Today we’d like to introduce you to Lee Takasugi.
Hi Lee, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
It all started in the late 70’s on Peacock Lane, an actual street in East Los Angeles that had wild peacocks roaming on it. I would wake to the sounds of them scratchin’ about on our roof, mixed with my mom playing “Malagueña” on her grand piano. Other days the music would vary. Sometimes it was the heavy-throat of Jim Morrison spinning on my mom’s record player.
I used to love to hear my mom play. In person, she was always kind of meek and soft-spoken–often overlooked, really. However, listening to her play piano seemed to unleash something fierce within her. I loved that I got to see this side. It made me want to play.
In fact, we had this small side room where everyone would dump things: old law books of my fathers, clothes needing ironing, old Rafu Shimpo newspapers, forgotten college essays, encyclopedias…all stacked on the floor and draped over a vintage 1940’s Kirchner upright. I asked my parents if I could move this neglected piano into my bedroom. No one ever played it and it was just collecting dust. My parents always responded with, “Later,” or “No, why do you want that old thing?” or “It’s too heavy” or “Maybe next week.“
Then one Saturday, when everyone was out of the house, I wheeled the darn thing inch-by-inch into my bedroom down the hall. It took me hours. My family came home that evening and couldn’t believe what I had done. I think I was 10 at the time. Thereafter began years of writing silly songs and playing whatever came to mind. But late at night, after everyone would go to sleep, it was just me and my comforting, slightly out-of-tune piano.
Years later, I found out that this dusty piano was the only possession my mom owned from her childhood. In 1942, she and her Japanese-American family were interned in WWII concentration camps, had all their property confiscated by the U.S. government, and a kind Caucasian neighbor kept her piano for her. I love that this instrument had such a rich history. One of the highlights of my life was playing that old thing in front of a large theater audience, sharing that story with them.
Fast-forward to post college, and I was sitting in a lecture in law school–bored, fidgeting and caught in a day dream. The professor called on me and I stood up and attempted to answer his question. Then, in front of 500 students he told me, “Your father would be ashamed of your answer.” (My father was a federal judge and everyone knew him from the John Delorean /Larry Flynt case). Needless to say, I was already feeling like a fish out-of-water in law school, but I began feeling like a fish out-of-water under a microscope. There were many days and many lectures like this one. After a year, I had a breakdown of sorts and ended up dropping-out of law school. Rumors circled that I got pregnant with the Dean’s son because he used to follow me around like a puppy dog. Those rumors make me chuckle to this day.
I got into teaching ESL, mainly to support myself while licking my wounds, feeling quite direction-less. I reconnected with some old high school friends, and we formed a rock band. Once bitten by the bug, I don’t know if musicians ever fall out-of-love with music. Our band played every gig possible for years until we began to gain some traction in the Los Angeles community. We were the first Asian American rock band and like a lot of bands, we did showcases, went on college tours, got some industry attention, placed a few songs on TV and in independent film, played bigger and bigger shows, and eventually got offered a record deal. I was also offered a songwriting publishing deal by Gerry Goffin/Carole King’s publisher, but the music industry began to collapse with things like Napster and budget cuts. We ended up disbanding after a 12-14 year run.
I continued teaching and got married. We moved around quite a bit: New Mexico, Hawaii, then New Mexico again. My husband got sick and passed away before I turned 40. The grief was too much and instead of healing and taking my time, I chose to move on and into a bad relationship which led me to relocate to Oregon. I got pregnant and gave birth to a Spicy Little Meatball. My daughter was born with special needs, and my relationship with her bio dad ended shortly after. A year later, I met the love of my life who has since helped me raise this wonderful child for the past 12 years. He is also a musician.
