Winnie-the-Pooh can soothe the most blustery day
The Tao of Pooh applies the idyllic world of the
beloved children's book to easing the bustle of life
BY AMY UCHTY
PULSE EDITOR
Books usually serve one of four pur
poses: to entertain, to inform, to per
suade orto inspire. Rarely does a book
fit nicely into all four categories, so
when you find one that does, you know
it's special. "The Tao of Pooh" is one of
those incredibly special books.
Readers are probably asking, "The
What of Pooh?" or "The Tao of Who?"
Well, let me explain (but not too much,
as Taoists would say). Let's start with
what most people already know.
Pooh (yes, as in Deep-in-the-Hun
dred-Acre-Wood-Winnie-the-Pooh)is
main character in a classic children's
bedtime story written by A. A. Milne for
his son, Christopher Robin. This "Bear
of Very Little Brain" appeared in only
two books by Milne: "Winnie-the
Pooh" and "House on Pooh Corner,"
but Pooh quickly became a beloved
hero to all who read about him.
The other side of "The Tao of
Pooh" is the Tao (pronounced Dao),
an ancient Chinese philosophy or re
ligion, however individuals personal
ly would like to apply it. The Tao is so
simple that it's difficult to explain.
Roughly, "Tao" translates to "Way,"
which can mean lots of things in
English, such as course, method,
path, practice or guide. But even
attempting to detme the laowith
synonyms complicates it because,
simply put, the Tao just is, much like
Pooh just is. (Are you getting it?)
Benjamin Hoff, the brilliant author of
"The Tao of Pooh," perhaps explains it
best in the foreword:
'"What is
this you're writ
ing?'asked
Pooh, climbing
onto the writ
ing table.
"'It seems more like the owl of
Pooh/said Pooh, rubbing his
• paw."
Pooh | ‘The Tao of Pooh’
The Tao of Pooh/1 replied.
The how of Pooh?' asked Pooh,
smudging one of the words I had just
written.
The Tao of Pooh/1 replied, poking
his paw away with my pencil.
'It seems more like the owl of Pooh/
said Pooh, rubbing his paw.
"Well, it's not' I replied huffily.
'What's it about?' asked Pooh,
leaning forward and smearing an
other word.
'It's about howto stay happy and
calm under all circumstances!' I yelled.
'Have you read
it?' asked Pooh."
The "Tao of
Pooh" contin
ues on like this,
with little con
versations here and there between
the author and Pooh and the whole
gang (Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl
and, of course, the rascally Tigger).
There are also small passages from
Milne's books that illustrate the
Taoist principles through the quiet,
still and simpleminded hero, as well
as the opposite side of living life
through the rest of the gang.
POOH, page 8
JazziTrio fuses different
kinds of music into genre
continued from page o
Koenigsberg since their younger days
together at South Eugene High School.
"Elliott Smith has been in the con
sciousness of Toby and I forthe last
two years. We’d talked about doing
this performance for a long time and
the time that we actually end up doing
ft turned outto be almost the anniver
sary of his death."
All three of the musicians agreed
thatthe performance will have some
thing to offer University students.
Crow, who has been playing bass for
about 12years and has performed with
Koenigsberg at Luna once before, said
he believes it's valuable for students to
see University-based music outside of
the campus atmosphere.
"I also think some of the tunes, es
pecially in this show coming up, are
going to be pretty cool," he said.
"They're more unusual for a jazz group
to be playing. I think it's always nice to
breathe new life into jazz music, to
take the concept of improvisation and
everything else that goes into jazz and
apply itto more popular music."
Koenigsberg said one of the
things he loves most about jazz is the
way almost any type of music can
find a home in the genre. This, how
ever, also poses some obstacles in
performance settings.
"In popular music, there's usually
one recording that is sort of the defini
tive version of a song," Koenigsberg
said. "So, when you're completely
changing the medium from, say, vocal
ist and electric guitar to piano trio, it's
obviously going to sound a lot different
than that one version everybody
knows. I think the challenge is being
able to change it to work in the new
medium while still retaining the
essence of the song."
If done right, Palmer said creative
jazz—the type that fuses different
kinds of modern music into a jazz for
mat— has the potential to be an art
music that people today can really
relate to.
Tonight's performance will begin at
6:30 p.m. The cover charge forthe
performance is $3. Luna is located at
30 E. Broadway. For more information,
check out the Web site at www.luna
jazz.com.
kgerhard@dailyemerald.com
MODERN
A POETRY READING OF
TS. ELLIOT
FOUR QUARTET/ 7 PM
WED OCTOBER 26
TOBY KOENIGSBERG
UO JAZZ JAM 6:30 PM
THURSDAY OCTOBER 21
INTERACTIVE ART & MUSIC
Tfl&S OGf to
mi sum1
fur
QMiEipOS i7l
DISCO OBCAWICA
LUNA Late Night Menu Tuesday to Saturday
Next to Adam’s Place Restaurant
Dinninn Room open 5 pm to 9 pm weeknights 10 pm weekends
¥t PUT IWT
... great events
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October 21 at 8 p.m.
PLC 180 - FREE!
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Eugene’s Hult Center
Tickets $27-32
EMU Ticket Office
or Hult Center
(682-5000)