Category: This is…

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It’s a LABYRINTH

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Well, we’re at the midway point or thereabouts with the Kickstarter for our newest all original music album, LABYRINTH.

Yes, I know, it’s the first I’ve mentioned it here because I am woefully bad at self-promotion event though I have been schooled by the best (Kevin J. Anderson, I’m looking at you).

But here’s the deal: Jeff and I are especially excited about this album for a multitude of reasons, some musical and some not.

What can I say about the music? I love it. especially the final track, “It’s Quiet Here.” That song was a late entry into the lineup which we decided to record when we pulled another song from the album because Jeff was unhappy with the lyric. “Quiet” was one of those songs (I think there may be one on every album) that was written, composed and recorded in a matter of days.

I fell in love with the song while I was working out the melody lines for it. I love the way it builds up with every verse and how the vocal turned out AND (as a big old bonus) the fact that Steve MacDonald happened to be here recording a selection for another project. So I did what any red-blooded singer would do: I begged him to put a harmony on the track. He also sings on “Don’t Look Away,” which is another favorite of mine.

Most of the reasons I’m excited about the album involve the work done by our incredibly talented friends who contributed their awesomeness to the mix. Stevie Mac and Vixy Dockrey on vocals, Mary Crowell and Jared Norris on keys, Chris French on sax, Betsey Tinney on cello and, of course, the absurdly perfect bass lines of Mike Mallory. Each of these extraordinary folks did signature work on this album, bringing elements to it that sometimes redefined the songs for us.

My non-musical reasons for loving this album include the stunning art and design work of Beckett Gladney on the cover and the campaign premiums and the love and support of friends and family in this effort. There is no end to the number of people we have to thank. (Remind me to tell y’all about the photoshoot we did in Seattle with Beckett and Taunya Gren on the hottest, steamiest day of the year … well, it sure seemed like it to me. And then there was our fab lunch at the Blue Star Cafe in Wallingford that we spent brainstorming premiums.)

Right now, I’m getting into TLDR territory, so I’ll wrap it up by saying thanks to all the folks that are contributing to the campaign.

We’re just $2,066 short of our goal!

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This is … My Rewrite of Emma Lazarus’s Poem

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I regret that it’s time for this again.

Some of you may have heard a song I wrote for the Möbius Street album entitled “Mother of Exiles.” This phrase—Mother of Exiles—was immortalized on a tablet installed in the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor that, to this fraught day, carry the words of the poet Emma Lazarus in a work she entitled “The New Colossus.” This work was once believed (by my great-grandparents, no less than the society that put it there) to exemplify the “American Dream” and the “rags to riches” stories of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Germany, Asia, and Russia and Poland, where most of my forebears came from.

Lately, number of very public people have suggested implicitly or explicitly that we ought to rewrite parts of the poem to reflect the idea that America has always been and should always be only for immigrants who come here, not fleeing cruelty or oppression or persecution or seeking a better life but seeking to endow America with their personal wealth and well-established enterprise.

I ask anyone reading this to consider where they would be today (or if they’d be here at all) if this had been true when their own ancestors crossed Ellis Island.

“Mother of Exiles” is my rewrite of the Lazarus poem. If my lyric sounds ironic, sarcastic, satirical—even angry—it is all those things. It is also born of the intense sorrow of watching a country you love sicken with a self-inflicted disease of the soul.

First, the original Emma Lazarus work, followed by my lyric.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

—Emma Lazarus, 1883

oOo

Mother of Exiles

Not like the copper giantess of fame,

With sandaled feet upon Atlantic sand.

Here at our sea-washed sunrise gates are banned

Those the woman with her torch once claimed.

Those souls imprisoned, those who cried her name:

“Mother of Exiles,” from whose beacon-hand

Glowed world-wide welcome. Now her eyes command

the ne’er-bridged walls along which rifles aim.

“Keep, broken lands, your harried poor!” cries she

With smiling lips. “Give me your trade. Your poor,

Your huddled masses, matter not to me,

Nor wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, to some other lee.

I douse my lamp; just send your gold ashore.

Mother of Exiles lives here no more.

My lamp lies shattered on the shore

And blind, I seek the shards. 

Mother of Exiles—weeping in the bone yards.”

— Maya Bohnhoff , 2008, from the Möbius Street album

The song is on Bandcamp, CDBaby, and iTunes. We also perform an acoustic version of it in our live concerts.

Post script:

“The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” – Leviticus 19:34

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ – Jesus Christ, Matthew 25:37-40

“Act in accordance with the counsels of the Lord: that is, rise up in such wise, and with such qualities, as to endow the body of this world with a living soul, and to bring this young child, humanity, to the stage of adulthood. So far as ye are able, ignite a candle of love in every meeting, and with tenderness rejoice and cheer ye every heart. Care for the stranger as for one of your own; show to alien souls the same loving kindness ye bestow upon your faithful friends. ” – Abdu’l-Bahá

Amen.

