Jeremy- Day 5, Yokohama

We wake and Sasaki takes Jeff, Jono and me on a short walking tour. We go two blocks to the Hie-Jinja shrine, site of the Ventures in Japan album sleeve photo. We make an offering, make a wish, and ring the bell. Inside, we tap lightly on a giant taiko drum and are politely reprimanded immediately. Then we get on the subway and ride a few stops to check out the grounds surrounding the emperor's palace. Jeff, Jono and Sasaki go for conveyor belt sushi, I choose the boulangerie up the street. We return to the hotel via subway and arrive exactly at noon, meet Yasa and Ferenc and hit the road for YOKAHAMA.

The Thumbs Up Club is on the 3rd floor of a 5 story building housing restaurants and movie theaters. The club is wide and shallow with a low ceiling, done up with American chotchkes. Victor Wooten played there the night before us. Jono plays though Shigeo's amp, Ferenc through the house's Fenser, which is the same model as his back home. Jeff had a G-K head through an old EV VFR cabinet, and I had a decent Sonor kit (only non-Japanese made kit all tour). We have a good soundcheck and are told that we have some time before our 5pm interview for Sasaki's magazine, Eleki. try, with Sasaki's earnest help, to use an ATM...no dice. Jono loans me some yen instead, Thanks Bro. The others split up to shop and eat. I take this opportunity to use the computer and catch up on the blog. We go to the burger joint downstairs for our Sasaki interview. Japan's go-to rock and roll translator, Mutsui, helps out. Back up at the club, I order a "nice Salad" and Hawaiian chicken. I thought it would be a small (you know, nice) salad until it arrived. Turns out it was a salad nicoise with tuna and potatoes etc. Very good. When the chicken dinner arrived, I realized I'd ordered a whole lotta food. The Hawaiian chicken came with a giant Spam nigri...good eats.

Dr. K and his band ripped it up and then it was our turn to play. Typically, in the moments just before showtime, I am intense and singlemindedly focused as I readjust the drum kit and attach my pedal, etc. Over the years, many people I've played with have learned the hard way that this is not the time to approach me.... My anger went to eleven (That's one angrier, innit?) as we launched into our set. The monitor next to me had been cranked WAY up between our soundcheck and show. Even with my earplugs in, it was distracting. With two songs back-to-back at the top of our setlist (Annabelle Lee right into Red Asphalt), there would be no opportunity to ask the soundman to adjust it or unplug it myself for at least 5 or 6 minutes. UGH. Anger is now redlining and I am literally trying to smash the kit to pieces to try and vent. I catch Masa's eye and yell for him to come over. I drop a couple of beats while I ask Masa to convey my request to the front of house mix position, which also controls the monitor sends. The adjustment is made quickly but it takes me a couple of songs before I calm down enough to make eye contact with anyone. I got over it and on with it and we had a good show. See others' entries for more show details. Ferenc was ecstatic afterwards. I think it's funny that whenever Ferenc thinks it's great, I don't and vice-versa. What's that joke about a bunch of blind guys touching different parts of an elephant and each assuming their perspective is representative of the whole? I learned a long time ago that the only perspective that really matters is the audience's. They were happy, and so, so was I.

Another killer set fro the SC's with yet another "Wipe Out" free for all at the end (including Jeff on drums again). Just before that, Ferenc joined the Surf Coasters for "Surf Party" complete with choreographed guitar moves in perfect sync. We in the audienced mimcked the moves with them...what fun!. Afterwards, I chatted with Aya and Aki, two of the cute girls who had been at Kyoto Muse 2 nights earlier. They took photos of one another seated on my lap. With phrase book in hand, the giggles didn't stop until it was time to go. They're coming to the last show tomorrow in Shibuya district in Tokyo.

Jono- Day 6, Tokyo

I managed to close my drapes and sleep until 8. But I still dutifully went down and consumed the complimentary Japanese breakfast. Being Sunday and not having too far to go that day, Jeff, Jeremy and I walked around the Akasaka prefecture as best we could. Everything was closed. We saw many bars, some for foreigners, one with a passed out drunk in front of it. This must be a party region of some form. We stumbled around and found ourselves wandering past the El Camino club. We had no idea we were so close! Having walked through the commercial region we wandered around a quaint residential district to find ourselves at the gates of the American Embassy's housing. We decided to wander over to Rappongi but weren't sure what we were looking; something within walking distance but Akasaka is the government/business district so the temples and sights are far and few between (that is what Kyoto is for). Jef actually stepped into a modern museum to use the facilities but for the most part we were stretching our legs.

We split up after a while and Jeff and I returned to the hotel. Soon Yas arrived, We had made plans for a photo op trying to mimic the Ventures Live in Japan cover at the local Hei-jinji shrine where it was originally photographed. We didn't have a kimono-clad local but we figured we could find one there for a quick photo. Upon arrival we were dismayed to see that Sunday is a popular shrine day. This day, many families were bringing their 3, 5 and 7-year olds for a communion-like celebration where they perform the ritual that Yuzo showed us involving throwing a coin, bowing, clapping hand and ringing a bell. Within 15 minutes it became clear that people were just coming and going. Much photoshopping would be required for the needed imagery. Plus, raindrops started to fall.

We headed down to Shibuya early for some lunch. But, unfortunately, the noodle place that Ferenc requested for lunch was too difficult to park near and, upon actually parking, had a 20 minute wait. Bust - we went on to Kinoto without lunch. We ate one of the bags of chips that Yuzo Saasaki gave us before our sojourn to tide us over.

We soundchecked. A desperate need to blog kept me in the club with earplugs while others went off to wander around the neighborhood. This suited me fine (I can be fairly long-winded if you haven't guessed). When everyone returned I see Yuzo Sasaki and Mutsumi. It was agreed that we would all go out to dinner. I was surprised to discover that it wasn't just lightly raining outside, it was pouring. My goretex parka was still in the hotel. Oh well.

We sloshed out into the streets of Shibuya and Sasaski bought an umbrella and I shared it with him while we encountered several thousand umbrella-gripping individuals along the streets. I couldn't really see, I was too busy trying to stay dry. We aimed for a Chinese restaurant that Mutsumi recommended. It is rather strange to eat Chinese after a few days of Japanese. And once again, I cannot help but notice that Chinese food adapts itself to whatever region it settles in. Napkins were difficult to find, free tea was not offered. We ordered some fixed price deal and set to it. Although it looked like a huge amount of food when it arrived, the six of us made short work of it.

Returning to the club, the first band Chill had already started. Kuri from the Surf Coasters also played in Chill so we wanted to see them. Very interesting, very cool. The guitarist was fairly minimal with multiple effects and Kuri had many stompboxes, too. Cool sound. With five bands on the lineup, everyone had about 40 minutes.

The next act, Rat Holic, was a fairly minimalist garage band with a cute girl playing drums and an equally cute girl playing a keyboard set to Farfisa tone. Ferenc pointed out that the bass amp couldn't handle that style of playing and it sounded less than good.

After Ratholic we palled around backstage with the surfcoasters. One of the many regular Surf Coasters fans i had seen wearing a traditional kimono with all the trimmings was at the El Camino. We needed a traditional kimono girl. We had Masa be the intermediary and we arranged to have her take Monday morning off of work and do a photo op (weather permitting)

I had re-charged my video camera and gave it to Yuzo Sasaki to take footage of our concert. After the third band we took to the stage. There were so many stage lights, i felt I was burning up there. Ferenc's hair might have caught fire had the lights been any lower. But we played pretty well and we jumped around. Not too many technical difficulties, no broken strings. The crowd was thick. This place was both a dank basement and a rock palace. Laser lights crisscrossed our visage.

After a great set we released ti to the Syrf Coasters. This was their crowd and we were just borrowing them for a few days. Shigeo and Kuri held them in the palms of their hands. I still had 15 minutes or so of tape so I captured Ferenc playing Surf Party with them. The crowd knew all the moves. Quite impressive.

When all was done, I handed out the gifts I had brought, mostly candy, to Masa, Yas, all of the surf coasters and I gave one to Yoko, too, she was such a dedicated fan, buying our CDs and Tshirts. We said our goodbyes to most of the surfcoasters because we were leaving the next day and they had jobs to go to (I guess). Except Nao promised to meet us at the airport. How sweet!

Masa directed us toward a restaurant where he would meet us so we packed up and went to an elegant Shibuya eatery. I was surprised at how big it was. That kind of real estate was often more efficiently handled and parceled into tiny apartments, not cavernous restaurants. An upstairs balcony floored in tatami revealed a glut of gaijin parties. Maybe that is why we were brought here, to see some of our own people.

We ordered many skewers of food and I ordered the pork belly with wasabi (which was quite succulent). I ordered sake this time because I could but was surprised to see Jeremy drink no alcohol at all - not even a beer. Masa arrived midway through the meal to tell us he was leaving the next day to produce a record in Korea. He seemed to think the tour was a success. I hope so and vague plans were talked about for the Surf Coasters to return this summer '06 and play the Huntington Beach Boardwalk shows.

