Tokyo Dome City

Back from a week in Tokyo, I plan to do a few posts on the show I was fortunate enough to design the lighting for, the venue, and other interesting things I saw in Japan.

The Tokyo Dome is in the heart of Tokyo and its big, pillowy roof can clearly be seen from space. It can seat about 50,000 people inside, which would only be a small portion of the 12.8 million populating the city.


I had a great view of Tokyo Dome City from the 24th floor of the Tokyo Dome Hotel, and when the sun went down, the lights from the amusement park lit up, flickered and changed colors. The trussing surrounding the outside roofing is beautiful and the triangular tile work on the floor extends into the amusement park area for acres.

Looking at the Google map, it occurs to me that they should take advantage of that big inflated roof and add some graphic symbol to it.  After all, most of Tokyo is a graphic overload to the eyes with the manga characters, bold colors and signage everywhere you look.

So maybe they should consider throwing an image of Hello Kitty or Doraemon or Godzilla up there.  Or maybe since the Dome itself is a symbol of Japan, it would be a perfect background for a "wa" character, since it's also symbolic of Japan...  Hey, I'm just sayin'...

There's a sense of place you get when you find yourself standing next to a famous object or in a famous location.  It's the type of feeling you might get as you're gazing across the Grand Canyon, or climbing the steps of the Capitol in Washington DC, or sipping a mocha latte in a Times Square coffee shop.  Having found my way to the hotel's 3rd floor breakfast buffet, I enjoyed this lovely view of the humongus Dome while eating raw fish with my eggs.

From the pictures you can see the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster. But notice that the Ferris wheel does not have spokes. And the roller coaster runs around the mall, pops through a hole in the building and then, as the track turns completely sideways, it goes through the center of the Ferris wheel.  The terrified rider's screaming was heard throughout the park every time it ran.

There's also a bowling alley, horse racing, a water slide, towers as high as 80 meters that you drop from, and a slew of more kiddie rides. I got another shot of a carousel horse, though I'm not sure why I'm drawn to them.

And I love this shot of the kid in mid air, who is playing where water squirts up from the ground at random moments and a mist pours up from beneath their feet, which just makes them want to run around and risk getting wet. It made me wish I was a kid again.

More to come in the next post...

Artsy pics from the Big Island

I took a flight over to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii to do lighting for a show at the Performing Arts Center at the University of Hawaii, Hilo.  I got up at dawn because of the noise outside my hotel lanai.  At home on Maui all I can hear are the soothing ocean waves lapping the shore but now I was hearing hundreds of Coqui frogs, which have invaded the Big Island, peeping away loudly.  Still, I thought I was getting used to them.

But as the dawn broke, the minor birds began congregating in the trees with their on and off chirping. Turn up your sound to hear the video of them laughing and carousing like drunken chickens at 6am.

I went out for a walk and caught a glimpse of Hawaii's "Pride of America" cruise ship just pulling into the harbor. It was a peaceful scene. That sun reflection of the huge ship on the calm ocean caught my eye.

As I turned around I also noticed the big finned roots of this tree right there on the ocean's edge.

SPAMMER!

When a spammer invades a forum, somebody may point it out using one of these images or something similar, which lets everyone know there's a dirty low down spammin' skunk in their midst.

Well, I'm throwing a couple of my own out there for all to use since I keep seeing these same two over and over again.

Here's one to use when you catch a whiff of the stinking spammer.

And here's another that has Hillary Clinton ratting out that no-good spammin' scum!

Use 'em at will.

Cool Penguin Cooler

This old ice bucket has an elegant art deco design.
The simple chrome ball shape is ringed with embossed penguins who seem to be in one of their migratory formations, following each other and trudging around the cold polar cap.  A walnut finial ball knob is planted at the north pole. There are walnut handles on the sides that are stepped.  The only awkwardness is that you sort of need three hands to serve someone a cube, unless you set it down first.  No matter though, the design is classic and beautiful... and it has been chilling scotches at the bar for many decades.Just sharing... 

Petrified Baby Dragon

Here's another old project of mine that's been laying around for years.  This one was an attempt at carving something out of stone.  Gotta try your hand at new things, right?

Well, I had come across a hefty chunk of pinkish alabaster in an art store one day and decided to see if I had any Michelangelo in me.  I then bought a set of stone carving tools.  I had imagined that the blunt 2 pound hammer would be perfect for smashing the stone to pieces if I screwed it up.

Now, here's the fun part about being an artist...  It's the thrill that comes from diving into a project without any particular plan but knowing that ideas will soon pop up, evolve into a design and eventually coalesce into some kind of creation.

