The New Year Shaping Up Good

Forty Five years ago, amidst the quagmire of Vietnam, Arkansas Sen. J. William Fulbright’s Foreign Relations Committee held televised hearings on how the United States stumbled into a land war in a Southeast Asian nation in which we had no historic or vital interest.

"Dance is like life, it exists as you’re flitting through it, and when it’s over, it’s done."

~Jerome Robbins

Even after a "police action" in Korea where we came out the same door where in we went. After losing thousands of lives and spending billions of dollars. Out of those hearings came, among other things, a book by Fulbright titled The Arrogance of Power.

In it, Fulbright warned of the trap the powerful set for themselves - that they can force other nations and other cultures to accept their will. We learned in Vietnam, just as the French had, that we can’t always do that.

"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive" by Johnny Mercer

Or I thought we learned. But in Afghanistan and Iran, we were attempting to do what neither the Russians nor the British could do. Why do we think we can? Because we’re more powerful, more decent - that we are the very glue that holds the world together.
Talk about arrogance.

"Life is -- far too important a thing to talk seriously about."

Oscar Wilde

Pub's Note: History notes that Alexander the Great did it, but I doubt it. The Republicans still believe that we can teach the world even if they don't want us to teach them. We can force them.

Just like we can force people to use the rail in Honolulu. "The Arrogance of Power." There will be ways to avoid it. Some are already thinking about moving to the other side of the island where they may still get a bus to get to town.

 

 

 

We need bloggers

The year is starting with so much good stuff in the works. Those new to blogging have often been told to focus on one very niche topic. That has commonly been considered the way to gain credibility, readers, links, and ultimately traffic, assuming the blog itself isn't a source of income. But is keeping it narrow really the best way to go?

I see dance being used as communication between body and soul,

to express what is too deep to find for words. ~Ruth St. Denis

That is what I tried to do in the beginning. I started with what I consider Social Ballroom dancing only. Somehow I learned to accept the Rootzi Tootzi influence with exhibition and competition dancing. Still it was pretty vertical. Then Frank first introduced Line Dancing in the Dancing in the Dark blog and I figured, why not?

From there I began to go more into the night club and studio circuit. Less than a year later Frank introduced Country Dancing. It just struck me as quite all right. Now that he has his own blogs he is even more horizontal and his blogs are holding their own very well and the interest is there for the reader/dancers.

"Show Me Heaven" by Maria McKee

For some, vertical content is good enough. Another way to go would be to cover as much ground as you possibly can. Throw a wide net out there and see what you catch. Once you see what you've caught, maybe you can catch more in the same area. The thinking is that the more ground you cover, the more people you are potentially exposing your work to. It's going horizontal, rather than vertical.

From the scads of hints, emails and other notices that I get, Horizontal Content seems to be the coming thing for 2013. In our blogosphere I figure the Cultural dancer first and foremost. Then the others that are related to this content. If we can get only one guest author in each of our blogs, it will help to define that blog and the readership will go up.

The Chinese

Referring to comments in the Oahu And Beyond blog:

"Stick to dancing, Pepe. You're not so good on buses. The Bus already owns 90

articulated buses out of 577. Current purchases of normal-sized buses are to

replace older vehicles of the same sort. The Chinese just opened Guangjou-Beijing

highspeed rail recently. They will use what they think right."

Next the commenter admits the Chinese will use what they think right. I agree. The rail is for long distances, and the Chinese are no dummies. They are well aware of the difference in short (commute) and long distances in regards to transportation.  Not in Honolulu Ivory Towers. The distance from Guangjou to Beijing is over 1400 miles. Dumb Dodos. The distance from Honolulu to Kure Atoll out in the North Pacific is 1380 miles. Is there anybody out there picking up on this action?

300 of these very carefully placed and each one having 70 cars missing from the

road right in front of them because the drivers are "sitting" in the bus. Much less

traffic on all the streets and highways. So who needs the rail? Yeah, right.

In Latin America and Europe buses are taking over and rail is out. This seems to be a lot of what's happening in the current promotion of "Bus Rapid Transit" – "BRT" on the mainland. Spearheaded by the US Federal Transit Administration (FTA), whose "BRT" marketing website has carried the resounding slogan "Think Rail, Use Buses". "That's the quickest way to describe Bus Rapid Transit" says the FTA. "BRT combines the quality of rail transit and the flexibility of buses."

 

Eventually you are going to need the Bi-Articulated bus (two tandem) proving very successful in China, Latin America and Europe. In the Pacific the "wheels" may be somewhat deficient in their knowledge of world wide transportation. How about the Tri-Articulated bus, Ha!
 

But some promoters have been going even further – transforming buses into railcars in their promotional and marketing hype, much like ancient alchemists transformed lead into gold ... In their imaginations. Some bus vendors have really pushed the envelope. The transit products vendor MATRA, for example, promotes its optically-guided CIVIS bus as "the rubber-tired tramway" and claims, "CIVIS combines comfort and regularity of a street car and the operating simplicity of a bus."

