Wednesday, August 22, 2007

America...

Holy shit, the food here will kill a man dead.

My trip... well...

*deep breath*

I bought tons of records and DVDs and a new hard drive and i studied and relearned how to play guitar and got a delay pedal and went on tour with a rock band and saw my friends and met a special girl and played with some dogs (no relation there) and generally worked out a ton of stress.

And I made up with the guy who I'm related to who tried to murder me. Well, for the most part.

I also bought new dress shirts. Let the homo commence!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Back to the music...



Steady As She Goes, by Shellac.

"This is JetAA right? I thought we'd be talking about sushi and NOT drinking..."

ACTUAL JET-RELATED NEWS ON YATSRAD!?!?!?

Yesterday I swung by Jet Region 9's Alumni group to visit a dude I knew from Kumamoto City. It was rather interesting. Region 9 (no nickname yet... I suggested 'Flyovers') incorporates Texas and Oklahoma. Apparently they ARE big on sending Texans to Kyushu, as I know a number of them who went.

The meeting was, well, a meeting. It was run like a board meeting, replete with votes and amendments. I was quite impressed by the official nature of it, and it was interesting to see ex-JETs take an interest in the process besides the usual 'YAY I WENT TO JAPAN AND SAW B00BS!'*

Anyway, if you're interested, you can visit them here.

(* = It occasionally DOES happen, but let's face it, I'm the only guy in the world who moved to Japan to not meet women.)

After that I went to dinner with some friends of mine... kinda pissed. Things didn't go well, and it certainly wasn't on our side of the restaurant, if you dig my swing. How would one forget an entree for 30 minutes?

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Let us decry the lack of Six Finger Satellite on youtube

All that I can really recommend is the live video of Race Against Space, off my favorite album by them, entitled Law of Ruins... although you can't hear the synths for shit. It's amazing how many of these new bands sound like they would owe something to 6FS, but let's face it... 6FS was, and it's collective members (who didn't OD) probably are STILL, about kicking your ass. They apparently practiced something like 5-7 nights a week, perfecting their razor-tight noise rock jams replete with synth and vocoder. They were inhuman, artful, soulless, sexy, and terrifying.

In short, they were a cutting-edge rock band when 'cutting edge rock band' meant something beyond haircuts.

Anyway, yeah, here I am in America. It's weird. I can't eat the food anymore. My favorite video store is closing so I bought like, 31 DVDs from them, and I picked up a delay pedal for my guitar/bass. Factor in the food, the other dvds, the hard drive I bought so I can leave my big computer at home, and the awesome CDs I grabbed and you could say that I actually, uh, spent money for once.

Pshaw.

Next week will see me depart, although not before seeing Ghost In The Shell 2 in theaters AND catching FFG/Dimes/some other band live. Should be sweet. I am trying my best to get to a theater and watch movies ll day, but there have been a number or surgeries in my family so I have to pay attention to that. Family first (for once?).

I also met my niece for the first time. She's great. I was flabbergasted. I guess I have um, what do you call it? Responsibilities now. I talked to her in English and Japanese. Her grandparents talked to her in Dutch. She will be a bit confused, but still all and all pretty awesome.

Back to Yats next week for a spin by my old haunts and some mp3 trading with Jamie/Jovan. I started looking for a new place in Tokyo, but frankly my end up crashing at the old one for a month or so until I make a decision. I also have to start planning my trips around Asia as well. Korea is up first.

What's a good thing to bring my old co-workers from America? Reese's?

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Some random asshat managed to make me smile today.

The odds...

Craigslist Chicago.

Hey Jamie, how's about you let me abuse that couch of yours for a bit at the end of the month?

Japan withdrawal: Rock vs. Sushi.

I have been visiting America for the past 10 days or so, hence the disturbing lack of updates. Before that, I was sick and homeless for a bit.

Fun month.

First off, a shout-out to the new victi-, er, inhabitants of Yatsushiro. There's a good record store in Kumamoto called On The Corner past Kamitori, run by a dude named Akutagawa. You can buy Lightning Bolt records and Birthday Party bootlegs there. Otherwise, I suggest trolling for a favorite bar. You may need it, and there's no better way to practice Japanese.

For the past week, I was on tour with The Fatal Flying Guilloteens and Pelican around the south of the US. I have had the experience of going through the south before, but this is the first time I'd driven through the deep south for an extended period of time, and it was pretty interesting. The people were nice, the coffee was plentiful, and it was great seeing live rock music again without paying 20 bucks for it.

People talk a lot of shit about the south, but it mostly originates from blanket generalizations and mean-spirited mass-market communication orifices. I found that when you took the time to talk to people about their lives and what they do and where they're from, they were really cool. Hell, I have far more unpleasant experiences when communicating with people in Tokyo on a daily basis than I did as a long-hair in the south of the US.

Also, every other woman in Georgia is fucking gorgeous. Former Yatsu-ite Faith never
let us on in this, and I will never forgive her. Damn it.

Wrap-up:
Atlanta: Awesome/tired
Athens: Awesome/nobody there
Pensacola Florida: Terrifying/no show
Baton Rouge: Good show/creepy neighborhood
Austin: Loud/busy/Girls/Twin brother stopped by
Denton: Nice people/5 hour drive home in the dark

Anyway, aside from that, I caught the Simpsons flick, which was fun, and I've been buying CDs like I will be put in a space capsule soon. I have been re-learning to play guitar and I want to go buy some new pedals, but I want to make myself study a bit more. I feel my speaking lapsing, but I am trying to do some Japanese every day.

Ganbare!