Halloween here in NiHon = 3 parties for our students = 9 hours of work on Sunday (and work from 6-midnight Sat night) + mandated costume. I chose Oedipus, mostly because I wanted to wear the black 3D glasses that my old Japanese girlfriend stole from the movies for me, combined with blood dripping down underneath, at my band's next concert, and the next concert opportunity happened to be - conveniently - All Hallows Eve. That's right: right after my 9 hour worktacular funfest.
So, uh, helluva day from the getgo. Show up at work for 9:30, half-dead and jacked on coffee. Supposed to play games with the kids, but they mostly didn't understand, so we kind of winged it by the seats of our pants. Made a couple small kids cry - probably the combination of my slightly creepy costume + not understanding the English instructions. But what's Halloween without crying, anyway?
So, that + folding lots of trash bag "walls" from our haunted house (because in Japan, you're not allowed to throw anything away - we reuse all our paper on both sides, and even saved all the string from the giant spider web we made) = the rest of Halloween party. Then Jacob and I took off for his apt, to get our stuff to go to the show.
It's pouring now, possibly the delayed arrival of a typhoon that was rumored to come the night before. I still have my bloody facepaint on, and can luckily shield it from the rain with my umbrella. We make it to Jacob's - exhausted, but unscathed - and decide to call a taxi so we can cart our stuff to the live without dragging it through the rain. Also at this point my sock is soaking wet because my boot has grown a hole in the sole (if anyone remembers my taped up soles from my last pair of boots, you probably get the idea).
We get to the live (what we call concerts over here) ok, but Jenn, our violin player, is running late - she's coming back from one of her work trips, and her train's delayed from all the rain. We're supposed to go on second to last, but she won't make it in time, so we end up switching with the headliners. We're kind of the worst band ever - last time we had a show there was an accident and we had to take an extensive detour, and we were late for that too. Bad luck! Bad luck!
So we're allowed to switch, and Jenn finally shows up. Ok. But the bad luck doesn't stop there. The band before us is decent, but kind of plays like a pretty tight high school prom band. Considering we're like a made-for-Halloween band, I figure it's as good a precursor as any. Totally different sound, no pressure, odds are in our favor...
Well, I go to set up, and first thing I notice, the tambourine I have attached to my keyboard stand is broken in half. Ok, great. Not the end of the world, but it is pretty crucial for our cover of "Venus in Furs". So I spend some time re-tying it while the Japanese audience laughs at our ghetto setup. It survives the first song, but it's not like it matters, Jacob's guitar is so fucking loud nobody can hear anything but white noise for half of it. Not a great start (though pretty par for the course as far as our shows go).
The second song is "Venus," and that goes fairly better (after yet another tambourine shard re-tying), but Jacob skips the 4th verse without warning and leads to confusion and disharmonic playing for about 20 seconds. Could've been worse though, and by this point, we already look like a haphazard joke band anyway, so who cares if we fuck up a classic? Maybe for an encore we can do a 20 minute rendition of Freebird with a vocal arrangement of farts. And then I can light my keyboard on fire and never play another concert with this band again.
The third song is "The Jam," which originally started out as a jam, but after extensive attempts to turn 20 minutes of spontaneous fuckery into a condensed, cohesive song, it's no longer jammy and just a rambling piece of unpredictable weirdness, complete with long monotonous grooves and lots of unspecified note pounding. Last time we played a show this one was completely disastrous, and so comparatively this one is pretty sweet. Still, our violinist has technical issues with her amp (ie the house amp, since we have no real amps of our own - sound familiar?), and so it's not exactly "perfect"...but since there's no "real" way the song is supposed to play/end, I guess it's as good as most any other time we've run through it.
Next up is the very first song we ever wrote, "Lay Low the Lenses," which actually goes pretty well, but because Jacob has to switch to violin for it, the barowner thinks we're packing up/finished and turns the house lights and music on. We embarrassingly have to tell everyone "we're not finished yet! (we have more half-baked chicanery to subject you to!)" and ask them, in a moment of self-conscious awareness, whether they'd rather we play one or two more songs. A couple people say one, but Jacob says we should do two, and they're Japanese, so they don't argue.
It's probably better we do two, because "Lay Low" is a bit of an ego booster, and a nice warm up for the closer, my only song of the night (and personal favorite of all I've ever written): "Thanatos". We've never played it live before, though we have a pretty lucky, serendipitous camcorder recording of it on our myspace, where we just happened to play through it perfectly at practice one day. Rarely been able to do it since, and I'm skeptical we'll be able to tonight, especially since Jacob gave up on practicing it the day before, because he was too tired/hungover. He says he knows it already. I tell him if he fucks it up, I'll quit the band. We already have practice 2-3 times a week, and...well, you've read how embarrassingly amateur we are already. I'm pretty ready to call it quits either way, and this seems like as good a reason to do so as any.
But, incredibly, from the first notes, "Thanatos" is pulsing with the slow-burning tension it needs to really make an impact. Perfect pace, perfect playing. Jacob's sound is a little off, but it gives it a stripped down feel that's not totally inconducive to the atmosphere. Both Jenn and Jacob nail it, and it hauntingly flows exactly the way it's supposed to, right through the climax and through Jacob's spotlight riffs and into Jenn's closing ephemera, perfect for the close to a Halloween show. And the audience, previously laughing and jostling about the idiot gaijin band making a mockery of rock music before them, is hushed and sits attentively in the dark, waiting for the last ebb and flow of the meldoy to wash away.
So I can't complain (nor quit, for that matter), because the ending is spot on and we're able to save whatever face we have left at that point. We hang around for another 30 minutes as Jenn gets her car, thanking Kim-san (the barowner/guitarist for my favorite Japanese band, the gloriously glam-fuzzy Scandalar) profusely and striking bad Japanese conversations with the few concertgoers who didn't hightail it as soon as we finished (if not sooner - Though it's not like many of the five people I personally requested to come out actually showed up. Only one did - a girl who works at the local record shop - and she left before we finished, probably before hearing my song/the only nearly perfect song of the evening...)
