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"Bird Girl Front view Bird Girl is a sculpture made in 1936 by Sylvia Shaw Judson in Lake Forest, Illinois. It was sculpted at Ragdale, her family's summer home, and achieved fame when it was featured on the cover of the non- fiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994). Description Bird Girl is cast in bronze and stands tall. She is the image of a young girl wearing a simple dress and a sad or contemplative expression, with her head tilted toward her left shoulder. She stands straight, her elbows propped against her waist as she holds up two bowls out from her sides. The bowls are often described by viewers as "bird feeders". The sculpture was commissioned as a garden sculpture for a family in Massachusetts. A slight, eight-year-old model named Lorraine Greenman (now Lorraine Ganz) posed for the piece. The inscription on the pedestal reads: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. II Corinthians 5:8" Set of four Only four statues were made from the original plaster cast. The first went to the Massachusetts garden. The second was sent to Washington, D.C., and is now located in Reading, Pennsylvania. The third was purchased by a family in Lake Forest and has never relocated. The fourth and most famous statue was bought by a family in Savannah, Georgia, who named it Little Wendy and set it up at the family's plot in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. It has since been relocated to Telfair Museums' Telfair Academy, where it is on display for museum visitors. Judson donated the original plaster model to the Crow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois. Book cover The Bonaventure Cemetery statue sat virtually unnoticed until 1993, when Random House hired Savannah photographer Jack Leigh to shoot an image for the cover of John Berendt's new book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994). At Berendt's suggestion, Leigh searched the Bonaventure Cemetery for a suitable subject. He found the sculpture next to a grave on the Trosdal family plot, at the end of his second day of searching, and had to make the shot quickly as dusk approached. He reportedly spent ten hours in the darkroom adjusting the lighting, giving the photo a moonlit feel and accentuating the halo around the statue's head. The cover image was an immediate hit, and Berendt called it "one of the strongest book covers I've ever seen". The book, published in 1994, became an all time bestseller, and soon people began flocking to Bonaventure Cemetery to see the sculpture. Due to concern about the amount of traffic at the grave site, the Trosdal family had it removed from the cemetery and later lent it to the Telfair Museums in Savannah, for public display in their Telfair Academy building. In December 2014, the statue was moved from the Telfair Academy to the Telfair Museums' nearby Jepson Center for the Arts. As of April 2019, she is in a special exhibit in the Telfair Academy. Further casts In 1995, Judson's daughter Alice Judson Hayes (aka Alice Ryerson Hayes) had a fifth bronze statue created from a mold. That statue was given to Ragdale, an artists' retreat in Lake Forest. Later, an authorized fiberglass replica was made from the original plaster model for use by Macy's in their display windows; it was later moved to a museum in Savannah. Hayes holds the copyright for the Bird Girl and has actively defended it by filing lawsuits against unauthorized reproductions, especially full-sized replicas. She destroyed the mold that was used to cast the 1995 replica, although the original plaster model still exists. Hayes has licensed smaller-scale replicas, which have sold well. She died on October 13, 2006, passing on the copyright to her daughter, painter Francie Shaw. Film use Warner Bros. produced an eponymous film adaptation of Berendt's book in 1997, directed by Clint Eastwood and featuring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack. After purchasing the rights to use the sculpture's likeness from Hayes, the studio created a fiberglass replica. The movie incorporated shots of the Bird Girl sculpture on its posters and in the film itself. After the film was completed the replica was sent to the Cliff Dwellers Club in Chicago, Illinois. Photographer Leigh sued Warner Bros. in November 1997 for copyright infringement over their shots of the Bird Girl