More goodbyes. Jeremy was exhausted. Yas drove us back to the hotel and agreed to return the next morning with the SC fan, Migumi for the Hie-Jinja photo shoot. Knowing that it was my last night in Tokyo, I wandered around the Akasaka district looking for perhaps a wild karaoke session or some salaryman bar where I could have an adventure of some form (Drinking shots toe-to-toe with a Mitsubishi executive; singing harmonies on "Moonage Daydream"). Not tonight. Sunday night is pretty deadsville in Tokyo. Plus, many establishments are not necessarily on the ground floor. One must be intrepid to enter a strange bar via the elevator on the third floor of a building. And I wasn't feeling that intrepid. Returned again to the hotel about 1 am and fell into bed.

Jeremy- Day 7, Tokyo

Last day in Japan. A girl from our audience has agreed to meet us dressed in a kimono for our 2nd attempt at Ventures photo at shrine. This time, the temple is empty and the sun is out. Yasa takes several pix of us in various poses. Ferenc is very pleased, this being the culmination of a longtime dream. We head to Shibuya for some shopping, lunch, and people watching. We stop into some music shops and check out gear. I have a cone from the Haagen Das shop in a flavor I'd never seen in an ice cream before: Chai. Very good.
Too soon, it's time to load up and head to Narita airport. Nao and his girlfriend meet us there for a final farewell, and off we go.
I'll never forget my time in this wonderful country. I want to come back as a tourist. The whilrwind pace of a music tour is not conducive to sightseeing or soaking up local culture, though we certainly MADE THE MOST OF IT.
Some random stuff:
Reflectors on highway dividers all had little three spoked windmills on them.
Many young girls were sporting boots and short skirts... yow!
All the construction equipment like backhoes, steamrollers, etc are all miniature and painted pastel purple. Cement mixers and garbage trucks are roughly 1/2 size of the US counterparts...as are most passenger and utility vehicles.
Beer, coffee, juice and sodas available everywhere in coin-op vending machines, but snacks are only in mini marts.

Jeremy- Day 6, Tokyo

Jono and I take a walk through our deserted Sunday morning neighborhood. We stumble on the El Camino, not realizing how near it was to the hotel. A moment later we run into Jeff and the three of us stroll together, finding our way past several embassies. I split off to shop for fruit and crackers while they press on. I pick up a McTeriyaki burger (better than it sounds) and go back to the hotel. Yasa Kondo appears right on time at noon and we walk to the Hie-jinja shrine, hoping for a photo-op. No dice. The place is jammed with families and young children. Yasa tells us that at 3, 5 and 7 years old the children, dressed in elaborate tradtitional costumes, have a sort of communion ceremony. THE KIDS WERE VERY CUTE. I could tell by their wistful looks that Jeff and Jono were missing their 3 and 5 year olds back home.

Back to the hotel and into the van for the crosstown trip to Shibuya district. We are driving in circles, trying to park, hoping to eat at this particular udon shop. We finally park, but the popular restaurant is so jammed, there's no way we can squeeze in after waiting, eat, get out and not be late. So much for our elaborate lunch plans.

Kinoto Club is similar to OYS live House. In the basement, very small, overkill PA from hell and a light rig almost as big as Kyoto Muse. We watch some of the openers soundcheck and blog away. Nao shows me to the mini mart and I grab a couple of Asahi Super Dry tall boys (270 yen each, about $5 total). There is a Trace Elliot bass rig, and yet another ROLAND JC120, seemingly the workhorse amp for the Japanese. Ferenc uses Shigeo's VibroKing and I get a nice Pearl birch kit with burgundy stain. Extra deep toms and an extra "ten size" tom. Three rack toms and a floor tom, I'm in heaven. Nao brought one of his snare drums, a beautiful bronze Pearl, and insists that I use it (the SC's are SO nice). I show off while the soundwoman gets levels. When I stop, Nao says what sounds to me like "Need a bath". "Huh?" "Need a bath" he repeats. "Well maybe I am a little stinky." Someone else translates the accent : "Neil Peart" " Oh...Domo Arigato" at this point Jeff and I break into ten seconds of "YYZ" to everyone's considerable amusement. (For those who don't know: Neil Peart is the super badass drummer for Rush, YYZ is one of there tunes circa 1981).

There is a terrible electric buzz from the guitar amps, but when we play, you can't hear it. After playing our slow, spacey version of "Apache" for the SC's, we conclude our soundcheck. The SC's do their check while I blog in my notebook backstage. Masa comes in and sees my trippy LED pen aglow and flips out , in his reserved stoic way. I think I'll give it to him later.

We stroll thru Shibuya in pouring rain for a late lunch/early dinner of Chinese food. Very good. Coffee machine grinds beans for each infused cup individually. REALLY good coffee. Darkness has fallen, and we take a seemingly shorter route back to the club. With the rain, the neon, the crowds and the noise, it's very Blade Runner-esque. We climb steps for an overcrossing and note that there is a ramp 1m wide in the middle for baby carriages...kinda cool. I'm sad to be leaving this beautiful country and my mood begins to sink again (mebbe ya should try Prozac, Jer).

We arrive in time to catch the first band, Kuri's other project called Chill. They play funky pop and are very good. The next two bands names escape me but one plays surfy stuff in a garage-y style. The other is more bluesy rock, and they've got "the look" with bell bottom pants, hairdos, silk shirts in vibrant patterns, etc. Our turn comes, and as soon as I finish setting up and we begin playing, I feel good again (coincidence or correlation?). The set goes by in a blur and we are done.

The SC's kick ass for their hometown faithful. They are SO good. They play a short encore set that includes Miserlou and Tsunami Struck, and that song where they hop from one end to the other on one foot. I am nearly knocked over by the crowd until I start hopping too. What fun.

Further attempts to hit on Aya are met with demure, chaste giggling. The phrase book is no help. Masa translates for Aya, who says "I'll miss you darling" awww. I give her another card and ask her to e-mail me.

All the girls are taking turns rubbing my belly. I could get used to this.

We drive to dinner at a restaurant with an elaborate interior that evokes ancient times. Thatched awnings, a balcony around the perimiter, tiers of seating, dark wood and stone. Awsome.

I am completely spent and spend the meal staring into space while the others enjoy beer, sake and animated conversation. I am so wrung out physically and emotionally that I don't have any alcohol...how's that for tired? Masa arrives proudly sporting his new LED pen I'd given him earlier. All throughout the show he was showing it off to people. I am so glad he likes my gift. The last course to arrive is buckwheat soba noodles in broth, which revives me, somewhat, for our good bye to Masa, who must leave early tomorrow for some film score work in Korea. That dude stays busy! "I must do what I can in order to survive." he says.

Sleep brings strange dreams...I can't wait to wake up.

Pics 4

Chill (featuring Kuri on bass)


Rat Holic


Havin' A Surf Party


Return of The Beach Monster


Pollo del Mar: Live In Japan


Megumi rocks

Ferenc- Day 7, Tokyo

Last entry I guess... Last night's show left us with a great buzz, and great sadness that the tour is over. The show was truly packed and many in the crowd had seen us a few times on the tour so our set was getting more familiar, so we got a great response. This morning was a beautiful day. We asked one the Surf Coasters fans if she would come to the Akasaka Temple to pose with us so we could re-create the classic Ventures Live in Japan cover. She had come to the El Camino and Yokohama shows in a kimono so we thought she would be appropriate, and it turns out that she was happy to oblige. The temple has changed a little in the last 40 years, different paint, and some tall bamboo growth, but you can see (or will be able to see as soon as I post the a pic) that it is basically the same. The story about the Ventures photo shoot goes that they were signed to EMI in Japan, which has offices in Akasaka, so when they need to do a photo shoot, this temple was the most convenient place. We arrived and the place was empty, no festival going on like yesterday. Migumi was wearing a red kimono, and Yuzo had lent us an old style bamboo umbrella. I carefully got everybody in place, using a printout of the original album cover as a guide, then jumped in line and Yasa snapped away. We tried some other poses, and got great results. Then, 4 hours to kill until we had to leave for the airport so we drove over to Shibuya for some shopping, lunch and sight seeing. Mission accomplished... A much easier drive to the airport, no traffic. Nao and his girlfriend me us there to say goodbye. We did a little last minute shopping, then waded through customs and got on a half full plane. An uneventful flight home, and here we are in foggy S.F.
I would declare the tour an unqualified success. I still stand by the observations I made 2 years ago ( 1- surf music is not popular in Japan like Americans imagine, 2- It would take years to arrange a Japan tour and 3- being a tour guide is hell). That said, I think we did pretty good for a completely unknown commodity, and the shows kept getting better and better. The Nokie show was a textbook case not only in dealing with translation problems, but also in dealing with personal expectations. We had built ourselves up so much- wow, playing with Nokie, we better be great, we better learn his arrangements, failure is not a possibility- that we almost doomed ourselves. And to have our expectations dashed, and further compounded by nobody telling us what the plan was, yep that was the low point. Luckily, by the end of the night it turned out fine and I have a great memory of playing with one of my heroes, whos humility is equalled by his talent. But I don't want to harp on the El Camino show any more, I want to think of the great imes hanging out with the Surf Coasters, all our Japanese friends who helped organize the tour, all the really great fans (some of whom saw us all 5 nights), the really great bands we got to play with and driving around an amazingly beautiful country. An experience of a lifetime, really...

