I woke up at around 3:30, did the usual wake-up routine of black coffee and disappointment, washed hair, few peanuts to go with the coffee.
I got on Reddit and this is standard procedure for San Jose: There's a big art show going on in Japantown, and except for people who are real die-hards as in, the exhibitors themselves, their relatives, their students if they have any, etc., no one else knows about it until the day it's happening or after it's happened.
San Jose has less than on jazz club now. Going to Cafe Stritch was fun. Especially as they were at their best around the time we were moving to the new building and there was so much I had to do, that it was a real relief to bug off to the jazz club and have a beer or three, maybe dinner or a cup 'o' fries with mayonnaise to dip 'em in, enjoy the music and watch the 20-somethings who had somehow taught themselves Jazz Age dancing, do their thing.
Now the place plays jazz once in a while and it's just not the same. I haven't even been in since it changed ownership and has the dumb name "Mama Kin" now.
Honolulu has 2-3 jazz clubs running hot every night. Art shows, those are nearly continuous. And everyone's hooked up with info, it's in the newspapers and the magazines, there's word-of-mouth because people actually talk to each other there.
Here, even the tried and true method of having flyers put up in windows is more miss than hit. It's to be expected in a town where you're just supposed to work work work. In the last day or so I saw a thing where the income needed to buy a median house in this area is $330k. It's from $125k to maybe $140-odd in other nice California areas like San Diego and Los Angeles. And I looked up what it is for Hawaii and it's $150k, high but still about half what it costs here. No wonder everyone here is a workaholic with no social life. ($150k for Hawaii is criminal, but it's still do-able if you have two people who chose good jobs, Gov't and Unionized, making $80k each.)
If I were ready to busk with the shakuhachi I'd jump on today's art festival that I've only learned about now, just as it's ending. Even though I can get to Japantown in 13 minutes (I've timed it) I'd not get there in time. I'm not ready to busk yet but I'll have to figure out how to know when "little" things like this art show are going on.
Shakuhachi busking is going to be very different then trumpet busking. Places where a trumpet would be most unwelcome would welcome a shakuhachi if anything.
Oh fuck, I scroll 2 more posts down on Reddit and there is, or was, a "Love And Thrift" thing going on today also, I'd have totally taken the $100 cash I have on hand and checked that out. Might have been all hipster stuff but I'm due for a new pair of Doc Martens.
I left here at about 5:30 and it was cold and windy, real hat and gloves weather. I went over to Lowe's first for AA and AAA batteries and a gallon of Windex. Then I went over to H Mart for some odds and ends. I ended up at a checkout at H Mart that was tap pay only and my card doesn't work that way but then I remembered I was going to use cash anyway. I wonder if I'll have to start treating H Mart as a cash-only store again? I've had to do it in the past.
What makes this cold, windy weather a nice thing is it keeps the zombies holed up. Going to Lowe's involved going along a small street that's just thick with zombies camped in the brush. I did see one zombie getting their Mad Max bike trailer out, but acted as if I didn't notice it and went on by. Coming back the same way, there were zombie rustlings in the weeds as I went by there but I tried to look like a very strong rider, not worth giving chase, and nothing came of it.
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