Showing posts with label Obiko. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obiko. Show all posts
August 16, 2025
October 18, 2023
Oakland Art Murmur Non Stop Art bus tour
~
On Saturday, October 21, 2023, Director Jean Marie Durant, of the Oakland Art Murmur, is leading a "Discover Art Bus Tour" to find undiscovered arts spaces on an art and fashion bus tour in Oakland.
The art spaces to be visited:
Gearbox Gallery; Art Exhibition Featuring Gearbox Gallery Artists Linda Ellinwood and Diane Williams.
Transmission Gallery; Special demonstrations highlighting the incredible talents of Oakland Technical High School Fashion/Art/Design Academy students.
John Natsoulas 519 Gallery; Three Sculptural Installations from East Bay Artists: Featuring Yoyo Hu, Yingling Lin, and Seongmin Yoo.
Gray Loft Gallery; Fashion as Art exhibition featuring three Oakland artists and a fashion show featuring the work of Obiko designer Carol Lee Shanks. The show will feature a Soundscape by Styrous®, Wine and chocolate reception, featuring Tessier Winery Wines, and swag bag for all attendees. Space is limited to 19, RSVP Required. Ages 12+ and up are welcome.
Oakland Art Murmur Individual Members receive discounted admission.
Additional details, including Accessibility information by clicking the link below.
Net links:
September 19, 2023
Gray Loft Gallery ~ Tracing Passages: art, fashion, music & wine
~
Ruth Boerefijn ~ All A round installation
This Saturday, September 23, 2023, the Gray Loft Gallery will open an exhibition with works by three Bay Area artists entitled, Tracing Passages.
Jingletown artist, Ruth Boerefijn creates fascinating fiber/mixed-media installations, many with circles, many not (image above).
Cuong Ta works in clay to form uniquely wild vessels that are more than they seem to be while still teaching math in Bay Area independent schools.
Tom White also comes from a teaching background, UC Berkeley and the California College of the Arts and Crafts. He is now making collage renderings called Drawn and Quartered from his previous work.
In October, Obiko (link below), Art-to-Wear designer Carol Lee Shanks will present her fashions at the Gray Loft Gallery with a sound design by yours truly.
Opening Reception:
Saturday, September
23, 6:00 to 8:30 pm
Carol Lee Shanks fashion show:
Saturday, October
21, 3:30 pm
Please RSVP
510-499-3445
Closing
Reception:
Saturday, November 11, 5:00
to 7:30 pm
Gray Loft Gallery
2889 Ford Street
Third Floor
Oakland, CA 94601
Net links:
Carol Lee Shanks articles/mentions
May 31, 2023
1,000,001 CDs 21: Tina Turner ~ Foreign Affair (Tina & Kaisik)
cover design by
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Tina Turner, "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", died last week; Tina was one of my "Immortal Loves" (link below) and, of course, I was devastated.
When I heard about her death it brought back to mind the wonderful tales Kaisik Wong told me about his fashion adventures, which were many. He worked with such music icons as Betty Davis, wife of jazz musician Miles Davis, Leila And The Snakes, and there was his encounter with Tina and Ike Turner which was at the top of my favorite tales by him.
I
chose this CD to honor her because it's one of my favorite albums by
her, she is wearing one of the fashions similar to the those Kaisik
designed for her . . .
. . . one of the songs on the album was produced by Rupert Hine who also worked with Turner on her Private Dancer album, the packaging for the album was totally cool and the music is pretty good as well.
Tracklist:
1 - Steamy Windows, Written By Tony Joe White - 4:03
2 - The Best, Producer – Tina Turner, Written By H. Knight*, M. Chapman*e - 5:28
3 - You Know Who (Is Doing You Know What), Written By Tony Joe Whitee - 3:45
4 - Undercover Agent For The Blues, Written By Leann White, Tony Joe Whitee - 5:20
5 - Look Me In The Heart, Written By B. Steinberg*, T. Kelly*e - 3:42
6 - Be Tender With Me Baby, Written By A. Hammond*, H. Knight*e - 4:18
7 - You Can't Stop Me Loving You, Written By A. Hammond*, H. Knight*e - 4:00
8 - Ask Me How I Feel, Producer – Tina Turner, Written By A. Hammond*, H. Knight*e - 4:46
9 - Falling Like Rain, Producer – Rupert Hine, Written By D. Munday*, S. Stewart*e - 4:03
10 - I Don't Wanna Lose You, Producer – Roger Davies, Written By Albert Hammond, Graham Lylee - 4:20
11 - Not Enough Romance, Written By Dan Hartmane - 4:04
12 - Foreign Affair, Producer – Roger Davies, Written By Tony Joe Whitee - 4:27
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Capitol Records, Inc.