Ferenc - Day 6, Tokyo

We tried to recreate the famous Ventures, Live in Japan but there was a ceremony going on at the temple, and we would have looked pretty dumb with our guitars out in the middle of all the people dressed for the festivities. Then the rain started to fall, so I knew we weren't going to be able to follow through with any of the day's planned sight seeing adventures. So, we got in the van and headed over to the club in Shibuya. Kinoto is pretty cool, another downstairs, one exit place, with a low ceiling, maybe holds 70 people max. I got to see Rat Holic (signed to Double Crown in America) do their sound check, then we had ours. Small point about civilized manner here-- you always get a nice long soundcheck, the sound persons mark all the settings and locations, so when you are done and then come back for your show, all the amps are in the right spots and the knobs in the right place. Right on! There are quite a few guitar shops in shibuya so I check a few out, all the merch was too expensive for me, but some beautiful vintage guitars in all the shops. After dinner, we hurried back to Kinoto to see Kuri's other band Chill. They had a thick, layered sound for a trio, with both Kuri and the guitarist using lots of effects: Kuri mostly laying down a heavy groove. The drummer triggered samples from an Octapad. Very interesting to see Kuri in another musical situation. Rat Holic ran through a set of standard surf tunes, played with garage band enthusiasm . The bass amp, and SWR, was poorly suited to this groups sound and the muddy low end made them sound out of tune. We had a set worthy of our final show in Japan. The club at this point was packed, and the crowd up front enthusiastic. It was a blast. I am really sorry we have to leave, and I think that was going through everybodies head as we played, so we really gave it all we had. The Surf Coasters were in rare form tonight, clearly enjoying playing in front of their home town crowd. And the crowd knew all the moves, and it an awesome spectacle. I don't think I have mentioned that the SC's have been playing their interpretaion of the Thunderbirds theme, presented by them as an 8 minute prog workout. I have enjoyed hearing this every night. Wow... A long encore for them, including Beach Monster (yeah!) and that cool song which I always forget the name to, but everybody hops back and forth. And all the Pollo's were in the front row hopping back in forth with the rest of the club. A late night dinner in Ebisu at Gonpachi, one of the most beautiful restaraunts I have ever scene. We said goodbye to Masa as he will be leaving for Korea in the morning. We have planned a photo shoot at the Akasaka temple tomorrow with a model, and hopefully it won't rain>
Goodnight...

Jono- Day 5, Yokohama

Of course I got up early. Maybe I should close the drapes. After the usual miso and rice for breakfast, I contacted Jeremy who requested to be let in on the early morning sightseeing walks I have been doing. He would be ready in one hour (9 am) so I circumnavigated the hotel which is tucked inside between two major boulevards in the Akasaka prefecture and perilously close to the Prime Minister's residence. Consequently, the police presence is quite high. The subway stop is nearby and monstrous banks, government buildings and wide boulevards fill the area. Being Saturday, they were ludicrously empty, not what I was expecting in Tokyo but hey.

Returning to the hotel, I was met by Mr. Sasaki who offered to play tourguide for us. Jeff joined us. Ferenc was barely awake and had some work to do. He has been here a few times in the past two years so sightseeing isn't something he needs to do. We visited the Hie-jinja shrine, a mere 2 blocks away, made famous for gracing the cover of the now-classic Ventures Live in Japan LP. Yuzo explained that the Ventures were at the EMI building and needed a ohoto op and this one was extremely close. A traditional wedding was taking place and Yuzo showed us how to make a greeting. After walking down the steps, Yuzo offered to take us to see the Imperial palace via taxi but Jeff and I really wanted to take the subway.

Which we did. Yuzo graciously purchased our tickets, led us to the proper platform, determined which stop to exit at and even asked the guards at the entrance to the palace complex what was up. The day was warm and getting warmer. We walked to it and , as usual, reaIized that time was not on our side. We needed to be at the hotel at 1pm and it was noon. We wanted to get some lunch so jumped back on the subway and headed up a few more stops to an area which had many, many guitar shops. Not being a gearhead, I was completely flummoxed. I said lunch, not guitar browsing. Yuzo understood and took us to a really good sushi restaurant. Jeremy wasn't in the mood and opted for pastries while Jeff and i gorged on salmon, tuna, shrimp, mackeral and unagi. The cool feature was a central prep area where these garrulous cooks (shouting greetings to anyone entering) prepared the sushi and put it on a rotating belt that traveled past us sitting at the counter on stools. There were hot water dispensers for green tea and giant tureens of pickled ginger. Yuzo again picked up the tab. Jeff and I tried but he was way too fast for us.

Fearing we would be late, we hightailed it back to the hotel to arrive at 1pm sharp (How Japanese!). We packed the car and headed off to Yokohama, a mere 1.5 hours away. This time we brought Mr. sasaki along with us. Once again, I spent the travel time blogging but did notice that we were not on freeways but mired in surface traffic. And before I knew it, we were at the port of Yokohama, once a bustling naval station representative of the powerful US overseas interest. And the nightclub/pleasure district our show was in appeared to have been geared for international consumption.

The Thumbs Up club happened to be on the third floor of a mega mall showing Brangelina movies. It looked to be aping the early 70s free-flowing country/Jackson Browne/Neil Young vibe. Worked for me. A giant peace symbol adorned the stage behind the drum riser. We had some time to kill so we all went for a walk through the intensely crowded section of the city, looking for money changing (not to be found). Yuzo indicated an excellent ramen shop with a line down the block. Always a good indication when locals are lining up to eat.

After a sound check (Ferenc's amp was there so I played through Shigeo's rather than the Roland JC 120) Jeremy opted to blog away while Jeff and i footed it out to the ramen shop. Yuzo said he would join us but he was taking his time. I thought I could handle myself after 4 days in Japan. Jeff and I went down, stood in line only to discover that not only did you have to purchase the tickets for what you wanted, there were no indicative photos to go by; no pointing at ingredients. All money exchanged outside in a vending machine (!) with only japanese descriptions. An attendant came out to make sure the line was going smoothly and told us we needed a ticket and that he spoke no Japanese. I suppose I could have just guessed and picked a ticket at random but I have learned from Chinese restaurants that you should know what you are ordering.

Fortunately Mr. Sasaki showed up videotaping the entire thing. So much for being able to get around without a guide. We ordered ramen with a separate pork soup. Yuzo asked whether we wanted the noodles hard, medium or soft. Jeff asked for medium but I said hard (don't ask me why) and Yuzo gave me an appraising look like I had made the proper selection. Who knew? The line moved pretty quickly and soon we were in a seating antechamber within the steamy restaurant. Before too long we were seated at the counter receiving our food.

It was possibly the most delicious thing I have eaten here, albeit very salty. Condiments of crushed garlic and a Chinese hot sauce were offered but the best part about counter eating in a place like this is watching the staff prepare food. They had this giant noodle boiler with a hinged colander to dump into an equally giant bowl. And everyone wore dish towels nattily tied onto their heads.

Sated, we exited so more people could come in and eat. We walked around and witnessed the crushing thongs of shoppers and weekend travelers. We heard and encountered a right-wing demonstration and then returned more towards the club. Yuzo took us into a department store but there was nothing we needed that we couldn't buy in America. Hello Kitty.

We had an interview with Yuzo for Elecki magazine. He had hired a translator, Mutsumi, a friend who had visited Ferenc in California. She had just seen Cream at the Royal Albert Hall. Rock on. The Thumbs Up was too noisy so we went downstairs to Mos Burger, an even noisier venue but it worked for them. Elecki magazine features a lot of Venture-philia so many of the questions directed toward us reflected the previous evening's show with Nokie Edwards. There were no embarrassing moments during the interview and i think we had some valid opinions (IMHO), hopefully the avid readers of Elecki will agree.

We still had time so Jeff and I split off. I really felt I needed to walk off that ramen some more. And we mutually agreed that we didn't need to walk together, there is a certain adventurous charm to wandering around a foreign city alone. I found myself looking in on pachinko parlors. What a psychotic episode those places are! And slots are nothing more than one-armed bandit gambling. When I was in Japan in 1971 I recall spending an addictive and very fun 8 hours or so at a pachinko parlor. The thing was made of wood with a spring-controlled plunger. Very simple and quaint compared to, say, a pinball machine. These things are like neon video game/role-playing adventure story logo/hologram mythos whatever, often featuring cartoons of scantily clad blondies or old wizards. Who knows? This is when i got the distinct feeling that the drugs were coming on, the speed coursing through my bloodstream and the metallic taste bursting into my mouth as the plunger pounds in. As I stepped out into the pedestrian-choked alleys full of fashionista kids, I finally felt that I had reached Japan proper.

Returning to the club, others were getting western-style meals served; burgers and fries. Still completely glutted with ramen I happily hit the pitcher of beer to slake my thirst from the salty noodles. Soon Dr. K and his band came to the stage. They were dressed sharply in suits and ties, all Japanese. Both Dr. K and his rhythm guitarist had pretty interesting guitars. Ferenc pointed out that the Line 6 guitar Dr. K played had no pickups, it just generated a signal which could be manipulated to make any sound you wanted. And during the set, Dr. K did just that playing a banjo and then a sitar setting. The other guitarist had a semi-hollowbody that Keith Richard apparently favors and used a Vox wah to great effect. They were quite good and the drummer was apparently quite funny, keeping the audience in stitches.

