tenor sax

tenor sax
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

Jazz really has become a universal language. The Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific is hosting a visit by seven jazz players from Russia. The Russians will meet with Dave Brubeck and perform for him, perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in two weeks, visit Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland and play a concert at the university.
They arrived Wednesday night and met with the members of the 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet, five boys agest 18 - 19 who are studying the language of jazz.
While few of the Russians could speak English, the Brubeck Quintet and the Russians were able to speak through the language of jazz.
Both groups were impressive and will be playing in a concert at the University of the Pacific in Stockton on September 19, at 7:30 pm.
Pictured here, Dmitriy Kondrashov blows a solo while baritone saxophonist Yevgeniy Voloshin waits his turn. They were playing for American musicians in the rehearsal hall at the University of the Pacific.

Russian piano

Russian piano
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

Russian guitarist Petr Malanov warms up before performing for the American 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet.

russian guitar

russian guitar
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

Russian guitarist Petr Malanov warms up before performing for the American 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet.

Russian band

Russian band
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

The Russian musicians play for the Americans at the University of the Pacific. They are: TAleksey Chernakov, piano; Artem Fedotov, drums; Dmitriy Kondrashov, tenor and soprano saxophones and flute and clarinet; Konstantin Safyanov, alto sax; Petr Malanov, guitar; Vadim Mikhaylov, bass; and Yevgeniy Voloshin, baritone saxophone.

bari sax

bari sax
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

Russian altosaxophonist Dmitriy Kondrashov blows a saxophone solo in the rehearsal hall at the University of the Pacific.

American pianist

American pianist
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

This is the 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet: trumpeter Brian Chahley; saxophonist Lucas Pino; pianist Glenn Zaleski; drummer Cory Cox; and bassist Chris Smith. They were playing for a group of visiting Russian musicians in the rehearsal hall a the University of the Pacific. You can see the Russians sitting in chairs in the background. They were awed by the impressive talent of these young musicians.

American band

American band
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

This is the 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet: trumpeter Brian Chahley; saxophonist Lucas Pino; pianist Glenn Zaleski; drummer Cory Cox; and bassist Chris Smith. They were playing for a group of visiting Russian musicians in the rehearsal hall a the University of the Pacific.

No comment ...

chinese laundromat
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

The photo speaks for itself. This was taken in downtown Stockton, California.

Greek Curly Nachos

fair 15
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

This is just one of the many multi-cultural food booths found at the Stanislaus County Fair in Turlock, California. The fair food booths serve as a great example of how cultures have become mish-mashed in the United States. We adopt specific foods and flavors from other cultures and make them as American as possible. This booth served curly fries, nachos and Greek gyros all out of the same trailer.
Think about how bland America's culinary choices would be if we had stopped all immigration to the country 200 years ago.

Downtown Mexico?

fair 14
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

This looks like a booth that would be found somewhere in Mexico. But it's one of the many multi-cultural food booths at the Stanislaus County Fair in Turlock, California.

No donuts?

fair 13
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

What, no donuts? Actually, I took this at the Stanislaus County Fair in Turlock, California, because of the popular menu item - Eggroll on-a-stick. What says American fair food more than food on a stick? It's really a take-off of the corn dog which is a hot dog on a stick, except Chinese style.

Italian-American Linguica

fair 11
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

I had a friend admit to me recently that he had never heard of Linguica until he moved to California. He even pronounced it LIN-GOO-KA for the longest time. It's properly pronounced LIN-GWEE-SA. It's a spicy Portuguese sausage that is often used in sandwiches, rice pilaf and on pizza in California. I took this photo at the Stanislaus County Fair because the organization serving the Portuguese delicacy is an Italian-American-Catholic organization known as the Knights of Columbus. Yet another great example of how one American group adopted something from another culture.

Sweet Elotes Rostisados

fair 10
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

I tend to put too much butter on my Elotes Rostisados. Seriously. Regardless of what language it's in, corn on the cob says nothing but American cuisine to me. Who cares if it's advertised in English or Spanish?

Mexican pizza dogs

fair 9
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

The Stanislaus County fair offered Mexican food, pizza and corn dogs, all within a stretch of a few yards.

Cajun Italian Sausages

fair 8
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

County fairs often have a hodge podge of food. This booth could have been named "Foods of the World" and been its own exhibit. Cajun corndogs, asian-fried vegetables, Italian sausage, Polish sausage and Buffalo burgers. Wonder if they also served Pepto Bismo?

Persian-American food

fair 5
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

Some areas of the country get unique food because of the immigrant groups that have settled there. In the Northern San Joaquin Valley in California, it's the Assyrian population, an ethnic group from Iran and Turkey. The area has the second largest Assyrian population in the United States, next to Chicago. But the area also has the largest Assyrian organization in the United States, the Assyrian-American Civic Club. Here's their food booth at the Stanislaus County Fair in Turlock, California. Great food, though oddly enough their shish kabobs aren't served on a stick, instead they are served on a roll smothered in tomatoes, peppers and lots of persian spices. Talk about a teriyaki donut of sorts.

Another short update ...

Here's a link to my story about the town of Cortez, as published in The Modesto Bee several years ago. My sincere thanks to editor Dan Day and online vice president Eric Johnston for making the story available online.

Though the story says it was updated today, it was actually published March 21, 1999. Eric and Dan posted it today as a favor to me so you could read the story.

I promise, I will move on from this subject. I have a Mexican-pizzaria and at least two more teriyaki donut joints in my sites.

Follow up

Here's a link to a page that is devoted to some of the Japanese towns in California. The history of Cortez is overlooked though. Cortez is briefly mentioned under the heading of "Yomato Colony."
Enjoy.

Stockton Bukkyo Taiko Group

Obon 5
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

The Stockton Bukkyo Taiko Group performed over the weekend at the Cortez Obon Odori Buddhist Festival in Merced County, California. Though Taiko is strictly Japanese and Buddhism is firmly based in Asian culture, both have been widely adopted in the United States and made very American. The festival, though devoted to Japanese religion, served as a great example of how multiculture the United States is.
Small side story on Cortez - it was founded as a Japanese colony in the 1920s. But the folks adopted the name Cortez for their town because anti-Japanese sentiment was thick back then and they knew that many white-owned companies would not buy crops from the Yomato colony (the name of another Japanese town directly to the south). So they picked Cortez instead.
The town almost disappeared during World War II. Soldiers forced the townsfolks into a concentration, er, I mean internment, camp in Colorado. At the time, many banks would then call the loans of Japanese families once they learned that the family was in prison. That way, the banks could seize land that was nearly paid off and resell it again, thus destroying the Japanese families.
But in Cortez, something different happened. An attorney in the City of Merced (his name leaves me at the moment) sympathised with the Cortez families and was outraged at the actions of the government and the banks. So he visited the Cortez families in the camps in Colorado and became their attorney. He then leased their farms out to other area farmers and sued any banks that tried to seize their farms. Once the internment camps were dissolved, the Cortez families were able to return to their homes which had been maintained and paid for during their imprisonment. As a result, the area is still heavily influenced by the Japanese culture.

Japanese dancers

Obon 6
Originally uploaded by Inkyhack.

These are just some of the dancers who performed during the Cortez Obon Odori Buddhist Festival in Merced County, California over the weekend. The dancers came from a wide variety of backgrounds, from the blonde girl in the back to Japanese immigrants. I was surprised at how many non-Japanese people at the event were not only well-versed in Japanese culture, but had adopted parts of the Japanese culture as their own. It's yet another example of how other cultures have helped build the American tapestry.
But the cultural trade off apparently also works both ways. One of the dances and songs demonstrated at the festival was a "traditional" dance and tune about baseball.