Ingot Projects

Contributor Roll Call - What’s Possible

This post may turn out to be a pretty long one because I am long overdue in writing one. As always the first order of business is to thank the benefactors of Silent Vessel, Fast River.

Craig McCaffrey is the most recent donor to Silent Vessel, Fast River and a close friend for more than a decade. We traveled the world together playing music and he was with the Analog Set for our only tour of Japan. It would be pretty amazing to be here with him again because I know so much more about this place (Tokyo anyway) than I did in 2005.

I briefly mentioned on Facebook about old and new friends in Japan. Now I want my best American friends to meet those Japanese friends. Technology keeps making the world a smaller place with all of the new ways to keep in touch but there is certainly nothing like sitting face to face with friends and talking even if some of the conversation is lost in translation. 

All I want to do is create opportunities for people from everywhere to be able to dialogue and experience each other’s lives even in some small way. I hope Silent Vessel, Fast River will be of some benefit to that desire. I believe that it will though because even the crude proposal video for the IndieGogo campaign created what will no doubt be the most valuable connection for this entire project.

Rika Watanabe was searching for information about Hayakawa or projects about him and stumbled across my video and inquired about the status of my project. She may not be thrilled about being named but Rika has been instrumental in providing me with a wealth of new information regarding Hayakawa.  Some of this new information stands in stark contrast to what is in Hayakawa’s memoirs. Even though Hayakawa’s life was fascinating it would be a little boring to find out that his memoirs were the official word so the fact that Rika’s information is often different is invigorating. It’s very exciting to know that there was someone else out there in the world wondering about why Hayakawa is not better remembered. Rika’s enthusiasm for finding answers, patience with me, and overall intelligence is abundant. She is without a doubt a far more capable candidate to attempt a project like this but in talking with Rika she has an even larger goal for this research. I’m sure that if she were to put her mind to that larger goal it would indeed be achieved with extraordinary results.

Those who know me well are aware of how deeply pessimistic I am about almost everything but in this process I see a little light at the end of the tunnel, not only for this project but perhaps even for myself. If you care about something create a monument to it and see who else is looking for a way to celebrate it.


 

Facebook Share Text

Just to make the process easier for everyone who wants to use the share feature for the Silent Vessel, Fast River Facebook page. Here’s some text you can just copy and paste so that interested parties can expend the least amount of energy trying to help me spread the word about Silent Vessel, Fast River.

My friend Jesse Lee is making a documentary about the actor Sessue Hayakawa as his Master’s thesis. Sessue Hayakawa is arguably one of the most important but unknown individuals in the history of film. The Indiegogo campaign page and proposal video is located here: http://igg.me/p/74310?a=420237

Don’t feel like you have to use this but if it does make sharing the project easier for you then by all means please do use it. 

Thanks again to everyone who has taken even a single step to help advance the momentum of this project. Ultimately the success of this project is on my shoulders but if my supporters will keep sharing this until the end of the Indiegogo campaign on June 10th. 

Contributor Roll Call - Japan Or Bust…Bust Likely

I’m going to semi-honor the anonymous status of the last contribution. I know this individual from my time spent playing music. I think I know most of my friends from my travels with the Analog Set and it’s great to still have so many of the people that I met during that time still in my life in some capacity. So here’s the sole thanks for this post:

C. Y. 

I have also booked my trip to Japan and will leave on April 10th and return to the US on April 30th. I am pretty scared because all of my efforts to try to set up interviews with the remaining Hayakawa family members have thus far been wholly thwarted. However, if I return to my experience in music again I just have to remember that you can only plan so much and improvising and figuring it out on the go is necessary. The proposal video has created a new connection for me in Japan though. The individual who contacted me is Japanese and so enthusiastic and communicative that even though there is very little planned there is now a much greater potential for an adventure and some genuine discovery.