Copyright © – Capitol Records, Inc.
Mastered At – DADC Austria
Credits:
Executive-Producer – Roger Davies, Tina Turner
Management – Roger Davies, Roger Davies Management Inc.
Mixed By – Chris Lord-Alge
Producer – Dan Hartman (tracks: 1 to 8, 11)
1 - Steamy Windows, Written By Tony Joe White - 4:03
2 - The Best, Producer – Tina Turner, Written By H. Knight*, M. Chapman*e - 5:28
3 - You Know Who (Is Doing You Know What), Written By Tony Joe Whitee - 3:45
4 - Undercover Agent For The Blues, Written By Leann White, Tony Joe Whitee - 5:20
5 - Look Me In The Heart, Written By B. Steinberg*, T. Kelly*e - 3:42
6 - Be Tender With Me Baby, Written By A. Hammond*, H. Knight*e - 4:18
7 - You Can't Stop Me Loving You, Written By A. Hammond*, H. Knight*e - 4:00
8 - Ask Me How I Feel, Producer – Tina Turner, Written By A. Hammond*, H. Knight*e - 4:46
9 - Falling Like Rain, Producer – Rupert Hine, Written By D. Munday*, S. Stewart*e - 4:03
10 - I Don't Wanna Lose You, Producer – Roger Davies, Written By Albert Hammond, Graham Lylee - 4:20
11 - Not Enough Romance, Written By Dan Hartmane - 4:04
12 - Foreign Affair, Producer – Roger Davies, Written By Tony Joe Whitee - 4:27
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Capitol Records, Inc.
Copyright © – Capitol Records, Inc.
Mastered At – DADC Austria
Credits:
Executive-Producer – Roger Davies, Tina Turner
Management – Roger Davies, Roger Davies Management Inc.
Mixed By – Chris Lord-Alge
Producer – Dan Hartman (tracks: 1 to 8, 11)
Producer – Dan Hartman (tracks: 1 to 8, 11)
Notes:
Limited Edition Passport Edition.
TINA TURNER Foreign Affair (1989 UK limited edition 12-track CD album including The Best and Steamy Window, in special 7" x 5" (appr. 17 x 13 cm) passport pack with integral 16-page booklet and gold embossed artist/title/logo on the cover).
This edition of Tina Turner's Foreign Affair album is limited. It has the Original album "foreign Affair".
The Presentation of this Limited Edition: It comes in a custom passport design with a designed Tina Turner Coat Of Arms on the cover.
Inside we get the wavy background that reads Tina Turner Foreign Affair, which is repeated just like inside a real passport. No detail is left out here, the passport cover is a Navy Blue/Indigo colour with Gold Colour printing for the titles and Emblem. The back of the front cover has Tina Turner's album Logo in a blasted rosy pink colour, which turns purple towards the right. It also features some lyrics from the title track, in a handwritten style. After the song credits we get a passport details page for Tina Turner with a nice photo and a printed signature. The following pages contain the photographs from the Foreign Affair album artwork shoot.
The complete set is resented here in a scrapbook/photo album feel way. The Middle Page contains the Iconic Image by Herb Ritts that appears on the Foreign Affair Tour Programme and the Steamy Windows Single Cover. The back page has a full-page photograph of Tina. Detail is that the song titles appear over the each of the pages in a passport stamp nature. All individually designed with the credits for the writers, composers and producers within each unique shape.
The Disc comes in a white slip cloth that is housed inside a pocket at the back that you slide the Disc into... So basically a Limited Edition that goes well with the Foreign Affair Concept. An Collector's item that is becoming increasingly rare to find as it has been deleted for many years.
Passport has release number CDP 7 93129 2 and states "Printed in UK".
Disc has number CDP 7 91873 2 with artwork similar to the regular UK release. CD states "Made in Austria", although it is said there is also a disc with matching passport artwork.
℗ © 1989 Capitol Records, Inc.
Made in Austria
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Label Code: LC 0148
Rights Society: BIEM / MCPS
Matrix / Runout (Variant 1): CDP-7918732 11 A1 MASTERED BY DADC AUSTRIA
Matrix / Runout (Variant 2): CDP-7918732 11 A7 MASTERED BY DADC AUSTRIA
Notes:
Limited Edition Passport Edition.
TINA TURNER Foreign Affair (1989 UK limited edition 12-track CD album including The Best and Steamy Window, in special 7" x 5" (appr. 17 x 13 cm) passport pack with integral 16-page booklet and gold embossed artist/title/logo on the cover).
