AMERICA'S GOT TALENT IS BACK

America's Got Talent (AGT) is now into Season 11.  Actually, Simon Cowell started Britain's Got Talent first, but the American version made it to TV first in 2006 because of problems back home.

Since Year One, AGT has ranked #1 on TV every summer.  For the first time, Cowell is now also one of the four judges.  A minor irritant, but NONE of them is from the USA:  Cowell (British), Howie Mandell (Canadian), Mel B (former Spice Girl Scary, British) and Heidi Klum (German).  Moderator Nick Cannon, at least, is American.

The winner on Year One was 12-year old Bianca Ryan.  She is now 21 and still entertaining.  However, save for Year Two #1 Terry Fator, a ventriloquist who makes a mint in Las Vegas, none of the other first placers hit it big.

It was in Year Five that  10-year old Jackie Evancho got on the show via a You Tube audition.  Her first showing on AGT was mesmerizing.  She only came in second that year, but has 3 million in U.S. sales.  No one else from the show has reached a million.  

Reminiscent is 48-year old Susan Boyle from Scotland on Britain's Got Talent in 2009.  Her audition, with both Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan as judges, was equally remarkable, maybe more so.

2016 AGT started with 6-year old stand-up comedian Nathan Bookstahler.  He was bright, interactive, and, apparently, writes his own material, although he indicated that his mother typed up his presentation.  He had never before performed before a real audience and absolutely killed the crowd and viewing audience.

The judges and audience were enthralled by the Clairvoyants, an Austrian couple, the female who predicted incredibly personal items held by her second.  Clearly, this was a wireless act which stunned everyone, including me, until I saw this clip.

Then four who looked like hoodlums appeared, with attitude.  Here, Linking' Bridge, the next Boyz II Men:

Even a group that did not make it looked good, before and after:

Hara, from Japan, was incredible, you got to see this:

Tape Face was underwhelming, but entertaining:

Ryan Stock was gruesome.  Don't watch this:

I told you NOT to watch that.  The most heartwarming surprise of the night, just like Jackie Evancho, was 13-year old Laura Bretan.  You got to watch this:

She got the Golden Buzzer. Here are more Golden Buzzer moments from the past.

The next two hours of America's Got Talent will be on Tuesday night at 7PM in Honolulu, Channel 1008.  Of course, who actually sits down that night.  I record it.  That's why I'm reporting this program today, for I just watched it.

Oh yes, Simon also has Britain's Got Talent going, too.  Here are some of the more astonishing auditions in 2016.  If you liked that, try this.

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IT'S BON DANCE TIME

There is a five day period in Japan--August 12 to 16--when the souls of the dead come back to visit the living.  Well, most Japanese don't believe so, but cultural priorities provide a good reason for a party.  Going back in time, this all started as dark imagery of hanging upside down.  In time, the story evolved merely to visiting spirits.

Now, Bon, or O-bon, using the honorific, is when many communities sponsor a mostly fun festival, usually at a Buddhist temple, accompanied by fire ceremonies and the like.  Sweets, drinks and an assortment of Japanese dishes are offered to ancestors, and also sold to participants and tourists.  Graves are also visited and cleaned.

The bon-odori (dance) circles a central raised platform, called the yagura, on top of which a lead singer belts out the song, accompanied by lutes, samisen and, especially taiko (large) drums.  Some sites float out lighted lanterns into some seabody, somewhat like what Honolulu did this past Memorial Day.  Honolulu magazine provided a Hawaii Bon Dance 101 article (read it to answer the following puzzle so that you know what to wear and what to do when you get there):

I've been to Daimonji, the #1 obon festival in Japan, which occurs in Kyoto, this year on August 16.  Here, a 650 foot long bonfire:

#2 is Awa Odori in Tokushima on Shikoku Island:

Throughout the USA, various Japanese communities hold bon-odori festivals.  Americans of Japanese descent on the mainland have a more uptight attitude because they are always in the bare minority.  Their experience in World War II also served to fractionate them.  These gatherings historically served as their social means to band together and show some pride.  While time has healed most wounds, the tradition of bon dances carries on.  Some of them, as in Santa Barbara, extend over many weeks during weekends.

Hawaii is a whole different thing when it comes to bon odori.  Kauai is the first to begin, at the Lihue Hongwanji Mission tonight at six.  Tomorrow:

• Oahu:  Hawaii Plantation Village in Waipahu, with food booths opening at 4:30 PM.
• Hawaii Island:  Hawaii Japanese Center in Hilo, with an exhibit at 10 AM, followed by the bon dance from Noon.
• Maui:  Lahaina Shingon Mission at 6:30 PM

But in Hawaii, the bon odori season then continues every weekend through mid-September.  Virtually every Buddhist temple puts on something.  I count 80 such bon dances this year.  If it's food you want:

• grilled mochi
• yakisoba, 
• oden (right)
• hot dogs, hamburgers
• grilled corn on the cob

• jook (rice porridge)
• andagi (right, an Okinawa deep-fried greasy sphere, the middle of a large donut)
• tsukemono (preserved vegetables)
• spam musubi
• shave ice
• saimin   

Of course, the dance is the attraction, and some large festivals have concentric circles.  While originally conceived in the 6th century (in Japan), current music has incorporated Japanese pop, the two-step, Pokemon and electric slide.  Recorded music is beginning to take over.  Most locales offer practice sessions before the event, and some go just for the Bondancersize.  Most are free, but Honpa Hongwanji (left) charges $10/month.

My favorites are Tanko Bushi, the Coal Miners Song, which began in Fukuoka in 1932, and Soran Bushi, from Hokkaido.  Learn Zumpa Ondo and Dai Tokyo Ondo, plus watch a simple course on how to dance.

