I had a very busy weekend, and today was my first day back to work since December. Derek and his wife Hiroko arrived in Hiroshima on Thursday night. They were both quite worn out after a 6 hour drive from Kita-Kyushu, where Derek had played a gig the night before. We stayed up until about 2am talking and getting to know each other, before turning in for the night. This was the earliest night we had during the entire weekend, as Derek and I made a habit over the next 3 nights of talking about a wide variety of things until after 4am.

After brunch on Friday morning, Derek and I each retreated to our own small spaces to rehearse and prepare for our gig later that night. When we arrived at Jive at about 5pm, Kajiyama-san was already there and half-way to setting up his gear. Derek and I got set up, we all did a quick soundcheck, and then started the show on time at 8pm. I was first up with a 40 minute set (including a few minutes explaining The Stick), followed by Kajiyama-san and then Derek, each playing about 45 minutes. We played to a full house of about 40 people, who were very attentative and seemed to enjoy the show very much. Kajiyama-san is quite well known and respected in Hiroshima, and gave one of his usual powerful performances. Many people had great things to say about Derek and his music (Jamie: “Where did you find this guy?”), and Derek sold 8 of his CDs.

Saturday was a day of relaxation and a very brief tour of Hiroshima City, including Peace Memorial Park and the A-Bomb Dome. We also had a wonderful early dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant, where Derek struck up a conversation with a waiter who was from a city in northern India where Derek lived for a few years.

Sunday night we played at a benefit event organized by Jamie and his wife Natasha, from which all proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society to assist the victims of the tsunami that hit many Asian countries in December. Derek and I were the first to perform, and then quickly removed all of our gear from the stage so we could leave early. I knew that Hiroko (the driver) would want to get home at a decent hour so she could rest up for the drive back home.

Derek and Hiroko left Hiroshima on Monday afternoon. I expect that he will be coming back to Hiroshima to perform again sometime. We have similar ideas about how we would like to do more gigs and events in western Japan and bring The Stick to the attention of more people, but we are going to move in baby steps.

On the Wednesday before Derek arrived, I purchased an iBook as the first piece of gear in my MacRack. I expect I’ll be able to have the other items I need to complete the MacRack within a few weeks.