We were up next. Shigeo's amp sounded good and all went well until I broke a string into the third song Teleport. Damn! I had told myself to do it and since I hadn't brought my guitar/effects up to the hotel after the previous evening's exhausting show, I told myself to do it before or after soundcheck and then completely forgot. Now i was reaping the bitter fruit of my laziness.

Yas ran back and got a hold of Shigeo's Jeff Beck Signature strat. Now I was playing with both his guitar and his amp. Too bad I didn't sound like him. And because I didn't change out the strap everything was different so I was too busy trying to accommodate myself to his gear that I couldn't focus on playing well and moving around. No downward spiral but I was just trying to get through the set without any further mishaps. Fortunately, I was told that I did sound better as a result of playing through Shigeo's guitar and amp.

Off the stage, I packed it all up and went off to be depressed. Apparently my video camera I had left with Masa didn't hold the charge. Probably broken, just my luck. The Surf Coasters came on only adding to my profound realization that maybe I am not cut out for this. I'm a hack who can't change his strings on time, stumbling through life and this surf music stuff like a know-it-all bumpkin. The Surf Coasters are just so good. And Shigeo makes it look so effortless. Ferenc compares him to Bernard Yin which is apt because Bernard does play surf music but I would compare him to Eric McFadden In San Francisco. They both can just smile and whip out these complex, fluid leads. It just forces one to realize that others are naturally better at some things than you.

And of course at the end was the obligatory Wipe Out session. Seeing as how I had avoided the one in Kyoto two nights earlier combined with my broken-stringed guitar, I really felt like slinking out of there. I wasn't feeling up to snuff. Masa pushed me towards the stage but I said no. Yuzo came up and asked me to come up and I said NO. I was content to feel sorry for myself. The fact that my guitar was missing a string was an excellent excuse to not go up and join in the fun.

Just when I thought I would get away with it, Dr. K's guitarist handed me his guitar with a huge grin. Seeing as how I really enjoyed both his guitar playing and stage appearance, I readily accepted and stood on stage. Dr. K nodded to me and I ripped away on this semi-hollowbody guitar and I flood of relief passed through me that I didn't just cut off my nose to spite my face.

Jeff-Yokohoma

If it's Saturday (at least on this side of the dateline), it must be Yokohama.

This tour has been a lot of playing, with early afternoon sound-checks then dinner, then evening concerts usually with several bands. Yokohama was only different in that we had a bit more time to walk around and checkout the shops. Jono, Yuzo and I first hit the nearby ramen noodle house.@With the entire coin-operated menu outside in Japanese and without any pictures for help, we found Yuzo's guidence a must.  Jono ordered the "hard" noodle bowl and I ordered the "medium".  The line we waited in went out the door, but moved very quickly.  We were sat down at the bar along a window to the kitchen. Noodles were handed over the bar quickly and efficiently. During our short wait, we took photos of ourselves (without embarrassment or shame) pointing to the menu at the wall.  It was a photo-op to simulate our famous photo of us photo-shopped into a noodle house on our JapanTown CD. I'll attempt to add a jpeg image at the next opportunity.

 

After the meal, and after being told their waiters' shirts were not for sale,  we were off a soundcheck. The "Thumbs Up" is Tokyo's answer to the Haight Ashbury nastalgia of the 60's - sort of a Senor Frog's without the pina coladas, and the beach, and the margarittas... well, ok it may have not been like Senor Frogs... do you even know what Senor Frog's is? sorry.

In other words, the place reminded us of home. The stage was in a half-circle of tables and chairs with a large bar across the room. Food was also served - in large, American-esqe portions. No PA mikes for the drums on stage (unless I missed seing them...) but the room wasn't really that big.

The soundcheck was quick - then we were back to the streets to buy some junk.  I found some toys for the kids - nothing too big or fancy. I just need to have something for when I get back. Not much else to find around here that is anything you couldn't find back in SF for less cost. Though none of us has really spent as much as we thought we'd spend, the Yen is definitely high in value and costs for a 5 US dollar lunch may be more like 8 dollars or so in a cafe.

That being said, our hotel does have a free phone connection said, to the US. It's only for 3 minutes at a time.  But, you can hang up and call back without charge.  I generous gift -- Domo Arigato Tokoyo Hotel!

The show went well and other than a few internal situations amongst ourselves (it's starting to feel like we've been together a bit too much?), we were all satisfied.

We now off to a photo shoot. More later...

 

Ferenc Day 5- Yokohama

I decided not to post after the show last night as I had read my my previous blog about the Nokie show and it definitely lacks the perspective of distance. Besides, there was an episode on Sailor Moon on that I hadn't seen. Yesterday was a great day, starting with the various Pollos wandering in different directions around Akasaka. Yas showed up around 1 for the drive to Thumb's Up in Yokohama. Great club that reminded me of The Sweetwater near my house in Marin, although Thumbs Up is on the 3 floor of a huge mall. Funky American junk all around. I was happy to find a Fender Vibroverb on stage, the same model I have, so we had a soundcheck then had some off time to walk around the shopping district in Yokohama. Pretty commercial and busy, most of the streets were pedestrian walks, but that doesn't mean some little van wouldn't run you over. I poked around the Tokyou Arms department store for an hour. At 5 we set up in Mos Burger with Yuzo Sasaki for an interview for Eleki Guitar Magazine. It's main readership is Venture's fans, so there were a lot of question about the Ventures influence on us. Joining us translator Mutsumi Mae. The show started at 7, so we ate while the first band, Dr. K played. Dr. K is a well known guitarist, he also writes a monthly intructional and equipment review column for Eleki Guitar. It was great to finally meet him after seeing his articles over the year. Needless to say, he is a talented guitarist in a variety of styles, but managed to focus his ability into well executed intrumentals. Dr. K was playing a Line 6 Variax, and a must say I was very impressed with the tone. He had a little fun running through some of the sounds- banjo for Orange blossom special and a little sitar for Paint it Black. I think Marty Tippens would sound great using a Variax. Dr. K has a Hank Marvin look to him, and his band was crack. His drummer was the band MC and the audience was laughing hysterically at his jokes. I asked Mutsumi what the jokes were and she translated for me, but it didn't make any sense to me... Pollo up next, we had our best set yet, which was good for our confidence after the unbelievable (self imposed) pressure of the Nokie gig. I was really happy with the dynamics, and band telepathy was high. Jono broke a string in the third song, and used Shigeo's Jeff Beck signature strat for the rest of the show. I told him, now he has to play like Beck and Naka! My English stage patter was no problem in Yokohama, a city with a long history of foreigners in residence. Naotaka joined us on drums for an encore of The Cruel Sea. Surf Coasters up next, starting right on time at 9 PM- Tonight they threw in a medly of Rumble and Jack the Ripper. I sat in for 3 songs, including Surf Party and we did the trademark Mach IV move, which the audience had now picked up on and were mimicing. Again, the night closed with a Wipe Out jam including memebers of all the bands and a few musicians fromk other bands who were in attendance. Two things that the Japanese surf scene shares with the US is great comraderie amongst the musicians, and a dedicated audience. Some of the faces in the crowd are becoming very familiar!

Pics

Kyoto OYS Marquee


Whys


Shigeo sits in with Pollo at OYS in Kyoto


Jeff plays drums during "Wipe-Out"



Dinner in Kyoto


Dr. K Band in Yokohama



Naotaka Seki sits in with Pollo


Jeremy holds down the Wipe Out jam in Yokohama


Jono, Yuzo Sasaki, Ferenc and Dr. K

Jono- Day 4, Tokyo

Sleep is a commodity that I am losing. For some reason, I awaken at 6 or so and cannot return to sleep. This wouldn't be so bad if I were going to bed at 10. But I am not. I woke up and tossed and turned for a bit before dressing and going down for the miso, pickled vegetables and seaweed rice breakfast. Coffee is my sole connection to my American breakfast which seems so far away. I noticed that the Toyoko hotels offer newspapers for perusal, one of which is in the English language, the International Herald Tribune - the USA Today of the expat community. After seeing no Pollo cohorts appear who might want to join me, I wandered down to the colossal train station with a monstrous tower across in this gargantuan shopping center. Once again, the morning hours are good to see how a city operates and prepares for the day. Bustling commuting office workers combined with tourists jammed the boulevards surrounding the station.

On the way, I saw a massive temple complex but the temple itself was shrouded in the world's largest corrugated tin shed. It took me a while to figure that out - why these beautifully carved gates and pebble yards for this huge shed? Then I read the mediaglyphs describing a restoration process to be completed in 2008. Come back later, gaijin.

Returning to the hotel, everyone was ready to go for a really long commute back to Tokyo. The van got packed up and we were off. I spent most of the trip inputting content for the blog. Besides, I had seen most of this highway when we arrived. Perhaps i can start to articulate some thoughts about the Japanese. And I may be way off base or 100% wrong. But these are my impressions - not the word of an expert.

Things here are very clean. Baths are a very traditional ritual and it helps that geothermal springs are everywhere. Centuries ago, when Europe was choking on its on filth during the Black Plague, the Japanese were bathing regularly without having to heat up water with fuel. So cleanliness and order are part of their customs.

The buildings are fairly generic. Unlike Europe, there is no distinctive architecture that I can tell dates back to whenever. Everything was destroyed during the war. But it was made of wood so how long can it last? The dominant building materials appear to be concrete and iron and then overlaid with a facade of tile or aluminum. The downside is that it doesn't weather very well. I am sure they are all efficiently earthquake-proof. And like Los Angeles, there appears to be economic incentive to bulldoze and re-build. Construction and development are everywhere. And the industries along the coastlines spew stuff into the air. People wear surgical face masks to keep particles out.

