Appreciation

Soon after attending the celebration at Oprah’s home, I returned to Tokyo to enjoy meetings with top creative leaders at media companies regarding my music. Everything progressed well through the month of October. Then, as we all know, some of the worst fires in California history swept through San Diego County and Malibu. My hometown of Del Mar, which is by the ocean and has never before been threatened by fires, was also evacuated. My mother, who was also babysitting my beloved dog at the time, had to flee from her home. I was on the phone with her from Tokyo as she literally drove through flames on her way to safety in Nevada. I returned immediately from Tokyo to help out.

It was surreal enough to watch from afar on the news, let alone to be there or to lose something to the fires. Fortunately, all of my friends and family members escaped harm, and all of our properties in San Diego County were safe from damage. A friend in Malibu, however, awoke to the sound of sirens one night and within minutes had to escape her home with her husband and animals in tow. Their entire property was lost in the same fire that destroyed the famous castle and church in Malibu. When I saw her in LA a bit later, she was most appreciative to be safe… as for everything else: “Everything else, just stuff,” she said with a sincere smile. I will remember the strength and wisdom of that moment forever.

When I visited San Diego after the fires had calmed, I took this photo. I felt the beautiful mix of color from the sunset and swirling clouds of the night sky were healing the ground below.

In November I returned to Tokyo and happily resumed my talks with music company folks regarding plans for 2008. My team working with Taro Gold Music, Inc. have already opened a “backstage area” that will progressively grow along with the project. You can see it now at www.myspace.com/tarogoldmusic and you can hear several of my new songs there. We will also have www.tarogold.jp up and running soon as well as a refreshed and renovated new tarogold.com in the new year.

On a different but mysteriously related note, when I was at my dentist’s office for a check up, my hygienist asked if I knew Angela Aki, another part-Japanese part-Western singer songwriter who is popular in Japan. I know of her, but had never met her. “I went to high school with Angela in Hawaii” my dental pro commented, “and I have a feeling you are going to meet her soon.” One week later, I was at Sony Music Studios in Tokyo to finish recording details on a few of my songs, and the screen below is what greeted me in the studio that day.

The bottom of the screen shows my session as Taro G, and the one above shows who is in the room next to me, in Japanese writing it reads “Angela Aki.” So there we were. How fun is that?

Speaking of fun, I hope you and yours enjoy a happy, healthy and joyous end of this year. As we celebrate the holidays and look forward to the coming new year, I wish for each of our lives to be filled with blessings and appreciation. If something not-so-fun happens to come along, may we all have the grace to focus on what is most truly important in our lives and remember that everything else… “everything else, just stuff.”