The next thing I knew I was chiseling out some kind of baby dinosaur... or a young, beaked dragon.  As a softer stone, alabaster would be easier to shape than, say, granite.  The more I chipped away under his neck the more apprehensive I became that one improper smack of the hammer would crack off the entire head.  I was nervous, but thought I'd have an inner sense about when to stop the chiseling and begin the sanding.  Getting into a rhythm of chipping, I eventually got to a point where I felt I should cut back on the hammer and chisel, but not far enough into it to start sanding.  And so I hesitated, and the little dragon just sat in a corner of my studio waiting to be finished.  Actually, I've grown fond of him this way... like an ancient fossil, petrified in a half-deteriorated state.  He eventually got wrapped in a blanket and put in storage when I moved to Hawaii.  That was 15 years ago.

Well, he's been dug up and shipped to the new studio laboratory.  It remains to be seen if I actually take the next step to finish him. But I do have a few drills that I could try out on him to develop some details like scales on the skin.  We'll see if he let's me do it...

Rockin' from the Grave

Deep 6 is a band based out of central Massachusetts.  I've just completed an update of their band logo for them.  The band is comprised of talented veteran rockers Dave Belcom, Al Gallo and Jimmy D'angelo.  The logo stems from Jimmy's desire to be buried with his Jackson guitar.

My history with Jimmy and his band incarnations runs from The Joneses, Mad Angel, August, Code Blue and Deep 6.  I was always a fan of his music and will be devoted to him as a buddy til the end.  I toured with Jimmy D's heavy metal band, August, as their lightman back in the early 80's.  Boston was the wild west of rock and roll back then.  When I think about all the shoddy electrical panels and unsafe rigging in some of those clubs, (not to mention the other vices) it's a wonder I survived at all.
Fortunately, I had a good friend in Ron "Zaz" Pitts with me.  Ron was the band's sound engineer and we had some wild and hilarious experiences working those gigs. He also lives on Maui now and is a regular contributing artist to Maui Time Weekly.  Ron and I once went to Denny's after a gig and started cartooning on place mats and napkins while shoveling eggs and coffee down our throats.  We had so much fun 'tooning, we didn't leave until noon the next day!

I created the image of "Red Skulleton" a few years ago and had used him on t-shirts and a few other products.  After seeing it, Jimmy thought Red would look cool gracing his guitar, so I had decals made to fit the guitar and Dave's kick drums.  Photos of the applied decals will be forthcoming.

The Face of the Sun

Came across this large piece in a gift shop while on a recent trip. Those puffy eyes are so calming.

A Kiss of Clashing Colors

That's what I've named this image. This is unlike anything I've ever done before. I was asked by the gallery director at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center to submit a piece for display in their administrative offices. I have eleven other pieces on display in the backstage dressing rooms and green room. 

But this one is completely different. Many years ago, I did some freelance painting for a local sign shop, painting signs and lettering trucks. I noticed one day how certain hues of the red and blue enamel sign paint would mess with my eyes when they were next to each other. The two colors would cause an oscillation where they met on my painting pallette, a sort of clashing of the colors.

Soon after, I had a dream where I saw this cool image of two faces melding together. The hands of the figures sort of defines the ear of the other. As an experiment, I decided to paint the design using blue paint on red sign metal. The saturation and high gloss of these enamel paints really emphasizes the oscillating effect. What's really strange is that the image above seems to show a dark line between the two colors. But that is NOT present in the actual artwork.  Very weird...
I've never shown this piece in the 25 years or so that I've had it. So I decided to drag it out and see what people thought. The reaction has been good and there have been various ideas of what the figures represent, such as man & woman, aggression & calm, war & peace, and racial intermarriage. 

What's a Gobo?

I'm often asked this question when discussing lighting possibilities with a client. A gobo is a template of an image or words that is placed into a lighting fixture between the lamp and the lens.  Adjusting the lens will focus the image as it is projected onto a wall, the floor, or a backdrop. 
I needed a couple lekos for the musical South Pacific which were going to be outdoors for a few weeks. I chose this beat up old Altman leko. The gobo template holder is slid into a slot on the top of the light fixture.
There are many theatrical supply companies that create catalogs of stock gobos which they offer in printed catalogs or online. The three largest producers are Rosco, Apollo and GAM.  Typically, they're made from steel or glass, either laser cut or etched. 

Whatever areas allow light to pass through is what becomes projected. Moving light fixtures will often have several gobos which can be rotated and overlapped with each other.
I've used these stock gobos many times and they will eventually disintegrate under the intense heat from the lamp.  

Some companies use brass or a heavier gauge steel for longevity, but heat resistant coating on glass gobos also withstands the temperature.  This multi-colored glass gobo is made from bits of dichroic glass and should last a long time under normal circumstances.  I store my gobos in an old fishing tackle box with dividers.


The manufacturers will also create custom gobos from your design. A steel custom gobo will cost about $75+ before shipping. In a pinch I've had to create my own when there wasn't enough time or money to order the gobo. Sometimes I create the design and print several copies of it onto transparent film sold at office supply stores. I will then cut them out and overlay three of them and tape them together. This will work, BUT... the film cannot withstand the heat and it will begin to smoke and melt in the light. I found that in a standard Source Four leko, which uses a 575 watt lamp, I can raise the lamp intensity to about 30- 50%, depending on how much dark area is in the image which absorbs the heat, before it crumples up and smokes. This is NOT a safe thing to attempt if you don't know what you're doing. 

For South Pacific, I needed two gobos that would project, "Thanksgiving FOLLIES" onto a white parachute (see one of the stage photos in my last post). I hand-cut these with an exacto knife. Having the lettering look rough and hand-made was completely acceptable for the scene. I tried a number of materials but ended up using black wrap, which is basically heavy aluminum foil painted with heat resistant paint. They also make it with an adhesive backing, so I stuck one to the other to make it a little heavier and it was just the right thickness for cutting with the razor knife. I also used the black wrap to make what's called a "donut" or a "cookie" to place in the color slot at the end of the lens barrel. Cutting a smaller hole helps to sharpen the image being projected.
Feel free to file this post under cheesy theatrical tricks...

South Pacific - the musical

It's quite the challenge to pull off a show like this in the middle of an empty field. But Maui grants us good weather and beautiful surroundings, especially at the Maui Tropical Plantation, where there is a gently sloping clearing they call the Field of Dreams.

It does have a small stage in the center and the field is ringed with a variety of tall palm trees. There's also a windmill off to one side that helps to irrigate the 60 acres of garden.

The musical was put on by The Maui Academy of Performing Arts under the direction of David Johnston.

We met at their offices months earlier where set designer Caro Walker brought in a mock-up of the stage set.

When load-in began, some authentic WWII vehicles were parked near the stage. This army truck's bed held the musical director. A vintage military tent held the props and wireless mics and a classic jeep flanked the audience.

The lighting design was very simple, and I hung instruments from scaffold towers placed out front and on the corners of the stage. 

The towers were draped in camo material and two towers on stage had wheels that allowed the actors to spin them in between scenes to create different locations within the play.

Once lights were hung, patched and gelled, I climbed the towers to focus under a beautiful starry sky.

Blocking began at dusk and rehearsals followed as the sun went down. 

The show was magical and the weather held up nicely, except for one brief downpour, which happened appropriately as the song "Wash that man right out of my hair" was being performed.
During the song Bali Hai, I bathed the ring of palm trees around the field in green, yellow, and red. I also lit the windmill and the towers. It's a blast to light objects in ways that nobody would ever expect!

Leaders in Nose Pickin'

Another report from the "Mad Artist".
This time he's giving us a beak at his collection of various leaders picking away. It all started years ago when he got this famous shot of Harrison Ford on the set of Indiana Jones searching for buried treasure.

Then there was this shot of Rep. Henry Waxman... a chronic picker, as you can tell by his stretched nostrils that a truck could drive into.

And daughter Liz Cheney was mortified while her nose-pick'n daddy, Dick Cheney, was drilling for oil while chastising the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...

...who responded in much the same way...  With a defiant finger, he illustrated that Cheney should stick it where the sun don't shine.

More recently, President Obama stuck his nose into the issue, without a tissue, and supported a nasal blockade of ships flowing from Noseran, Iran to the Schnozzle strip in Gaza. He then referred to Iran's leader as Mahmoud "Ahmadigmyschnoz".

Mahmoud quickly blew back saying Obama was acting arrogant and snooty, and he couldn't put his finger on it but something smelled fishy.

Of course, blowhard Rush Limbaugh weighed in by snorting how he had found substance in what Ahmadigmyschnoz was smelling.

The Dalai Lama said Rush must be sniffing glue, and he pointed at the internal passageway to finding the source of inner piece.

That made the pope chime in to say that the Dalai Lama has hit it on the nose... "We must dig deep within ourselves, dislodge those inner obstacles and let the spirit flow."
The pope then honked out a booger, dropped to his sneeze and said, gesundheit!