There seems to be a willingness to re-design systems and add them on to existing ones. In Kyoto and elsewhere, many of the sidewalks, especially along shopping arcades, had covered awnings. But they were grafted on to the sidewalk and buildings with a system of struts and gutters. Perhaps they were in mind when the buildings went up, maybe not. But it is a fairly ingenious solution and demonstrates a willingness to think outside the box (something the Japanese are not credited for doing)

Neal Stephenson once said that the sign of a real powerful culture is their softness and friendliness. Only the weak and defeated wear spikes and have threatening attitudes; the powerful have the inner security to be friendly and guileless. That pretty much sums up my impression of the Japanese people I have met: soft, friendly and free of guile. Brightly colored with animatronic logos, women's voices cheerfully explaining rules in recorded messages, cute songs playing electronically while instant coffee is being decanted from a vending machine.

Living in San Francisco, I see many Asian people living and working around me. I can guess whether people are Philippino, Chinese, Vietnamese or Japanese. I might be wrong but I can guess. But to be surrounded by so many undeniably Japanese people allows me to say that they are an attractive people. They are well-dressed and they have a delicate poise and grace in their bearing. I am surely generalizing from meeting a sample of very few out of very many but, like I said, this is my i9mpression.

Enough said, we stopped for lunch at an incredible truck stop with excellent views of Mt. Fuji. Even the bathrooms had giant windows looking out across a river plain towards the giant volcano. Nao and Jeremy headed for McDonalds while the rest of us went for sushi. There was a children's museum and a regional crafts emporium, which I only noticed because we are all suddenly searching for a missing Jeremy (shades of "The Vanishing"). But he was found and we commenced.

Once we reached the outskirts of Tokyo, we slammed into a traffic jam. We all started stressing about traffic, time but mostly about what was the centerpiece of this entire tour: the evening's show at the El Camino with Nokie Edwards and Shigeo Naka.

We did not have time to check into the hotel and arrived only to find the club closed. Yuzo Sasaki was waiting for us with a big smile and Masa left us on our own (he did not set the show up). We wandered over to a coffee shop for a bite to eat and discussed the evening ahead. We returned to find the club open.. We met the owner, Mr. Toda, and found Nokie edwards and his wife Judy sitting down relaxing.

Ferenc's descriptions of the club elsewhere on this blog and on our website could probably describe it better than I. The club is a veritable shrine to the Ventures. Autographed guitars line the walls. There are couches and coffee tables and snacks and booze put out, like a living room or den neighborhood party. There was a stage and several amplifiers set up. In the corners of the room were piles of equipment like straps, microphone stands, congas. On the coffee tables was a current copy of Elecki (Yuzo's magazine) with an illustration of 4 sessions intrumentals, one which Shigeo pointed out was of him. How flattering!

Meeting Nokie was quite an honor. He is definitely getting on in years (I last saw the Ventures in 1982) but still can play the guitar. Indeed, that was one of the reasons that he was there. Because he spoke English, having a conversation wasn't a complete chore and he was quite friendly and his wife was very personable. You could tell that they enjoy Japan very much and come often and for a long time. Let's face it: the man is a living legend. Interestingly, he has landed a gig on the HBO series Deadwood. One more reason to subscribe, I suppose.

We did a sound check but we were really nervous. We ran through a couple of our more 'mild' songs and then tried to do a practice with Nokie but he demurred. Okay. After setting Shigeo up and checked, we practiced songs we thought we would be playing with Nokie and just butchered them! How fricking embarassing! Here Nokie, watch us take some of your signature tunes and perform like a Jr. High School band. Embarrassed, we sat down and watched the more mature crowd of El Camino regulars wander in and take their places on the couches. A few Surf Coaster fans also were in attendance (representing the under-50 set) who we recognized and thanked for coming.

We started playing but the nerves just jinxed us! Ferenc lost signal during the crucial opening riff of our first song Teleport. Talk about auspicious! We played our set without too many more technical issues or downward spirals and Shigeo came and joined us on stage for four tunes. We played them fairly well (except for dreams; see Jeremy's blog) and then asked Nokie once again to join us. Again, he demurred. Okay. So what could this possibly mean? No time for translators we played a few more songs to fill out the slot. If Nokie was tired and didn't want to play, then c'est la vie.

Wrong. We had heard the phrase 'house band' several times that night and had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. Now we knew. Mr. Toda plays rhythm and a couple of other attendees/seasoned session guys sat in on bass and drums to play a complete set. Oh. Right. And Judy told us Nokie was too tired from a 4-hour train ride anyway. If we could have ruined this show anymore it probably would have required some hari-kari in the toilet we lost so much face. And when they finished, Yuzo insisted we go up and play with Nokie who kept begging off. Poor guy. He missed the memo that Pollo del Mar and Shigeo Naka of the Surf Coasters would play a few songs with him. But he sat down and we played Slaughter on 10th Avenue (one of the soundcheck songs we butchered) and, with what could only be called blessed relief, left the stage to sit down.

Ferenc called us outside the club. Morale was low and I am sure mine was higher than his. After Shigeo left, we should have exited. As it was, we had now gone over and were into what should have been the next set. So we played pretty much the same first Pollo set and the set with Shigeo. Things went over much more smoothly and I finally understood the moves to Surf Party, one of those realizations through my peripheral vision. We exited the stage and gamely gave it up to Nokie and his boys. By this point, the hard liquor offered on the coffee tables had started loosening up the crowd. This was what they were there for, calling out requests to Nokie, not paying attention to newbies and kids like us (hard to call myself that). And when they were done, Nokie tried to get out of playing again. but Yuzo wouldn't let him and we did another rousing all-star version of Wipeout. Ferenc did an excellent screech/laugh at the beginning and we were off. This was, without a doubt, the redeeming moment rising out of despair, victory from the jaws of defeat; pick your metaphor. It felt great at the end and I genuinely believe that both Nokie and his die-hard crowd of fans were appreciative. Or perhaps it was all the Scotch flowing, I cannot tell at this point.

Relieved that we weren't going to be deported for desecrating a national monument, we checked into our hotel tucked away on an unassuming street a few blocks away. No giant meals with bands, we crawled to bed hoping for less sturm and drang in tomorrow's schedule.

Jeremy- Day 4, Tokyo, Akasaka El Camino

11/4/05 Long four hour drive from Kyoto to Tokyo. We stop for lunch at highway rest stop with Mt. Fuji looming nearby, 6-10 miles away. The others eat sushi at a sit down restaurant. Nao and I opt for McDonald's. I ordered "ichi" or number one "value set" (Big Mac meal deal). I cannot understand the counterperson's responses, but I assume he wants to know what I want to drink, so I say "cola". Then more questions...uh Nao, can you help me out here? " You want for here or to go?" "Oh" I should've known. I've been through that sequence thousands of times. Nao got a shrimp sandwich (pressed, breaded and fried). Nao gets some ketchup for me and we sit down to eat with a stunning view of Fujiama. Next stop: the crapper. I opt for a stall with a regular sit-down toilet, as opposed to the squatter variety. The stall is next to the outer wall and, surprise, has a window with a view of Mt. Fuji, too. Wow! I boght some post cards, but no stamps. I need to find out why my credit card is not working. Tonight we play with Nokie Edwards of the Ventures. What an honor. I am looking forward to it.

In Tokyo, we encounter a traffic jam. Just before we get to club El Camino, we hear a voice from a loudspeaker on the truck in front of us. We also see that therre is a firebox burning away in the bed. Masa explains that the driver is selling baked potatoes. The flamin' tater wagon (Band name?, album title? song?). El Camino is up one flight of stairs and is very small with a low ceiling, set up like a living room with sofas, low chairs and coffee tables. We practice for awhile on our Ventures material and then have a ham sandwich down the street.

We go back to the club, which is lined with guitars on the walls and appears to be a shrine to living legend Nokie-san, to whom we are introduced, along with his wife Judy. Judy shows us a photo of Nokie in western drag from his recurring role on HBO's "Deadwood" series. Sasaki-san takes phots of us and Shigeo and Nokie lounging. I help myself to some complimentary scotch and water on the rocks. I tell Nokie my story about a Chinese restaurant in Berekeley (the Hunger Pang on Telegraph, long gone) that my mother and I used to go to when I was 7 or 8. Ther was a jukebox, and "Hawaaii 5-0" was on it. I'd always pester my mom for change and would play it incessantly. And now I'm going to perform it with and/or for Nokie...what an honor. He seemed unimpressed, oh well.

Tonight we play two shows, 7 and 9 pm, each featuring our guests Shigeo Naka from Surf Coasters, and Nokie from the Ventures. Right now there is ten minutes to go.