Anyway, hanging out is probably the best part of the evening, because the day's obligations are FINALLY OVER and I can shoot the shit with Kim, who's usually pretty drunk at this point, and some other dudes, including a member of my old coworker Matt's sweet garage-pop throwback band, and some other random dude in a Yankees cap. I ask him if he likes the Yankees, and he says no: the NY stands for something else. He says it means "Yada Nanimokamo" in Japanese, which translates to "I hate everything," and he then gives a rousing though ultimately incoherent explanation of how he hates everything, yet accepts everything. He's obviously pretty drunk too, but that's ok, because I'm too busy thinking about how many NY caps I own and how much more interesting they'd be to wear now, with their new Japanese meaning in tow.
Finally, Jenn arrives to drive us and our stuff back. We're in Gifu - where Jacob and Jenn live - but she agrees to drive me back to Ogaki with my keyboard/stand/guitar/amp/various other equipment if I pay for her gas $. No problem! I tell her. She's going away for two weeks, and if I leave it at Jacob's place I might never see it again.
So I'm pretty stoked that she'll drive it back...but when we get to Jacob's, her car stalls and won't restart. It just makes a weird ticking sound, like someone rubbing a stick against a washboard. I tell her her battery might be dead, but we can't think of anyone with jump cables - in short, we're fucked. So instead of getting a marginally cheap ride back to Ogaki, I'm forced to drag my stuff up to Jacob's. I could leave it there for 2 weeks and take the train back, but I decide I'd rather get a taxi and carry it all back now. Jake says it'll cost about 60 bucks. Ok - just gotta go to the 24-hour atm first. With Jenn's help, I order a taxi and tell it to arrive in 15 minutes, then hightail it in the pouring rain to the atm.
Well, turns out 24 hours in Japan = until 24:00, or midnight. The atm is closed, and I only have 10 bucks on me. I run back to Jacob's and borrow 50 from Jacob, then another 100 from Jenn, because I fear the 50 won't be enough (and it's not). At least at this point, the paint has mostly washed from my face...But my palm burns, because someone accidentally waved their cigarette into it. Not so good!
Well, with a little more assistance from Jenn, I'm able to guide the taxi back to Ogaki/my apartment. 65 dollars later, I'm home sweet home, soaked, with a holey boot and a broken tambourine. BUT I also have a little bag of candy from our Halloween parties, complete with Tootsie Rolls, Now and Laters, Smarties and NERDS. This is especially welcome because I'm starving and have no food in my house. So I eat a bunch of candy and drink the rest of my beer and shochu (ie Japanese hard liquor).
Now it's 3am and my blogpost is finished. Yada Naminokamo! But not really - all things considered, I'm on a surprising high. Pretty tired though - time for a hot shower and some much-needed sleep.
So on that note: Happy Halloween, and oyasumi!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The Aichi Trienniale
Today I went to the Aichi Trienniale with my friend Mayu. Some of you may remember Mayu from my earliest visit to the Kobe Art Museum. Apparently she found my company entertaining, or I'm the only friend she has who enjoys art, because she invited me to this art festival in Nagoya. I'd been meaning to go myself, so I accepted. I figured it'd be good to get out of the apartment, do something different, see a new face. Break the solitary confinement that is Japan as of late...
Anyway, we went. It was fun. Saw a lot of neat contemporary art - and it was actually pretty good, something I can't say about all the art I see here - with some works by Yayoi Kusama of polka dot fame, as well as other cool works, like rings of falling water in a strobelight, set up so it looked like streams of sparkles in the dark, and if you looked at it in the right light, you could see individual drops of water, always falling and illuminated in the same place, as if frozen there. Very neat, on the most superficially entertaining of levels (not that there's anything wrong with that). Actually, I'm not sure I found any really "thought provoking" works - the closest one was a replica of a war plane covered in grains, as a protest of the way governments spend money on wars, when they should be spending that money on food for their poor (or something to that effect). Only problem is, the grains were all painted in bright colors, making the fighter look like a giant toy. Maybe it's just me, but all I could think was "cool plane!" - which kind of defeats the purpose of the critique. Maybe.
One of the last exhibits we saw was put on by a Yugoslavian artist name Natalija Ribovic, whose show was titled "Everyone is an eARThist" and involved a giant red inflatable rabbit, leaning on its arm and relaxing as if leaning against a tree or something. Drawings were all over the walls, in paint and marker, and the floor was covered in cardboard, where visitors had written messages to the earth, at the artist's request. I added "Best Planet Ever (at least that we know of so far)" - it felt kind of snarky, but it's hard to feel bad about things in Japan, because you're always doing something "wrong." Not to mention being depressed makes you generally not care about trivialities like other people's feelings.
So I go back to the entrance, and Mayu is talking with the artist, who is a pretty blond woman, maybe late 20s, who looks more Norwegian or Icelandic than Yugoslavian. Then again, when I asked where she was from, she said "My body was born in Yugoslavia, but my spirit is from Jupiter," so maybe that explains the incongruity. Needless to say, she was pretty wacky, but she spoke English and seemed to enjoy running into other people who spoke English, too. She explained to us that her works had 3 main characters - the rabbit and 2 others, I don't remember - and that there were 7 rabbits altogether, and together they represented 7 universal harmonies with nature, or something like that. She also showed us an extensive clothing collection she'd developed with North Face, to help save the earth or whatever. Sounded like a lot of commercial bullshit to me - and I remember the days when I thought art as commodity (a reversal from the Pop Art days) was so cutting edge! Blech.
So we got a good laugh out of her after we left, trying to decipher what the hell she was talking about, Jupiter and how "half the population of Iceland are fairies that live in the woods" and what not. But she was nice enough. Mayu had even left her her email and phone number and kept imploring to contact her if she wanted to set up a show in Nara (where she lives). Well, I guess that suggestion struck Natalija's fancy, because fifteen minutes later we get a call from her asking if we want to get dinner.
I've never been invited to dinner by an artist before. Hell, I don't even get invited to dinner by friends all that often. So that was pretty cool, and I had fun talking to her - she certainly was interesting. Asked Mayu whether she wanted a Christian vs. a Shinto wedding (wtf?) and kept going on and on about nature and how her body is just a vessel for artistic inspiration. I could even kind of understand that last point.
