Friday, June 22, 2007

Please Help Uni & Her Ukelele!

Feelin' It
My good friend and long time collaborator, Uni & Her Ukelele has had her Myspace page deleted. This 30 year old singer songwriter has been told she is not old enough to have a Myspace Account.
This is the email she received from the esteemed site:

Hello,

Please note that you do not meet the required age limit as per
MySpace.com's Terms of Service, or you have misrepresented your
age on the MySpace.com system.
We deleted your account because you have violated the Terms of Service.

Do not create another account on MySpace.com until you reach the
required age, or use the correct age on your profile if you are old enough to
have an account.

If you meet our required age limit, please sign up with your correct
age.
Thank you,
MySpace

This is totally ridiculous! Uni may besmaller than the average bear, but I assure you she is all growed up. Myspace is not only her fan base but a vital networking tool. Currently she is touring Europe and has lost access to her loyal friends and fans because of a knee jerk reaction. She Needs our help.
Please contact Myspace at privacy@myspace.com and let them know they have made a greivous error.
If you have a Myspace accout please go here as well and let them know about this. It will take a lot of people to get them to respond to this quickly. Let's win one for the little gal! .

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

I'm Back!!!! 2005 in review pt. 1


After spending most of the last half of 2005 obsessing over flickr, the time has come to start up the old blog again. I guess I should begin with my favorite things of 2005. It was a wonderous year in music. I found so many new things. The runaway album of the year for me is Boris' "Pink" . I can't describe how wonderful this record truly is. This power trio delivers Heavy riffs which have never sounded so crushing yet heartfelt.. The guitar player Wata is quite the shreder. Pink is available as a expensive import on cd, but don't fret if you dont have the skrill. Southern Lord will be realeasing it domestically in March.
Another favoirete album of last year comes from Deerhoof! "Runners Four" I don't think this band is capable of making a bad record. Each one is better than the next. A friend said they sound a bit like Blonde Redhead. I think their a bit less melodic and way more dangerous. And that's putting it mildly.
2005 saw the release of Miho Hatori's "Ecdysis". Sadly It is only availble as an expensive Japanese import. Simply sublime it feels like a nice synthesis of her Bossa Nova leanings and electronic music. Some say she even has a Bjorkish quality on this one. I think that is a good thing. Ecdysis is deep and it takes awhile to get through the skin, but once it does....oh boy are you in trouble!
Fantômas is a staple in my life and no collection would be complete without their latest release "Suspended Animation". Definately more in the Spirit of the first record just more....Brutal. The beautiful art on the packaging is done by Yoshimoto Nara. Fans of cartoon music will love this spastic assault from Patton and Company.
Afrirampo blew up this year with gigs at ATP and opening up for sonic youth. Oni and Pika are incredible live and you should treat yourself to their tour this spring! If you come to the Oakland show you will get to see my Judy And Mary cover ban, Music Fighter, open up for them. It will be oh so... Any way Afrirampo released two really great records. One in Japan called "Urusa in Japan" and one in America called Kore ga Mayaku da! Both are awesome dispalys of raw unrestrained female musicality! More favs from the o'nickel to come in part II!!!!




Friday, June 24, 2005

Bleach




I just saw Bleach for the third time. These girls put on one of the best live shows ever. They are ferocious and fun. Check 'em out if you get the chance!
There are more photos available here if you are interested. Afrirampo are coming to America. Check them out if you get the chance. They are not to be missed! Their tour schedule is here.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Black Fiction

Holy Shit. My friends have a new band called Black Fiction and they blew me away tonight. It was their first gig as part of the Mission Creek Music Festival at the Make Out Room. In short they rocked and I was happy to video tape their performance! I can't wait to make a DVD. I hope it turns out okay. Rock!

I have been taking many photos. If you want to see them I put them here.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Running Out of Time

To much to do in too little time. Uh. Last time I was in Japan 4 weeks seemed a little long. But two weeks is definitely too short. I am trying to cram every last minute with meeting people. I have a full three days left and I don't think I will get to see everybody I want to. I guess it means I will have to come back soon!

A really cool art house was having a Naomi Tani film festival and I caught the last one. Naomi Tani is probably the best known or prolific actress for Nikkatsu's Roman Porno series in the 70's. While Japanese S&M films aren't usually my cup of tea it was a real treat to catch this movie in a movie theatre. I can't really recommend these films to anybody because they are very extreme for most westerners. Bondage, rape, torture all done in a totally exploitive manner. You definately have to ease yourself in to this genre.
For those of you curious enough the best known of Naomi Tani films and easiest to see is in the U.S. is Wife to be Sacrificed. It was the first Nikkatsu film I ever saw and I would go as far to say I like it. It's playing at a theatre in Tokyo, and I might venture there to see it tomorrow.

After the film I hooked up with my old friend Johnny. He is a drum n' bass DJ and lives in a really cool apartment in Shimokitazawa. We met up around 11pm and kept drinking until 4 or 5 in the am. It was a blast. He took me to a lot or really cool bars. Drinking bad, really, really bad. But fun, really, really fun.

Tonight I am having dinner with Hoppy Kamiyama and then maybe meeting my friend Yusei afterwards. Where does the time go.....

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Safe And Sound In Japan

First of all I want to say I was not anywhere near the tragic train wreck earlier this week. I have been unable to have any descent amount of time on a computer which is a good thing. Now I find myself in a Mangakissa with nothing but time on my hands.

