Note: To read this site you need Japanese capability in your OS or your browser. 頑固者のページ is currently mostly in English, but will hopefully become more Japanese as time progresses.
このサイトをよくアップデートします。のちほどお越し下さい。Greetings and ようこそ! My name is T. Richard Newcomb（ニューコムー リチャード） and I go by the nom-de-plume of がんこもん (pronounced 'gankomon'), which means stubborn person in Japanese. This is my little place on the 'Net. Herein I will discuss present, historical and musical issues that interest me, and possibly post pictures of people and events. My main focus with this site is to play with HTML, various encoding techniques and code, and to publish a wide variety of content that interests me.
10/04/2008: Added my new music-oriented blog Newcomb's Notations to the Technorati listings. I also added my current bands (Barrelhouse Jazz Band, And That's Jazz, Turk Island) to list of musical experience and updated it to be current. I might break out a new page for the music stuff- the main page is getting rather long.
04/10/2007: I added my LinkedIn profile to the Links section below, and updated my blog on my MySpace page with a discussion on my experience of playing music whilst living in Japan. Feel free to leave comments.
03/29/2007: I added my blog StoneHeads to the list over at Technorati.com. We'll see how that works out. Hopefully well!
03/14/2007: I started my own MySpace page in order to share my love of traditional jazz, and to meet other musicians who share the enthusiasm. I have uploaded a few songs, and will be rotating these on a regular basis as I continue my experimentation with my recording and the GarageBand application.
10/28/05: My wife Yumi and I were blessed by the arrival of a new member of our little family on September 23, 2005. His name is Edward, and he was 7 pounds, 13 ounces at birth. His feet and hands are definitely mine (obvious from their size alone) and his eyes appear to be his mother's. Edward is a very cute little tyke, and we are very fond of him, though he has upset our sleeping, eating and every other kind of schedule to a greater or lesser extent. As I have time, I will be posting some pictures on his own page to track his growth.
08/04/05: I have recently launched my own blog, located at StoneHeads. This is a mainly a political blog from the conservative/libertarian side of the aisle, featuring commentary on the stories of the day I deem to be important, but will also carry some musical and historical commentary as well. Feel free to check it out and drop me a comment if you so desire.
This is the funniest strip you probably are not reading. Written by Chris Muir, it folllows the adventures of the unabashedly conservative Damon, a black coder in his 20s, his off-again-on-again girlfriend Jan, a die-hard liberal, and their friends Sam and Zed, both of whom lean conservative- but not as conservative as Damon. Better character descriptions are provided on Chris' site, Day By Day. As Ed Driscoll, one of the reviewers says, "Picture a conservative Doonesbury- only much, much funnier- and you'll begin to have a sense of what Day By Day is all about." You can install it on your site by going to Chris's site linked above and adding the provided code to your website.
Day By Day by Chris Muir.I am currently employed by Logitech, Inc. as a support content developer. Logitech is a consumer electronics company, based in Fremont, California. For more information, please see Logitech's web site. Before joining Logitech I had extensive experience working in software quality engineering with various applications, platforms and formats. Additionally, I have done translating both from Japanese to English and English to Japanese and lived in Japan for a number of years. I hold a Master of Arts degree from San Jose State University in History. My particular interest is in Japanese history, specifically the Kamakura Era (鎌倉時代), which lasted roughly from 1185-1333 and the Meiji Era (明治時代) from 1867-1912- especially the role played by the United States in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. Please see the linked pages for more information on these eras. Pursuant to these historical interests, I am a proud member of both the Association for Asian Studies and the Organization of American Historians. I highly recommend both of these fine professional organizations to anyone interested in the study of history, either as a profession or as a hobby.
I am a former professional musician, and was a member and officer of American Federation of Musicians Local 210 of Fresno, California, which was absorbed by Local 12, located in Sacramento, California. I play trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, trumpet and tuba. I even vocalize occasionally. Samples of my music can be found at TR Newcomb - Classic Jazz on MySpace, as well as on my CD entitled ニューコーム＊リチャード：One-Man Band. The One-Man Band CD covered mostly swing and Latin standards. I am currently putting together a new CD that will focus more on the Dixieland side of my repertoire, using the M-Audio Ozone MIDI controller in conjunction with Apple Inc's GarageBand program. I currently hold the trombone chair in the Piedmont/Montclair-based Barrelhouse Jazz Band, and sit in with diverse groups, including Blue Bone Express, And That's Jazz. I am also a semi-regular performer with the Livermore-based Nightlife Big Band. I was previously a member of the unfortunately defunct Stuart Yasaki Orchestra, the Heavy Metal Brass Band of Castro Valley, and the San Ramon Symphonic Band. I played with the San Ramon band in 2007, but was forced to leave the band due to schedule conflicts. Pity- that was a fun group. I also formerly played with the the Sunnyvale Moose Orchestra until health issues forced me to take an extended sabbatical. I have also played traditional 'head'-arranged jazz with the Fresno-based Dew Drop Jazz Ensemble. During my time in Japan I was fortunate enough to play with a number of excellent Japanese musicians and groups in various genres. More extensive information about my musical career can be found on MySpace at TR Newcomb - Classic Jazz.
Here I will also develop my burgeoning interest in e-frontiers' Poser product. The Poser image on this web page was created using MayaDoll, courtesy of the talented folks at Studio Maya. The pose and clothes are also courtesy of the Studio Maya folks, and the hair is from Kozaburo's PoserWorks. As I am a novice, this is a fairly crude example, and this figure is not intended to represent the pinnacle of my work in this medium. If you are interested in learning more about Poser and want more information, there are many Poser-specific sites, and some very talented, friendly and helpful people on the Poser forums. There are also some wonderful products, including the Michael and Victoria figures which are available from Daz3d. These add-ons are extremely helpful in augmenting the basic figures, poses and props that come with Poser.
For a few pictures of my wedding on January 1, 2004, please see the 結婚式の写真/Wedding Pictures link at the bottom of the page. More photos and descriptions will be posted as time permits.
Do you love to dance? And do you enjoy to swing and sway to the big bands? If so, check out the afore-mentioned Nightlife big band. If you enjoy Dixieland and traditional jazz, check out Blue Bone Express of Oakland, or the Dew Drop Inn Jazz Band of Fresno. For more information, please see the band web sites listed below on the Links page. I regret that at this time, I do not have a web site for the Nightlife big band.
If you have any suggestions, or just want to chat, please email がんこもん.