Alas, after about an hour we had to leave, so Mayu could catch last train. But it was a nice break in the monotony of life here, and it reminded me that I should really get on all the big artistic ideas I keep having and so rarely put into action. It also reminded me that sometimes there are advantages to speaking English in this country. It's a tradeoff: on the one hand, you're exempted from the soul-crushing social expectations; on the other, people stare at you and freak out when you try and talk to them.
It's good to remember just how crazy this place can be. But it perhaps bears contemplating whether it can drag you down with it. Natalija's been here 4 years and she's obviously gone batty. I'm only a year in and I'm already starting to lose it...
but as long as it's this kind of crazy, I think I can deal with it alright.
Anyway, we went. It was fun. Saw a lot of neat contemporary art - and it was actually pretty good, something I can't say about all the art I see here - with some works by Yayoi Kusama of polka dot fame, as well as other cool works, like rings of falling water in a strobelight, set up so it looked like streams of sparkles in the dark, and if you looked at it in the right light, you could see individual drops of water, always falling and illuminated in the same place, as if frozen there. Very neat, on the most superficially entertaining of levels (not that there's anything wrong with that). Actually, I'm not sure I found any really "thought provoking" works - the closest one was a replica of a war plane covered in grains, as a protest of the way governments spend money on wars, when they should be spending that money on food for their poor (or something to that effect). Only problem is, the grains were all painted in bright colors, making the fighter look like a giant toy. Maybe it's just me, but all I could think was "cool plane!" - which kind of defeats the purpose of the critique. Maybe.
One of the last exhibits we saw was put on by a Yugoslavian artist name Natalija Ribovic, whose show was titled "Everyone is an eARThist" and involved a giant red inflatable rabbit, leaning on its arm and relaxing as if leaning against a tree or something. Drawings were all over the walls, in paint and marker, and the floor was covered in cardboard, where visitors had written messages to the earth, at the artist's request. I added "Best Planet Ever (at least that we know of so far)" - it felt kind of snarky, but it's hard to feel bad about things in Japan, because you're always doing something "wrong." Not to mention being depressed makes you generally not care about trivialities like other people's feelings.
So I go back to the entrance, and Mayu is talking with the artist, who is a pretty blond woman, maybe late 20s, who looks more Norwegian or Icelandic than Yugoslavian. Then again, when I asked where she was from, she said "My body was born in Yugoslavia, but my spirit is from Jupiter," so maybe that explains the incongruity. Needless to say, she was pretty wacky, but she spoke English and seemed to enjoy running into other people who spoke English, too. She explained to us that her works had 3 main characters - the rabbit and 2 others, I don't remember - and that there were 7 rabbits altogether, and together they represented 7 universal harmonies with nature, or something like that. She also showed us an extensive clothing collection she'd developed with North Face, to help save the earth or whatever. Sounded like a lot of commercial bullshit to me - and I remember the days when I thought art as commodity (a reversal from the Pop Art days) was so cutting edge! Blech.
So we got a good laugh out of her after we left, trying to decipher what the hell she was talking about, Jupiter and how "half the population of Iceland are fairies that live in the woods" and what not. But she was nice enough. Mayu had even left her her email and phone number and kept imploring to contact her if she wanted to set up a show in Nara (where she lives). Well, I guess that suggestion struck Natalija's fancy, because fifteen minutes later we get a call from her asking if we want to get dinner.
I've never been invited to dinner by an artist before. Hell, I don't even get invited to dinner by friends all that often. So that was pretty cool, and I had fun talking to her - she certainly was interesting. Asked Mayu whether she wanted a Christian vs. a Shinto wedding (wtf?) and kept going on and on about nature and how her body is just a vessel for artistic inspiration. I could even kind of understand that last point.
Alas, after about an hour we had to leave, so Mayu could catch last train. But it was a nice break in the monotony of life here, and it reminded me that I should really get on all the big artistic ideas I keep having and so rarely put into action. It also reminded me that sometimes there are advantages to speaking English in this country. It's a tradeoff: on the one hand, you're exempted from the soul-crushing social expectations; on the other, people stare at you and freak out when you try and talk to them.
It's good to remember just how crazy this place can be. But it perhaps bears contemplating whether it can drag you down with it. Natalija's been here 4 years and she's obviously gone batty. I'm only a year in and I'm already starting to lose it...
but as long as it's this kind of crazy, I think I can deal with it alright.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Brief recap: fireworks and more!
Haven't checked in here for awhile, mostly because I've been sick sick sick. And I was going to make a post declaring my sickness, but thought it would only sound whiny and make me feel worse. So I will merely mention my incessant illness - doctor's trip #10 on Wednesday! - and move on.
Busy week last week, lots of extra classes for the summer session. Fun facts: students get a month or two off from public school in summer, but they often continue going to juku ("cram school"), even more than usual, because they just LOVE studying and apparently have no lives. Or I guess this is what happens when you have a stagnant economy, a small number of really good universities (who totally cover your education, natch), and a shit ton of people. America, take note.
So last week was lame, exacerbated by constant stomach pains. Then this weekend there were FIREWORKS. I know, you're thinking "oh who cares about fireworks" but fireworks in Japan are nothing to joke about. They last for 2+ hours and it's just constant finale. They were being shot off from multiple places and it was like the sky was just exploding over and over, almost mind numbing if you stare at it too long...
Anyway, so my bandmates and I had practice Saturday, and then decided to go swim underneath the fireworks. "It's only a 15, 20 minute walk," they told me. So we already missed the first hour or so, but we've got lots of time. We walk. And walk. And walk. We walk for over an hour, the colored sparks looming larger as we progress. And finally we make it to this river, where lots of people in boats were watching the fireworks, which had just ended (of course). But absolutely nobody is swimming. There is no beach. It's just rocks and this river filled with boats.
Now, I hate doing things that are vaguely illegal and may involve dealing with police officers, especially when said police officers don't speak English and have no qualms with putting you in jail for undisclosed amounts of time simply for being a foreigner. But we walked so far...and Jacob and Jenn are still pretty intent on swimming, so we make our way onto this little peninsula and walk under the bridge filled with cars and buses and people, and we watch the little wooden boats float by. Jacob is pretty excited to get in, so he just slides down the steep, rocky bank and jumps in. And one of the dudes on the boats starts shouting at him.