The weekend turned out to be pretty incredible. I met up with Cal and he took me to a club where I met many interesting people. The one who struck me the most was a Aida. She works for MTV Japan and is half Ethiopian and half Japanese. She Speaks Amharic, Japanese, French and English. A pretty eclectic mix I'd Say. Cal took off for Southeast Asia to work on a film and is letting me stay in his Apartment while he is gone. God Damn! I have met some of the nicest people here.

I hung out with my friend Miho and her friend Megu-tan on Friday. Neither of them speak English and we got on just fine. After eating our hearts out at an Izakaya we went to Karaoke!!!
The next day I took of for Osaka. There I did a little record shopping and stayed in at this Capsule Hotel. I was kind of disappointed with my capsule experience in Shinjuku Tokyo. It was kind of run down and dirty. No scabies, but definitely not as good as the capsule I stayed at in Umeda Osaka. The asahi plaza capsule was nice a clean with really good staff, but Umeda is still my favorite.

In the morning I got up early and took a bullet train for Nagoya. It took about 50 minutes and I met up with my good friend, Eri Ishiyama. Eri used to live in S.F. and returned to Japan to pursue her music. She recently just finished a stint at a factory manufacturing electronic anti-theft devices for cars.

She picked me up at the station and we went wandering around Nagoya. We thought about the world exp, but it is kind of expensive and we were in no mood for crowds. We ended up eating ramen and takoyaki. It was a good to catch up with an old friend. By 6:30 I was off to Osaka to meet Chika for the first time.

Chika is in a band called mellows. She met me in Osaka and were quickly joined by Mako(also of mellows) and Kanji. Kanji is a very nice guy who speaks really good English. He is in the band Sipa Baled Clone. The four of us took went to dinner. They treated me to Okonomiyaki which is one of my favorites and a specialty dish in Osaka. Mako, Kanji and Chika were all very nice. We had an amazing time. The mellows and Kanji gave me a copy of their latest CD's which I can't wait to listen to.

After dinner Kanji took his leave and I went for coffee with the mellows. They are very sweet and it was nice to make new friends. I can't wait to see them again. After coffee and conversation they escorted me to my train(headed for my favorite capsule hotel) and we said our goodbye's.

Monday morning I left for Nara and there I met up with Eri, so we could interview Makoto Kawabata . We ate lunch at Mos Burger and waited for a call from Makoto. He called and gave directions to Asuka, Nara . Makoto is the founder of the The Acid Mothers Temple Collective. I felt that getting this interview would be a cornerstone for my documentary. And I think I was right.

Makoto, picked Eri and I up at Okadera station. We stopped at a store and bought some beer. He then proceeded to drive us 30 minutes into the mountains. The roads were very small and Narrow. It reminded me of driving to Sandia Peak the back way fom Placitas. When we arrived it was around 4pm, and we were on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. The air was fresh with pine trees birds were singing.

We parked around back and then when we went to the front Eri and I discovered that Makoto lives in an actual Temple. Apparently the temple is 400 years old and is visited 5 times a year by a monk. Makoto takes care of it and pays less than 100 dollars a month in rent. In the meantime he plays and records the various Acid Mothers Temple projects and has drinking parties in the temple.

The interview lasted about 3 hours and Makoto was most gracious. I can't tell you how blown away I am by this man. He spends about 3 months in Japan. He is constantly touring and putting out music. He and Hiroshi Higashi run the Acid Mothers Temple Label. Ironically he is known better internationally and almost unknown in Japan.

The walls of his room are aligned with records. He has more records than any of my friends. There are tons of exotic instruments and recording equipment too. Also he has an fondness for the 70's exploitation actress Reiko Ike which I share. He showed me his collection of movie posters which feature Reiko(my Friend Matt will be releasing some of these on DVD).
I am still pretty amped from my meeting with Makoto, so I will reveal more later. I thought he would be quiet and dark. But he is very war,m intense and sincere. His dedication to his lifestyle is inspiring to say the least, and his spirit struck me to the core.

Eri was a big help. She acted as my interpreter and did a bang up job. After Makoto dropped us off at the Station, Eri was speechless. She said maybe I'll see you soon in S.F. or Chicago. I bet I will.

Yesterday I arrived in Tokyo and ran around with my friend Yoshi. He has a new job and hadn't`t really ever experienced Tokyo. We went to Shinjuku and then met up with our friend Yukiko. I hadn't seen Yukiko in almost a year. It was good to hang out. We hung out in Roppongi. Definitely my least favorite place in Japan, but Yoshi misses America and wanted to be somewhere with western flare. So he treated Yukiko and I to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I must say it was the Hardest of the Hard Rock Cafe's I've ever been to. I saw videos by; Ratt, Winger,Danger Danger, Poison, Lita Ford with Ozzy, and a couple of Bare Naked Ladies vids. I also hadn't seen AC/DC's "You Shook Me" video in almost 20 years. Funny how time flies.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Dinner with the Sugita's

I just had the most amazing dinner with my friend Soichiro's parents. His mom prepared Sashimi and Tempura. It was soooooo deliciouso. They kept filling my glass with beer and sake and filling my plate with many good things. Now I am done. I am a bloated pig and I am ready for bed.

The Sugita's are very sweet. Today was Mr. Sugita's 58th birthday. A rare treat indeed. Soichro's 84 year old grandmother was also present at dinner. She was always looking out for me by filing my sake glass or making sure I had enough tempura sauce.

I am going sightseeing with Soichiro tomorrow and then meeting up with my friend Cal. I will be leaving for Kansai on Friday to hopefully interview Makoto Kawabata of the Acid Mothers Temple, and see some old friends.

Even though I just arrived. It feels like I am running out of time. If anyone has any spare money lying around. I sure could use it. You'll receive an executive producer credit on my film! So dig deep like dig dug and don't delay.