Nov 7
Resting today, chilling out. Tonight we had the giant sushi feast! Everyone came out, Mila and her beau, Kan, Gio, a bunch of folks...it was a truly excellent meal. Scott got to discover all the squishy Japanese foods- slimy seaweed soup, fish fiox gras, fish uterus sushi, etc..
Good to push those boundaries. Oh and a lot of sake! We were a little tipsy on the train. Good times...
Nov 8
Headed down to Shibuya and the big shopping area of Tokyo. Saw the new Lumin CD on the shelves on a couple of big music stores, Tower etc. That was a nice treat. Makyo's label Dakini Records has released the latest Lumin disk, Ketri here in Japan and in the spring it will be available worldwide. It is so great to have it finally out after all these years, some really beautiful stuff on that album.
Cruised around all of the super trendy music shops, all specialized by genre-trance, ambient, eclectic/world, hop hop etc. Good to see so many cool music shops in Tokyo. The scene here is really really great, very strong interest in music, much more so than other Asian countries I have been to recently. Had an excellent meal with Gio and Scott and headed home at a decent hour, as always, navigating the labyrinth of the Tokyo subways. The station in Shibuya is like 10 stories below ground with multiple lines running above it. Each floor is like a small shopping mall with nice little shops everywhere. Very different than say BART here in SF which has zero amenities. Why is the US so barbaric to its citizens, not to mention the non-citizens?
Nov 9
A quick stop to the super trendy fashion district near Shibuya, to get a little shopping in before we head out to Sendai later tonight. Got a couple of really nice long sleeve printed shirts. I like the cut of a lot of these Japanese clothes, was looking all over for a G Star type of jacket and found one that was a bit too rock and roll, Gio said I looked like Bono or someone in it, it was a bit much, lots of buttons, zippers and gadgets. Saw some very extreme fashion among the kids here, apparently a trend these days is to dye your skin brown, kink your hair or wear an Afro wig, platform shoes, halter tops and hot pants and try your best to be a soul super star from the 70's. Very odd, very Japanese.
Strolled around all of the high-end boutiques and tried very expensive clothes.
Got back to the hotel, checked out again and headed out with Gio and Scott to the train station for Sendai a small city in Northern Japan, and another out of town show.
We arrived, got picked up again by another set of wonderful hosts and went right to the venue and got sound check out of the way. Nice little spot, no stage but a good sound system and cool vibe.
After a nice dinner with the hosts we are back at the venue waiting to go on. This time we are joined by I Chan, one of the Tribal Matrix dancers. Good thing too, cuz they all came to see her! The whole crowd it seemed were her fans and students. She did a wonderful set and joined us for ours. The crowd here was almost 95% women and they were polite but not totally into it. Anyway, it is all good, great set from Makyo, back to our nice hotel and out the next morning.
Nov 10
Rushed back to Tokyo for our longest day of the trip. We arrived back at our hotel around 2pm, checked in, backed our gear for the night met up with Gio and headed back downtown for our last gig in Tokyo, which promised to be the best. Great venue, great staff, pre-show stuff went well. Did an acoustic set with Scott and a young dancer early in the evening. Nice to play without the electronics for a change. But our set that night was thunderous; I just turned everything up to 11 and had a great set. At one point later in the set all of the super star dancers got up on stage with us and jammed out, it was so much fun! Mishaal, I Chan, Milla, Kan, all of them together. It was a very memorable experience seeing all of that beauty and expression together with us. Great night.
Onward to the after party! We all walked over in the rain, a motley crew of musicians, dancers in costume, dj's and other revelers along with us. This one was in Ripongi near the other club, kind of the North beach of Tokyo, frat boys, strippers, a bit seedy. But Gio had set up the coolest space for the after party, a tiny little spot that was at the top of what looked like an old hotel. The room itself reminded me of SF in that it was all dark wood and curved lines and the best part was the tiniest little balcony over looking the dance floor that had a ceiling of about 4 feet and two low couches, I hid out up there all night with some new friends and watched everyone pass the night away on the dance floor. Drum Spyder and Makyo did fine Dj sets and we all crawled out around 8am. Long night.... but one I will never forget.