replica in the cemetery, which were similar to Leigh's original cover photograph. The lower court ruled that the Hudson sequences with the statue were not infringement, but an appeals court found that the photographs used for promotional purposes, such as posters, bore significant similarities and remanded the matter back to the lower court. Warner Hudson and Leigh then settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Deaths Sylvia Shaw Judson died in 1978. Although she did not see her Bird Girl sculpture achieve fame, she was already a renowned sculptor whose pieces have been on display in such prestigious locations as the White House, the Massachusetts State House, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Jack Leigh died of colon cancer on May 19, 2004, and is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery, where he took his most famous photograph. References External links *Letter by Alice Hayes regarding Bird Girl replicas *4 different Bird Girl Bird Girl replicas *Message board posts with info about Jack Leigh, including details about the Bird Girl photo, his photographic technique, and his lawsuit against Warner Bros. *Good and Evil image maker dies Cemetery art Bronze sculptures in Illinois Outdoor sculptures in Illinois 1936 sculptures Sculptures of women in Massachusetts Sculptures of women in Pennsylvania Sculptures of women in Illinois Sculptures of women in Georgia (U.S. state) "
"Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川 家光 August 12, 1604 – June 8, 1651) was the third shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who acted as his political adviser and was at the forefront of shogunate negotiations with the Imperial court. Iemitsu ruled from 1623 to 1651; during this period he crucified Christians, expelled all Europeans from Japan and closed the borders of the country, a foreign politics policy that continued for over 200 years after its institution. It is debatable whether Iemitsu can be considered a kinslayer for making his younger brother Tadanaga commit suicide by seppuku. Iemitsu also had well-known homosexual preferences, and it is speculated he was the last direct male descendant of Tokugawa Ieyasu, thereby ending the patrilineality of the shogunate by the third generation. Early life (1604–1617) Tokugawa Iemitsu was born on 12 August 1604. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada and grandson of the last great unifier of Japan, the first Tokugawa shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Tokugawa, Iemitsu" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File . He was the first member of the Tokugawa family born after Tokugawa Ieyasu became shōgun. (There was some rumour said that he was not Hidetada's son but Ieyasu's son with Kasuga no Tsubone). Not much is known of Iemitsu's early life; his childhood name was Takechiyo (竹千代). He had two sisters, Senhime and Masako, and a brother, who would become a rival, Tadanaga. Tadanaga was his parents' favorite. However, Ieyasu made it clear that Iemitsu would be next in line as shōgun after Hidetada. An obsolete spelling of his given name is Iyemitsu. Family * Father: Tokugawa Hidetada * Mother: Oeyo * Sibling from Mother: Toyotomi Sadako (1592–1658), adopted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Yodo-dono later married Kujō Yukiie, daughter of Toyotomi Hidekatsu *Wet nurse: Lady Kasuga * Wife: Takatsukasa Takako (1622–1683) later Honriin * Concubines: ** Okoto no Kata (1614-1691) later Hoshin'in ** Ofuri no Kata (d. 1640) later Jishōin ** Oraku no Kata (1621–1653) later Hōjuin ** Onatsu no Kata (1622-1683) later Junshōin ** Oman no Kata (1624–1711) later Eikoin ** Otama no Kata (1627–1705) later Keishoin ** Orisa no Kata (d. 1674) later Jokoin ** Ohara no Kata ** Osuzu no Kata ** Omasa no Kata * Children: ** Stilborn Son (February 1632) by Ofuri ** Chiyohime by Ofuri ** Tokugawa Ietsuna by Oraku ** Tokugawa Kamematsu (1643–1647) by Omasa ** Tokugawa Tsunashige by Onatsu ** Tokugawa Tsunayoshi by Otama ** Tokugawa Tsurumatsu (1647–1648) by Orisa * Adopted Daughters: ** Kametsuruhime (1613–1630), daughter of Tamahime with Maeda Toshitsune and married Mōri Tadahiro, son of Mōri Tadamasa of Tsuyama Domain ** Tsuruhime (1618–1671), daughter of Matsudaira Tadanao and married Kujō Michifusa had 3 daughters: the first married Kujō Kaneharu the second and the third married Asano Tsunaakira ** Manhime (1620–1700), daughter of Tamahime with Maeda Toshitsune and married Asano Mitsuakira had 3 sons: Asano Tsunaakira, Asano Naganao, Asano Nagateru ** Oohime, daughter of Tokugawa Yorifusa And married Maeda Mitsutaka had 1 son: Maeda Tsunanori ** Tsuhime (1636–1717) daughter of Ikeda Mitsumasa and married Ichijō Norisuke had 1 son: Ichijō Kaneteru Tokugawa heir (1617–1623) Iemitsu came of age in 1617 and dropped his childhood name in favor of Tokugawa Iemitsu. He also was installed officially as the heir to the Tokugawa shogunate. The only person to contest this position was his younger brother Tokugawa Tadanaga. A fierce rivalry began to develop between the brothers. From an early age Iemitsu practiced the shūdō tradition. However, in 1620, he had a falling out with his homosexual lover, Sakabe Gozaemon, a childhood friend and retainer, aged twenty-one, and murdered him as they shared a bathtub.Louis Crompton, Homosexuality p. 439 He married Takatsukasa Takako, daughter of Takatsukasa Nobufusa at 12 December 1623. His relationship with Takako was good but Takako had three miscarriages. Shogunal regency (1623–1632) In 1623, when Iemitsu was nineteen, Hidetada abdicated the post of shōgun in his favor. Hidetada continued to rule as Ōgosho (retired shōgun), but Iemitsu nevertheless assumed a role as formal head of the bakufu bureaucracy.Titsingh, J. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, p. 410. In 1626, shōgun Iemitsu and retired shōgun Hidetada visited Emperor Go-Mizunoo, Empress Masako (Hidetada's daughter and Iemitsu's sister), and Imperial Princess Meishō in Kyoto. Shōgun Iemitsu made lavish grants of gold and money to the court nobles and the court itself. Yet relations with Go-Mizunoo deteriorated after the , during which the Emperor was accused of having bestowed honorific purple garments to more than ten priests despite an edict which banned them for two years (probably in order to break the bond between the Emperor and religious circles). The shogunate intervened, making the bestowing of the garments invalid. When Lady Kasuga and Masako broke a taboo by visiting the imperial court as a commoner, Go-Mizunoo abdicated, embarrassed, and Meisho became empress. The shōgun was now the uncle of the sitting monarch. In Kan'ei 9, on the 24th day of the 2nd month (1632), Ōgosho Hidetada died,Titsingh, p. 411. and Iemitsu could assume real power. Worried that his brother Tokugawa Tadanaga might assassinate him, however, he ruled carefully until that brother's death by seppuku in 1633. Shōgun (1632–1651) Hidetada left his advisors, all veteran daimyōs, to act as regents for Iemitsu. In 1633, after his brother's death, Iemitsu dismissed these men. In place of his father's advisors, Iemitsu appointed his childhood friends. With their help Iemitsu created a strong, centralized administration. This made him unpopular with many daimyōs, but Iemitsu simply removed his opponents. His sankin-kōtai system forced daimyōs to reside in Edo in alternating sequence, spending a certain amount of time in Edo, and a certain amount of time in their home provinces. It is often said that one of the key goals of this policy was to prevent the daimyōs from amassing too much wealth or power by separating them from their home provinces, and by forcing them to regularly devote a sizable sum to funding the immense travel expenses associated with the journey (along with a large entourage) to and from Edo. The system also involved the daimyōs wives and heirs remaining in Edo, disconnected from their lord and from their home province, serving essentially as hostages who might be harmed or killed if the daimyōs were to plot rebellion against the shogunate.Vaporis, Constantine. Tour of Duty. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008. In 1637, an armed revolt arose against Iemitsu's anti-Christian policies in Shimabara, but there were other reasons involved, such as overly-high taxation and cruel treatment of peasants by the local lord. The period domestic unrest is known as the Shimabara Rebellion. Thousands were killed in the shogunate's suppression of the revolt and countless more were executed afterwards.Screech, T. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. p. 85. The fact that many of the rebels were Christians was used by the Bakufu as a convenient pretext for expelling the Portuguese and restricting the Dutch East India Company to Dejima in Nagasaki. Over the course of the 1630s, Iemitsu issued a series of edicts restricting Japan's dealings with the outside world. Japanese, who had since the 1590s traveled extensively in East and Southeast Asia (and, in rare instances, much farther afield), were now forbidden from leaving the country or returning, under pain of death. Europeans were expelled from the country, with the exception of those associated with the Dutch East India Company, who were restricted to the manmade island of Dejima, in Nagasaki harbor. Japan remained very much connected to international commerce, information, and cultural exchange, though only through four avenues. Nagasaki was the center of trade and other dealings with the Dutch East India Company, and with independent Chinese merchants. Satsuma Domain controlled relations with the Ryūkyū Kingdom (and through Ryūkyū, had access to Chinese goods and information, as well as products from further afield through alternative trade routes that passed through Ryūkyū), while Tsushima Domain handled diplomatic and trade relations with Joseon-dynasty Korea, and Matsumae Domain managed communications with the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, as well as limited communication with related peoples on the mainland close to Sakhalin. Japan in this period has often been described as "closed", or under sakoku (鎖国, "chained country"), but since the 1980s, if not earlier, scholars have argued for the use of terms such as "maritime restrictions" or kaikin (海禁, "maritime restrictions"), emphasizing the fact that Japan was not "closed" to the outside world, but was in fact very actively engaged with the outside world, albeit through a limited set of avenues.Arano, Yasunori. "The Entrenchment of the Concept of 'National Seclusion'". Acta Asiatica 67 (1994). pp. 83–103. Arano, Yasunori. Sakoku wo minaosu 「鎖国」を見直す. Kawasaki: Kawasaki Shimin Academy, 2003. Kato, Eiichi. "Research Trends in the Study of the History of Japanese Foreign Relations at the Start of the Early Modern Period: On the Reexamination of 'National Seclusion' – From the 1970's to 1990's." Acta Asiatica 67 (1994). pp. 1–29. Tashiro, Kazui and Susan D. Videen. "Foreign Relations during the Edo Period: Sakoku Reexamined". Journal of Japanese Studies 8:2 (1982). pp. 283–306. Toby, Ronald. "Reopening the Question of Sakoku: Diplomacy in the Legitimation of the Tokugawa Bakufu", Journal of Japanese Studies 3:2 (1977). pp. 323–363. In 1643 Empress Meisho abdicated the throne. She was succeeded by her younger half-brother (Go-Mizunoo's son by a consort) Emperor Go-Kōmyō, who disliked the shogunate for its violent and barbaric ways. He repeatedly made insulting comments about Iemitsu and his eldest son and heir, Tokugawa Ietsuna. In 1651 shōgun Iemitsu died at the age of 47, being the first Tokugawa shōgun whose reign ended with death and not abdication. He was accorded a posthumous name of Taiyūin, also known as Daiyūin (大猷院) and buried in Taiyu-in Temple, Nikko.Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice. (1999). Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed, p. 440. He was succeeded by his eldest son and heir, Tokugawa Ietsuna. Anti-Europeanization of Japan and the "Maritime Restrictions Edict of 1639" During the 16th century, Japan was among the countries in Asia that appealed most to European traders and missionaries. A group of Portuguese arrived on the island of Tanegashima, becoming the first Europeans to enter Japan. This began the so-called Nanban trade (南蛮貿易 Nanban bōeki) period. From 1545 onwards, Japan saw the arrival of numerous European ships, first from Portugal, and later from Spain, the Netherlands and England. Starting in 1549, with the arrival of Francis Xavier at Kagoshima, a large missionary campaign, led by the Society of Jesus, began to shake Japan's social structures. Furthermore, on the island of Kyūshū, in order to preserve the European trade in their lands, some daimyōs agreed to be converted to Christianity. By the beginning of the 17th century a half million Japanese people had converted to Christianity (out of population of 11 million). However, during this period of Europeanization, adverse feelings towards the foreigners started spreading across Japan. Following Spain's conquest of the Philippines between 1565 and 1597, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the supreme military/political