The two of us encouraged one another for years to return to our music, but the care of our daughter was often too demanding. I continued teaching and spent 10 years working in K-12 professional development in Arts Integration, with a side business tutoring U of O students. I have since retired from teaching and now balance music with our family property business and daily responsibilities. I am also a painter and writer, so I’ve written two self-published children’s books and am working on my third. We formed a musical project called, “Lee and the Night Sky” and we’ve been playing around locally for the past 2 or so years. Although raising our daughter has been challenging at times, we are both living our bliss and doing our best to create community, be solid friends to others, and approach our days with gratitude and humility. I feel especially humbled by all the twists and turns I’ve endured because they’ve made my songs that much more dimensional and soulful. One would say that I’m still in a stage of discovery and learning–possibly creating an “Act III” so to speak. There’s so much in life to be excited about and continue growing with– and no matter how old I get, I think I’ll always have this attitude. I think of my mom’s old upright Kirchner piano and the stories it harbors within its keys. In some ways, I’m like that vintage piano. I’ve lived a lot and have many stories to share. My ultimate goal, however, is to live a meaningful life and be inspirational like that dusty piano preserved for its special owner from a time of war.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road as an Asian American female musician was not easy in any way. When we started receiving some industry attention, I remember being hung-up on very quickly when speaking with an A&R rep about my ethnicity. I remember him saying to me, “I like your songs. Your photo on your CD is quite far away. What are you?” It was pre-K-pop days and no one, not even my own manager knew how to market me. I remember endless conversations about having me not play the piano, dress more sexy, dance around this way, not that way…things like that. It was also pre “Me, too” movement and I constantly had inappropriate advances my way. There were rarely any women around in recording studios back then–mostly only men. I remember interning in a recording studio in Glendale to learn Protools software and mic placement, etc… The owner would constantly give me neck and back massages even when I was clearly uncomfortable and would move away. I ended-up walking out and teaching myself how to operate Protools.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a songwriter, children’s book writer and painter. There have been a handful of singer-songwriters in LA who have covered my songs, and a national touring taiko drum group performed one of my compositions at the Disney Concert Hall last summer. One of my songs, “On Mars” has also been studied in the Asian American Studies Departments at Scripps College, Claremont College and Azusa Pacific University. It is a song about the WWII Japanese-American internment, so I’m touched that this song continues to move and teach people about this time in the past. This gives me an immense feeling of pride, knowing that songs I’ve written– even over 15 years ago– have not been forgotten. I also wrote some songs for after school programming on PBS which I’m proud of. One of them was an Asian take on the “Name Game,” but with tabla, kulintang, sitar, and other ethnic instruments. Another one of the songs was about how the Bing cherry was brought over from China. I’ve also had the privilege of recording in some top-notch studios in my life: Slash’s studio, which formerly belonged to Cecile B. DeMille, and Jackson Browne’s. Jackson also gifted me the piano that belonged to his mom, so mothers and pianos has been a big theme in my life. Because music and writing are my two passions, I decided to write & illustrate a children’s book set to music. The first one was entitled, “Jellyfish” and the second, “My Forever Home: an adventure story.” The latter received a Reader’s Favorite commendation.
How do you think about luck?
This is a funny question because for the first half of my life, I’d say I encountered quite a bit of bad luck and bad decision-making. However, my life and luck started turning around after I left my daughter’s bio dad and started to take responsibility for my thoughts, my emotions, and my decisions. I started studying with a spiritual teacher in the Advaita Vedanta philosophy and my life began to turn around from victim-hood to one of becoming more responsible for how I show-up in the world. It’s like that story of red cars. If you focus on red cars in your mind, you will undoubtedly notice more on the road. If you focus on negativity or how your life isn’t working out all the time, you will most likely be reflected more of the same. If you stay vigilant and open to the wonders beyond the mind, your life will continue to surprise you. There will always be bad mixed in with the good, but rolling with the waves and knowing that it’s a constant balance with how you react to the waves can be quite self-empowering. I don’t think it’s anything I’ve mastered, and I definitely feel that it’s a constant practice. But I have manifested many wonderful things from this process.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.leetakasugi.com. www.leeandthenightsky.com
- Instagram: @leetakasugi
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lesli.takasugi
- Other: https://leeandthenightsky1.bandcamp.com