Later: The set rocks until midway through Shigeo's guest slot. In spite of rehearsing the tunes, I miss a break halfway through "Dreams". It's surf, it's OK, but it ruins my mood. Shortly thereafter, Nokie declines our invitation - he is accustomed to playing with the house band at El Camino, not us. I am falling into my hole of despair and am forced to mentally re-affim "Dude, you're onstage in Tokyo, why you cryin'?" I muddle through, using my anger as energy. Since Nokie declined our offer to sit in, we press on. The club staff is too polite to tell us that we are running long. Eventually we stop and then Nokie pplays a set with the house band, who are VERY tight. PDM is asked to sit in on last song (Slaughter on 10th Avenue). Nokie palys "Tears in Heaven" by Clapton while we are getting ready. I am completely overcome by its beauty and am crying onstage. We play "Slaughter" and I collapse behind the massive array of gear and sob quietly into my hands, unnoticed, I hope

Ferenc calls a meeting outside to get ready for 2nd show. Apparently Nokie was unaware of our assumption that we'd all play together, hence the confusion.

Nokie appears in the corridor and chats with a music publisher while I muster some courage. While watching him play, I had come to the realization that surf was a bigger influence on my musical life than I had dared fathom, and here I am with the A-number one godfather grandaddy of all time. (I've seen and opened for Dick Dale, and his first name is an apt descriptor) Nokie, on the other hand, is one of the most gracious and humble guys I've ever met.

I ask him to please accept my gift of a handmade bolo tie made from a Gibson knob and a George-L cord. He listens to my tearful offer, takes it and says 'I'll wear it with pride. Thank you very much. By the way, you rock." Omigawd. I can die now.

With a plan in place for an abbreviated 2nd set, we take the stage. We rock it on our own and with Shigeo. I made some notes for "Dreams" so no screwups this time. Nao steps up for "Miserlou" and "Tsunami Struck" It's rare that I get to watch PDM. Nokie and the house band come up and I sit directly in fromnt of him, still completely awestruck...and the guy considers me a peer, an incredible honor for me.

Nokie swaps out the house band for PDM plus Shigeo for the last song, "Wipeout". Nokie warns me "Gotta lotta players up here, it's gonna go long." "OK" I say and off we go. wow wow wow.

After the show we get provisions next to the club and go to hotel. We don't leave for Yokohama until noon, so we get to sleep in. I don't think I 'll sleep past 8 though.

Jeremy- Day 3, Kyoto

11/3/05 Miso and rice balls for breakfast in the lobby. Not quite enough to get my motor running so I hit Lawson's for some OJ, salami and cheese, and some flan-like caramel custard. Two hour drive to Kyoto Muse Club. Club is on third floor of a building on a major shopping street. Good size club, maybe 30 feet wide and 75' deep with 2-story ceiling, gigantic Turbosound PA, and huge light rig. Ampeg SVT bass rig, nice Yamaha kit (tuned properly). Ferenc again uses Shigemi's Fender VibroKing and Jono plays through a Fender Twin Reverb on loan from the Why's. We soundcheck and the sound is crushing and huge onstage. I can only imagine how it sounded in the house. You could really feel it in your bones when they turned on the mains...my kinda place. The SC's soundcheck and we head to a cafe downstairs for a bagel sangwidge. The van is parked a few blocks away, so we walk through this food court mall to get there. Sights and smells are beyond description...I don't know how the Japanese eat some of this stuff. Brief nap at hotel.

Hotel is close enough that we can walk to the club. We have some chicken teriyaki pizza (!!!) to tide us over till post show meal. Doors at 5:30, show at 6, 3500 yen (Roughly $35) cover charge. 5 bands: the Twinkle Arrows, the 48's, the Why's, us, and then the SC's. Ferenc sits in on "Dreams" and dons Nao's suit jacket (ten sizes too small. Ferenc is 6 foot 3 and Nao is 5 foot 9), very funny. Entire show ends with massive "Wipe Out" where everyone gets up to sit in, switching drummers, bassists and guitarists. Jeff also had a go at the drums, tremendous!!! After the show I hand out several business cards to cute girls in the audience, including the girls from the Why's. They reciprocate by giving me a silk flower to put in my hair, very cool. Many people rubbed my belly tonight. Is it a Bhudda thing? The Why's join us and the Surf Coasters for a massive feast around the corner. On the way, Nao gets me some stomach medicine. what a guy!

Jeremy- Day 2, Nagoya

11/2 We wake wednesday - in spite of leaving SF Mon AM, we cross int'l dateline and arrived Tues night - and have breakfast at Denny's (!!!) Japanese style. Bacon, eggs, miso soup. We load up and go in two cars to trian station to pick up Nao and Shigeo of the Surf Coasters. Hugs all around. On the road to Nagoya, I feel sick and ask to pull over so I can barf. Two cars full of people and an entire highway as an audience and I couldn't do it (barf-shy?). At the next rest stop, Ferenc finds some rolaids in his bag and saves me. The rest stops all have restaurants here. After buying tickets for our chosen items, we get our pork udon and pig out. We drive on to Nagoya and meet Kuri and Sasaki in front of "Oys Live House".

The place is maybe 25 feet square, downstairs in the basement. Super tiny. We have a soundcheck through the house back line, except Ferenc, who plays thru Shigemi's Fender VibroKing. Jeff's rig is a huge vintage 70's yamaha, jono's is a Roland Jazz Chorus 120 (not exactly surfy, but it was that or the Marshall), and a Yamaha Stage Custom kit for me with Zildjian cymbals. Kit is tuned all muffled, including a foam rubber mattress in the bass drum. Oh well, beats bringing my own!

We take a brief walk while SC's do their check. On the way back there is a hot girl in leather pants and a denim jacket. She waits in front of the club as we load into the van for short ride to hotel. We rest for 2 hours and then Ferenc and I head to Lawson's (think 7-11 or am/pm) and grab a sandwich w/mysterious ingredients. Then off to the first show!

Yas Kondo has a bag full of leftover beer from Sasaki's. I proceed to get my beer buzz on. Club is ass to elbows crowded. Hot girl in leather pants is there in different jacket. I whip out my phrasebook... Japanese word for jacket is "jaketo". Awkward exchange follows. Our turn to play finally comes and we totally rock the place. Good tension release. SC's play last and completely shred like only they can. You must see them next time they come to USA. There is a tiny girl front and center the entire show and she is really into it. After the show I chat her up, complimenting her enthusiasm. Her name is Minami and she tells me that she's coming to tomorrow's show in Kyoto. I bid her adieu, and we go to a late dinner at a restaurant nearby.

The staff seats us in a private room. There is a karaoke machine, but we don't use it. Masa orders for the table, and endless food and beer begins to flow. Everyone was amused when I fell asleep at the table for a minute. 2 AM and back to the hotel for sleep for real.

El Camino Pictures

Shigeo, Jeff, Jono, Nao and Ferenc at the El Camino in Tokyo Japan


Jono, Shigeo, Jeff, Nokie, Jeremy and ferenc at the El Camino, Tokyo Japan

Ferenc- Day 4, Tokyo

Really, today could have been a movie- drama, disaster, international intrigue and a happy ending. Of course the movie would be poorly dubbed, and the subtitles wouldn't really match what the people were saying... Again I apologize for there not being a Jeremy post, he has been studiously taking notes at every opportunity- now that we are in one place for 3 days he will have some computer time. Anyway, today, Friday, included a 7 hour drive from Kyoto, arriving in tokyou just in time for rush hour traffic. Please read my description of the El Camino (aka the Nokie Temple), in my story on the words page at the Pollo Del Mar site, so you can understand this club. MISCOMMUNICATION RULES!!! Our basic understanding was that we would play two shows, each with us performing a half hour set, then Shigeo Naka would join us for 4 songs, then we would back up Nokie Edwards for a set. To make a looong story short, Nokie and his wife had no idea that we were even going to be there. We didn't figure this out until after our set with Shigeo, and I invited Nokie to join us, but he said he was "Just there to enjoy the music." So I was looking like a bonehead as the crowd was waiting for Nokie to come up. Well, if Nokie isn't comin, we still have another 30 minutes to go, so we played out. However what Nokie's understanding was that he would play a set with house band. So after we finished, Nokie and the house band came up a played, but since we went so long, they could only do a short set because the second had to start. Double egg on my face. After the house band played, Pollo did return to the stage to play "Slaughter on 10th Ave" with Nokie-san. Confused? I sure as f--- was. This kind of confusion is not condusive to a good performance- I like to not think when I'm playing, and I was thinkin'- man-o-man. OK, whatever, we had a group meeting to suss out our place int the universe, and all became one, and a moment of clarity was obtained. Crowd exited, new crowd enters. Now we have it figured out. We played 20 minutes, Shigeo joined us (again) for Surf Party, Dreams, Tsunami Struck and Miserlou (Naotaka sat in on drums for TS and Miserlou). Then we got off stage, and Nokie played with the house band. He really cut loose with the chicken-pickin! I di fall asleep during one song, and when I woke up Nokie's wife was telling me I should take a nap. She is a gas. They had a rough schedule too, Nokie is playing dinner shows all over Japan, and they had a 4 hour train ride to make it to the show. That's how it goes. OK, after Nokie and the house band finished, the Pollos and Shigeo backed up Nokie for an epic Wipe-Out. What the hel?- we hate that song, but have now played it 2 nights in a row. Jeremy was in rare form, holding down the huge fills as we each took turns with solos. What a weird day, all the emotions, crazy... Anyway it all turned out fine in the end, which is better than the alternative. The crowd at the E Camino was very entusiastic. A highlight for me was when one patron asked if I was influenced by Ted Nugent. Well, what can I say, he got. It's late, I'm delerious. Pictures to follow.
fd

Jono- Day 3, Kyoto

One would think that the combined effects of jet lag, exhaustion and sleep deprivation might allow me to sleep in. Not quite. I awoke at 7:30 after falling into bed at 2:30 at least but we did not need to leave until 10. Too impatient to try out the in-room tea service I went down to the lobby to discover a continental breakfast of miso and dried seaweed, rice formed into disks and rolled in sesame, and pickled vegetables. Delicious. I could really get into this form of eating -it is just too bizarre. Although I say this now when there is no alternative. Ask me again next week when I revert to bacon and eggs.