Of course.
Thankfully, per Jenn's translation, he merely told us to wait for the boats to finish passing through. Then we could swim. Ok. We wait another 15 minutes, and the river's pretty empty. Fireworks are long past gone, and people are clearing the area (though plenty still remain - fireworks day is a big deal, everyone's out on the streets, drinking and being merry, and the girls all wear kimonos. Kind of interesting to think about, how wearing a special outfit can enhance your enjoyment of special days, even if said special day is just fireworks day. Their kimonos certainly enhanced my enjoyment of it - girls walking around with their hair done nice, in pretty dresses with big ribbons on the back, like presents just waiting to be untied...but I digress)
Anyway, we swam for like 10 minutes, because it was cold and kind of not fun, but at least it meant we didn't walk all that way for nothing, and it made the trip back nicer because it wasn't so hot anymore. And after about 30 minutes we even managed to catch a bus, so that was pretty nice. All in all, a solid Saturday.
Sunday involved art galleries in Nagoya and a sunglasses-themed concert at our favorite local live house. Also, free junk food. I could go on about the bands that played, but I won't because I'm tired of writing. And then Monday I had some classes with high school kids and watched the Simpsons movie, which I will be showing to my middle school students today. It's funnier than I remembered it being! I'll have to block out the cartoon penis though.
That's all for now.
Busy week last week, lots of extra classes for the summer session. Fun facts: students get a month or two off from public school in summer, but they often continue going to juku ("cram school"), even more than usual, because they just LOVE studying and apparently have no lives. Or I guess this is what happens when you have a stagnant economy, a small number of really good universities (who totally cover your education, natch), and a shit ton of people. America, take note.
So last week was lame, exacerbated by constant stomach pains. Then this weekend there were FIREWORKS. I know, you're thinking "oh who cares about fireworks" but fireworks in Japan are nothing to joke about. They last for 2+ hours and it's just constant finale. They were being shot off from multiple places and it was like the sky was just exploding over and over, almost mind numbing if you stare at it too long...
Anyway, so my bandmates and I had practice Saturday, and then decided to go swim underneath the fireworks. "It's only a 15, 20 minute walk," they told me. So we already missed the first hour or so, but we've got lots of time. We walk. And walk. And walk. We walk for over an hour, the colored sparks looming larger as we progress. And finally we make it to this river, where lots of people in boats were watching the fireworks, which had just ended (of course). But absolutely nobody is swimming. There is no beach. It's just rocks and this river filled with boats.
Now, I hate doing things that are vaguely illegal and may involve dealing with police officers, especially when said police officers don't speak English and have no qualms with putting you in jail for undisclosed amounts of time simply for being a foreigner. But we walked so far...and Jacob and Jenn are still pretty intent on swimming, so we make our way onto this little peninsula and walk under the bridge filled with cars and buses and people, and we watch the little wooden boats float by. Jacob is pretty excited to get in, so he just slides down the steep, rocky bank and jumps in. And one of the dudes on the boats starts shouting at him.
Of course.
Thankfully, per Jenn's translation, he merely told us to wait for the boats to finish passing through. Then we could swim. Ok. We wait another 15 minutes, and the river's pretty empty. Fireworks are long past gone, and people are clearing the area (though plenty still remain - fireworks day is a big deal, everyone's out on the streets, drinking and being merry, and the girls all wear kimonos. Kind of interesting to think about, how wearing a special outfit can enhance your enjoyment of special days, even if said special day is just fireworks day. Their kimonos certainly enhanced my enjoyment of it - girls walking around with their hair done nice, in pretty dresses with big ribbons on the back, like presents just waiting to be untied...but I digress)
Anyway, we swam for like 10 minutes, because it was cold and kind of not fun, but at least it meant we didn't walk all that way for nothing, and it made the trip back nicer because it wasn't so hot anymore. And after about 30 minutes we even managed to catch a bus, so that was pretty nice. All in all, a solid Saturday.
Sunday involved art galleries in Nagoya and a sunglasses-themed concert at our favorite local live house. Also, free junk food. I could go on about the bands that played, but I won't because I'm tired of writing. And then Monday I had some classes with high school kids and watched the Simpsons movie, which I will be showing to my middle school students today. It's funnier than I remembered it being! I'll have to block out the cartoon penis though.
That's all for now.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Confessions of a newfound record junkie
It's true, I've become addicted to buying records. Somehow. It started off innocently enough...just stuff I knew would be good, that I didn't already own, that I found in the store. Only a record every once in awhile...but then...
I don't know, a couple factors I guess spurned this shift. My band's been doing pretty well, and we've been prepping for shows/working on other members' songs, so I've stopped writing new stuff (don't wanna forget my latest one in the meantime - one of the best songs I've written yet!)
So I've just been having band practice a lot, and drinking on my own. No girlfriend, not hanging out with Jacob anymore...basically, a lot of downtime. Which led me to ebay. Which led me to "hey I can buy any record I want, any time I want!" So that was bad.
And then one day I saw a pretty cool album in the store by some artist named Genya Ravan, and she was pretty sexy looking and it was a really obviously '70s-looking album, and I saw she worked with Lou Reed and John Cale on a couple tracks, aaaaand it was pretty cheap, so I was like "oh hell why not!" thinking you know, it was no big deal to experiment on something new, and I was pleasantly surprised, there was some great stuff on it that I never would have found otherwise!
Sounds good, right?
Except now buying music I've heard before is boring. So I just kind of look for artists I've heard of or have heard other material from, or pick up stuff that just looks like it'll be good...which isn't so bad in itself (discovered lots of cool stuff!) but now instead of buying the occasional record I KNOW I'll enjoy simply to say that I own it, I've turned to buying an armful of random records for the thrill of it.
D'oh.