Sapporo Beer Commercial - Legendary Biru

I came across this unusual ad for Sapporo biru.  Not your typical beer commercial, it's a visual feast that moves you through time in a vertical motion to show the brewing process of Sapporo beer using bits of Japanese legend and culture.
Lavish scenes of flowing streams, caverns and temples with Daiko drummers pounding on beer casks, humongous sumo wrestlers, and fire breathing dragons heating the vat.  It's refreshing to see a commercial that doesn't bore and cause me to flick the remote, which I do compulsively, because 99.5% of tv commercial suck!
For a larger view, here's the Youtube link.

Custom Bass Guitar from hell... or the farm

Here's an idea I came up with for a custom bass guitar, made in the image of a classic shovel.  The body is still crafted from hardwood but painted with a metallic finish to simulate metal.  Using shades of gray on the face gives the illusion of being curved like a spoon shovel.  In addition, it is tastefully decorated with a lovely sinister skull and his bony hand which seems to be strumming that ol' deep, dark devil music.  I call this bass the "Gravedigger".
In case you're wondering, yes, I am serious... 

As Frazetta would say, why the hell not?

Yes, it will bury the competition, and people will dig it, and there are probably a thousand other puns that'll accompany such an odd-looking guitar. But that's the point, isn't it? Gaining attention any way you can is exactly what a band needs and it's what a bass player should want. Standing out from the crowd is essential, and I guarantee that if it's made with craftsmanship, this is the type of thing photographers will shoot while you're playing on stage, the type of thing that will get mentioned in magazines, the type of thing that gets talked about, simply because it is unique and unusual.  Not only that, it's easy to carry, easy to hang on the wall of your garage, and easy to swing at the drummer's head.


Stay tuned for upcoming pics of the Pogo stick bass guitar.  :-)

How Van Gogh burned my eyes out

Seeing my artwork appear in digital book form is a little unnerving.  The reproductions are reproductions of reproductions of reproductions, and that has made colors stray quite a bit from the originals.  This is one reason why I've decided to learn how to make my own prints, so that I can proof every one and make sure the colors stay intact.  But images are reproduced in many different ways these days and different formats have advantages and disadvantages.

I'll never forget the first time I saw an original Vincent Van Gogh.  I had never been to the Fogg Museum at Harvard University before, and I wasn't expecting any "wow" moments from the impressionist section we were exploring.  The Fogg has a fine collection of  impressionist paintings including works by Picasso, Monet, Manet, Matisse, Renior, Degas and Cezanne.  But I didn't expect to be impressed by the impressionists.

Strolling through the rooms I came to a doorway and turned my head to the right to look inside.  On the other side of the room was an entire wall with only one painting hanging in the center.  It was a Van Gogh self portrait, painted in 1888 for his friend Paul Gauguin.  That green background... I was slammed in the eyeballs by this weird, lime color.  I started walking toward the painting, drawn to it like a moth flying into a campfire.  It radiated off the wall like an emerald.  

As I got closer, I saw that he placed paint strokes in circular patterns that emanated away from the head, as if he was radioactive or something.  Hell, he even used the lime green in his skin tone.  Wow, that was creepy-weird.  "Yeah", I thought, "This guy was nuts!"... or, he was brilliant... or more likely, a bit of both.  Vincent had painted himself in the image of a Japanese monk, with a calm exterior on the surface and an inner intensity beneath.   He knew exactly what he was doing.  
But he painted this just weeks before lopping off a chunk of that ear.  I remember thinking that this was the oddest, and yet, one of the most intriguing paintings I'd ever seen.  I couldn't take my eyes off of it.  I stared at it for quite a while.  Also odd, is that the eyes aren't looking at you, unlike most self portraits where an artist looking in a mirror is likely to paint the eyes looking directly back at the artist. 

That painting changed my opinion of the impressionists. I finally began to get it.  I began to see in a different way... which was the whole point of what they were doing.  Design was not the goal, they were exploring emotions, through color.  Van Gogh had painted himself with an aura.  The image gave off an energy.  I had this surreal feeling as if Van Gogh's soul had been painted right into this painting. I realized that the painting itself had an aura.  Some images do that to you. I'd felt it with other paintings, but never like this.


Getting back to the point, seeing an original painting is important, even though time may give it a bit of a patina.  Googling images of paintings will inevitably bring a variety of versions, most of which do not accurately represent the original, and most likely will not reproduce that aura, if it has one.

Comparing examples of another Van Gogh portrait taken from the web, it's clear that accuracy is lacking.  Design is present but color is random.  How would anyone know which is closest to the original?