authority in Japan at the time, began to more strongly doubt the Europeans' good intentions, and questioned the loyalty of the Christian daimyōs. Seeing the threat that Christianity potentially posed to political stability, and to the daimyōs loyalty to him over the Church, he issued Anti-Christian Edicts, expelling foreign missionaries, and ordering the crucifixion of a number of prominent Catholic proselytizers and converts. However, it was not until the reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu that anti-Christian policies were more fully expanded and more permanently put into effect. The century-long presence of Catholic traders and missionaries in Japan ended in the 1630s when Iemitsu ordered the expulsion of nearly every European from the country. European access to trade relations with Japan was restricted to one Dutch ship each year. Iemitsu's policies on this matter were reinforced after the execution of two Portuguese men who came to plead for the re-establishment of Japan's earlier foreign trade policy. By the end of the 1630s, Iemitsu had issued a series of edicts more extensively detailing a system of restrictions on the flow of people, goods, and information in and out of the country. The most famous of those edicts was the so-called Sakoku Edict of 1635. It contained the main restrictions introduced by Iemitsu. With it, he forbade every Japanese ship and person to travel to another country, or to return to Japanese shores. The punishment for violation was death. The edict offered lavish gifts and awards for anyone who could provide information about priests and their followers who secretly practiced and spread their religion across the country. Furthermore, every newly arrived ship was required to be thoroughly examined for Catholic priests and followers. The document pays extremely close attention to every detail regarding incoming foreign ships. For example, merchants coming from abroad had to submit a list of the goods they were bringing with them before being granted permission to trade. Additional provisions specified details of the timing and logistics of trade. For example, one clause declares that the "date of departure homeward for foreign ships shall not be later than the twentieth day of the ninth month". In addition to this, Iemitsu forbade alterations of the set price for raw silk and thus made sure that competition between trading cities was brought to a minimum. The measures Iemitsu enacted were so powerful that it was not until the 1850s that Japanese ports opened to a wider range of trading partners, Westerners were free to settle and travel within Japan, and Japanese were once more free to travel overseas. This period of "maritime restrictions", from the 1630s until the 1850s, is, as described above, very commonly referred to as sakoku, or as "the Closed Country", but many scholars today argue against the notion that Japan was "closed". They argue that Japan's international relations policies during this period should be understood, rather, as simply being aimed at keeping international interactions under tight control; furthermore, they emphasize that Japan was not alone in seeking to control, and limit, international interactions, and that in fact nearly every major power at the time had policies in place dictating who could trade, at which ports, at which times, and in what manner. Notable descendants Chiyohime – daughter married Tokugawa Mitsutomo * Tokugawa Tsunanari ** Tokugawa Muneharu ** Matsudaira Yoshitaka ** Tokugawa Tsugutomo ** Matsuhime, married Maeda Yoshinori ** Tokugawa Muneharu ** Tokugawa Yoshimichi *** Tokugawa Gorōta *** Shinjuin (1706–1757) married Kujō Yukinori **** Kujō Tanemoto **** Nijō Munemoto ***** Nijō Shigeyoshi (1751–1768) ***** Nijō Harutaka ****** Nijō Suiko married Nabeshima Naotomo ******* Nabeshima Naotada ****** Nijō Narimichi ****** Saionji ****** Kujō Suketsugu ****** Nijō Narinobu ******* Nijō Nariyuki ******* Nijō Masamaro ******** Nijō Tamemoto (1911–1985) ******** Nijō Toyomoto (1909–1944) ****** Kujō Hisatada ******* Empress Eishō ******** Imperial Princess Junko Naishinno ******** Imperial Princess Fuko ******* Kujō Michitaka ******* Takatsukasa Hiromichi ******** Nobusuke Takatsukasa ********* Toshimichi Takatsukasa ******** Takatsukasa Nobuhiro (1892–1981) ******* Nijō Motohiro ******** Nijō Atsumoto ******* Tsurudono Tadayoshi ******* Matsuzono