Anyway, I guess it's too late for me now. With like 10 records waiting for me at home in the States, 2 currently en route to my apt, and another 20 I've bought in the past week (!!!) here in person, I'm obviously fucked. But that's ok - in my defense, most have been 7"s (which are [usually] quite cheaper) and the only reason I bought so many this week was because I had Monday off and decided to use it to go record shopping, and then after I bought like 7 records there, I found out there was a record fair today! And of course I had to go to that (even though I didn't really want to...Jenn, of all people, who doesn't even listen to records, convinced me to). Anyway, long story short, I bought a shit ton of records. Said records include:
LPs:
The Beat - s/t LP
The Undertones - Hypnotised
Gene Clark - No Other
10"s:
Germs - Cat's Clause
7"s:
Lou Christie - She Sold Me Magic
The Fevers - Show!
The Fe Fi Fo Fums - Electrofize Me/Wild One
Sweet - Fox on the Run
Ohio Express - Chewy, Chewy
Ohio Express - Yummy, Yummy, Yummy
The Equals - Baby Come Back
Hentchmen - Ypsilanti's newest hit makers
Bare Wires - Voo Doo Doll EP (!!!)
Eric Hysteric & the Esoterics - Tropical Vision
The Cuff Links - Tracy
Tyvek - Summer Burns EP
The Registrators - Monkey/Stupid Girls
1910 Fruitgum Co. - Simon Says
Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs - Lil' Red Riding Hood
Scott Walker - Jackie
I have to give credit where credit is due - of these, an unhealthy proportion have been directly influenced by my friend Miranda (and that says nothing of the Supercharger, Bare Wires LP, and Daisy Clan I picked up off ebay - all direct influences...) But srsly. Ohio Express, Fe Fi Fo Fums, Lou Christie, The Fevers...and all so good! Some of the other more pleasant surprises include the Eric Hysteric & the Esoterics, a 1980 German droning dance-punk record that's way catchier than it should be, and the Registrators, who were apparently a Japanese punk band of the late 80s/early 90s and are totally awesome, released this 7" on Rip Off records, run by Supercharger's old bassist. And I get the added benefit of feeling like I'm "making the most" of living in the country!
So yeah, that's my story. My name is Sean, and I have a record buying addiction. Thanks for listening - now I must be off to go track the Cuff Links' LP, currently trading for only $4.24! Until next time!
I don't know, a couple factors I guess spurned this shift. My band's been doing pretty well, and we've been prepping for shows/working on other members' songs, so I've stopped writing new stuff (don't wanna forget my latest one in the meantime - one of the best songs I've written yet!)
So I've just been having band practice a lot, and drinking on my own. No girlfriend, not hanging out with Jacob anymore...basically, a lot of downtime. Which led me to ebay. Which led me to "hey I can buy any record I want, any time I want!" So that was bad.
And then one day I saw a pretty cool album in the store by some artist named Genya Ravan, and she was pretty sexy looking and it was a really obviously '70s-looking album, and I saw she worked with Lou Reed and John Cale on a couple tracks, aaaaand it was pretty cheap, so I was like "oh hell why not!" thinking you know, it was no big deal to experiment on something new, and I was pleasantly surprised, there was some great stuff on it that I never would have found otherwise!
Sounds good, right?
Except now buying music I've heard before is boring. So I just kind of look for artists I've heard of or have heard other material from, or pick up stuff that just looks like it'll be good...which isn't so bad in itself (discovered lots of cool stuff!) but now instead of buying the occasional record I KNOW I'll enjoy simply to say that I own it, I've turned to buying an armful of random records for the thrill of it.
D'oh.
Anyway, I guess it's too late for me now. With like 10 records waiting for me at home in the States, 2 currently en route to my apt, and another 20 I've bought in the past week (!!!) here in person, I'm obviously fucked. But that's ok - in my defense, most have been 7"s (which are [usually] quite cheaper) and the only reason I bought so many this week was because I had Monday off and decided to use it to go record shopping, and then after I bought like 7 records there, I found out there was a record fair today! And of course I had to go to that (even though I didn't really want to...Jenn, of all people, who doesn't even listen to records, convinced me to). Anyway, long story short, I bought a shit ton of records. Said records include:
LPs:
The Beat - s/t LP
The Undertones - Hypnotised
Gene Clark - No Other
10"s:
Germs - Cat's Clause
7"s:
Lou Christie - She Sold Me Magic
The Fevers - Show!
The Fe Fi Fo Fums - Electrofize Me/Wild One
Sweet - Fox on the Run
Ohio Express - Chewy, Chewy
Ohio Express - Yummy, Yummy, Yummy
The Equals - Baby Come Back
Hentchmen - Ypsilanti's newest hit makers
Bare Wires - Voo Doo Doll EP (!!!)
Eric Hysteric & the Esoterics - Tropical Vision
The Cuff Links - Tracy
Tyvek - Summer Burns EP
The Registrators - Monkey/Stupid Girls
1910 Fruitgum Co. - Simon Says
Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs - Lil' Red Riding Hood
Scott Walker - Jackie
I have to give credit where credit is due - of these, an unhealthy proportion have been directly influenced by my friend Miranda (and that says nothing of the Supercharger, Bare Wires LP, and Daisy Clan I picked up off ebay - all direct influences...) But srsly. Ohio Express, Fe Fi Fo Fums, Lou Christie, The Fevers...and all so good! Some of the other more pleasant surprises include the Eric Hysteric & the Esoterics, a 1980 German droning dance-punk record that's way catchier than it should be, and the Registrators, who were apparently a Japanese punk band of the late 80s/early 90s and are totally awesome, released this 7" on Rip Off records, run by Supercharger's old bassist. And I get the added benefit of feeling like I'm "making the most" of living in the country!
So yeah, that's my story. My name is Sean, and I have a record buying addiction. Thanks for listening - now I must be off to go track the Cuff Links' LP, currently trading for only $4.24! Until next time!
Monday, July 12, 2010
ketai(ee) memories
Ok, so this is kind of a copout, but on the plus side - you get pictures! Albeit pretty lousy quality ones, courtesy of my cell phone ("ketai" in Japanese - hence one-half of the title's pun...)
Let the show begin!