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This is … How a Cancelled Championship Became a Celebration of Perseverance

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Amanda & Drum

So, we drove four hours down to Bakersfield Friday night (November 15) for the Western Bands Association State Marching Band Championships. Our daughter, Amanda, is a member of the Oak Grove High School Marching Band. She plays bass drum in the OG battery, as you can see in the photo to the right.

The air quality had been iffy, but within tolerable levels for several days, so we were hopeful. Saturday morning, we awoke in our hotel to a text from Amanda saying the WBA had canceled the event based on a forecast that the AQI was going to get much worse—above 150. I was bummed to the point that catching sight of Morgan Hill’s Emerald Regime semi parked outside their hotel brought on sniffles.

But wait, there’s more! Thanks to the perseverance of several intrepid band directors, including our host—West High School—an exhibition was quickly assembled and, in the end, five amazing, rebellious high school bands were scheduled to take the field in exhibition. They were King’s Academy, Branham, Valley Christian, Oak Grove, and West.

We assembled at West High School around noon to do show prep, watching the air quality index. The bands ate, warmed up, drilled and got costumed and, by the time the first band took the field a little after 4PM, the AQI had fallen to 83—clearer than it had been in days.

We waived much of the usual exhibition decorum—everyone’s props were assembled in the end zone and there was no time limit on setup or retreat. The kids for once got to watch other bands perform  from the front stands and could spend a few moments at the end of their show pieces, soaking up the applause and adulation. They had a blast.

Below is a photo album of the day from the point of view of one Oak Grove Band Mom. If you hover your mouse pointer over the image, it will display a caption. Enjoy!

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This is … A Marching Band Mom’s Squee

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Where’s Amanda? There’s Amanda!

Watching the London New Year’s Day Parade was like playing a Marching Band Mom version of Where’s Waldo?

That’s my ‘Waldo’ (daughter Amanda) in the foreground of the photo to the left, marching tenor sax next to her BF, Stephen Matzas. This was a major league squee (“There’s Oak Grove!”) peppered with moments of frustration (will those blooming hosts never stop talking and let us hear the bands play?) and nostalgia (I wanted to go back to England so badly I could taste the curry, cottage pie, and tea).

We TIVO’d the parade from a feed on RFDTV—a channel targeted to rural America. I can only imagine that’s because farming communities are a hotbed of marching band activity. Most of the bands were from high schools and colleges back east, though I think every high school in Clovis and Fresno have competitive marching bands of different sizes.

James Logan – Terra Cotta Warriors

Amanda’s school—Oak Grove—is one of only a handful of high schools in Silicon Valley that have music programs like this and they are almost entirely supported via volunteerism, donations, and fund raising like you wouldn’t believe.The exception to this is the 310 member marching band and color guard fielded by James Logan High School in Union City, which is a well-funded arts school. And they are a wonder to behold and hear, I must say.

As I commented to Amanda recently, with her older siblings, the high school was a place we went to drop off, pick up, and go to see plays. With her, Oak Grove and its band programs are the center of our daily lives. The only place I spend time more often is the Baha’i Center.

Anyway, you can also see the LNYD parade on the feed from the LNYDP.com site. Amanda and the band make their first appearance at about the 2:20 mark (that’s 2 hours and 20 minutes). They do their performance for the grandstand near the very end of the parade at about the 3:15 or 3:20 mark.

2016 tenor sax section

The site has a profile of each band in the parade (all from the US). Oak Grove’s profile includes a video of their 2016 field show, The Playground. I watched it for the tenth time or so just for fun. It was a great field show—very playful, which suits the band ethos.

The way the parade worked was typical. The bands played on the move, stopping four or five times to play an entire piece for the crowds lining the parade route, and to allow the color guard to do their thing. Our guard placed first in the WBA championships this year (for their size of band), so the guys are understandably proud of them. When they reached the grandstand where the hosts were seated, each band or borough entry had two minutes to perform.

Chris Moura and the Oak Grove Marching Band and Color Guard

Most of the bands (with one notable exception) scrambled into the performance area, hastily set up and executed their 2 minute piece with marching routines that they’d probably had only a couple of weeks to learn and practice. The exception was one of the University bands which obviously did this often enough that they had a tight marching routine to go with their well-executed medley of music. Chris Moura, Oak Grove’s band director made an interesting choice, here: OG was the only band that marched cadence into the grandstand area, set up in neat sections and played a straight up Christmas carol with no choreography. They focused on the music and they sounded good. They let the color guard do all the dancing and somersaults. Then, instead of running out of the area, they turned and marched cadence out again.

OG Band demonstrates Cadence Face

I have to ask Amanda if Moura told them they should wear ‘cadence face’ all the way through the parade. Though Amanda assures me they were having lots of fun, they looked as solemn and businesslike as ever. Moura has rules about this. In competition, the band marches cadence all the way back to their bus; at football games, likewise, they march in and march out all the way back to the band room before they’re allowed to break order.

