April 2026 media
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Ichiko Aoba’s Across the Oceans 2026 Tour: I’ve mentioned on here before that if I can see a live Ichiko Aoba concert, I will. It’s taken me across the country, over the border into Canada, and now, appropriately enough given this tour’s title, across the ocean to London. It was a treat to see Aoba play with both the 12 Ensemble and with Taro Umebayashi, who helped compose, arrange, and produce her latest two albums. I followed London up with a couple more shows in California; I had previously seen Aoba open for Japanese Breakfast at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and less than three years later she was the headliner! Next time, though, I hope she comes back to the East Coast…
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Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted: Olmsted is one of those names I seem to come across all the time since he’s touched so many parks I’ve visited—obviously Central Park in Manhattan, but also Prospect Park in Brooklyn, the Capitol Grounds in Washington, the Emerald Necklace in Boston, and on and on. I knew nothing about the man himself, though, so I picked up this biography by Justin Martin. It’s a good read, detailing both his work on major projects like Central Park and his surprisingly multifaceted personal life (I didn’t expect to learn that he was an abolitionist!). It’s made me interested in learning more about landscape architecture, and also in applying its practices to level design in video games as some folks do with theme park design.