No, not for Oahu, Chinese tests for the "Quad" are for destinations of 500 miles.
Many in Hawaii know that distance makes the difference, but not in the Ivory Towers.
In China, it is proving five times more effective than rail at one tenth the cost.
"The Chinese will use what they think is right." Yeah, man!

Some journalists also have gotten on the "bus is rail" bandwagon – claiming that, in "BRT" systems, "buses operate like trains on rubber tires." Similarly, syndicated columnist Neal Peirce has started promoting "BRT" services as "surface subways". But, while Peirce supports transit and undoubtedly means well, his effort at terminology obfuscation is rather reminiscent of some Road Warriors who like to anoint the private automobile as "personal rapid transit".

Pub's Side Note: Now the Commenter may see it pretty clear that I know a little more about buses than he thought. You want more? I got it.

Dancing On The "2"

The Western Fluke of History
by Aristides Raul Garcia (aka El Intruso)

Then you had the groups that played mainly Son Montunos. The main one was that of Arsenio Rodriguez. I will stay with this one for here you will find what many Cubans say today’s Salsa is; I disagree with them. To believe that today’s Salsa is Son, or Son Montuno, or Mambo will be to deny that the Music evolves. To deny the evolution of Latin music, one has to do a lot of oversimplifications; it is equal to killing a living thing, and Salsa is a living organism.

"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will
never do any harm to the world." ~Voltaire
  

In any case, the contributions of Arsenio Rodriguez, to the evolution of Latin Music are many; he took the small Son format and expanded it; he expanded the rhythm section to include "Congas", and Pailas (similar to the Timbales); he started to write music which was more urban in nature, and today’s Conjuntos are an inheritance of his creativity; en fin, he was setting the standards for Latin popular dance music.

"Ven Devorame Otra Vez,

By Azucar Moreno

All you have to do is buy some of his music, or records others have made in tribute to his work; listen to them. After you have done that go and buy some Mambo records; listen to them. After that, compare them to your collection of today’s Salsa and decide for yourself what sounds more like today’s Salsa. I can’t resist the temptation to tell you that, as far as I know, you won’t find a Mambo in Arsenio’s repertoire.

Ah, the "Congas" and the Tumbao. It is one of the dogmas of the Church of The Land of the Holy Two: "dancing on the 2 is also the proper way to "execute" the dance because this step pattern compliments the "slap" of the Tumbao rhythmic pattern which falls on the 2, it is the accent of the Tumbao". This is a real gem, for it reveals why some Cubans call "dancing on the "2" New York Style", dancing upside down (feeling wise).

Anyway, lets take a closer look into this. The Tumbao, in proper Spanish, Tumbado, is a rythmic pattern which derives its name from the percussion instrument on which it is played: the Tumbadora drums, better known, outside of Cuba, as Conga drums. In Cuba, there is not one single drum called Conga. There is a Carnaval music and dance called the Conga. The rhythmic patterns for this Carnaval music are played on drums similar to the Tumbadoras.

Not yet in search engines, new URL, just click the name in side bar of this or other blogs.

Outside visitors to Cuba during the Carnaval festivities simply started to call any drum resembling a Tumbadora "a Conga drum", or a "Conga". Later, the Cohen brothers (Latin Percussion) decided to market the drums using the more appealing, simpler, and exotic name of Congas. They were extremely successful and the rest is history: in Cuba Tumbadoras, and outside of Cuba Congas.

Pub's Side Note: Ordinary Communication Media: To whom it may concern, one way, newsletters, email flyers, web sites. They do their job, but it is not a Blog site.

Dancing On The "2"

The Western Fluke of History
by Aristides Raul Garcia (aka El Intruso)

Then you had the groups that played mainly Son Montunos. The main one was that of Arsenio Rodriguez. I will stay with this one for here you will find what many Cubans say today’s Salsa is; I disagree with them. To believe that today’s Salsa is Son, or Son Montuno, or Mambo will be to deny that the Music evolves. To deny the evolution of Latin music, one has to do a lot of oversimplifications; it is equal to killing a living thing, and Salsa is a living organism.

"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will
never do any harm to the world." ~Voltaire
  

In any case, the contributions of Arsenio Rodriguez, to the evolution of Latin Music are many; he took the small Son format and expanded it; he expanded the rhythm section to include "Congas", and Pailas (similar to the Timbales); he started to write music which was more urban in nature, and today’s Conjuntos are an inheritance of his creativity; en fin, he was setting the standards for Latin popular dance music.

"Ven Devorame Otra Vez,

By Azucar Moreno

All you have to do is buy some of his music, or records others have made in tribute to his work; listen to them. After you have done that go and buy some Mambo records; listen to them. After that, compare them to your collection of today’s Salsa and decide for yourself what sounds more like today’s Salsa. I can’t resist the temptation to tell you that, as far as I know, you won’t find a Mambo in Arsenio’s repertoire.

