Posts From GoodCleanWholesomeFun (A snappy DrHGuy Tumblelog)Routine posting on the Heck of a Guy Blog remains suspended to allow me to spend time with Lady Lawanda during her illness. She continues to be in good spirits, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the hospice staff caring for her.
She and I extend our thanks to those who have sent messages of support.
Tags: Friends-Family · HOAG Site
Biwa Player
Excerpted from Mutant Sound:
Osamu Kitajima was born and raised in the beach town of Chigasaki, not far from Tokyo. As a young man he studied classical guitar and piano. His first band was the Launchers, led by his cousin, pop idol and actor Yuzo Kayama. The group disbanded in the late 1960s, after which Kitajima began to work on his own. He graduated from the prestigious Keio University in business, and also studied traditional Japanese instruments such as the biwa, koto and taiko drum. His first solo album in 1974, Benzaiten, was a mix of modern pop and traditional Japanese music, and was well received in Japan and later released abroad. It was released in the United States on Antilles, where it received some “underground” radio airplay and sold moderately well. … His most highly acclaimed album was 1986’s The Source, which won rave reviews around the world, including being called a “major masterpiece” by Rolling Stone magazine. Osamu Kitajima also expanded his work to include commercial and soundtrack work. He provided part of the music to the blockbuster mini-series Shogun and contributed to the soundtrack of Sharkey’s Machine. He also seems to be the “go to guy” for Asian themed movies, including the 1986 Pat Morita vehicle Captive Hearts and 1993’s Samurai Cowboy, which starred Hiromi Go. Kitajima has also done work for PBS documentaries on Japan, created the soundtrack to the Chinese/Japanese film Mandala and produced a number of like-minded artists. … Osamu Kitajima is featured on a number of compilations available in the States and Europe, and is generally considered a contemporary of Enigma, Deep Forest, Vangelis and Ottmar Liebert. In addition to his being a recording artist, producer, studio owner and label owner, Kitajima somehow found time to earn a doctorate in music therapy in 2004, and is thus now sometimes referred to as Dr. Osamu Kitajima. Kitajima is married to retired actress Yoko Naito. Their daughter Mai Kitajima married former Hikaru Genji member Mikio Osawa in 1996.
From Anjani,
This video was from our 1989 tour to Japan. Along with Osamu are Hiromitsu Nishikawa on percussion, the late Yoshizawa “Masa” Masakazu-sensei on shakuhachi, Freddie Ravel on keyboards, and me off in the shadows-playing those retro string parts. Osamu is a master biwa player. It’s such an unappreciated instrument and notoriously difficult to play: held upright in the lap and struck with a lacquered pick the size of a shark fin. We had a fantastic time on tour and ate incredibly well.
Osamu Kitajima - From Biwa To Electric Guitar
Tags: Anjani Thomas · Music
Today’s post at AlignMap, the blog and web site where I write about treatment adherence, takes patient education and medication compliance from the sad and drab ghetto of mainstream materials such as posters, pamphlets, and sideshows, to the fab world of entertainment.
Check out Tracey Ullman’s conceptualization of patient counseling performed by Padma Perkish, an Indian pharmacist in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, who provides more than full service.
The videos of Tracey Ullman as Padma Perkish, the pharmacist with the unique take on patient education, can be found at The Tracey Ullman Patient Compliance Videos.
Tags: Fascinations
On 26 May 2007,1 after a full week of pomp accompanied by an equivalent amount of circumstance,2 John, son of Duke of Derm (seen pinning Lieutenant’s bars on his progeny in the above photo) and Princess of Peds, graduated from West Point as a Second Lieutenant with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Military Arts and Science, an altogether impressive accomplishment for a youngster who, in my perception, cannot be older than 14.3
While publishing the story of John’s especially arduous and convoluted path to West Point and the successes he achieved there is tempting and would, I suppose, be gratifying to his proud parents, I suspect John himself might be less taken with seeing them in print. And, given that (1) he and I will be living in the same house next week and (2) I no longer have the capacity to distract him when he’s unhappy by holding him upside down by his ankles, the better part of valor would seem to be deferring this part of the saga.4
I am proud to note my own contribution to John’s success: in the many opportunities I had for interaction with John over more than two decades, I refrained from providing any advice of substance on any topic beyond the observations that many folks who admonish the host to make their cocktail “a light one” will be disappointed if that request is fulfilled and that “our product doesn’t stink” does not constitute a compelling marketing strategy.
And in honor of his graduation, I now officially forgive John for his unconscionable behavior during a summer vacation a few years ago when he blithely performed pinch tests on his arm at the dinner table to determine his body fat percentage, which appeared to range from 3 to 5%, in the presence of his somewhat more doughy elders.
Hooah! indeed, John.
Credit Due Department
The photo of the graduation hat-tossing is from the West Point web site. Other photos are courtesy of Duke of Derm and Princess of Peds.
Footnotes
_____________________In addition to its use at graduation ceremonies, it has also served as theme music for professional wrestlers, Gorgeous George and “Macho Man” Randy Savage↩
Tags: Friends-Family
AlignMap Posts