Finally, if you see any typos of Japanese words, my computer sometimes, without my knowledge, overnight, changes words to conform to what it considers to be proper grammar.

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THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT MAKE LIFE INTERESTING

Reads almost like whimsical humor:  here are the first two paragraphs of this news article:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A veterinary pathologist worked Monday to determine what killed a juvenile fin whale discovered on the bow of a cruise ship entering an Alaska port.

The cause of death was not immediately apparent for the endangered whale spotted just after 5 a.m. Sunday on the bulbous bow of the Zaandam, a Holland America Line cruise ship, as it prepared to dock in Seward.

You would think the ship killed the whale.  But, no, the cruise line is trying to find the real cause:

The veterinary pathologist, Kathy Burek (Harrington--right), began a necropsy Sunday night and planned to continue Monday, with armed NOAA Fisheries law enforcement officers standing guard against bears, Speegle said.

The official cause remains under investigation.  Here is another incredible quote:

At issue is the fruit fly sperm, which is gargantuan in the tiny world of that speck-sized insect. How big? A fruit fly's sperm is 2.3 inches long, or about 23 times longer than its body. It's more than 1,100 times longer than human sperm. If a man had sperm the same proportion to its body as a fruit fly, it would be nearly 140 feet long.

Say you wish to attend the NBA Finals first game between Golden State and Cleveland today in the Oracle (Oakland), what would you be willing to pay?  NBATickets still has tickets available for $348, although you can also find them for $14999.  Well, I went to that site and, of course, minutes after they were made available, the first two games sold out of non-VIP seats.  But you can go to outlets such as StubHub.com, where Standing Room Only sells for $374, and real seats for about a hundred bucks above the original price.  Actually, if you could afford $20,000 for two VIP seats, NBATickets.com has them available, Section 2, Row A1.

Pat Boone just celebrated his 82nd birthday.  Here is what he looked like two years ago with his daughter, Debbie.  

I have a special reverence for Pat, because I'm a Pat, too, but more specifically for he making me a fashion icon at McKinley High School.  It was 1957, I was a junior and noticed in a box of my older brother's stuff a pair of white shoes, which he had used once for his wedding.  I put them on, and they fit.  So I went to school wearing them.  That night, Pat Boone wore white bucks on his television show and I became famous.  If it weren't for these shoes I probably never would have been elected vice-president of the upcoming senior class, never made it to Stanford University and could not possibly have had my fantastical life.

Boone was the great-great-great-great grandson of Daniel Boone and the cousin of Richard Boone, from CBS's Have Gun - Will Travel.  Pat sold over 45 million albums, where his hits set a Billboard record which he still  holds--220 weeks on the charts.  He has appeared in more than 12 films.  He graduated Magna cum laude from Columbia University and married country music star Red Foley's daughter, Shirley Lee.  They had four daughters, and the third, Debby, who is now 59, had a hit in 1977 (wow, almost forty years ago), You Light Up My Life, which spent ten weeks at #1 on Billboard, at that time the longest in history.  Her mother in law was Rosemary Clooney.   Here from the left:  Pat, Shirley Lee, Debbie, Gabriel Ferrer and Rosemary--

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PAT GOES TO FETE + A LINK TO OTEC TODAY

This sounds like a grammatical error, but, it's okay if Fete is a restaurant.  I decided today to just walk into town and have lunch.  I pretty much stumbled into this new eatery on the corner of Nuuanu and Hotel at the periphery of Chinatown.  Honolulu magazine had a nice write-up, which reported on their dinner service.  Lunch was even more spartanic and for a medium-scale diner, perhaps a bit pricey.

However, the place was crowded, and I sat next to Cheap Eats Guy Hagi, here with his wife and some colleagues.  If you search you'll see him twice.

I thought the interior was a bit dark, until I took my dark glasses off.  I ordered a long-neck clam with french fries, and a glass of Prosecco.

The mussels were buttery and fine, while the fries stayed relatively crisp on cooling.  I believe I paid $30.

The restaurant is owned by husband/wife Chuck Bussler and Robynn Mai'i, who is the chef.  

She is from this island and they just moved back from New York City.  There is something happening to this corner of downtown Honolulu, for there is a lot of re-modelling ongoing.  Walking through downtown is always a small adventure.  Here, something to do with Jesus and Sin, and I don't think they are protesting the presence of McDonald's:

Marukame Udon, incidentally, my Saturday lunch, is across the mall from McDonald's.

I then decided that tonight I would have sashimi and ox-tail soup on my lanai, so I walked to Oahu Market and found that fish shop on the Ewa-Makai back corner owned by this old Japanese couple.  I remember they being so friendly and accommodating in the past.  I ordered an oily Big-Eye Tuna chunk, where they cut the sashimi for you free, with all the vegetables at the bottom.  The lady said that Blue Fin Tuna is too expensive today.  I asked for some ice and they gave me about seven pounds of it.  I could have thrown some away, but that made the decision to catch The Bus home.

So here is my 15 Craigside Ox-Tail Soup and tuna sashimi, with a special sochu and Kirin beer:

I you're wondering why that yellow water in those trays, I have a running battle with ants, and I thought I'd find a humanitarian solution by preventing them from going back and forth from my herb garden.

The sochu comes from Kumejima, where Japan has one of the two operating ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) facilities (left) in the world.  The other one is at Keahole Point on the Big Island (right--click on that link, for it shows an excellent clip of what Makai Ocean Engineering is doing).  The world awaits the first commercial plant.

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