So this is a 7 year old girl dressed as a Geisha, taken from the Ogaki matsuri (festival). There are 2 festivals here every year (you may remember the autumn one, where I got drunk and carried a shrine around town all day). The spring one is significantly lamer - just a bunch of tents set up along the streets downtown, 90% of which sell the same foods (octopus dough balls, jerky, fried noodles, etc.) The other 10% sell cheap masks and other really cheap toys for kids. Seriously, nothing of note, at all, except for the big floats being pulled around town with various people in traditional clothing on them. Most of them didn't do anything (and the floats weren't particularly interesting to look at, either), but this one had a bunch of 7 year old girls - there was a sign indicating their age - who would come out and do traditional Geisha dances to music. It was really cute/kind of creepy.
(On a side note, the best festival I've seen thus far happened in a nearby town called Godo, where from midnight to about 2am a bunch of drunk people in loincloths ran down the streets carrying bamboo bundles. Bamboo bundles lit on fire, that is. Then they'd dump them on a big bonfire and act crazy, and afterwards some old Japanese did a little parade in samurai garb. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that one.)
Next up we have this lovely picture of downtown Osaka, one of the biggest cities in Japan. I went maybe a month ago with my coworker Michael, who I also went to Shikoku with (see: facebook photos). We got tickets to baseball game there from our Japanese coworker, who had tickets but couldn't go.
Japanese baseball games are a lot like American ones, but there are a few differences. First off, it was in a dome - not necessarily different from in America, but a contributing factor. The dome, while impressive from the outside, was actually pretty small inside, and everything just seemed kind of...artificial. Not just the astroturf, but I guess the Japanese-ness of it (I'm also pretty sure their fields are smaller). Still, it was fun seeing all the fans decked out in jerseys - just like in America! - and eating a little mini Domino's Pizza, which I would never do at a ballgame in America, helped make the whole experience a little more familiar. Then again, the unfamiliarity was perhaps the best part - for example, instead of singing "Take me out to the ballgame" after the 7th inning, everyone buys balloons and blows them up real big (or real long I should say - they look like giant...well, guess) and then lets em go all at once, on cue, and the stadium fills with a giant wheezing sound while little balloons sputter about like...well, guess. (I forget Michael's direct quote, but it was something like "watching an orgasm from the inside.")
Here we have a sign for "Club Sean," which I did not go to, but obviously should have. Since Osaka is about 3 hours by train from Ogaki, and me Michael didn't want to leave right after the game was over, we decided to stay out all night and party instead. We paid quite a bit of money to go to a club that he went to a few years ago, when he was studying abroad here. Finding it was quite the hassle - all Michael knew was the name (and addresses here are pretty much nonexistent, so we had no means of looking it up). We didn't even know what area of the city it was in. We just went to the downtown part and walked around for a few hours, following Michael's instinct (this looks familiar! this looks familiar! let's go...that way!) until, lo and behold, we found it (quite near to that first picture, taken on a bridge in the heart of downtown). And what do you know, it was celebrating its 5 year anniversary! For 40 bucks, you could come in and drink all night for free - open til 5am! It was fate. There was only one catch: you had to wear shoes to get in.
Obviously I was wearing shoes (I hate sandles). Michael, however, was not. The bouncer directed us to a nearby shop, however, that was selling very cheap shoes, so we made our way amongst the other people trying to replace their footwear and after a short 15 minute excursion we were ready to go. The place was pretty fun at first - the music was decent, and we danced around (if not exactly with) some girls - but by 2am it was packed, mostly with dudes. So we broke for some ramen and wandered around a bit before we got bored and made our way back. I moseyed my way up to a girl who, while not exactly stunning, didn't shirk my advances, and we danced for awhile. But her lack of resistance quickly went from encouraging to slightly creepy, as I realized she was too drunk to even respond to what was going on around her. So I went off to look for Michael, letting another guy (literally) slide into my place - with no acknowledgment of the shift on her part...
By the time I found him it was about 4, and we were pretty tired of this place. We had some time to kill before first train back though. That's when we somehow came across this English speaking girl (maybe Canadian?) who suggested some other bar nearby that her boyfriend worked at. So we went over there and hung out for a bit, talked about how Japanese girls are crazy, drank a beer and then made for some early morning ramen and a 5 hour train ride home. Then I slept all afternoon and swore off drinking for one whole day - I think it was a good one but, ironically, I can't remember it.
This is a silly little picture I took on the way to a new school branch one day. It looked a lot more exciting on South Park, don't you think? Casa Boni-ta! Casa Boni-ta! dododododododo...
Props to Japan for having both ridiculously cheap cigarettes and widespread public smoking, as well as one of the most awesome anti-smoking campaigns you could imagine. I mean really, why does that man throw out so many cigarette butts all at once? (Alternatively, this is probably why so many people in Japan still smoke).
This is...uh...an exotic butterfly hiding in the leaves. I took it on the way to work. Maybe this is what that creepy caterpillar thing from my previous ketai picture post turns into?
And this is my friend Shino. He drums for Darge, who are possibly the best metal band I've ever seen (though that doesn't particularly say much). This is also the band Rafa is in (you may remember them from our mountain trip with the marijuana-loving Baka Nihonjin, though probably not because that was months and months ago). He played the whole show with this ridiculous hippo mask on, which I think speaks pretty loudly about how awesome he is. This show was on Saturday, and also featured Scandalar, another of the top bands in the area. We'll be playing with Scandalar at our next show, and Jacob is trying to set up a show with Darge. Should be fun, providing we don't fuck up.
Well, it's 1:30am and that's about it for recent cell phone photos. Looking back, I sure do have a ton though. Got some camera pics I wanna upload too (if not here, look for them on the facebook in the near future). And now I am off to sweet dreams of Casa Bonita...
Casa Boni-ta! Casa Boni-ta! dododododododo...
Let the show begin!
So this is a 7 year old girl dressed as a Geisha, taken from the Ogaki matsuri (festival). There are 2 festivals here every year (you may remember the autumn one, where I got drunk and carried a shrine around town all day). The spring one is significantly lamer - just a bunch of tents set up along the streets downtown, 90% of which sell the same foods (octopus dough balls, jerky, fried noodles, etc.) The other 10% sell cheap masks and other really cheap toys for kids. Seriously, nothing of note, at all, except for the big floats being pulled around town with various people in traditional clothing on them. Most of them didn't do anything (and the floats weren't particularly interesting to look at, either), but this one had a bunch of 7 year old girls - there was a sign indicating their age - who would come out and do traditional Geisha dances to music. It was really cute/kind of creepy.