Nov 11
Sadly our last full day in Japan.
I slept all morning and took a melancholic stroll thru Gio's neighborhood, Ekoda. Picked up a couple of things for my Mom and the house back home. I realized once again, I had connected deeply with another place and would be sad to leave. I guess that is the price for opening up so much when traveling, it is hard to leave and harder still when you get home. But thankfully we had one more night! A dinner was planned at an Indian friends house, named Shrini. Another great night together, this time with home cooked Indian dinner, great friends etc. These people we met are so wonderful, so open to their lives. It made me realize how jaded and smug folks are here in the States. Life is pretty grey there in the US. The dancers and I were talking about the stylistic differences between the Japanese belly dancers and the ones we have in the US and they mentioned with all love and respect that the women in US are "macho" and tough, and that the Japanese women are attracted to belly dance as it is an expression of extreme femininity, something they enjoy very much. I concur the dancers here are so beautiful, so feminine, it is really inspiring and refreshing to be clear of the convoluted gender politics and socio-sexual issues we have here in the Bay Area. Sorry but that is my take on it.
Spent the whole night together, play frame drums, ouds and singing, dancing on the tables and all the while feeling the slow creep of sadness coming in as I knew tomorrow I would be on a plane heading back to chilly grey SF and school, work, schedule and worst of all, empty streets. I always ask when I get back- "where is everyone?". Things are slower in the States.
Anyway, back "home" now and already making plans to go back to Japan in the Spring/Summer of next year. This time we are hoping to partner with a cultural organizer in Taipei who hope to get us out to Taiwan, Shanghai, Honk Kong, and possibly Korea as well as working with Gio and the Japanese distributors in Tokyo and other cities there.
The new album is nearly finished, we are mixing in December. It was great to give all of the tracks a test drive on big sound systems in the clubs in Japan.
So a big shout out to Gio (Makyo), Scott (Drum Spyder) Mishaal, Mila, I Chan, Kan-san, all the promoters and distributors, and everyone else we met along the way there. It was truly amazing. I felt we touched that moment when the timing on a new trend is a perfect match for your craft and everything resonates beautifully.
Thanks for reading this, where ever you are.
Have a wonderful new year,
Jef
photos up at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefstott/
Tokyo Japan tour part 4
Kyoto Japan part 3
Nov 5
Our first day at the temples in Kyoto. Grabbed a local train in the morning and headed out to the foothills on edge of Kyoto to see the ancient Zen temples and gardens and explore the river and mountains with Gio and Scott.
I finally felt the deeper poetic side of Japan that I had been looking for in the other cities. Kyoto was the ancient capital of Japan during the Shogun times up until the early 20th century and all of the ancient temples, palaces and religious sites are preserved. Very very beautiful there.
We walked thru a small shopping district near the river and made our way into the first temple compound that is nestled into the foothills, wandering through giant bamboo forests along the way. We spent a good amount of time at a huge Zen Buddhist temple and garden and checked out the tatam'e houses there. Very nice. Back into town for an excellent meal of Udon (which I love!) and tempura. Almost got hit by a bus before lunch as the traffic runs on the other side of the street and I looked the usual way and stepped out into oncoming traffic right in front of a huge bus, close call.
Anyway after lunch and ice cream we climbed up the side to the mountain to visit the monkeys! A whole gang of monkeys live on this on side of the hill. It was pretty crowded with people and monkeys when we got there, lots of kids on field trips. We hung out for a while but it got sort of unnerving as these are wild monkeys and occasionally they would all start screaming at the same time and start running around the little house we were all gathered at.
Spent the late afternoon and twilight hours strolling thru absolutely gorgeous traditional temples and houses, the Japanese maples were turning bright red and it was really beautiful there. Gio mentioned that David Bowie used to live here and the track "Moss Garden" Lodger is homage to Kyoto.
