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.