Hisayoshi Tokugawa Tsunayoshi * Tokugawa Tokumatsu (1679–1683) * Tokugawa Chomatsu (1683–1686) * Tsuruhime (1677–1704) Tokugawa Tsunashige * Matsudaira Kiyotake (1663–1724) ** Matsudaira Kiyokata (1697-1724) * Tokugawa Ienobu ** Tokugawa Ietsugu ** Tokugawa Daigoro (1709–1710) ** Tokugawa Iechiyo (1707–1707) ** Tokugawa Torakichi (1711–1712) ** Toyo-hime (1681–1681) ** Tokugawa Mugetsuin (1699–1699) Honours *Senior First Rank (July 4, 1651; posthumous) Eras of Iemitsu's bakufu The years in which Iemitsu was shōgun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.Titsingh, pp. 410–412. * Genna (1615–1624) * Kan'ei (1624–1644) * Shōhō (1644–1648) * Keian (1648–1652) In popular culture *Iemitsu's rivalry with his brother Tokugawa Tadanaga over the Shogunate forms a part of the television series The Yagyu Conspiracy and is the basis for the film Shogun's Samurai (at the end of the film, shōgun Iemitsu is killed and decapitated by Yagyū Jūbei in an act of revenge for his father Yagyū Munenori's betrayal). *In Basilisk, the retired Shogun Ieyasu had to decide which grandson will become the third Shogun: Takechiyo (as Iematsu was called in his youth) or Kunichiyo (as Tadanaga was known in his youth). To determine this he has two rival ninja clans, the Iga and the Kouga, fight a proxy war, with each side representing one grandson. *Tokugawa Iemitsu appears as the ruling shōgun in the Legends of Tomorrow episode "Shogun", portrayed by Stephen Oyoung. He is to be married to Masako Yamashiro and takes the Atom's (Brandon Routh) exosuit. Before the marriage can take place, the Legends take on him and his samurai, with Steel (Nick Zano) dealing the final blow, destroying the Atom suit and thus, stopping Iemitsu. Ancestry Notes References * Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice. (1999). Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ; ; OCLC 246417677 * Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 48943301 * Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ; OCLC 65177072 * Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691. * Totman, Conrad. (1967). Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1600–1843. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 279623 1604 births 1651 deaths 17th-century shōguns Tokugawa shōguns Tokugawa clan People of Edo-period Japan 17th-century LGBT people "
"Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American acoustic guitarist and songwriter. Early years The son of Thayne Alden Hedges and Ruth Evelyn Hedges Ipsen, Michael Hedges was born in Sacramento, California. His life in music began in Enid, Oklahoma, as played flute and guitar. He enrolled at Phillips University in Enid to study classical guitar and composition under E. J. Ulrich, who Hedges credits as his biggest influence from his academic training. Hedges studied as a composition major at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland where he applied his classical background steel-string acoustic guitar, also studying electronic music.Michael Hedges - Interview Enid, OK, with Janice Anrukaitis (published on YouTube, Aug 24, 2010) Hedges made a living by playing and singing in pubs and restaurants in Baltimore while a student at Peabody. From 1976 to 1977 he played electric guitar and flute for a local group called Lotus Band, which he left to start performing as a solo acoustic act. In 1980, he made plans to move to California to study music at Stanford University. Hedges was contacted in February 1981 by William Ackerman who heard him perform at the Varsity Theater in Palo Alto. On a napkin Ackerman signed Hedges to a recording contract with Windham Hill. Recordings Hedges' first two albums for Windham Hill were Breakfast in the Field and Aerial Boundaries. He wrote nearly exclusively in alternate tunings. His early recordings and most of the Breakfast in the Field album were recorded on the Ken DuBourg guitar and his Martin D-28 "Barbara". Some of the techniques he used include slap harmonics (created by slapping the strings over a harmonic node), use of right hand hammer-ons (particularly on bass notes), use of the left hand for melodic or rhythmic hammer-ons and pull offs, percussive slapping on the guitar body, as well as unusual strummings. He made extensive use of string damping as employed in classical guitar, and was known to insist strongly on the precise duration of sounds and silences in