TOKYO JAPAN TOUR 2006
DAY THREE

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Thursday, Feb 9th, 2006

Up around 10….on this floor mattress. Matt and Base were gone. I woke up and talked to Dave a while, then he left. Sat in my spot on the floor and watched TV, always hard to turn the TV off here…like watching a train wreck. Dave came back after a while, he had gotten lost and only his wilderness training enabled him to survive. Showed me a Hobby Japan he had bought…they’re much bigger here than they are in the states…but I have’nt really seen one in a while. Matt and Base came back as well. They had found a grocery store and brought back many exciting things: Bread, Pringles ( what…low salt?) Skippy peanut butter, Blueberry jelly ( there was no grape ), Milk, Bagels, and we think that is hamburger meat. Tried a peanut butter and blueberry jam sandwich, … not bad…but I could’nt drink whatever that was that said Milk on it.

Tomo was by at 1:30 to pick us up today, carried my guitar downstairs, had to wait a while for the rest of the superstars to come down today. I’m ready for a good show tonight…last couple of nights were just okay.

Drove out…saw a lot of firetrucks on the way. They had completely encircled a whole city block. They even had a Bear-in-the-air! We did’nt see any fire, but sure smelled smoke. Guess what this city does’nt need is a runaway fire. Drove a while...always good to see Tokyo from a van window. Arrived in Akihabara to Club Goodman. Once again...a little doorway off some alley-like street and down some stairs. The club turned out to be a neat place…fairly new, dark and well lit, lotsa lights and these cool seats in the back with little tables mounted on poles in front of them. Sat down for a bit and watched some band soundcheck. Does’nt look like tonight will be as hardcore as last night…sadly. Soundgirl was having to climb a ladder straight up to get to the soundboard tucked away in this loft somewhere. The soda machine has DR.PEPPER!!! It tastes sort of…I dunno…sweet and…. cute, maybe? Good all the same. That band seemed to want to sound check forever, so Dave and I went to check out a guitar store that was connected next door. I have never seen so many guitars shoved into one place in all my life!! On the floor, they had five guitars thick on each side creating little 3’ aisles to walk down, and the walls were covered. A room in the back had Gibsons everywhere!! Like some sort of heist..it was like walking underground with Indiana Jones and discovering every Gibson that was ever lost in the U.S., Possibly two or three hundred. Matt rushed in to tell us we were ready to soundcheck, but once back in the club we continued to sit there for another 15 minutes.

We finally did get to check. Found out the reason most bands seem to play their whole set for a sound check is because they are PAYING to play here. That entitles them to like a 30 minute soundcheck...if not longer. Same with every club, I think. Pretty crazy. In a way, it’s kinda fun just to go up and play one song and say “ Done.” It’s just the American Punk Jerk thing to do. Happier tonight cuz I have a Marshall, but Matt is stuck with a Fender Twin. I offered to switch, but he’s convinced a strat will sound better through a twin than an SG. Oh yes, I whole heartedly agree!!! Snicker….We played Year One and Nazi Clone, then drug our guitars into the dressing tome. Dressing rooms here are always pretty small and narrow little torture chambers, and have mirrors and brushes and hair stuff that is so important here. They even have a TV monitor for watching bands on the stage. I hate to keep comparing Japan to the U.S., but a TV would’nt last a week in a dressing room back home.

We found Tomo to go eat somewhere. Stopped at the guitar shop one more time to look around. Found some guitar picks that were skull shaped and some that were licensed Frankenstein shaped pics. Pretty cool! Went out walking through the terribly crowded streets, wound up at this place called Miami Garden, up some stairs and overlooking the street. Nice place, had a bowl of pasta and some of the best grapefruit juice I’ve ever had. Had a good time here…favorite place to eat so far.

After that, we went walking around so Matt could find an internet place to e-mail from. First place Tomo took us to turned out to be a porn shop, which are quite common around here. Kept looking around and eventually wound up at Akihabara’s main electronics mall…which I’ve been told is the geek capitol of the world. Not sure who told me that, it may have been a geek himself, so I approached it cautiously. It’s an enormous building with nothing but electronic stuff wall to wall. Did’nt feel like going in and watching Matt waste time contacting his job, so Dave and I hung out in the enclosed alley and sort of just people-watched and wasted time out there. Caught a few of them taking pictures of us, trying not to be obvious about it. After a while Base and Tomo came out and joined us from their Capachino Haven, but I had to go in and get Matt off the computer around 6:15 so we could walk back. There are people playing video games out in the cold in little allies here.

Back to Club Goodman, went to the dressing room and changed strings. First band went on, the Heartbreak Brothers. Watched them on the monitor from the dressing room. A bit too mellow for me, but Matt liked them. Almost no one out in the club.

Went out to watch the next band, which was just two people. A girl drummer and some geek in brown pants and a dress shirt. The girl was good but the other guy was a bit spastic and boring at the same time. How does he do it? Watched it cuz I really had nothing else to do. Maikee (from Four Valley) showed up as I was sitting there. Happy to see her! Did’nt know she was going to show up tonight, and always good to talk to someone who can speak back to you!

We were third out of five tonight so we went on next. We were all in a better mood tonight so I was a bit ready to get out there. Did a 25 minute set that was our best show so far, and it seemed to sound good. Wish there could have been more people for this one, I had a good time. Went back into the dressing room and put our stuff away, Maikee came back and talked till the next band went on. The bathrooms here are lit with blacklights and have flo-paintings of these man-bat looking creatures all over them. Only the pentatent man may pass…

Sat out front and watched the next band, who had a japanese name for once, forgot what they were called. Three guys, sorta chinese samuri looking base player and a tiny guitarist that played on the spot solos…obviously. Did’nt care for them much, and the only thing I really remember about them is the base player was using a 30’ white coil cord. Can’t tell you the last time I’ve seen one of those.

Next band was called Trampoline. I really liked them, but their singer was pretty wired. He had no shoes and jumped in place like he was being given electric shocks. When he was’nt singing he was doing somersaults and entangling himself up in the mic cord. He was driving Dave nuts, but I had to laugh several times at him. He gave a little speech in the middle of his set ( lots of bands do this here), in which Maikee told me he was saying how happy he was to be playing with us tonight. The rest of the band was great as well!! Kinda wondered how these guys got together.

Talked for a while after the show. Maikee helped me talk to a few of the bands, she really insisted it was important for me to get out there and meet them. So I talked through her to the guys in Trampoline and got their cd and had them sign it. Maikee was trying to teach me and Base some Japanese phrases…like kudasai ( please ), mezu ( water ), beda, (beer ), and tuhnordu ( tunnel ). I don’t know why, but she would lose it on the way I would say tunnel. What troubled me is why I was taught to say that anyway. Not like I’m going to walk up to someone and say..Hey, Tunnel! Base learned “ where are the girls? “ and “ I’m an idiot! “ which I thought would work well together.

Loaded up the van, and we were gone by 11:30. Had fun tonight, drove back through town and finally got to see the cops busting someone. Base keeps saying “ Bon-guy!” , convinced it means something even though Tomo has told him it means nothing in Japanese….so we decided it should mean “ Buttless chaps”,…to which the proper formal response should be..”Bon-Gow”…meaning..” Oh yes, Buttless chaps!” Was back to the room by 12:15. Matt went to sleep. Me, BassAmp, and Dave stayed up eating pretzels, no-salt Pringles, and watched TV. Have’nt seen one movie on TV yet. Just people eating food and saying “Ohhhhh!”

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