Socrates June 30

Went to a great show at Socrates Live House in Kyoto. I performed with one group (guitar), and I was fortunate enough to see a number of very talented musicians and dancers. Here is an excerpt from a particularly awesome performance.

Bachikorn Taiko Drumming

Just strolling along the river, I came across this traditional music group playing a free show on the riverbank. Neat! They are called the Bachikorn Group, and they have recently moved to Kansai (the central region of Japan). I had a nice chat with the members after the performance, and they were really enthusiastic about the work they are doing -- focusing on a traditional musical art.

Visiting Tokyo Part 1

Last weekend I visited some friends in Tokyo and had a very successful trip. First, I took the Shinkansen on Saturday afternoon to Tokyo station, where I transferred to a JR train to Akihabara. I arrived there around 4PM, and I was basically wandering around aimlessly, waiting for my ex-roommate Keitaro to get off work at 7. I saw two white guys walking towards a music studio, instruments in hands, and I figured they might be down for a jam. After following them upstairs into the studio and talking with them, we agreed we would rent a space and play for a while. Had a great time! It's always nice to create music with strangers. Saturday night was kind of crazy... I met up with some friend in Roppongi, where we imbibed and socialized until the feeble light of the early morning trickled into the bars and clubs in which we were playing. Stayed overnight at a hostel in Asakusa, where I met some cool Japanese college students (they were working at the hostel). One of them misspelled "Red Wine" in a very Japanese way, which was pretty funny.

Shiga Retreat

Went up to Kitakomatsu in Shiga to work with some employees of the Doshisha Elementary Schools on their retreat weekend. Had a great time playing with the kids, even though one tried to get me to eat a "snake strawberry", which is an extremely bitter little berry. My instincts told me it was probably not a good idea to trust a 10-year-old's berry identification skills. I also met some really neat people (the other chaperones), and we had a nice time "socializing" until 3am, despite having to wake the kids up at 6:30 the next day. Boy, that Russian dance we all did during the music lesson at 8am was, needless to say, not at the top of my 'must-do' list. Pictures! Of kids enthralled by the electric keyboard, playing with Oren, pingpong, soccer, eating a radish.

Kyoto Craft Beer Festa 2012

I went with my friend Elena to the Kyoto Craft Beer Festa 2012! We arrived at about 11AM, and I immediately started sampling some of the 50+ beers they had (from 20+ different Japanese craft brewers). Found some delicious brews and met some excellent new friends, including a fellow composer. It was a great day!

Here are a couple of videos:


Band performing:

Walking down the avenue:

Some Pictures

My parents visited. We went to NE Kyoto to check things out a bit.

Haircut

Went in to the hair salon for a little trim. Mom took some photos.

More Tsukemen!

Sweet place I found by Kyoto Station. It was featured in the 2012 Ramen Bible, which I carry with me everywhere.

Endo Sushi

Here are some photos of my favorite sushi place in Osaka, Endo Sushi. It's basically in the middle of the Osaka fish market, so you really can't get fresher sushi.

Hanami Party

Last week on Tuesday, a bunch of us kids from the school got together to eat, drink, and socialize under the cherry blossoms by the Kamogawa (duck river). About 40 people or so assembled to enjoy the nice spring evening. I brought an Arrogant Bastard Ale from the USA for the occasion.

Jazz at Blue Note

Went to Blue Note last night to see my friend Naoto Ashizu (piano) play in a trio with Yano Katsuhiro (bass) and Shota Koyama (drum). Some really great jazz! Unfortunately, I had to leave early because my jet lag was making me fall asleep. Still great to see those guys.

Here's a video of Shota soloing. The audio is very low-quality because the video was taken on my phone.

Long Trip to the USA

Hey, guys, I just returned home to Kyoto from a long journey throughout the USA! I saw a lot of great friends in many cities and had a number of job interviews around the country. I went to Honolulu, Maui, San Fran, Chicago, Albany, Williamstown, Amherst, Boston, New York City, DC, Miami, and Ft. Lauderdale. It's looking like I'll be heading back to the US in August, so I'll do my best to make the most of the rest of my time here and give you all some cool stuff to check out! Here are a few photos from my US trip.

Just another reason to come to Kyoto

Show Last Weekend @ Socrates

I went with Elena to see a sweet noise show at Socrates Live House on a whim. I didn't know any of the 4 bands that played. It's actually something I do often, looking for new bands. Well, the show was excellent! The first band was by far the best, but the following three were quite entertaining as well. Here's a breakdown of the bands I remember and their music:

1. Awesome noise band. These guys were my favorite group of the night. They really had a great sound and very solid composing ability. Name is "したっぱ親分" ("Shitappa Oyabun"). See video below.
2. A kind of pseudo-post-punk band. I think this band's name was "VICE". Definitely had influence from the 80s British scene. They also had this kind of gothic edge. Although I didn't find them particularly original or compelling, they did a really great job of capturing that post-punk sound. They were kind of droney. (Video Below)
3. Gothic band? "BACTERIA" was the name. Their sound was kind of cool, but nothing special.
4. I can't remember what kind of music these guys were, but I remember I wasn't particularly impressed.

The first band definitely stole the show that night. They were extremely solid and awesome. Their name was したっぱ親分. I'm hanging out and drinking with those guys tomorrow night, actually. The drummer's name is Kazuya, and all the band members are really fun guys.