his pieces. He played guitar variants like the harp guitar (an instrument with additional bass strings), and the TransTrem guitar. He was a multi-instrumentalist who played piano, percussion, tin whistle, harmonica, and flute. Bassist Michael Manring contributed to nearly all of Hedges' records. Frustrated that his published work reflected only the instrumental side of his creative output, Hedges convinced Windham Hill to release Watching My Life Go By, a 1985 studio recording of his vocal originals written over a span of five years—songs often performed at his concerts leading up to the album's release. His fourth album, a live recording called, Live on the Double Planet, was assembled from 40 of his live concerts from 1986 to 1987. His musical education was largely in modern 20th century composition. He listened to Martin Carthy, John Martyn, and the Beatles, but his approach to composition owed much to Igor Stravinsky, Edgard Varèse, Anton Webern, and Steve Reich, in addition to experimental composers such as Morton Feldman. He saw himself as a composer who played guitar, rather than a guitarist who composed music. He was often categorized as a new-age musician because of his association with Windham Hilll. Hedges toured briefly with Leo Kottke. These shows included solo performances by Kottke and Hedges and, as a finale, a number of duets including performances of Kottke's "Doodles" with Hedges playing a high-strung parlor guitar. Hedges' Aerial Boundaries album, released in 1984, included a tribute piece for the works of acoustic guitarist Pierre Bensusan, simply entitled "Bensusan". Bensusan posthumously returned tribute on his 2001 release Intuite ("Favored Nations"), with a composition entitled "So Long Michael". Personal life Hedges was married to flutist Mindy Rosenfeld but the couple divorced in the late 1980s. He was the father of two children, Mischa Aaron Hedges and Jasper Alden Hedges. Death According to his manager Hilleary Burgess, Hedges was driving home from San Francisco International Airport after a visit to a girlfriend in Long Island, New York. His car apparently skidded off a rain-slicked S-curve and down a cliff. Hedges was thrown from his car and appeared to have died nearly instantly. His body was found a few days afterward. After his death, his album Oracle won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. Hedges' unfinished last recordings were completed for the album Torched with the help of his former manager Burgess and friends David Crosby and Graham Nash. Guitars Hedges regularly used the following instruments: * 1971 Martin D-28 guitar (nicknamed "Barbara") with a combination of a Sunrise S-1 magnetic pickup and FRAP contact pickup under the treble strings * A 1978 Ken DuBourg custom made steel string guitar (stolen and returned many years later) * A custom 1980s Takamine guitar with his name on the headstock * Lowden L-250 guitars * Martin J-65M guitars * 1920s Dyer harp guitar configured with a FRAP/autoharp pickup combo / reconfigured with Sunrise S-1 and two Barcus Berry magnetic pickups for the sub-basses (glued straight to the body) * Steve Klein electric harp guitar with a Steinberger TransTrem bridge * circa 1913 black Knutsen harp guitar (often incorrectly referred to as a Dyer) with a FRAP/autoharp pickup combo—and rattlesnake tail wedged under the sub-basses at headstock * Custom Ervin Somogyi acoustic (as credited on Breakfast in the Field) Discography * Breakfast in the Field (Windham Hill, 1981) * Aerial Boundaries (Windham Hill, 1984) * Watching My Life Go By (Open Air, 1985) * Santabear's First Christmas (1986) * Live on the Double Planet (Windham Hill, 1987) * Taproot (Windham Hill, 1990) * Princess Scargo and the Birthday Pumpkin (1993) * The Road to Return (High Street, 1994) * Oracle (Windham Hill, 1996) * Torched (Windham Hill, 1999) See also * List of ambient music artists References External links * Official site * Michael Hedges Interview by Anil Prasad * Michael Hedges guitar tunings Michael Hedges: Harp Guitar Player of the Month 1953 births 1997 deaths 20th- century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American acoustic guitarists American male guitarists Guitarists from Oklahoma Enid High School alumni Fingerstyle guitarists Grammy Award winners Peabody Institute alumni Phillips University alumni Road incident deaths in California Windham Hill Records artists "