This edition of Tina Turner's Foreign Affair album is limited. It has the Original album "foreign Affair".
The Presentation of this Limited Edition: It comes in a custom passport design with a designed Tina Turner Coat Of Arms on the cover.
Inside we get the wavy background that reads Tina Turner Foreign Affair, which is repeated just like inside a real passport. No detail is left out here, the passport cover is a Navy Blue/Indigo colour with Gold Colour printing for the titles and Emblem. The back of the front cover has Tina Turner's album Logo in a blasted rosy pink colour, which turns purple towards the right. It also features some lyrics from the title track, in a handwritten style. After the song credits we get a passport details page for Tina Turner with a nice photo and a printed signature. The following pages contain the photographs from the Foreign Affair album artwork shoot.
The complete set is resented here in a scrapbook/photo album feel way. The Middle Page contains the Iconic Image by Herb Ritts that appears on the Foreign Affair Tour Programme and the Steamy Windows Single Cover. The back page has a full-page photograph of Tina. Detail is that the song titles appear over the each of the pages in a passport stamp nature. All individually designed with the credits for the writers, composers and producers within each unique shape.
The Disc comes in a white slip cloth that is housed inside a pocket at the back that you slide the Disc into... So basically a Limited Edition that goes well with the Foreign Affair Concept. An Collector's item that is becoming increasingly rare to find as it has been deleted for many years.
Passport has release number CDP 7 93129 2 and states "Printed in UK".
Disc has number CDP 7 91873 2 with artwork similar to the regular UK release. CD states "Made in Austria", although it is said there is also a disc with matching passport artwork.
℗ © 1989 Capitol Records, Inc.
Made in Austria
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Label Code: LC 0148
Rights Society: BIEM / MCPS
Matrix / Runout (Variant 1): CDP-7918732 11 A1 MASTERED BY DADC AUSTRIA
Matrix / Runout (Variant 2): CDP-7918732 11 A7 MASTERED BY DADC AUSTRIA
Viewfinder links:
September 13, 2022
Guo Pei ~ Fantasy Fashion Designer
~ I only recently, less than a year, heard about Chinese fashion designer, Guo Pei, the stereotypical "Overnight" sensation who worked for decades before being "Discovered".
Guo rocketed to international stardom when singer/actress Rihanna wore the gown shown at right to the 2015 Met Gala. The theme of the gala that year was, China: Through the Looking Glass. As they say, the rest is history!
Rihanna later confessed to Vanity Fair that she was not all that confident of herself in it and "Felt like a Clown."
Guo had been creating her fantasy fashions for Chinese celebrities for decades, was considered a national treasure, was funded by the Chinese Government but was unheard of outside of China until that fateful evening.
Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian
wrote, "Rihanna's wardrobe is the most talked-about, influential
and dissected in pop right now" and that whatever she wears "is
immediately reproduced on the high street, because it sells".
Guo was born in Beijing in 1967 to two members of China's Communist Party, her father being a former battalion leader of the People's Army and her mother being a kindergarten teacher. In an interview with Forbes magazine, she recalls her father having thrown away her sketches and paintings as a child.
In the same interview Guo says she got her start in sewing at the age
of 2 years old, helping her mother make clothes for the winter and
developed her love for dressmaking. During her childhood, Mao suits were considered the only correct form of clothing and Guo Pei defied this with loose-fitting dresses.
When the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco opened their exhibition, Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy, in April of this year, I decided I HAD to see it. I finally did last month and was completely blown away!
I
managed to get dozens of photos of the wildly visual creations which
are a brilliant melding, mixture, blending or collision, however you
want to describe it, of fashion and art. I have not seen anything like them since my days
working with Obiko in San Francisco (link below); I wonder if she ever saw those shows?
Viewfinder link:
I will group the images into categories for separate articles in order to keep them from
getting totally out of hand and tedious for reading. I will post them in the links below as I do. I hope you enjoy
them.
The exhibition will be open until
Sunday, November 27, 2022, Tuesdays through Sundays, 9:30 am to 5:15 pm.
I have every intention of returning to see it in more depth.
Lincoln Park
100 34th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94121
415-750-3600
Net links:
SCAD ~ Guo Pei ~ Couture Beyond
YouTube links:
FF Chanel ~ Guo Pei | Fall Winter 2019/2020 | (Full Show)
Wall St. Journal ~ Meet Guo Pei, China's 1st Haute Couture Designer
November 6, 2021
Adolphe Sax ~ The saxophone & other weird wonders
~
Saxhorn - 1866
Bass saxhorn - 1863
Also detailed in the 1859 patent is the valve venting system seen on this trombone. Instead of having a vent hole in the bottom of each valve cap as is usual, the casing of each valve has an external tube for venting. This was designed to make the instrument more durable. It permits air to escape when the valve is depressed (like a typical perforated valve cap) but prevents dust from entering the casing.
