Theatre, movies, music, reading, and occasionally doing something scary...
Asian American artists, writers, musicians, performers, activists...anyone who's putting themselves, their beliefs, and their hearts out there...
For my play: Tom Waits' INNOCENT WHEN YOU DREAM. Here are some songs I was thinking of for the pre-show, to kind of set the mood: BLUE SKIES (Judy Garland), MYSTIC DANCE (Keiko Matsui), COME SOFTLY TO ME (the Roches' version), DREAM (Frank Sinatra), WHERE TO BEGIN (My Morning Jacket), GLOW WORM (Johnny Mercer), NICE DREAM (Radiohead), FOR SENTIMENTAL REASONS (King Cole Trio), HEADLOCK (Imogen Heap) and maybe some more, though I think that maybe close to 30 minutes there.Otherwise: Well, I've got all the boomer music in my iPod, like Springsteen, the Beatles, Dylan, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, Paul Simon, the Isley Brothers (have you heard their HARVEST FOR THE WORLD or FIGHT THE POWER? The Democrats should review their music for their next presidential campaign) Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, U2, REM, Talking Heads, Tom Petty, the Who, the Stones, Nirvana, and the Clash, as well as some really uncool progressive rock, like Yes, Jethro Tull, and Genesis. But I've also tried to keep my brain from totally calcifying by keeping up with the newer music, so I've got a lot of alternative stuff, like Keane, Death Cab for Cutie, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Shins, the Flaming Lips, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Imogen Heap and a little Radiohead, etc. I've got just a little bit of hip hop, like the Blackeyed Peas, Eminem and Linkin Park new artists like Rachael Yamagata, and guys who defy category, like Tom Waits.
Well, here's where I really show my age, but here goes: My favorite films of all time include MIDNIGHT COWBOY, NASHVILLE, THE LAST DETAIL, WINGS OF DESIRE, CHINATOWN, (have to highlight BETTER LUCK TOMORROW! Oh, and ROBOT STORIES!), MUDDY RIVER (an obscure Japanese film that I can't find anywhere - the saddest movie of all time), THE SWEET HEREAFTER (maybe the second saddest), GRAVEYARD OF THE FIREFLIES (saddest animated film of all time - man, I'm just a big crybaby), HIGH FIDELITY, SAY ANYTHING, A FISH CALLED WANDA, SOPHIE'S CHOICE, DO THE RIGHT THING, SIDEWAYS, SWEET AND LOWDOWN, DODES'KADEN, RED BEARD, DERZU UZALA (late Kurosawa is so totally underrated - boy, could he make you cry!), ROBOT STORIES, AIRPLANE!, AMERICAN BEAUTY, MILLER'S CROSSING, SMOKE SIGNALS (the closing poem alone can make me weep like a little...boy), SPIRITED AWAY, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, RAISING ARIZONA, ORDINARY PEOPLE, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, THE CONVERSATION, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, THE GODFATHER (I & II), LITTLE BIG MAN, AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, REDS, CASABLANCA, ALIEN, APOCALYPSE NOW, BREAKING AWAY, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, FAHRENHEIT 911, NETWORK, SILVER CITY (a really overlooked John Sayles film from 2004 that's as good as Altman's best) SHAMPOO, THE STING, 2001, THRONE OF BLOOD, THE GRADUATE, ED WOOD, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, BLADE RUNNER, FARGO, THE DEER HUNTER, THE EXORCIST, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, ANNIE HALL, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, ROSEMARY'S BABY, BROADCAST NEWS, HIS GIRL FRIDAY, HAROLD AND MAUDE, IKIRU, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, LA STORY, FAHRENHEIT 911, RAISE THE RED LANTERN, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, BADLANDS, CABARET, DELIVERANCE, TOOTSIE, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, PAPER MOON, TSOTSI, GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, FRIENDS WITH MONEY, THE PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL, UNITED 93 (my nerves are still shot after watching this), LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, THE ILLUSIONIST, and I'll have to keep adding films to this list as they come to me. Too many to think of! Did I mention that I love the movies?
The closest I can think of is SIX FEET UNDER, only because it made death kind of ordinary and inevitable, and whenever the father showed up, I felt really funny. He was nothing like my father, except, he often hinted at a life that his children could not imagine.
My Year of Meats, by Ruth Ozeki - brilliant (Also, her All Over Creation)! Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee, as well as his A Gesture Life. No No Boy - John Okada. 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Marquez. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro. Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami. A Prayer for Owen Meany, The World According To Garp - John Irving. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller. Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut. Tule Lake (a novel by Edward Miyakawa). Hunger, Pan, Victoria (all Knut Hamsun, even though he became a Nazi). Lord of the Flies - William Golding. Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo. Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them - Al Franken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey. The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula LeGuin. The Stand - Stephen King. Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke. The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night - Mark Haddon. Beloved - Toni Morrison. Yellow (non-fiction, by Don Lee). M. Butterfly and Golden Child (plays by David Hwang). Ikebana (a play by Alice Tuan). A Language of Their Own (play by Chay Yew). Buried Child. Note: The plays, especially Ikebana, and A Language of Their Own have to be read out loud - even if you suck at reading out loud. You have to hear them.
I have three sisters and I love them all. Some of my play is inspired by our own collective experience with my father on his death bed in the hospital, but for dramaturgical reasons, I had to collapse them all into one character. This character bears no actual resemblance to any of my actual sisters, just as the brother bears no actual resemblance to me, but of course, I stole liberally from our collective experiences. Since the sister is a civil rights advocate based in Washington, my sister Karen especially dreads this play. Can I make it up here? My sisters are all heroic and all of them made (and probably continue to make) my father proud. Hell, they make ME proud.Then, there are people like Mako and Frank Chin, who really created the whole basis for Asian American theatre, and really...not to kiss ass, or anything, but Tim Dang has continued to build EWP and keep it growing, even after all the money dried up after 9/11, and it has become the oldest minority theatre in the country - can you dig that? - and all the crazy, touched-by-the-muse people who have built it into an actual genre of theatre and performance. It seems crazy, in this day and age, where globalization is everything, but theatre...theatre is local, communal, and one of the things that can change people. Writers like Wakako Yamauchi, David Hwang, Philip Gotanda, Rick Shiomi, Alice Tuan, Chay Yew, Prince Gomolvilas (who really is a genius, and a really sweet guy to boot), and countless others. Film directors like Justin Lin, Chris Chan Lee, Eric Byler, Lane Nishikawa - that job looks HARD!- and these guys keep doing it. I have to mention a short story about Academy Award winning director Chris Tashima (forgive me, Chris, I hope you don't mind): I happened to be at his place shortly after VISAS AND VIRTUES won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film, and I admired all the congratulatory faxes, letters, and telegrams he had displayed on the wall. "You want to see what I'm really proud of?" he asked me. In his bathroom were a bunch of rejection letters. "And those are just the best ones," he said. THAT'S what makes a hero! I also have to mention George Takei. Lots of people know him only as Sulu, some have been introduced to him via the unlikely channel of talk radio, but if you've ever spent time with him, you'd see that he's one of the smartest men you'll ever meet. He's also incredibly generous and politically involved and is constantly giving back to the community whenever he can. He gave me the best quote I could possibly hope for, and he wrote me the nicest email I've ever received after one of our readings of the play. He's as unlikely a Nisei as you'll ever meet, but he also embodies the Nisei: He gets it done, tirelessly, quietly, and with great nobility. And now, back to the list: Stage directors like Alberto Isaac, whose love and knowledge of theater is astounding - and Lane Nishikawa again, whose work as a theatre director is seriously overlooked. And Marc Hayashi, who got out of the business as an actor (why, Marc, why?), but whose work in the 80s on stage remains among the best I've ever seen. I don't want to be a name dropper, but most of my heroes...are people I know, and, of course, I never tell them so...I mean, what the hell would they say if I told them?