Journal of a Sabbatical

sumo in the sun

July 18, 1998

Previous Entry Journal Index	x	x	x	Black Ships Festival 1998 Newport, RI   Sione Pulotu vs. Reid Asato It's 90 degrees in the shade and there isn't much shade. We watched the sumo demonstration in Touro Park.   I've admired Sione Pulotu since he appeared at last year's Black Ships Festival. I told him my friends tell me I look like a sumo wrester. He approves. Kate snapped the picture. The local kids get a big charge out of pushing the huge sumo wrestlers around. This kid looked like a miniature sumo wrestler. After the sumo demonstrations, we checked out the booths, sipped Del's Lemonade, and then walked over to Cadeaux du Monde where we pretended to shop and sat in the hidden garden sipping iced tea. The garden was filled with an exhibit of sculpture and painting by an artist named Bill Shockley. My favorite was a bronze of two figures with pear-shaped heads carrying pears. It was called "Pairs". Nancy and Kate came up with lots more pear puns, which I've now forgotten. What struck me was that the works in different media looked like they were done by different artists. Had I not read the tags, I would not have guessed they were all by the same guy. We also went to an exhibit at the DeBlois Gallery called Artists Postcards. The only criterion for inclusion was the size (4 1/4" by 6", postcard size. Many were images of lighthouses, which I suppose is reasonable in Newport, but still seemed cliched. Aren't there things to paint besides lighthouses everybody and her sister has already painted for the last 100 years? My favorite was a collage made of cutup strips of real postcards, woven together like one of those sit-upons we used to make at Girl Scout camp. Finally, evening rolled around and it was time for taiko. This year's lineup for the festival of drums included New England Taiko, Soh Daiko, Burlington Taiko, and San Francisco Taiko Dojo. All were great. Taiko Dojo was beyond great. The finale with all the groups playing together transported me someplace way far from Newport. Taiko drumming was originally intended to scare away demons. If there are any demons left within a 100 mile radius of Aquidneck Island tonight, I'd be really surprised.
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