(On a side note, the best festival I've seen thus far happened in a nearby town called Godo, where from midnight to about 2am a bunch of drunk people in loincloths ran down the streets carrying bamboo bundles. Bamboo bundles lit on fire, that is. Then they'd dump them on a big bonfire and act crazy, and afterwards some old Japanese did a little parade in samurai garb. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that one.)
Next up we have this lovely picture of downtown Osaka, one of the biggest cities in Japan. I went maybe a month ago with my coworker Michael, who I also went to Shikoku with (see: facebook photos). We got tickets to baseball game there from our Japanese coworker, who had tickets but couldn't go.
Japanese baseball games are a lot like American ones, but there are a few differences. First off, it was in a dome - not necessarily different from in America, but a contributing factor. The dome, while impressive from the outside, was actually pretty small inside, and everything just seemed kind of...artificial. Not just the astroturf, but I guess the Japanese-ness of it (I'm also pretty sure their fields are smaller). Still, it was fun seeing all the fans decked out in jerseys - just like in America! - and eating a little mini Domino's Pizza, which I would never do at a ballgame in America, helped make the whole experience a little more familiar. Then again, the unfamiliarity was perhaps the best part - for example, instead of singing "Take me out to the ballgame" after the 7th inning, everyone buys balloons and blows them up real big (or real long I should say - they look like giant...well, guess) and then lets em go all at once, on cue, and the stadium fills with a giant wheezing sound while little balloons sputter about like...well, guess. (I forget Michael's direct quote, but it was something like "watching an orgasm from the inside.")
Here we have a sign for "Club Sean," which I did not go to, but obviously should have. Since Osaka is about 3 hours by train from Ogaki, and me Michael didn't want to leave right after the game was over, we decided to stay out all night and party instead. We paid quite a bit of money to go to a club that he went to a few years ago, when he was studying abroad here. Finding it was quite the hassle - all Michael knew was the name (and addresses here are pretty much nonexistent, so we had no means of looking it up). We didn't even know what area of the city it was in. We just went to the downtown part and walked around for a few hours, following Michael's instinct (this looks familiar! this looks familiar! let's go...that way!) until, lo and behold, we found it (quite near to that first picture, taken on a bridge in the heart of downtown). And what do you know, it was celebrating its 5 year anniversary! For 40 bucks, you could come in and drink all night for free - open til 5am! It was fate. There was only one catch: you had to wear shoes to get in.
Obviously I was wearing shoes (I hate sandles). Michael, however, was not. The bouncer directed us to a nearby shop, however, that was selling very cheap shoes, so we made our way amongst the other people trying to replace their footwear and after a short 15 minute excursion we were ready to go. The place was pretty fun at first - the music was decent, and we danced around (if not exactly with) some girls - but by 2am it was packed, mostly with dudes. So we broke for some ramen and wandered around a bit before we got bored and made our way back. I moseyed my way up to a girl who, while not exactly stunning, didn't shirk my advances, and we danced for awhile. But her lack of resistance quickly went from encouraging to slightly creepy, as I realized she was too drunk to even respond to what was going on around her. So I went off to look for Michael, letting another guy (literally) slide into my place - with no acknowledgment of the shift on her part...
By the time I found him it was about 4, and we were pretty tired of this place. We had some time to kill before first train back though. That's when we somehow came across this English speaking girl (maybe Canadian?) who suggested some other bar nearby that her boyfriend worked at. So we went over there and hung out for a bit, talked about how Japanese girls are crazy, drank a beer and then made for some early morning ramen and a 5 hour train ride home. Then I slept all afternoon and swore off drinking for one whole day - I think it was a good one but, ironically, I can't remember it.
This is a silly little picture I took on the way to a new school branch one day. It looked a lot more exciting on South Park, don't you think? Casa Boni-ta! Casa Boni-ta! dododododododo...
Props to Japan for having both ridiculously cheap cigarettes and widespread public smoking, as well as one of the most awesome anti-smoking campaigns you could imagine. I mean really, why does that man throw out so many cigarette butts all at once? (Alternatively, this is probably why so many people in Japan still smoke).
This is...uh...an exotic butterfly hiding in the leaves. I took it on the way to work. Maybe this is what that creepy caterpillar thing from my previous ketai picture post turns into?
And this is my friend Shino. He drums for Darge, who are possibly the best metal band I've ever seen (though that doesn't particularly say much). This is also the band Rafa is in (you may remember them from our mountain trip with the marijuana-loving Baka Nihonjin, though probably not because that was months and months ago). He played the whole show with this ridiculous hippo mask on, which I think speaks pretty loudly about how awesome he is. This show was on Saturday, and also featured Scandalar, another of the top bands in the area. We'll be playing with Scandalar at our next show, and Jacob is trying to set up a show with Darge. Should be fun, providing we don't fuck up.
Well, it's 1:30am and that's about it for recent cell phone photos. Looking back, I sure do have a ton though. Got some camera pics I wanna upload too (if not here, look for them on the facebook in the near future). And now I am off to sweet dreams of Casa Bonita...
Casa Boni-ta! Casa Boni-ta! dododododododo...
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Ogaki ROCK!
Today is July 8th. That means yesterday was my mother's 50th birthday - happy birthday Mom! - and 4 days ago was July 4th, my home nation's 234th tanjoubi. And in celebration, my current town hosted a rock festival. Ok, it was probably coincidental, but whatever. You could argue that nothing is really "coincidental" (though I wouldn't - but please, don't let me stop you).