I went out for another walk, this time to witness the morning rituals of a major industrial center in Japan. The subway was bustling, every shop seemed to have many people eating convenient breakfasts of fish and pickled vegetables. I wandered down residential streets to the freeway overpass and wandered over to what appeared to be a modern building on what looked to be the foundations of a medieval castle with a moat. The building proved to be a prefectural library but it was not open yet. Upon returning to the hotel, I saw a directional sign for the library and a faded one for Nagoya Castle.

When researching this trip I saw that there were few tourist attractions in Nagoya but the one they mentioned was Nagoya Castle. Where was it? I returned to the hotel to see both Yuzo Sasaki and Jeff enjoying their breakfast. Speaking with Yuzo I asked him about it and he gamely went up to the desk clerk and obtained instructions. Apparently it was only 10 minutes away. The time was 8:50. We just might have time. Yuzo hurried upstairs for his camera and I convinced Jeff to join us. Jeff wantyed his camera but I assured him Yuzo would have one.

We walked briskly down the boulevard to a pedestrian overpass that led us to the landscaped grounds preceding the castle. Yuzo explained that the warlord who built the castle was quite a hero and we saw a statue of him which Jeff and I posed for photos in front of it. Time was not on our side. Yuzo graciously purchased entrance tickets and we went in to view the castle.

It is actually a compound of buildings, moats, gates and landscaped gardens. A distinctive architectural feature on the apex of the roofs is the golden dolphin, a motif we would actually see around the city of Nagoya. But we really did not have time to enter the castles and take a real tour. It would be bad form to show up late on day 3 to Kyoto. But all in all, it was a real treat to see this historical castle.

That said, in some ways it was all an illusion. The real castle was flattened by aerial bombing by the USA during WWII in the final months of the war and what we were walking around was a ferro-concrete facsimile of the real castle constructed in 1959. Only one or two gates survived and a wall of paintings which were not available for viewing because they were so precious.

It filled me with an unspeakable guilt. I am fairly fluent in the currents of history but I will not go on record as saying that the firebombing of Japan in the final months of that brutal war were necessary or not. But it happened. And I am a cynical enough pragmatist to know that the atrocities committed by the Japanese were unnecessarily cruel and inhuman. But 60 years after the fact, I am being hosted and feted in their country by warm and caring individuals and to think that any one of their ancestors were killed by any of mine fills me with thoughts I will not articulate to them. So it was rather tough trying to discuss any of these issues with Yuzo Sasaki. Of course, anyone old enough to experience and participate in that war firsthand is now entering their dotage and I don't expect to run into them at a Surf Coasters show.

We made it back to the hotel just in time. The cars were packed quickly, we checked out and hit the road for Kyoto. We said our goodbyes to Yazu who would see us again in Tokyo. We exited Nagoya and headed on to Kyoto, a shorter drive of only 2 hours or so.

Upon entering this huge city (pop. 1.4 mil), it was clear that Kyoto was a bit more fashionable and cosmopolitan than Nagoya, not to slight Nagoya. The streets were crowded and driving was difficult but we found the club and unloaded the gear while Masa and Yas parked the cars. The Kyoto Muse proved to be what I termed in Europe A Rock Palace. It had a professional lighting system, an excellent stage fully wired, a backstage with a beer vending machine.

There is one significant difference between our European tour and our Japanese tour. And that is the free food and drink. In fact, there appears to be even less than offered in America. Still, no one working in these clubs seem to balk when someone shows up with a bag full of Sapporos. And the tickets to these shows are expensive. Both the Oys and the Kyoto Muse charged 3500 yen (approx $35) to see us. And even Nao warned us that the beer at the clubs was very expensive. So I have yet to walk up to a bar and order a beer.

The sound check went well. One of the bands we were playing with (there always seems to be at least 5 bands on these bills) was a surf band with 2 very attractive girls, Whys. I borrowed the amp from Ruiko, a Fender Twin Reverb. We watched them and the Surf Coasters soundcheck.

After a certain point, I was starving so Jeff, Jeremy and I went down to a coffee shop for a nosh-mayonnaise and meat sandwiches. I have certainly had worse. The rest of the crew joined us for a quick bite and we adjourned to the Kyoto version of the Tokoyo hotel. As Ferenc noted, they were almost identical and probably prefabricated and airlifted in. But seeing as how the show started at 6 and we really wanted to see Whys at 6:30 there was no time for sightseeing since we were finally checked in around 4. Seeing as how I had opted to walk to a castle that morning in lieu of a bath, I decided to rectify that and relax in a deep tub.

Upon arrival at the club, the first band was already on. And upon entering, it was clear that surf music is only popular to a select group of people. As Ferenc noted, 25 people in a tiny cavern is much more impressive than 25 people in a giant Rock Palace. Shades of Hengelo.

But our interest level rose when Whys hit the stage. They are adorably cute and wore Hawaiian grass skirts with lei headbands. The bass player Nomi looked like she was wearing a leopard skin loin cloth/top cannibalized from an old stuffed animal (I swore I could see the tail) and they both had these false eyelashes with stick-on rhinestones. A wild get-up to say the least. They had these precocious stage moves and Ruiko had some real chops. I was very impressed that she pulled off Caravan.

I missed the next band because Ferenc and I chose to go backstage and run over Insecticide, a song we had not practiced in months. Yasu came to tell us the show would be going on soon. The weird thing was the backstage/house transition involved an elevator and going in and out of the building unless you were to go through the stage - which is rather rude while another band is playing.

We started playing and I was too loud through the monitor mix but I was confident that I was the same volume as during the soundcheck. Apparently, Jeff had gotten mixed up in the amp mike cable so perhaps they jacked it up to compensate. Many of the same surfcoasters fans were in force this evening, too. We played well but for some reason I choked on Insecticide! Good thing we practiced it. Jesus! I pretended I was out of tune to compensate for mediocrity and incompetence. Shigeo came up while Ferenc stepped down to play Tsunami Struck with us. What an honor to be playing with him. However, he broke a string on Ferenc's guitar

And of course, the Surf Coasters hit the stage and wowed the rubes. It is just a pleasure to watch them. Aside from the previous evening's set, they included a dynamic arrangement of Baja. They do what I would term a 'prog' song which turns out to be the Thunderbirds theme. Being a Gerry Anderson fan, I should know this. Ferenc borrowed my guitar and got up on stage to play Dreams and then hung around for the finale.

This included a rousing cast-of-thousands rendition of Wipeout, ironically one of our least favorite songs. But it is definitely one that crosses so many grains of ease, recognition, tradition, etc. Similar to Ferenc's 'Endless Drummer", it rotated many drummers. plus, it also rotated many guitarists. I opted to document the event but everyone in the audience who was in a band (90% of the audience?) got up there to play bass or guitar or drums. Fortunately it was practiced at the soundcheck but some drummers still tried transitioning during the drum roll break; bad idea.

But the biggest surprise of the night was when Jeff cross-pollinated onto the drums! I was shocked to say the least. Not that Jeff isn't a talented instrumentalist who can basically play every instrument he picks up, it is just not his style to brazenly sit down at the drums to jam. But he did and it rocked. He dropped about three sticks but, Jesus, he got up there and did it.

All done, we packed our gear into the van and went out to dinner. Ferenc declared he was too tired to eat. But he relented upon being pressed and I don't think he regretted it. We parked the van and were led to another traditional Japanese restaurant where we removed our shows and sat down at a low-lying table with slim pillows to kneel on. Beer and small plates were brought out and we proceeded to dine on tofu in a delicious red sauce, deep-fried (tempura) vegetables, sauteed vegetables, grilled vegetables on sticks. And of course more beer. There must have been meat or fish but I just cannot recall (the problem with late-night meal recollections days after the fact).

We were surprised to be joined by the members of the Whys. And sure enough, they were just as cute and personable in person as they were on stage. Ruiko was dressed in a very late-60s outfit (headband. flowered jeans and this knitted sarape shawl-type thing) that reminded me of what my sister Emily wore circa 1972 at age 14. Upon explaining that to Masa he insisted we call her Emily - or "Emiry" - which we did. I am not quite sure if she liked that or not. They were not from Kyoto but from Fukuoka - a mere 7.5 hours away on a different island. Oddly, I had contacted an old friend of a friend who has been living in Japan since 1985. He replied via email that our shows were too far away. If only I had known, he could have gotten a ride with them! Not quite but that takes some real dedication to drive that far for a show. And they were not spending the night in Kyoto. Nomi was drink,ing beer but Ruiko was the designated driver for a late-night drive. Ah, to be young again. Of course, 1984, I recall driving back to Albuquerque from a gig in Denver through a blinding snowstorm after 2 in the morning. It was real exciting, too.

