A while back, I scoured the Internet for a CD copy of one of my favorite easy-listening LPs, Mixed Bag, which had one of my favorite love songs, "Soft Melody." But it looked like the LP never made it to CD format.
So, I searched for the artist, John Kaizan Neptune, famous for his romance with the shakuhachi bamboo flute. That led me to his homepage, http://www.jneptune.com, where I found his email address and everything about him and his craft. He's been living in Japan and making his own flutes.
I was bent on finding out how I could get a digital copy of his Mixed Bag album because I had no means to convert the songs from LP to CD, so I wrote him an email. That was in December, 2005.
Last week, I received an answer. I was very pleasantly surprised!
John had been preparing a new album, which will be coming out very soon: Bamboo Magic. He said it was recorded in India and Japan. I'll be looking out for it for sure!
And he sent me some photos! I asked his permission to share them on my blog and he said, yes!
If you haven't heard of John Kaizan Neptune, or his shakuhachi music, you're missing a very essential experience. Trust me.