I’m placing this painting of the Bodhidharma (known in Japan as Daruma [ダルマ]) below because I became a little obsessed with Daruma while I was living in Japan. My understanding of the Daruma doll is that you buy them with a goal in mind with both eyes (or one eye) uncolored. I believe that the eyes are tied to a story about Daruma cutting off his eyelids in a rage after falling asleep while meditating. The colored in eye or eye that color in first is meant to signify the beginning of a task or journey of sorts and when the task is accomplished or goal is achieved the other eye is colored in and then both eyes are then “open” literally and figuratively. 

The painting of Daruma I have chosen was created by a Japanese painter named Sesshu.  I have to wonder if Sessue Hayakawa chose his stage name based on his affinity for this painter. Sessue Hayakawa actually spelled his name Sesshu as well but got a better pronunciation out of Americans with the “-sue” spelling. The painter and the actor used different kanji (Chinese characters) for their representation of the name Sesshu. I think that Hayakawa’s purported life long dedication to Zen Buddhism (the Bodhidharma is recognized as spreading Ch’an [Zen] Buddhism to China), that was especially important after he retired from acting, could have drawn him to this painting in his younger years. I love the bold colorful representation of the Daruma most familiar to tourists but I also love this stark, jagged portrait of Daruma for what it says about perseverance in isolation that must have been a part of Hayakawa’s existence. 

 

Contributor Roll Call - Journey Song Appropriate Situation

It’s time to mention/thank the new contributors to Silent Vessel, Fast River. When I sit and think about all of the strands of this project that I need to weave together to make the thing I want to make I can get a little overwhelmed. Individuals who spread the word about or contribute to this project make me feel like they believe that I can really pull this thing together. 

J. Carr
S. Ripple
S. Keefe
N. Choi 



 

Contributor Roll Call - Anxiety Drunk

I hope that everyone following the project takes a little time to read these posts. I try not to make them too long or too often but I do want everyone to know that the project is constantly on my mind. Another thing that is constantly on my mind is thanking the individuals that have parted ways with some of their hard earned cash in order to help me get this project rolling.

I have decided to more explicitly note the thanking of financial contributors to the campaign. This is not to say that people who are only sharing or liking the pages are not worthy of individual praise as well but I’m trying to do that on the spot by mentioning something cool that you are doing that I can bring attention too or by pressing like on your mention of the Silent Vessel, Fast River pages. This is because I’m obsessed with myself and crave attention. I hope that any of you that know me would agree I’m quite the opposite and that’s why your actions or words of encouragement mean so very much. I’m terrible at promoting myself and struggle constantly with anxiety and guilt every time I try to summon my friends to go to bat for me. It’s just a few days in and I’m already confessing like a drunk at three AM.  Somebody take me home and put me to bed…

…but before I go to sleep I just wanna say one thing.

Andrew Kenny
Jocelyn Chen
Dave Wingo
David McComb
Su Dinh
Leigh Tran

Thanks so much.

Who wants French Toast? 

Lens Huntin’ Season

So I managed to bag a couple of lenses for my shoot. The Tokina 11-16 has universal acclaim for its image quality and features and will going to help me establish locations that are especially scenic. Another victim of my financial marksmanship was a “nifty fifty”. Because I’m using the 50mm on a crop sensor it will look a lil more zoomed in than the way it would on a full frame sensor but it will still be the fastest lens I have (1.8) and it’s low profile will hopefully make the camera disappear a little more during interviews.

I’m really excited to get these and as soon as I can I’ll shoot some test images and post them. 

Going Off the Rails

Well it’s not really off the rails yet but the Silent Vessel on a Fast River is building momentum. Today it’s due to the contributions of David McComb and Su Dinh. If this thing is going to turn into a real crazy train (or boat) that Ozzy and Randy can really be stoked about it’s going to take more sharing and liking via Facebook. More people are helping on that front as well and everyone who likes or shares links to this project has my sincere gratitude.

Ongoing Process…

So the project just received the first contribution and it’s from a dear friend. I want to say that I know times are still tough and if this thing just got passed around and completed with 23,000 $2 contributions I would still be over the moon. 

I’m going to thank this first contributor by her full name but in the future may ask the contibutors for their preference.

Thank you so much Leigh Tran.