This and That
The plan on this 4th of July is to head downtown later to hear Booker T’s set at the Taste of Chicago. What could be more patriotic than wolfing down Chicago-style dogs while grooving to “Green Onions” on Independence Day?
In the meanwhile, the brilliant Sheena Ringo has a new album out in Japan, Sanmon Goshippu. The Japan Times doesn’t like it much: check out their review here. Theｙ complain that the new CD doesn’t sound much like her early brilliant solo work, but this somehow becomes a sign that Sheena is repeating herself. Having not heard the new album yet, I can’t say much (my copy is on order), but given the reviewer’s dismissal of Sheena’s fine band Tokyo Jihen, I doubt we’ll agree on much else.
Finally, the Asahi newspaper is reporting (Japanese-language only) that a new notebook has surfaced in which Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) collected haiku composed by himself and other members of his circle, including Natsume Soseki, Takahama Kyoshi, and many others. Many of the poems included in it have not previously been published. If you’re still searching for that topic for your dissertation in Japanese literature….