Despite these innovations and the quality of their construction, Sax's six-valve instruments did not achieve lasting popularity. Players were reluctant to learn such a radically different fingering system and the instruments were much heavier to hold than conventional three-valve models.
In 2015, Google celebrated the 201st birthday of Adolphe Sax with a series of Google Doodles created by Lydia Nichols that feature Sax with his various musical instruments. 
Net links:
YouTube links:
Trombone a six pistons - 1866
photo: Rama
Today is the birthday of Belgian inventor and musician, Adolphe Sax,
who invented the saxophone, which bears his name. But he also invented
many other strange brass instruments, most lost in the thrash bin of
history only to be dredged up occasionally by special groups of musicians interested
in strange instruments.
I saw some of his bizarre designs when I was in Vermillion in South Dakota. The University of South Dakota is home to the National Music Museum
which has over 15,000 American, European, and non-Western instruments;
it is one of the world's largest collections of music instruments.
Hector Berlioz
discovered the instruments Sax was inventing at the time, fell in love with them and utilized them in his works. He
liked the sound of brass instruments and used them in many of his works.
In 1844, Sax invented the Saxtromba which was designed for the mounted bands of the French military, probably as a substitute for the French horn. The saxotrombas comprised a family of half-tube instruments of different pitches. The name of the instrument combines Sax's surname with the Italian word for "trumpet" (tromba). By about 1867 the saxotromba was no longer being used by the French military.
~ ~ ~
The Saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments (although at one point ten different sizes seem to have existed). Designed for band use, they are pitched alternately in E♭ and B♭, like the saxophone group.
that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces.
Modern saxhorns are still manufactured and in use. The B♭ soprano saxhorn is called a flugelhorn. Joe Bishop, a member of the Woody Herman band in 1936, was one of the earliest jazz musicians to use the flugelhorn. Shorty Rogers and Kenny Baker began playing it in the early fifties, and Clark Terry used it in the Duke Ellington orchestra in the mid-1950s. Chet Baker recorded several albums on the instrument in the 1950s and 1960s. Miles Davis popularized the instrument in jazz on the albums Miles Ahead and Sketches of Spain, (both arranged by Gil Evans). Sketches is my favorite album by Davis. Other prominent flugelhorn players include Freddie Hubbard, Tom Browne, Lee Morgan, Bill Dixon, Wilbur Harden, Art Farmer, Roy Hargrove, Randy Brecker, Hugh Masekela, Tony Guerrero, Jimmy Owens, Terumasa Hino, Woody Shaw, Guido Basso, Kenny Wheeler, Tom Harrell, Bill Coleman, Thad Jones, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Loughnane of the rock band Chicago, Mike Metheny, Harry Beckett, Ack van Rooyen and Maynard Ferguson. My favorite album by Ferguson is Conquistador released in 1977, I used the title song for the opening of the Obiko Art to Wear show, Tribal Visions, at the Fort Mason center in San Francisco in 1989 (link below).
Most jazz flugelhorn players use the instrument as an auxiliary to the trumpet, but in the 1970s Chuck Mangione gave up playing the trumpet and concentrated on the flugelhorn alone, notably on his jazz-pop hit song Feels So Good. Mangione, in an interview on ABC during the 1980 Winter Olympics, for which he wrote the theme Give It All You Got, referred to the flugelhorn as "the right baseball glove".
~ ~ ~
The bass saxhorn was built by Adolphe Sax
in 1863. This instrument features several innovations by Sax, including
his six independant valve system and a pavillon tournant, or moveable
bell that can be adjusted by the player to direct the sound of the
instrument. Sax’s system of six independent valves was devised to
correct the intonation problems of typical three-valve instruments,
which can sound out of tune when valves are used in combination. Sax
made a wide range of instruments with this system, including saxhorns,
trombones, trumpets, cornets and horns. Saxhorns like this were featured
in the Banda, or stage band of the Paris Opéra that Sax formed and
directed from 1847 to 1892.
~ ~ ~
Sax’s
system of six independent valves was devised to correct the intonation
problems of typical three-valve instruments, which can sound out of tune
when valves are used in combination. Valve trombones were useful in
situations where using a slide was awkward, such as while marching or
playing in a cramped orchestra pit.
