Blues
• It’s possible to fall in love with another culture. In Japan, Yoko Noge fell in love with Chicago blues, and after going to college she went to Chicago to sing the blues. There, she sang like a black woman. Sometimes, a black man would ask her during a break in her act, “Was that you I heard singing?” She would answer, “Yes,” and he would say, “D*mn. I thought I was listening to a black woman sing. That’s why I decided to come on in from the street and listen. You sounded good.” This, of course, is a compliment. Also, of course, one needs to respect one’s own culture, and Ms. Noge sings some songs in Japanese, making her act a hybrid of Chicago blues and Japanese folk music that she calls “Japanesque.”
Children
• Henry S. Rosenthal and his wife, Carola Anderson, along with their children, George and Lou Lou of the band Lou Lou and the Guitarfish, lead lives of artistic accomplishment in film and music in a six-story warehouse in San Francisco that they have converted into a home. Back in the late 1980s, Henry and Carola decided to have children. According to Henry, they made the decision because their parrots declined to talk and their first cat, Django, couldn’t talk. Of course, their two children were raised among art, including some art that most children (and adults) are not exposed to, such as Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Carola thought that her children — before they had learned to read — would benefit from seeing a video of the Ring Cycle, so she showed it to them over a few days — it is something like 15 hours long — and she read the subtitles to them. So how do children with artistic parents rebel? By going mainstream. These days, George and Lou Lou like the same things, including music and films, as their parents, but when she was in the second grade Lou Lou wanted an album by ’N Sync, and for a while, George enjoyed Hollywood action films. The rebellion did not last long. The children have the same tastes as their parents now, and the children inherited the artistic and musical talents of their parents. Their six-story warehouse is fabulous. It is filled with art, including Henry’s collection of 36 stuffed calves — all of which have two heads. One floor is the home of George and Lou Lou, who have separate “houses” decorated the way they like. George’s house looks like an ocean liner, while journalist Jennifer Maerz describes Lou Lou’s house as “a miniature collapsed Palladian villa.” By the way, Daniel Handler fictionalized Lou Lou and put her in a Lemony Snicket book. She is called Madame Lulu, and she is “slightly mysterious and a terrific dresser.”
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Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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