the genearl in the restaurant at the USO when I was there waiting for the buses. I didn’t even notice them even though they were the only people in the restaurant. One of my students got a signed autograph. I was kicking myself for not noticing because it would’ve been a great opportunity to let him know that he was the critical component in making True Lies my all time favorite movie (I suppose Jamie Lee Curtis had a important role as well, but Tom’s character made the movie).

Well, as we set up for the opening ceremonies at the field, someone pointed Tom out to me and he was approaching the band to say hi to the student who got his autograph. I took the opportunity to introduce myself and got a couple of pictures snapped off by his photographer (which I knew I’d never see), but also by one of my band parents.

Tom's got some jet lag

He was jet lagged but was a genuinely nice guy. He thanked us multiple times for volunteering to help out the event and I got the opportunity to let him know how much I appreciated his work in True Lies. I also asked him when the sequel was due out and he told me, “Two years, when Arnold is done as governor.” He then went on to say that he had been at the Breeder’s Cup recently with Governor Schwarzenegger and that he had indicated interest in doing two more movies after his run in office ends. Tom spent quite a while telling me the details of the story and was very enthusiastic about it. I have no idea if there is any truth to any of it, but it was very nice of him to spend the time talking to me about it.

He went on to officially present the opening of the Special Olympics and had several kind words to say about the organization and his involvement with it. All in all, it was a fund day and my band didn’t sound too bad either.

This weekend we will be marching in a parade just outside of the base. It will be interesting to see how we are recieved in an Okinawan parade. This particular event has many American representatives as it is a parade to celebration cross-cultural ties and help with community relations here between the Okinawans and the US Military establishment.

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Japanese Christmas trees

They aren’t green…

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Pictures from the week

Click on each picture to see a bigger version (then click again for an even bigger version).

Pizza in the Sky is a very remote restauant at the end of a crazy farm road near Nago on the Northern end of the island. They menu is very limited: one type of pizza and one type of salad. They do offer several different drinks, but the pizza is very, very good (as long as you love garlic). There at least 30 people waiting there to eat when we arrived and after signing in, it only took about 20 minutes to get a table. We looked at the menu for about 45 seconds, ordered, and had our menu with 4 minutes. It was very quick.

Goya Champuru is a uniquely Okinawan stir fry with tofu, goya, and other vegetables mixed in. The goya is an acquired taste and some people say that it is partly responsible for the longevity of the local people here in Okinawa. This particular dish was quite good and we’ve heard that the skill of the chef dictates just how bitter the melon ends up tasting.

The soup shop in the furniture store we went to offered some very tasty soups. We tried the ‘safe’ ones to start (cauliflower for Gina and Ministrone for me), but there are some risky looking fish soups available as well. We’ll try those another day perhaps.

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