odds and ands

Last week we hosted Mary Heiny sensei on Wednesday night. As always it was wonderful catching up with her, remembering old times and seeing what the landscape is these days. I hope her Santa Cruz and Monterey experience went well(and I'm sure it did). I'll be seeing her in the summer at both the Menlo Park and Santa Cruz Retreats. And as an added treat, Vladi came down with Dianna and I was able to spend some time in the office with him.

Over the weekend I was able to play some music with Eddie Gale. He is a good friend of Dennis. In the '70's during the Mineta mayorship, he was appointed San Jose's Ambassador to Jazz, a title he holds to this day. He brought his flugelhorn and we played together. It was shot and a dvd will be coming out later at some point. It was a privilege to play with someone of his level. He came in to visit at the dojo the previous week. I had heard about him through Dennis. I was immediately struck by the music inside the man. It was apparent just through the contact with him. I hope in the future that may be said of me. Or that the aiki in me is so apparent.

This video has been on youtube for a week or so. I am finally connecting it to a blog. The music is post my meeting with Artt Frank. So the sound is a bit different. The whole concept of a stream of creation using aikido movement is something I have always wanted to do. We see techniques much as musical notes. Ikkyo. Kaiten Nage. Irimi Nage. But what if instead of notes they were chords? What if the notes were just the flow of the music to the chords? A stream of creation. I hope you enjoy it if you haven't already seen it.