Made our way back to the train in the rain and got cleaned up for dinner in the old quarter near the river in downtown Kyoto.
Wandered thru the very narrow streets of downtown Kyoto, passing by one after another of fabulously appointed tiny little places with a minimalist design framed against willow trees leaning into the river, lanterns reflecting on the wet pavement. So beautiful, wish the night would never end, very romantic place. Stopped into a sort of opium bar cave sort of place and had a drink, felt like were we went thru a portal and landed in cave in Tibet or something, had some food and ended up at Zappas, another Bowie sighting there as well as Bono among others. Apparently they liked to spend time in this little tiny bar as well.
Nov 6
Third day in Kyoto
After a long conversation over coffee about music, genres, marketing gear etc (one of many)
We set off for another round of temples, this time in the center of town. Gio had gone to college here back in the day so he really knew his way around Kyoto. So great to be traveling here with him. Can't really imagine doing it any other way.
Happened upon a Shinto wedding procession heading down a quiet backstreet, with the bride in a cool giant white headdress. Also passed a pair of geishas on the street today, very interesting to see them. I wondered if they were part of the performing troupe that has in the theater down the street or if they are part of a cultural program or if they were real geishas. Anyway, got a few candid shots for the files.
Saw so many big temples today, actually started to get temple fatigue. This happened in Ankor Wat, too. It seems I have a thresh hold for everything including fabulously beautiful Japanese temples. Our last stop was the temple of 1000 Buddha’s and its true there were 1000 of the in there, an army of gilded Bodhisattvas, all staring back a you with the distant calm that comes from being a deity. Stunning and sort of psychedelic.
Night train back to Tokyo, back to our old neighborhood. Felt like we were coming "home" after a long journey, but it had only been a few days, but as always when you are traveling, days are so full and rich.
photos up @
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefstott/
Osaka Japan part 2
Nov 3
So we were all massively hung over, an inauspicious beginning to the trip. Our hosts generously took us out to a fabulous buffet lunch and a day a traditional Japanese hot spring. Lovely! Very clean facility (of course), all wood, nice changing rooms, very nice showers, and out door pools. Really blissed out in the hot water, under the waterfalls, in the dark little caves. Totally recovered and ready for Osaka.
-Bullet train to Osaka
After a bit of drama with our host not picking us up at the train station, we settled into a very nice hotel in downtown Osaka. Unpacked and headed out to the club for sound check, with the promoter, who showed up in the most cheeky outfit of super tight white pants, extremely elongated snakeskin shoes, heavily gelled hair and tight yellow blazer.
Nice club, Massive sound system, huge speakers! Everything sounded great and we grabbed a bite and went back to the hotel as we did not go on until 2am.
Our set rocked hard, everything sounded huge and clear, very happy with the mixes. We were joined by the dancer Mishaal, who is amazing, tall raven haired force of nature. Very powerful dancer. Really felt a connection with the crowd, many people right up front, dancing, focusing a lot of energy right to the stage. Many people came to us afterward for hugs and handshakes. I really enjoy connecting with new people, especially those who love music. We could not communicate thru words but the channel was clear, we found friends in Osaka. Our set as followed by an all Japanese percussion group playing Raks Sharki with one of the most beautiful dancers I have ever seen,
Karena Murakami. So feminine, so fluid.
A very late night and check out in morning came too early.
Nov 4
After uninspired Indian lunch, we wandered thru downtown Osaka and unfortunately came upon a bad traffic accident in which two young people on a scooter had been hit by a small truck. The disconcerting thing was that the EMTs were moving very slowly and the people on the ground were not moving at all. Gio indicated this was normal due to the fact that the doctors and pharmaceuticals have strong-armed the government so much that the EMTs are no not allowed to administer any thing beyond the most basic services as anything more than that would cut into the doctor’s profit. Disgusting greed.