Ah, the "Congas" and the Tumbao. It is one of the dogmas of the Church of The Land of the Holy Two: "dancing on the 2 is also the proper way to "execute" the dance because this step pattern compliments the "slap" of the Tumbao rhythmic pattern which falls on the 2, it is the accent of the Tumbao". This is a real gem, for it reveals why some Cubans call "dancing on the "2" New York Style", dancing upside down (feeling wise).

Anyway, lets take a closer look into this. The Tumbao, in proper Spanish, Tumbado, is a rythmic pattern which derives its name from the percussion instrument on which it is played: the Tumbadora drums, better known, outside of Cuba, as Conga drums. In Cuba, there is not one single drum called Conga. There is a Carnaval music and dance called the Conga. The rhythmic patterns for this Carnaval music are played on drums similar to the Tumbadoras.

Not yet in search engines, new URL, just click the name in side bar of this or other blogs.

Outside visitors to Cuba during the Carnaval festivities simply started to call any drum resembling a Tumbadora "a Conga drum", or a "Conga". Later, the Cohen brothers (Latin Percussion) decided to market the drums using the more appealing, simpler, and exotic name of Congas. They were extremely successful and the rest is history: in Cuba Tumbadoras, and outside of Cuba Congas.

Pub's Side Note: Ordinary Communication Media: To whom it may concern, one way, newsletters, email flyers, web sites. They do their job, but it is not a Blog site.

Starting The Good New Year

What I believe

By E. M. Forster
 

I believe in aristocracy. Not the aristocracy of power based on rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos.

They are sensitive for others as well as themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure and they can take a joke.

The aristocracy of the spirit is not — cheap, whiny, petty. They are without showiness, without envy, without narrowness of any kind. They do have certain snobberies. They look down on bullies, bigots, liars and cheats. Their idea of a low life is a gossip and the commoners they snub are the cruel, the ungenerous and the unkind. *  *  *  *

"Sh-Boom, Life Could Be A Dream" By the Crew Cuts

Most of us adhere to these principles. We shy away from the bad ones that are mentioned above. For these principles we are shaping up the blogs in our blogosphere. The results seem to be that we can cover the entire Island chain and even a few off island reviews and comments from the entire dance world. We just need a little more help from anyone.

"He who would learn to fly one day - must first learn to stand and walk

and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying."

Then, of course, we do cover the Island of Oahu much more thoroughly than before. The main thing is that the perception of our dancing has expanded much farther than previously for our reader/dancers. We are still a work in progress of communicating with the maximum of efficiency.

The stats for the prior month will appear in the Dancing in the Dark blog at the beginning of the each month. You can see that Oahu - West is near the bottom of the pile. Don't give up hope, we shall overcome. We are developing closer communication with Pearlridge and Aliamanu Chapters. And Dance Hawaii is still in the schedule.

I intend to proceed, with or without the terrible bus situation which we are in now and which was inspired by the Rail people. There was a time when Honolulu Da Bus was one of the best in the nation. Now, the  Rail People got hold of it and we can all see the results.

"Truth will be truth regardless of the lack of understanding,
disbelief or ignorance on the part of anyone."

 

Starting The Good New Year

What I believe

By E. M. Forster
 

I believe in aristocracy. Not the aristocracy of power based on rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos.

They are sensitive for others as well as themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure and they can take a joke.

The aristocracy of the spirit is not — cheap, whiny, petty. They are without showiness, without envy, without narrowness of any kind. They do have certain snobberies. They look down on bullies, bigots, liars and cheats. Their idea of a low life is a gossip and the commoners they snub are the cruel, the ungenerous and the unkind. *  *  *  *

"Sh-Boom, Life Could Be A Dream" By the Crew Cuts

Most of us adhere to these principles. We shy away from the bad ones that are mentioned above. For these principles we are shaping up the blogs in our blogosphere. The results seem to be that we can cover the entire Island chain and even a few off island reviews and comments from the entire dance world. We just need a little more help from anyone.

"He who would learn to fly one day - must first learn to stand and walk

and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying."

Then, of course, we do cover the Island of Oahu much more thoroughly than before. The main thing is that the perception of our dancing has expanded much farther than previously for our reader/dancers. We are still a work in progress of communicating with the maximum of efficiency.

The stats for the prior month will appear in the Dancing in the Dark blog at the beginning of the each month. You can see that Oahu - West is near the bottom of the pile. Don't give up hope, we shall overcome. We are developing closer communication with Pearlridge and Aliamanu Chapters. And Dance Hawaii is still in the schedule.

I intend to proceed, with or without the terrible bus situation which we are in now and which was inspired by the Rail people. There was a time when Honolulu Da Bus was one of the best in the nation. Now, the  Rail People got hold of it and we can all see the results.

"Truth will be truth regardless of the lack of understanding,
disbelief or ignorance on the part of anyone."