This ranks, in my book, as one of the Wonders of the World, and if Chris Moura isn’t the king of all Cat Herders, I’m the Queen of England.

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THIS IS … me being all authorial.

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This is … me (Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff) being so very authorial at the Book View Cafe table at BayCon 2017 with a stack of the newly and completely rereleased Mer Cycle Trilogy in front of me (The Meri, Taminy, and The Crystal Rose).

High fantasy, baby. 🙂

My thanks to my dear friend and fellow wordsmith, John Vester, for taking this photo to memorialize our reunion after far too many years. I’m hopeful I’ll see John next year at Worldcon in San Jose if not sooner.

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THIS IS … the way to spell a word …

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Specifically, it is the way to spell a chronically misused word. A word that means beliefs, principles, doctrines or creeds.

Let me repeat.

Is the word you use when you are talking about what someone believes.

…is the word you use when you’re talking about a place someone lives because when they live there, they are a tenant.

A person is not a tenet. A belief or principle is not a tenant, unless, of course, you’re trying to make a poetic statement about the place it holds in someone’s mind or heart.

End of lessen in English 101. Carry on.

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This is … Something I Stumbled Upon

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… in my reading. I opened up the copy of the Federalist Papers I keep in iBooks, and saw that I’d highlighted a passage some time ago. I read it to see if it still resonated.

Yes, I really do keep the Federalist Papers on my devices, along with the Constitution of the United States. Why, yes, I have actually read both of these documents and study them periodically. I do this because I want to understand the principles and sentiments my country was founded on. I think all Americans and those who would like to be Americans should read them and attempt to understand what they mean. The second paragraph is especially resonant.

This was the passage I’d highlighted:

“And yet, however just these sentiments will be allowed to be, we have already sufficient indications that it will happen in this as in all former cases of great national discussion. A torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose. To judge from the conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of their declamations and the bitterness of their invectives. An enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be stigmatized as the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty. An over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good. It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be infected with a spirit of narrow and illiberal distrust.

“On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.” — Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, For the Independent Journal. Saturday, October 27, 1787

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This is … Hogwarts (Or Not)

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This is … Hogwarts West. Or at least it should be, don’t you think?

It’s actually a student hall at the University of Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh which Jeff and I visited when we were Guests of Honor at Confluence last year.

The University also had some amazing classrooms with international decor.

I should note that Pittsburgh is a beautiful city which we got to see remarkable aspects of thanks to able guides Randy Hoff and France Andrews Zeve.

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This is … Something I Saw the Other Day

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This is … a gathering of Macaws are apparently chatting while their custodian is having lunch at a local Boulanger.

They are not tethered in any way, nor was their guardian anywhere in sight. He (or she) had gone into the restaurant for a bite … which is what would happen to any one brazen enough (and naive enough) to attempt to steal these glorious birds.

Those beaks can crush a Brazil nut with no problem. Just imagine what they would do to sticky fingers.

My daughter noted that the truck matched the color of their tail feathers. A bold fashion statement.

We spent several minutes inventing alternatives to someone having driven to Boulanger with birds festooning their truck. Perhaps the birds didn’t arrive on the truck at all, but were flying over when they saw a rest stop whose color offered the appropriate camouflage. After all, they blend right in.

Perhaps there is no human driver and the birds are aliens out for a Saturday visitation and who did not realize that the chameleon circuit on their vessel and EVA suits had failed spectacularly.

I suppose we will never know.

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“This is…” a Photo Journal

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I was poring over my cache of photos and images this morning and decided that I’d like to share them with y’all (in my opinion, the single most useful word concatenation in the universe) in a sort of photo journal. I’d love for it to be a daily photo journal but the chances of me doing something on a daily basis besides waking up eventually and drinking a cup of coffee (or two) are slim and none and, as a new writing collaborator put it, slim just left town.

So, here is the first “This is…”

This is … a tattoo worn discreetly upon the person of Gina Suzu Myoko (aka Tinkerbell), the young female detective displayed here on the cover of her debut novelette, Tinkerbell on Walkabout. It’s a design that celebrates her religious and spiritual heritage. Yes, that is a Buddha and, yes, he is indeed seated at the heart of a lotus situated in the center of a Russian Orthodox cross.

There is a reason for this juxtaposition of Buddhism and its younger sibling, Christianity. Gina’s mother, Nadezhda Miyoko (a professor of Eastern European folklore at SFSU) is Russian Orthodox. Gina’s father, Ed Miyoko (a retired SFPD officer) is Buddhist. He is also the chairman of a Sherlock Holmes appreciation society, but that’s a story for another day.

I am not telling where the tattoo is situated. You’ll have to wait until the first Tinkerbell novel is published. No, I haven’t yet found a publisher. But I hope to continue to release Gina Miyoko mystery short fiction through Book View Cafe while I wait with patience and faith in my delightful agent.