We returned to the hotel and I made some late-night phone calls to Wendy. All is well back home. Off to sleep soon...

Jeff - Kyoto show

Kyoto Muse is a nice club in a major shopping district
near the Kyoto train station. It was a full stage with
a very full list of performers.
We played fourth and the Surf Coasters played last -
including a jam session which included Kuri and I
played his bass simultaneously and me on Nao's drums -
it suprised everyone including myself! It was my
debut drum peformance! Several musicians sat in on
drums bass and guitars from most of that evening's
groups. It was truely remarkable.

Dinner was another fabulous table filed with Japanese
delicacies and fun people. Besides us and our hosts,
members of ''the whys'' also joined us. Noone fell
asleep at the table this time, yet I fell asleep right
when we returned to the hotel.

Not much more to add - I must return to Kyoto sometime
to see more of it. We had little time to do much
besides play at the club.

Jono, day 2 Nagoya

I woke up in the temple only slightly disoriented. It was dark. Everyone was asleep. Not having a watch, I could only guess the time. I went to the latrine and then lay back down but sleep was elusive. After an hour or so the first aura of daylight appeared and I arose, quickly dressed and went out to inspect the bone orchard surrounding the temple.

Many cut granite grave markers/shrines were crowded together in orderly rows. Offerings of beer, cigarettes and flowers rested in ceremonial cut-out dishes. Some had ornate steel bars installed to hold wooden pickets with Japanese sayings (names of the deceased? Prayers?) on them. After a while, Ferenc emerged and the two of us decided to leave the compound for a walk. Very quickly I gave myself a rule when crossing the street here: Look both ways twice. The left side of the road thing is a tad confusing and it pays to not take anything for granted.

Walking through the quasi-rural hamlet of Odawara City, I was immediately reminded of my two years living in Taipei, Taiwan (1969-1971). The bicycles, the low cinderblock walls, the narrow pedestrian walkways and the covered drainage ditches. It wasn't congested and we wandered up to a convenience store for a refreshment. We then walked around a block and wandered through the twisting residential streets. Mixed in amongst the car dealerships and schools were gardens, irrigation systems and a few huge monstrous spiders. I was also reminded of wandering around the streets of Lichtaart earlier this year but I suspect it was just the quiet rural thing.

Returning to the temple, the rest of the group was about and relaxing in the morning sun. The temperature was warmer than I expected. We met Yuzo's wife and he showed us the spring over in the corner of the property. Masa explained that we were to obtain some breakfast, pick up the Surf Coasters at a nearby train station and then we would all commute to Nagoya for the evening's show at Oys. Aside from the rented van that he would drive us in, Yas would drive his Peugeot wagon with the Coasters. One slight hitch occurred when Kuri called to say he overslept and would take the train directly to Nagoya and meet us that evening.

We all went to a Denny's for breakfast. Go figure. I ordered the Japanese American breakfast which consisted of egg, bacon, miso soup, pickled vegetables and rice. A cup of coffee rounded out the breakfast. We returned to the temple and said goodbye to Yuzo who we would be seeing again that night. We said our sayonaras and were off.

We stopped at the train station and purchased some snacks. Looking in the bookstore there was nothing in English to purchase. I wondered why all of the magazines were presented on their backs until I realized that Japanese read pages from right to left. I should know these things...

Shigeo and Nao arrived and we exchanged salutations. Both vehicles were now efficiently packed and we were off. We embarked onto a steep and climbing freeway and soon were rewarded with hazy but fairly unobscured views of Mt. Fuji. Although exciting, Jeremy was starting to suffer from car sickness, exhaustion, strange food or a combination of all. Discussing Fuji as a technical climb I was recounting my bout with altitude sickness on Mt. Shasta and Jeremy politely told me to stop talking about nausea. Sorry Jeremy.

We stopped at a scenic truck stop on Hamanako, a lake known for its tasty and abundant eel, although I didn't see any for sale. I had been amazed at the earlier rest stop that one could get freshly grilled squid on a stick. Much fresh seafood is readily available. Here we had lunch of ramen, pork and vegetables. from a counter where you purchase a ticket from a brightly lit display and then hand it to a counterperson who serves it up fairly quickly.

The gift shop had an interesting collection of Studio Ghibli figurines but i refrained from frivolous purchases. Of course, I don't balk at dropping yen into vending machines for cans of coffee, juice and whatnot. I also considered buying the CD of harmonica and accordian renditions of Simon & Garfunkel songs that were playing loudly from a boombox on a sale stall.

In fact, things are a bit cheaper than I was envisioning. Everyone talks about how expensive Japan is - and it is, don't get me wrong. But take into consideration that I live in San Francisco, another outrageously expensive city and it is comparative. After a 580 yen ($5 or so) lunch, I can say it is cheaper than I thought it would be. Of course, we saw that one of the tolls on the highway was about $60 and that is not cheap.

Ferenc thoughtfully packed some Rolaids for the trip so Jeremy's discomfort was relieved. Excellent. We rolled into Nagoya, a congested industrial city (home of Toyota) with monstrous boulevards, pedestrian overpasses, businessmen with filtration masks. I was paying absolutely no attention to the micro aspects of where in the city we were but was surprised when we pulled up to the Oys club to see Kuri patiently waiting for us. We unloaded and entered the club for a sound check.

Hunkered down in a dank basement, the club is about 300 square feet. An industrial backstage, a small bar and a sound booth above in a loft rounded out this tiny and extremely loud (and smoky) club. We sound checked and then walked around while the Surf Coasters sound checked.

Directly at the entrance to the club was an interesting garage system with a circular rotating inset platform so cars did not have to back out into heavy traffic. Reminded me of the Green Hornet for some reason. The sidewalk outside of the club was about 4 feet wide and was choked with pedestrians and bicycles which made hanging outside the club difficult at best.

Masa then took us to the Tokoyo Hotel in Nagoya, a few long blocks away from the club. We had a few hours of downtime and we were still decompressing from the travels. We all got very small but individual rooms consisting of a bed, a short desk and a clock. The bathrooms had deep but short tubs and very interesting toilets. I showered, dressed for the show and went out to explore our new surroundings rather than take a nap.

The hotel was on a side street from a major boulevard with a massive freeway onramp. Not wishing to get lost I didn't stray too far from the hotel, trying to keep landmarks in mind. But I did wander around a get an appreciation for the Japanese business/urban lifestyle. I returned to the hotel and went over some songs with Ferenc in his slightly larger room before returning to the club.

Upon arrival at the club, we noticed that many attractive young women were there. Of course, they were there to see the Surf Coasters but it was a pleasure to meet them. Yuzo Sasaki was there with a bag of warm beer. We met Yoko, a dedicated Surf Coasters fan who had apparently taken it upon herself to come to see the Surf Coasters when they toured America. Wow. Dedicated barely describes such fandom. Where is Matt Kora, by the way?

Not really wanting to hang out in a crowded, smoky club, we all went for a short walk. A quick circumnavigation of the four points of the massive intersection revealed a quaint alleyway with a number of, ironically, Italian restaurants. Dubbing it "Italian-town" we cruised through it to see a massive red temple with what appeared to be a giant media entourage of lights, cameras, folding chairs, a cordoning off of the crowd by security. It was very mysterious but we did not stick around to see what was up.

I entered the club to watch the band before us. They started off interesting in that they sounded like early Public Image meets Killing Joke, only instrumental. They had a very 80s chorus-y guitar tone that fed back wildly. But the guitarist attempted some stunt, fell down and broke 3 strings. I could tell that they were hoping some other band would lend them another guitar but I wasn't going to let this joker touch mine. Then a lousy jam started up while he messed with his guitar and then borrowed the other guitarist's guitar. Whatever - get off the stage, losers. The crowded started to thin out.

But then we got up and played. We had worked out a pretty high-energy 35-minute set and it went off well. Considering our last practice was a 20-minute show in Napa last week. The Surf Coasters got up and it is a real delight to see them play. They are well-dressed, they are attractive, and they have an incredible sound. I am not as familiar with them as other members of my band and certainly not as familiar as fans like Yoko but Shigeo just seems to get better and better every time I see him. And not just better - more diverse. His style delves into Davey Allen territory - fuzzy with his standard fluid excellent approach combined with an excellent whammy technique. Others could probably rhapsodize about the man better than I.

I brought a video camera with me to Japan but this is a community with many people documenting most everything so it can be redundant. I brought the camera to the club and tried to video the Surf Coasters but I noticed that Yuzo was already doing ti from a great vantage point so after 2 songs I stopped.

After the show we packed up and went for a dinner. It was pretty late and we re pretty tired but Masa took us all to an excellent Japanese restaurant where we were given a room while course after course was brought out accompanied by massive pitchers of beer. Fried chicken wings, fried pork on a stick, vegetables, miso soup, pickled seaweed. With each course we wondered when it would stop but to no avail. The food just kept coming. At one point we all looked over and Jeremy had fallen asleep sitting up but was quickly roused.

Exhausted and sated, we returned to our hotel and to our rooms, but not before Jeff and Ferenc discovered that the international calling was free. Right on! I tried sending email from the terminals available but for some reason, I kept doing something which converted the roman characters to Japanese characters. So while I thought that emailing would be easier and certainly cheaper than international phone calls, the reverse ends up being true. Odd but true.