I believe that all of us can look to our past and remember the, “What Once Was.” There is that place we used to go to, that place that we liked but it is no more. Maybe we really loved that Someplace Something, and then Someone took it away from us.  I guess that’s one of the ultimate lessons in life, we really have very little control over the Out There.
 
I think back to Sundays in the 1980s; Yoyogi Park, just off of the Harajuku Station, in Tokyo. It used to be this great get together. You would first enter the area and there would be the 1950s Rockabilly dancers that wouldn’t let you take photographs of them. Everybody tried. But, if they caught you, they would tell you, “No photos.” I, like a lot of others, did, however, captured a few.
 
Once past them, there would be all of these various incarnations of bands, playing the developmental stages of whatever music they fashioned themselves to mimic. Were the good? No, most of them were not. But, there is an essence in that musical naiveté. It’s kind of like going into Guitar Center on a Saturday where all the kids (and adults) are dreaming that they owned that Les Paul and have it plugged into an amp and are noodling their best licks. It’s total ear shattering. Like a torture horror movie.
 
Yoyogi wasn’t really like that, however, as you could just walk along if you didn’t like a singer or a band’s sounds. The fact was, some of them were pretty good.
 
It was a whole cultural thing back in the day. Every Sunday everyone would go there. There were so many people, so much fashion, so much art. It was great.
 
Whenever I was in Tokyo, I would spend some time every Sunday there.
 
But then, like all things that you have no control over, it was gone. I believe it was about 1997 when they, The Powers That Be, shut it down. Why? I don’t know???
 
I remember I hadn’t heard that it was gone. So, on this one Sunday, I took subway from Shinjuku and arrived. I keep looking, and waiting, and wondering. Was I too early? But, nothing jumped off. Finally, I realized it was gone. This great weekly event was no more. Sure, Takeshita Street, the main hub of Harajuku, still had all it shops and people and stuff, but the FEST was gone.
 
Not unlike Venice Beach, that Yoyogi Scene was really an event.
 
But, it is gone. And sure, they do things in that area from time-to-time, but it is not the same.
 
This is the thing about life, whatever it is that you love/loved, it may be taken away from you. Think about it—remember that place: that restaurant, that bar, that nightclub, that shop, that whatever, that place you used to love to go to but it is no more. You didn’t want it to go away, but it did.
 
You know, I get it, this is just one of the realities of life. But, more than just that, it is a reality that we each need to not only expect but to prepare for. Cause it’s going to happen.

But, more than just our loss, we need to see all Change as a means for us to Change.  I mean, if we look around, we can always see the same people at the same place doing the same thing. Where is there any Art and/or Evolution in that.  Let Change, Change Us/You for the better.
 
Yeah, we can feel the loss. Yeah, we can experience the remorse at its going away. Yeah, we can remember fondly the way things used to be. But, we can also allow it to guide us to new horizons.
 
Remember what you Remember, but don’t let it lock you into your past.