The Tashme Project (reflections)

I've seen the Tashme Project twice. Mom, Kathy and I saw it at the MAI in its original production and I've just seen it again (2018/11/18) at the Centaur Theatre. Matt Miwa and Julie Tamiko-Manning have added some movement and physical attributes to the presentation of some of the characters. The stooped gentlemen that Matt presents and elderly ladies that Julie acted, add to the believability and bring the characters to life.

Let me back up and provide some background. The Tashme Project is a verbatim play created by Matt and Julie based on a hundred interviews that they conducted with Japanese Isseis and Niseis. This is a labour of love. Matt and Julie met in Ottawa while working on a theatre project. They discovered that they were both hafu and after some conversation, they realized that another common bond was the Tashme internment camp. They both had relatives that had been interned there. As it happens my Dad was interned there as well.

This production is simple and heartfelt. Julie and Matt transform themselves into 80-year old people and allow us to look into what it was like to be in Tashme, what happened before and after as well. The set is simple, a table and two chairs. The props just as basic, but there are a lot of tsuru on the set. I wondered if Matt and Julie folded them all.

Seeing The Tashme Project the first time opened up my Mom and we had many discussions about her time in New Denver and what Dad told her about Tashme. And Mom met a friend that she had not seen since those days at the show.

Perhaps it's because I'm becoming an emotional old fart, but I found both performances extremely emotional, there were moments of humour, sadness and you felt that you understood why there was such reluctance to talk about the internment days.

In the lobby, there is a poster with the map of the camp and a list of people interned there (last name only). It seems that my Dad was in building 1022 at the edge of the camp, perhaps this is why there are so many stories of him escaping to fish and roam the woods. There is also an Uno in another bunkhouse, but I'm not sure if that person is related.

Thanks to Matt and Julie for making this happen.


Japanese terms:

Hafu: Someone who is half Japanese

Issei: People who emigrated from Japan

Nisei: The first generation of Japanese descent who were born in Canada

Tashme:

Tsuru: Crane, in this context, origami cranes

The Beatles 50th Anniversary White Album and Esher Demo (first glance)

I've had it confirmed. I'm still a teenager! I just received The Beatles and Esher Demos, thank you Amazon. This is the 50th Anniversary of the "White Album." I was excited to open it up and hear it for the first time. It reminded me of the first time I opened the vinyl of Sgt. Pepper's (51-years ago). Back then, I carefully opened it up and put it on my turntable. Placed the dust catcher on the platter and carefully lowered the needle to the pristine vinyl. I remember falling back on the bed (the speakers were either side of my bed) to wait the few seconds until the first note played. Things have changed, but not too much. This time, I sat at my computer desk, put the disc in the CD player, started ripping the disc while simultaneously listening to the music.

Giles Martin (George's son) has remastered the first disc. More base than I remember, but I didn't have a sub-woofer in those days. The vocals seem clearer and the left-right separation is less distinct but you still get the vocals on the left and guitar on the right in Rocky Racoon. Disc 2 uses the 2009 remaster and is identical to that release, no new stuff there.

Kevin Howlett gives some background and colour to the original recordings and the atmosphere at that time. This leads into the 3rd disc, the Esher Demos (The Beatles Unplugged). They were recorded immediately after The Beatles returned from a sojourn in India where they wrote all of these songs. Most of the recordings in the White Album are more natural, just the guys playing together, less orchestration, less production and post-production. e.g. Yer Blues was recorded in a Storeroom next to the studio. The 4 guys, no separation between the instruments, much more simple.

You get a new set of liner notes and the poster with the words on it (CD sized, not LP sized). The liner notes are great and worth reading. Lots of inside info, fun to read. If the album is 50 years old, we are 50 years older, they should have provided a magnifying glass to read the lyrics.

Some of my favourite Beatles songs are on this album: Julia (the demo and the final recording are very close, not many changes), While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Savoy Truffle. There's a lot of variety on this album, you see their personalities and how simple songs can be great, unplugged.