Anywho. You may recall that last year's Ogaki Rock Festival (held later in the year) provided my first encounter with the Hips, a now fairly well known and pretty damn good local band who initially caught my attention with a righteous cover of Eddie and the Hot Rods' "Do Anything You Wanna Do." They played again this year, but I unfortunately missed it (though I've seen them plenty since). I did, however, catch our Japanese friend Masaru's band, the Same Old Chillies. The name was chosen, I've been told, because they wanted to pick a name that had something to do with weed, but one of the bandmates works at city hall, so they went with "chillin" instead. And, "you know, because we're always doing the same old shit." Hence "the Same Old Chillies." In case that description didn't provide you enough detail, they're pretty laid back - kind of like a Japanese Sublime. At least the lead singer was entertaining - waving his arms around and singing/rapping off the beat while simultaneously climbing all over everything in the vicinity, wearing a pair of oversized purple sunglasses and smiling like a buffoon. I think he was pretending to be on acid, which isn't quite as good as watching someone actually on acid, but it was decent enough for what it was.
The other bands were rather lackluster. They included:
-a couple girls caterwauling over acoustic guitars
-a high school ska band
-B.O.B., the show's headliners, who played really boring, overly-polished J-rock.
The best performance came from a group of older dudes in drag, whose music was entirely unmemorable (though not unpleasant) but whose entertainment value rested solely in their heavy makeup and dancing, manically hiking up their dresses and generally acting silly/insane. I think this picture sums it up best.
Thanks to my new friend Carmei for this pic, btw. Met her at Ogaki Rock. Also met a girl who works at the nearby Banana Records store, who recognized me as that American dude who buys records all the freakin' time. Apparently Ogaki Rock is pretty hoppin'.
But yeah, so me, Jake, my friend Dak, Kyle, his wife Hiroe, new teacher Andy, and Faith, an old teacher who recently returned to Japan to reunite with her boyfriend, Same Old Chilly Masaru (it's a small world round these parts) hung out all day, getting drunk in the hot sun and watching these lackluster bands. Some other lame drama also ensued, which I've chosen not to go into but has essentially resulted in the cessation of my friendship with Jacob (though we still act cordial as bandmates - and to think, I could never understand how some bandmates hated each other!). And then the day ended with us firing roman candles off in a nearby park (where fire is explicitly forbidden, natch). Of course, we had a Memorial Day bbq there at 2am, too, so I guess it was only appropriate.
So, to conclude: America - fuck yeah! Or something like that.
Anywho. You may recall that last year's Ogaki Rock Festival (held later in the year) provided my first encounter with the Hips, a now fairly well known and pretty damn good local band who initially caught my attention with a righteous cover of Eddie and the Hot Rods' "Do Anything You Wanna Do." They played again this year, but I unfortunately missed it (though I've seen them plenty since). I did, however, catch our Japanese friend Masaru's band, the Same Old Chillies. The name was chosen, I've been told, because they wanted to pick a name that had something to do with weed, but one of the bandmates works at city hall, so they went with "chillin" instead. And, "you know, because we're always doing the same old shit." Hence "the Same Old Chillies." In case that description didn't provide you enough detail, they're pretty laid back - kind of like a Japanese Sublime. At least the lead singer was entertaining - waving his arms around and singing/rapping off the beat while simultaneously climbing all over everything in the vicinity, wearing a pair of oversized purple sunglasses and smiling like a buffoon. I think he was pretending to be on acid, which isn't quite as good as watching someone actually on acid, but it was decent enough for what it was.
The other bands were rather lackluster. They included:
-a couple girls caterwauling over acoustic guitars
-a high school ska band
-B.O.B., the show's headliners, who played really boring, overly-polished J-rock.
The best performance came from a group of older dudes in drag, whose music was entirely unmemorable (though not unpleasant) but whose entertainment value rested solely in their heavy makeup and dancing, manically hiking up their dresses and generally acting silly/insane. I think this picture sums it up best.
Thanks to my new friend Carmei for this pic, btw. Met her at Ogaki Rock. Also met a girl who works at the nearby Banana Records store, who recognized me as that American dude who buys records all the freakin' time. Apparently Ogaki Rock is pretty hoppin'.
But yeah, so me, Jake, my friend Dak, Kyle, his wife Hiroe, new teacher Andy, and Faith, an old teacher who recently returned to Japan to reunite with her boyfriend, Same Old Chilly Masaru (it's a small world round these parts) hung out all day, getting drunk in the hot sun and watching these lackluster bands. Some other lame drama also ensued, which I've chosen not to go into but has essentially resulted in the cessation of my friendship with Jacob (though we still act cordial as bandmates - and to think, I could never understand how some bandmates hated each other!). And then the day ended with us firing roman candles off in a nearby park (where fire is explicitly forbidden, natch). Of course, we had a Memorial Day bbq there at 2am, too, so I guess it was only appropriate.
So, to conclude: America - fuck yeah! Or something like that.
Monday, July 5, 2010
...And we're back!
Welcome back to Life in Japan: a continually evolving retrospective of one man's experience in the Land of the Rising Sun. That man is of course me, Sean: your host. And this is my blog.
I realize it's been a long time since you last received any new episodes, so I will try my best to provide a quick recap. Late last year, I formed a band with my friends Jacob and Jenn. We're called the Dead Gazelles (myspace.com/deadgazelles!), and we played our first show last month. We have another one coming up July 25.
I also got a girlfriend sometime late January, but after a lot of grief re: lack of trust and overall neuroticism, and in the face of a general lack of free time, I recently put the relationship on hiatus (it's been a less-than-smooth severance, however, so don't be surprised to see continuing drama in that dept. in the future).
Lastly, I agreed to sign on for another year, so you can expect to see more sordid and scandalous details of life inside the world's second (soon to be third!) largest economy until at least Sept. 2011 - or until I get tired of updating this again. Whichever comes first.
Happy reading!
I realize it's been a long time since you last received any new episodes, so I will try my best to provide a quick recap. Late last year, I formed a band with my friends Jacob and Jenn. We're called the Dead Gazelles (myspace.com/deadgazelles!), and we played our first show last month. We have another one coming up July 25.
I also got a girlfriend sometime late January, but after a lot of grief re: lack of trust and overall neuroticism, and in the face of a general lack of free time, I recently put the relationship on hiatus (it's been a less-than-smooth severance, however, so don't be surprised to see continuing drama in that dept. in the future).
Lastly, I agreed to sign on for another year, so you can expect to see more sordid and scandalous details of life inside the world's second (soon to be third!) largest economy until at least Sept. 2011 - or until I get tired of updating this again. Whichever comes first.
Happy reading!
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