We found our way to a small park and saw a cultural fair there, with kids playing Tiko drums and bi wa (oud like) instruments. Walked around looking for the river but no one knew where it was. Industrial Osaka was not inspiring.
Hopped on an afternoon train to Kyoto for a couple of days of rest and sight seeing in the ancient capital of Japan.
We checked into a family style pension that Gio had reserved for us. I must say that Gio took care of EVERYTHING, hotels, cabs, trains, clubs, and dinners. he had it all sorted. We could have never navigated our way even out of the Tokyo train station without him!
Anyway, after getting the lowdown from our fastidious host at the pension, who had a the alarming combination of being very positive and up and being very strict about the protocol (this may be a typical Japanese combination optimism and adherence to protocol) we headed out to dinner at a family style restaurant that serves a local Kyoto specialty of sort of an omelet made of eggs, flour, and whatever else you might want to add in. The restaurant was really cool and very Japanese, they all yell when you walk in the door and there is all sorts of chatter and commotion as you walk through the place. Seated at the sunken table with the hole in the floor for the feet, the table was basically a big griddle where the food is cooked right there and eaten on plates right of the range. Very tasty and the beers went down pretty easy too.
Back to the pension for a traditional Japanese bath and a good night sleep (finally!)
photos up @
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefstott/
Japanese Tour part 1
Japan Tour 2007
Nov 1st
Arrived in Japan with Drum Spyder, immediately felt the shift to a new place, population density in the airport, the pace of people’s gate quicker, very stylish young men and women.
We found our way onto the train to Shinjuku and we are here in Japan. Makyo (Gio) met us at the train station and began our first navigation of the labyrinth of the Tokyo subway. Several floors below ground we wound our way upward through dozens of escalators and elevators finally emerging on the street into the din of the 21st century futurist Tokyo, packed with people, a hard bebop quartet was pounding away in a nearby square. We grabbed some green aloe vera juice at a small stand and walked into Makyo's neighborhood-Ekoda in the North West of Tokyo.
After checking into our super small hotel we ventured out to get our first meal, a cozy BBQ place, appointed in blonde wood and low tables that seemed to be a meeting place for young sumos. The owner of the place came to our table and gave me a fantastic piece of paper that had the names in Konji of all the sumo wrestlers in Japan beginning at the bottom with very small text and climbs up until the most famous sumo is listed in giant bold type. Great looking graphic.
Slept practically in the same bed with Spyder, need a bigger room.
Nov 2
Finding coffee the next morning was challenging as although there were lots of folks up and about they were all heading off to work or school and no businesses in neighborhood were open, a bit later Gio made some good coffee as we got ready to head out of town for the first part of the tour, to Nagoya, Osaka and a few days in Kyoto.
We got onto the bullet train to Nagoya and we were off at 150 miles an hour. Our arrival in Nagoya was an hour or so later and we went directly to the club for sound check. The club was smallish, a rock venue with an art gallery upstairs. Everyone was very nice, especially Heinz, the Swiss owner. Sound check was a bit dodgy as the venue is used to having rock bands that don't have the frequency range of electronic music. We headed off to the hotel, which was quite nice, tall glass building, and dropped our stuff. After a fine meal of Japanese take out noodles together in the room, back to the club for show #1. We arrived to the din of a crazy Japanese punk band at the club and headed upstairs to the gallery for refuge till we went on. I am not totally sure why the promoter booked Makyo and us with an ironic punk band but it all worked out. Everyone was all boozed up by the time we went on and the sound system made all of our songs sound like Led Zeppelin, which was fun. Nothing like a fuzzy oud! Nice dance performances by local belly dance companies followed. After our set we settled in at the bar and discovered Japan serves absinthe, which made everyone very happy. So the evening was spent indulging in the green fairy, they like to mix it with champagne in Japan. Spyder found this concoction delectable.
We wandered back to the hotel and crashed, one down four to go.
photos up @
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefstott/