Gertrude Stein said I write for myself and strangers. As I sit the world around me is increasing, approaching 9 billion souls and bodies. I am actually South County today, so we are more like 2 million not the 60,000 fellow denizens of our fair city, Plastic Alto.

And I am writing to about 10 people in particular, members of leadership: elected council members, appointed commisisoners, paid staff. And the blog – -the name, by the way, is a jazz reference, to Ornette Coleman — gets on average about 500 hits.

And I guess I am writing for or to myself. I am conjuring the familiar subvocal voice that goes with the taptaptaping of the keyboard. I’ve been hearing this voice for about 50 years or so, it started early. I am guided by voices, and only slightly annoyed and not energized by the neo-soul soundtrack at Nirvana Soul, on South First, in the Hotel St. Claire building, across from Anno Domini and near the California Theatre.

“We are the World” conjures the supergroup that sang an antifamine song in the mid-1980s. Lionel Ritchie — who was at Stanford recently – Bob Dylan, likewise, Huey Lewis, whose stepfather was a Paly track star, et cetera.

But my usage today is referring to World Music Day, which is coming back to Palo Alto on Saturday, June 25. I learned this from a blast from City Manager’s office. the City Manager is Ed Shikada — who used to work in San Jose – -he likely knows this building and certainly the South First. He is also Hawaiin and Japanese. He came to my Akira Tana Otonowa show, the day before Covid. I saw Akira with Tammy Hall at First Cong this weekend, the 50th anniversary of Palo Alto Jazz Alliance, started by Herb Wong. Sorry to digress.

I am writing this to Pat Burt, mayor; Tom Dubois, former mayor, current council member for another seven months; Alison Cormack, seven months; Jeff LaMere, parks commissioner; David Moss former Parks Commissioner; David Goldman a retired baseball coach and grandfather currently traveling in Europe – i can tell by the tones when I tried to ring him — we’ve never met; he’s on the board of Palo Alto Recreation Foundation. With Camille Townsend, former school board member, grandmother, and my sometime ally. Kris O’Kane, staff. Claude Ezran, former chair of the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission who most notably and relevantly founded Palo Alto’s World Music Day in 2009, based on his having visited (his native) France during Fete De La Music, which loosely translates as Make Music Day, which I believe meant he was in France during Solstice, in 2008.

Solstice for people new to the hood means the longest day of the year. It’s on Tuesday, June 21 this year which means sunset is not until 8:33 — I looked it up a couple days ago and wrote that from memory. I think today the sun goes down at 8:20. So over the course of the month our daylight increases by about 10 minutes. And, as I said below, here in Plasty, that has made or will make (French: fete or fe or Fais or something) all the differance. Viva the differance. Live the difference. Use this.

In 2009, Palo Alto’s first World Music Day was on both Solstice, the longest day of the year, and Father’s Day, a Sunday. Auspicious start. I was both a member of the first planning committe for such — although I jumped in late, in January or February, i.e. about four months out — presumably Claude was working on it for about a year. Beyond Claude, I am certainly the world’s expert on Palo Alto World Music Day, but I will –seriously — try to self-edit, for brevity. I just said to my wife that the World Music Day meeting was one of our first dates — Terry, Terry Acebo Davis, was chair of the public art commission at the time – -we were suggesting that the Human Relations commission and the Public Art commission should collaborate to make the idea fly.

I was also a participant, a performer at World Music Day that year, althought i am not actually a musician or performer. (I’m a writer, duh!)

Beat Hotel Rm 32, 2009

Steve Rothblatt and I debuted a project called Beat Hotel Rm 32 Reads ‘Howl’ which is an Allen Ginsburg tribute project. I read “Howl” the formerly controversial and “obscene” poem – though with, note the quotes, “redeeming social value” and Steve, passbly, played congas, a set of handdrums. Two, if memory serves. The act takes about 25 minutes — it’s a long poem, even without the coda. I don’t recall if I bleeped out the most obvious obscene phrase — with mother finally f_____ — the poem itself I think bleeps it out– and there is a history about buskers of NOT doing blue material. I apologize to anyone who has seen Beat Hotel Rm 32 Reads ‘Howl’ on the street and was shocked if I actually said “fucked” and not, for instance “fit” — sometimes I say “fit” not “fucked” and make a hand signal to draw attention to the elission or gap. (note ot self: look up “elisson” –like elipsis i think — I mean a part that has been cut or changed.

Speaking of parts that have been cut or changed, Palo Alto has had 11 World Music Days all of which have been on Sunday except the one coming up three weeks from Saturday. In 2020 , it was cancelled. In 2021 it peeped its nose up more like Killroy than a ground hog and spread itself out over four stages, two on Cali Ave and two on University Ave, and several Sundays and Saturdays. I don’t have the exact number. I know I saw five or so acts, sometimes parts of two concurrent or competing events.

The real World Music Day or Fete De La Musique features multiple stages – I think at its most active Palo Alto had four flights over 10 stages or something. But a main feature of World Music Day or Fete De La Musique is that you cannot see it all, you take your choices, or you graze. Which is similar to saying that no two people see the same event.

I forgot to mention above that I am listed on the program that first year as 1700 Singers – -initially I was trying to form an a capella group with some of my neighbors at Oak Creek — I was in building 1788 and I was trying to impress a young Persian divorced pharmacist in 1728 the buildng next to mine. (I had met her before I met my future wife, Terry, the arts commissoner I mentioned above). There was also an elder piano player at Oak Creek who I met in the clubhouse and we very briefly had a band called One Day Vacation (Tracy Chapmen reference) but she fired me after five minutes becuase I could not sing nor hear the half step between two notes in “They’re writing songs of love but not for me”. It was literally not for me. (I think I sing one measure in the entire 25 minutes readin “howl” — I imitate “Eli Eli” a famous Jewish lament, somewhere in there the the author writes “eli eli” or something. And I had performed or read as Beat Hotel Rm 32 six or seven times before I realized I could compare my reading to things left by Ginsburg himself, again, excuse the digression.

interlude:

Jujitsu is based on the notion that people need distance to hurt you. Instead of keeping away, you pull your opponent closer, so that your bodies are touching, so their arms and legs are too close to strike you. Then you have to learn to feel at home in the grasp of a stranger. (Adam Johnson, “Teen Sniper”, circa 2000 — besides shooting people, a precocious Palo Altan studies martial arts — and please do not look for a metaphor about judo and me and my wife, or me and leadership, or Earthwise Producitions and either Palo Alto Community Services or Palo Alto Parks Foundation. Or you will be, if not shot, then thrown down metaphorically speaking with great panache, or whatever the Japanese word for panache is, maybe Wa.)

Briefly: I am producing a Marta Sanchez show on Saturday June 25 at Lytton Plaza simultaneous to both World Music Day and a Drew Harrison Sunk Kings Beatles concert at Rinconada Park a mile south – -I am suggesting that rather than staggering the events, so that people can in theory see Marta Sanchez quintet – -five musicians — a very fab five I must say – and the New York Times, in 2,000 words no less — said as much — that we joint market the evens to make the series of six to ten performances seem more like a party, a fete, an event or Make Music Day.

I’m also likely to write to Drew Harrison and ask him to add a sitar player and definitely cover “Norwegian Wood”, “Within You, Without You” and the subset of Beatles songs that are also World music – -jai god day ah and all that.

Or as Stevie Wonder said or says “peace has come to Zimbabwe”.

There’s also an Indian jazz concert that night at Stanford and Jim Nadel of Stanford Jazz Workshop is also someone I think about as I write here. As in:

Palo Alto World Music Day June 25, 2022

Sunk Kings (Beatles Covers, including the Sitar Ones) (Rinconada Park)

Marta Sanchez Quintet (from Spain –Lytton Plaza)

Kale and Brooks Indian Jazz (at Stanford -tickets required)

Music from local and touring groups, 12:30 to Sunset — 8:33 or so.

Some thing like that. (and when I read or write this I say “some” rhymes with “poem”)

I might also add one, two, three, four or even five more acts and close to 20 musicians all in for Lytton Plaza that day — our permit says we are there from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Stay tuned. When a listening occurs, that will make the difference. Differance, even.

Notes:

one, I am leaving the mistake but modifying here below: The New York Times, perhaps procured across from Lytton Plaza at Mac’s in February, and persisting in mediation on the world wide web had 800 words about Marta Sanchez, the show I am bringing to Palo Alto, drawing from her new recording: