Sunday’s event at Barco was as fun as always, but I was really out of energy following a busy and eventful weekend. I played a solo set toward the end of the evening, but things just didn’t seem to work out like I wanted. Interestingly, I knew that it was going to be a sub-par performance before I played a single note; before I stepped onto the stage, even.

On Friday night I had a discussion with a friend, who suggested that I get a female vocalist to join me on stage, rather than playing only instrumental music. I respect this friend’s opinion, so I’ve given it some serious thought over the past few days. However, I’ve returned to my original position of trying to find my own original “voice” with which to express myself, and for now the best path I can see to that end is solo instrumental music.

The Barco event that was scheduled for 11 July to raise money for the GetHiroshima lawsuit has been cancelled. Apparently, the parties involved are getting close to some type of agreement (I don’t know the details) and there is some concern that the timing of the 11 July event would interfere with that process.

I may be adding performances on the 10th and 17th of this month. I’ll post more info when its available. Also, I’m looking forward to the Amnesty International event in Alice’s Garden coming up this Saturday. It will be great to see the amazing Kajiyama Shu on stage again. See the Schedule section for performance times.

I’m thinking about creating a mailing list to send out information about once a month regarding my upcoming performances. However, I’m not really sure yet if there is enough interest for me to create such a list. If you are interested in receiving periodic information in your email box about my upcoming gigs, please send me an email here.

As of today, I am officially a permanent resident of Japan. In April, I began the process of applying to the Immigration Office to change my visa to permanent residence status. Actually, I’ve probably been qualified for several years, but until recently I never gave serious thought to going through all of the paperwork required to submit an application. So, what are the major differences between this visa and my previous Spouse of Japanese National visa? First, there is no date of expiration, and no obligation for renewal (i.e. it is permanent). Second, if we decide to buy a place of our own (something my wife and I have discussed), I’ve been told that getting a housing loan in my name would be extremely difficult without permanent residence status. Third, … well, there is something else, but I’m going to keep it under my hat for now.

Practice, writing, etc. have been slow recently. This happens from time to time, and so far I see no reason to get anxious about it. I find it is best to just coast along and survive the lulls and simply wait for the next wave to come along. I am looking forward to the Barco event this Sunday.

Well, after all of the worrying, the typhoon didn’t come to Hiroshima. Saturday we had a bit of light rain, but the large canopy set up over the stage and seating area in Alice’s Garden provided sufficient cover. Sunday, on the other hand, was blisteringly hot. Jamie, Maggie, Kit, Tom, and I were on stage in cycles for about 3 hours that afternoon, and I got a nicely sunburnt neck to show for it.

GetHiroshima, a website that offers lots of local information and publicizes events free of charge, has become the target of a legal attack. Apparently, a local business person feels he has been slandered/defamed by comments made by users of the website’s forum, and therefore has decided to take the owners of the website to court. GetHiroshima and its owners have been an incredible help to anyone wanting to learn more about what is happening in this city, as well as to people like myself who want to advertise the events that we organize and/or participate in. Jamie has come up with a great idea to have a special El Barco event next month to raise money to contribute to GetHiroshima’s legal expenses. We hope that everyone who has benefited from this website (and anyone who wishes to take a stand against this kind of legal assault) will come out and show their support on 11 July. (See the Schedule section for more info.)

I have a bad habit of wearing my heart on my sleeve, and sometimes I pay for it.

I’ll be playing at two events this weekend, the “June-i.ro.do.ri” music festival in Alice’s Garden on Saturday, and the “Senda-machi Wasshoi Festival & Flea Market” on Sunday. Both are outdoor events, and today I’ve begun to worry a bit about the weather. A typhoon is coming up from the south, and it appears as if it will be here just in time for the weekend.

I’ve also been asked to perform at the annual Sundance Beach Party held on one of the islands in the Seto Inland Sea, just south of Hiroshima City. Right now the only information I’ve heard is “through the grapevine”, so hopefully I’ll be able to get some more details from the organizer before long.

I’ve been exchanging email recently with a Japanese musician named Yoshiharu. He plays an instrument called the Koyabu-Board, which appears to me to be a derivative of the Chapman Stick. Yoshiharu plans on spending some time in Hiroshima during his tour of Japan in July, and we are planning to meet. I look forward to hearing his music, as well as getting my first look at a Koyabu-Board.

I had another busy and incredibly fun weekend. On Saturday, I went to Otis! to see Gotoh Izumi play a short opening set for the headlining band, Tembera Stars. Izumi normally plays accordian and sings for Nekomushi, the widely popular band that she leads. Saturday night, she played a wonderful solo set of original music on accordian with vocals/storytelling.

Sunday was our second gig at Molly Malone’s. Although our first performance there last month was fun and went quite well (from our perspective), the crowd size and response were a bit lower than we had hoped. So, we were a bit anxious about how things would shape up on Sunday night. As it turns out, we had nothing to worry about; the place was packed, the crowd was very attentive, and they seemed to enjoy what we were doing.

After the end of the first set, a man approached me, introduced himself as Paul, and began asking about the Stick and mentioning how much he liked the sound. Paul was playing solo guitar and saxophone at a beer garden across the street, and had stopped into Molly’s for a pint during his break. It turns out that his last set would be ending at just about the time we would be starting our third set, so we invited him to bring his soprano sax over and join us. The result was just incredible. Jamie, Kit, and I loved the extra dimension he added to our blues, and Paul was an incredible player. The crowd really appreciated him, too. It is unfortunate that he had to return to his home in Nagoya the next day.

Today was officially my first day working from home. Aside from a few minor glitches that eventually required me to cycle down to the office to borrow replacement software, things went quite smoothly. If the first day is any indication, I think I’m going to adjust to this change quite well.

Things have been pretty busy around here recently. The Aoi Flower Festival on Saturday and Sunday was a lot of fun, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy all of the music. We all received many nice compliments from several people, and have been invited to come back next year, which will be the 10th anniversary of the festival.

Tonight, I played at Starbuck’s for the first time since March. I had a bit of trouble getting the sound right; I kept overloading the PA. I was getting a really bad distortion out of one of the speakers during my first tune, and so I had to spend a few seconds re-adjusting the levels before starting the second song. I kept fiddling with the levels while playing, and never did get a volume or a sound that I was completely happy with. I could of course solve this problem in the future by taking my own amp and cab to the gig, but that seems like a bit too much lifting and carrying for one 40-minute set.

A few weeks ago I mentioned a significant change coming into effect in my working environment. Starting next Monday, I’ll be working from home, but still an employee with the same company. This is something that I’ve been at my boss(es) about for several years. I expect I’ll be able to work more efficiently away from the (noisy) office, while also taking care of minor house work and getting in some practice time during lunch hour and breaks.

Wow, Sunday was an amazing day/night. It started with me pulling myself out of bed at 9am to get ready for the day’s events, and ended at 3am with me battling a centipede intruder before going to bed. In between I had a wonderful time playing with Jamie, Kit, and Maggie at the Wasshoi Festival, although there were serious concerns that we were going to be rained out. As it turned out, the rain never got bad enough that the canopies weren’t sufficient to protect both us and the equipment.

Later, we hurried over to Barco Tropical for the 2nd Anniversary Party. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people at a Barco live music event before. The place was packed. About 30 musicians in all played in rotating sets, with a very wide variety of styles from country, to tango, to hard rock, to theatrical performance art. Yes, it was a wild night, but we didn’t want to stop. Finally, exhaustion got the best of us.

Sometime over the weekend, I found the time to watch The Last Samurai on DVD. There was a mild controversy recently on a local website about this movie, and how some people didn’t like the way it takes so many liberties with Japanese history. At least, I think that was the argument. I didn’t participate in the conversation, because I hadn’t yet seen the movie at that time. For my part, I enjoyed the movie.

Oh, by the way, that centipede won the 3am battle against me. He didn’t survive my wife’s wrath the next morning, however.