Tenor valve Trombone with six pistons - 1866
The
valve system used on this instrument is detailed in Sax’s 1859 patent
(France, No. 39371). It is an ascending system, since the valves do not
add extra tubing to the instrument’s length. Instead each of them
isolates different amounts of the instrument’s total tubing. Each valve
is to be used on its own and causes the instrument to sound a half-tone
lower than the previous valve. Sax applied his six-valve independent
system mostly to saxhorns and trombones.
Also detailed in the 1859 patent is the valve venting system seen on this trombone. Instead of having a vent hole in the bottom of each valve cap as is usual, the casing of each valve has an external tube for venting. This was designed to make the instrument more durable. It permits air to escape when the valve is depressed (like a typical perforated valve cap) but prevents dust from entering the casing.
Despite these innovations and the quality of their construction, Sax's six-valve instruments did not achieve lasting popularity. Players were reluctant to learn such a radically different fingering system and the instruments were much heavier to hold than conventional three-valve models.
~ ~ ~
Saxtuba is an obsolete valved brasswind instrument conceived by Sax around 1845. The design of the instrument was inspired by the ancient Roman cornu and Roman tuba.
Saxtuba -1867 Wood-engraving: Le Monde illustré
In the 1770s, the French artist Jacques-Louis David carried out extensive researches into the ancient Roman instruments that appeared on Trajan's Column in Rome. Two of these instruments – the straight Roman tuba and the curved cornu – were revived in Revolutionary France as the buccina and tuba curva. To devise the saxtubas Sax merely added valves to these natural instruments, thus providing them with chromatic compasses.
Furthermore, he designed them in such a way that the valves were hidden
from general view, thus giving the impression that the instruments were
primitive natural trumpets only capable of playing notes from a single harmonic series.
~ ~ ~
And last, but certainly not least, is my favorite instrument for pop music, the alto saxophone, also referred to as the alto sax or simply the alto, is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Invented by Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846, it is pitched in E♭ and smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano. It is the most common saxophone and is commonly used in popular music, concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire, military bands, marching bands, and jazz (such as big bands, jazz combos, swing music). The fingerings of the different saxophones are all the same so a saxophone player can play any type of saxophone.
Altsaxofon
photo by Mikael Bodner The alto saxophone had a prominent role in the development of
jazz. Influential jazz musicians who made significant contributions
include Don Redman, Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Lee Konitz, Jackie McLean, Phil Woods, Art Pepper, Paul Desmond, Cannonball Adderley and Stan Getz.
Of all the above mentioned jazz artists my very favorite is the Stan Getz 1977 recording of Another World. The title song is an extraordinary experimental sonic voyage (links below).
photo of album cover by Styrous®
In the pop realm, my all-time favorite is the 1979 album by Madness, One Step Beyond. The title song has an awsome (literally) sax played by Lee "Kix" Thompson to say nothing of their wacky and wonderful instrumental interpretation of Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky (links below).
cover photo by Lee "Kix" Thompson
photo of album cover by Styrous®
~ ~ ~
In 1863, a saxophone solo, composed by Jean Baptiste Singelee, was commissioned and published by Sax himself. There is a recording of it (link below)
played by Randy Emerick on an original Adolphe Sax baritone saxophone
made in 1861 at Sax's first saxophone factory. The piece, Septieme Solo de Concert, would have been first played on an identical baritone saxophone.
The musicians are:
Randy Emerick, 1861 Adolphe Sax baritone saxophone
Richard Brookens, soprano saxophone
Neal Bonsanti, alto saxophone
Scott Klarman, tenor saxophone
Randy Emerick, 1861 Adolphe Sax baritone saxophone
Richard Brookens, soprano saxophone
Neal Bonsanti, alto saxophone
Scott Klarman, tenor saxophone
In 1874, Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, composed a suite of ten pieces for piano entitled Pictures at an Exhibition. In 1922, Maurice Ravel arrenged it for full orchestra and utilized the beautiful sound of the saxophone at it's best (link below).
In 2015, Google celebrated the 201st birthday of Adolphe Sax with a series of Google Doodles created by Lydia Nichols that feature Sax with his various musical instruments.
Google Doodles - 2015
design by Lydia Nichols
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Selmer Museum ~ The inventions of Adolphe Sax
Thrive ~ Adolphe Sax Google Doodles
The World ~ The 'dangerous Belgian' who invented the sax
YouTube links:
Stan Getz ~ Another World
Madness ~
Swan Lake (live in Paris)
Modest Mussorgsky/Ravell ~ Pictures at an Exhibition (Excerpt)
Jean Baptiste Singelee - Septieme Solo de Concert
Taimur Sullivan ~ The pure beauty of an original Adolphe Sax, circa 1852
Happy birthday, Adolphe & thanks for the cool tunes!
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