Blogs

They're taking over aren't they? Well not really, but they're pretty damned popular as everyone in the world spews forth the rubbish floating around inside their heads. Speak for yourself...

Anyway, a couple for you to peruse; Today, at 10am my good friend Andy (aka Chem7) touched down in Tokyo. Along with Sam, the two of them are starting a yearlong round the world trip with a month in Japan. They arrive in Hiroshima on Saturday. I can't wait. When I lived in Madrid I could set my watch by visitors. For obvious reasons I haven't had so many in Japan and Andy and Sam are really the first people from back 'home' who have come to spend time here. You can follow their adventures right here on their camply titled Andy and Sam blog. Andy/Chem7 was the person who patiently guided WC through his first tentative steps in music making and whilst they may think I'm going to be showing them round Hiroshima, it's straight to Shimomura music for equipment then back to the PAO Sumiyoshi sudios for more tutorials. Bwahahahaha.

Right. Then there is Wide Island (nice name). All about one man and his family and the city of Hiroshima. I'm not a great blog reader but this one is well worth checking out. The bastard can really, really write. And he's funny. Very funny. I'm glad to say I share two things in common with the author of said blog:
1. We live in the same place. I don't just mean Hiroshima, our houses are a minute's stroll away from each other. I even crashed my bike into the wall opposite his house.
2. We once reviewed a urinal together for Japanese TV. Yep, that's something no one, and I mean, NO ONE, will ever be able to take away from us.

Futsukayoi no ato de

As you might have guessed from my post last night (this morning) I had quite a good time yesterday. It's a night I won't be forgetting in a long time and one that left me slightly drunkenly incoherent. I haven't danced that much in years either. A natural high I think it's called. I cycled home (very slowly) at about 5ish via Peace Park where I took some stunningly bad photos of the A-bomb dome looking like some kind of demented early bird tourist. I wonder what the good folk at the Udon-ya think of us too, turning up every couple of weeks and taking photos of each other. Back at home the obvious thing to do is to have another drink, watch a bit more Hifana, and then your favourite bits from Spirited Away, drunkenly cry at them and then go to bed. Ah! A life of tortured artistry. Oh well, all good clean fun.

Back to the gig; The Spins kicked things off and were, as always excellent. Bom plays bass aswell. He seems to pick up a new skill monthly. A bit of DJing followed (a tad too hard maybe for that time of the night? my only slight niggle) and then the stage was Tucker's. If you've never heard of Tucker, perhaps if you imagine a (nutty) teenage boy in his bedroom, picking up (and setting fire to) whatever instrument comes to hand and playing along to some of his parents old records, you might get some kind of idea of what his live show is like. And if you want to get some audience participation going, why not write down the word you want the crowd to shout out. On the bottom of your organ. That you are playing. Just lift it up, no worries.
Normally an act like that would be hard to follow, but Hifana are more than a match. I struggle to find words to express just how good they are at what they do. And does anyone else do what they do? Electronic percussionists? Turntablists? Breakbeat unit? Musicians? Talented bastards. I'm amazed they aren't massive in Europe yet. When they are discovered I'm sure they will be. With the fantastic visuals of Gec and a lot of humour thrown in for good measure too, they left WC a very happy bunny indeed. 4.14 was rammed and from the snatches I remember of the drunken conversations I had last night, I think a lot of people left feeling the same way as me. Keizo Machine and Juicy I salute you. Many many thanks to Niteowl for bringing them to town. I'll try and write a sensible review of the night for GH very soon. They'll publish anything ;)

For now though, why not enjoy a ramble through WC's wobbly night through the medium of photos.

Udonya no ato de

Well, they werealways going to be good but I don't think I've appreciated a night like I did tonight in a very very long time.
I'll write a review of it soon, but for now, Otsukare to the Spins, the nutter that is Tucker, Keizo Machine and Juicy.
Arigatou gozaimashita

Windcheater demo CD

Today Windcheater entered the, er, 15th century and got a printer. Finally, finally the demo CDs that have been sat in the cupboard have beautifully legible labels that tell you amongst other things, what WC's email address is and where the website can be found. It's only taken me 6 months. Time for some thanks then....
Firstly to Jun (Green Youth Society) for his fantastic artwork and for printing out the covers for free when I know he's a busy bee. He'll be off on his travels soon, be sure to keep up to date on them right here. A big arigatou too to Messyman who's becoming a bit of a regular on this blog with his mastering skills. Then there's Susan Doyon, she of the lovely voice on Apathetic which takes pride of place at the beginning of the CD. Thanks for all your efforts guys :bow:
The CD has 3 tracks on it (1. Apathetic, 2. Penalise 'em, 3. Blank faced groove) and is available from nowhere right now. Plans may well be afoot to change that though.
Seeing as I'm talking about ME I do have another track at a very advanced stage. I'm quite pleased with it, and I'll post it up here when it's done.

My music aside it's only 2 days until Hifana fly into town. Getting very excited about this now as yesterday I bought the Zamurai TV DVD. Inspirational stuff. I'll write more on it after the weekend but for now have a watch of the trailer. Beatboxing and tap dancing. It's the way forward.