Hardcore Zen_ Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality - Brad Warner [81]
Thanks as well to Tim McCarthy’s teacher, Kobun Chino Otogawa, who I never got to meet, but whose wonderful translation of the Heart Sutra led to a major turning point in my life. Also thanks to his daughter Yoshiko Chino, his wife Katrin Otogawa, and his lawyer Hollis deLancy for allowing me to use it in this book.
Thanks also to the late Noboru Tsuburaya who gave me the opportunity to realize my dreams and, more importantly, to realize the true nature of such dreams. Thanks to his son Kazuo Tsuburaya for not getting rid of me in spite of all the times I’ve screwed things up for the company and to Masahiro Tsuburaya and Akira Tsuburaya for (hopefully) doing the same. And I can’t forget Koichi Takano, whose special effects work I admired since I was five years old and who, for a while, I got to call “boss.” Thanks, as well, to Jimmy Ugawa and Atsushi Saito for putting up with me all these years. After nearly ten years I’m still happy and proud I work for Tsuburaya Productions, the best producers of Japanese monster movies in the business. Gabare (“Go!”) Ultraman!
And thank you Jimi Imij, Johnny Phlegm, Tommy Strange, and Mickey X-Nelson, the other members of Zero Defex (though John left before I joined) as well as Fraser Suicyde, Jim Krane, Mike Mohawk, Sue Hess, Dan Yell, Jimmy Dread, Sean “Trick Bunny” Saley, Sleazy Jesus, Dan Gaffney, Lesa the Death Lady, and everyone else who was there. We had a good time, huh? And to the other members of Dimentia 13, most importantly Joe Nlolflzlilglelr, my best friend since seventh grade who still likes to tell me how full of shit I am, and Louanne Lisk for soaring harmonies. Thanks as well to Dave Swanson who wasn’t with Dimentia 13 long but who is the only drummer I’ve ever played with (other than Mickey) who really listened to what the rest of the band was doing. And I haven’t forgotten J.D. Martignon of Midnight Records who gave me the chance to make records. When are those reissues due, J.D.? And thanks to Glenn Rhese of Plasticland who made the album Disturb the Air sound so huge. Thanks as well to Ira Robbins for giving Dimentia 13 more space than Nirvana in the Trouser Press Record Guide (okay, it was in 1991 and who knew? But still, thanks).
And what would my life have been like without the members of My Niece’s Foot; Nick “Vic Wild Thing” Wilding, Sam “The Rock” Flemming, and Emily “The One Who Could Actually Sing” Iarocci plus our dedicated fan club Ginger and Anjali? Sorry you guys didn’t get more space in this book. Next time, I promise. (In case you care, my rock ‘n’ roll nickname in the band was “Stu” after The Beatles’ dead bass player.)
Also here’s to the many people with whom I shared cheap living spaces during the “Prosperous Reagan Years” when I could hardly afford Top Ramen®: Logan Lestat, Laura Rachel, Steve McKee, Bill Ferrell, Lesa Lilly, Sue Cihla, Mary Bauch, Becky Wagner, Dale Houston (cuz you two were around a lot), and everyone else who put up with my noise and mess. And thanks to each and every high school and other related facility that turned down my applications for work during those years. Don’t ever be disappointed with what happens in life because sometimes you don’t know when someone is doing you a tremendous favor. Seriously.
Then there’s everyone in Nishijima’s group Dogen Sangha, particularly Taijun Saito, Peter Rocca, Harumi Saito, Isamu Takenaka, Shin and Yumi Kiriki, Jeremy and Reiko Pearson, and Mike and Yoko Leutchford. And special thanks to everyone who did not walk out as soon as they learned Nishijima was handing his weekly lectures