BACTERIA

Fire Fests

Went to a couple of cool festivals to celebrate the end of the year (probably related to the Chinese system). At a lot of temples, they take all of the new year's wishes (written on little wooden slats) and burn them in a huge pile. Pretty neat!

Huge Fish Head

My roommate and I saw it at the grocery today. This thing was as massive as my entire torso, and it provided both of us with much cause for laughter.

My morning commute today

So I was waiting for the train and saw this old woman dicking around by some garbage cans on the platform. It seemed like she was struggling with something, so I walked over to see if I could give her a hand. Turns out she was completely bent over, fishing through a garbage can. She told me there was money in the garbage can. After a few moments of speaking with her, it seemed to me that this woman is not quite all there in the head. I offered to lend her a hand digging through the garbage, but only to prove to her that there was no money in there, so she would cease her unclean pursuits. Well, turns out I was mistaken; there was about $10 in change at the bottom of this awful garbage, sitting in a cute little pile in the brown garbage water. So I fished it all out for her, just in time to catch the train. On the train, I noticed that people were giving me some looks because of my very, very smelly hands. I was only traveling to the next stop, so I didn't want to sit down, and I was worried about proliferating whatever unsavory bacteria was residing on my palms and fingers, so I didn't want to grab the overhead rungs. I ended up standing in the middle of the train, with my arms slightly outstretched, doing that surfing-style train balancing. It was a strange morning.

Just some ramen

Two bowls of amazing ramen from two of my favorite places. That is all. This is what you're missing if you live outside of Japan.

Blood Ball

A couple of weeks ago (on Christmas Day), I was fortunate enough to see an awesome death metal show at the venue near my house! My friend, Kenichi, who is the owner of the venue, was the one who recommended the show to me, since he knew I was into things a bit on the heavier side. So, I showed up (with a huge headache from the Christmas party the night before) at about 7PM, not really knowing what to expect. Long story short, my face was melted.

Midway through their first song, I opened the door to the small venue. Two things struck me immediately; there was no crowd, and this band was playing some really heavy death metal. Because I had come with some expectations for some serious moshing, the former realization was a little disappointing, however I soon realized that being the only one of the 4 or 5 patrons directly in front of the stage meant that the band focused all of its energy into my face. I had the singer inches away from me, flicking me off and growling into his microphone, as he headbanged like a Japanese kid who watched the infamous pokémon seizure episode one too many times. The bassist thrashed around to my left, whipping the neck of his instrument hither and thither, which had the effect of turning his instrument cable (connected to an amp far to large for the size of the venue) into a very agitated serpent across the floor of the stage and venue.

I was sucked into the band's energy right away; I basically stood alone in the middle of this small room headbanging as hard as I could. Honestly, it was kind of a weird experience having this very intense death metal band performing right in front of me, while I stood alone in the middle of the front of the stage.

The band was called Blood Ball, and I highly recommend them to anyone in Kyoto. I didn't get to take any pictures... I was pretty focused on rocking out. I did get one video at the very beginning, though. The sound is absolute garbage, but you can get the idea of the experience.

VIDEO

Acid Mother's Temple and the Cosmic Inferno

Yo! So a couple of weekends ago, I went to Nagoya to hang out with my friends Masahiro and Hiroaki, a pair of brothers who I have collectively dubbed "Masahiroaki". These are some great guys I met at a show in Kyoto. Since AMT&CM was playing in Nagoya (only ~2hr by train from Kyoto), I decided to travel up there to catch the concert with the brothers. The show was actually at the same venue (Tokuzo) in Nagoya where I had seen AMT 3 years prior. The scene this time, however, was completely different.

Last time, AMT (that time it was -& the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.) played face-melting psychedelic noise to a sitting crowd of about 30-40 people of all ages (seriously, a lot of grey hair) in the small jazz venue. The bands came out an hung out with the crowd afterwards, and I was able to introduce myself to the lead guitarist (Kawabata Makoto), who was a hilarious and friendly guy. This time, all the tables and chairs were removed, and the entire venue was completely packed with perhaps 150 people. The event was called "Giga-psyche" (how awesome is that?), and it pulled a very large audience. Needless to say, I was unable to score the interview with the members that I was hoping for. Next time...

The show itself was really great. AMT&CM played the usual hits with jubilant gusto. Also featured were home-made visualizations (classic stuff from the 60s, like colored oil and water mixed over a lamp projector), which were so cool. In the middle of the hours-long set, the band stopped playing to hold an auction of merchandise. This was an incredibly brilliant idea, I thought, and the band ended up raking in perhaps over $1000 in 30 minutes. I won a sweet AMT t-shirt for a total steal (~¥1,500). This whole auction was very entertaining for those who were not bidding as well, since the guys in the band are comedians. They had the crowd doubled over in laughter more than several times.

Towards the end of the show, this guy jumped up on stage right in front of me and did a stage dive into the crowd, hitting Masahiro in the face. Masahiro began to bleed all over himself, and his brother accosted the guy behind him (who was not the guilty party). Masahiro pulled his brother away and went out to apologize to the innocent man and patch himself up. We left the show shortly thereafter, and I said goodbye to the brothers and went home to Kyoto, exhausted.