I will be one of several musicians playing at Rendezvous on 8 April, in a fund-raising event for the good people at GetHiroshima.com. The administrators of that website are being sued by a local English conversation school, for comments posted to the website’s forums by an annonymous user that the owner of the school feels defamed both him and the school. It all sounds bogus to me, but even if GetHiroshima should be found free of liability, they will still have a mound of legal fees to pay. GH’s many friends have started to come together to do what we can to pay them back for everything they’ve done, and continue to do, for us. I’ll post more details about the start time and performing acts as soon as more info is available.

I’ve spent a large part of the past two days designing and creating a website for flamenco dancer Iwata Reiko. In addition to performing throughout Japan, Iwata-sensei owns and operates the Escuela de Flamenco dance studio here in Hiroshima. I think I have most of the major designing complete, but will probably be making minor adjustments over the next several days/weeks.

The second practice session with Izumi (Nekomushi) went better than I had expected, considering that I didn’t spend nearly as much time preparing as I should have. We did end up cutting one song from the set list, because I felt it was just to intricate for me to learn it and come up with an interesting part in such a short time frame. We may try to squeeze in one more short rehearsal in the next few days, but competing schedules (ours and the studio’s) may make it an impossibility. While it would be nice to have another hour together, I think we’ll be mostly fine for Sunday. Between now and then, I’ll try to work on some more interesting melody/accompaniment parts with my right hand.

This practice session was the first time that I took my MacRack out of the house. I didn’t bring all of my foot controllers along (in an attempt to reduce baggage), so it was difficult for me to adjust volume levels while playing. That combined with the fact that we weren’t using monitors made it hard for me to get a good sense of how the processing on the melody side sounded. Sunday at El Barco will be my first opportunity to really test the MacRack away from home.

Last night was my first practice session with Izumi. We will be performing only her music, so the entire two-hour rehearsal was spent with her teaching me the songs. While not a very productive rehearal, I think it was not unusual as far as first sessions go. I am, however, a bit worried that it appears we will have only one more opportunity to rehearse together before our performance. Luckily, I recorded her playing the songs for me, so I can spend the next few days listening and coming up with ideas. After only one listen today, a couple of ideas have already emerged, so I’ll just have to see how they develop over the weekend.

After the practice session, we stopped into a nearby restaurant/cafe for coffee before going home. This was completely spontaneous, and we ended up talking for about 2 hours. I believe that if I am to have any chance at success in making music with someone, it is vital for me to establish some form of personal link with the other, develop a sense of comfort and ease with the person. So, the long chat over coffee and tobacco was very welcome.

In addition to my performance with Izumi at El Barco on 27 March, I will also be playing at the new outlet mall, Marina Hop, on 8 May. Details on the latter are still sketchy; I’ll post more info when it becomes available.

This has been a long period of inactivity for me. For about a month, I haven’t been interested in touching my Stick at all, and it has been refreshingly liberating. Now, just as I’m starting to think I want to get back into the swing of things, I get a suprising and welcome email from my friend Izumi, vocalist/accordion and leader of the band Nekomushi. She is scheduled to play a solo set at the next El Barco Live open mic event, but decided she’d like me to play with her rather than play alone. Since I’ve been hoping for quite some time that she and I would have the chance to play together at some point, I was very happy to accept. Our first rehearsal is tentatively scheduled for next week.

I went to Kapone on the 5th to see the farewell performance by Colin and Bill of Cannery Row. It was a great show. I really dig their music, and will miss them when they leave Hiroshima. (Actually, it turns out it wasn’t their final show, as they too are scheduled to play at the next El Barco event. These guys really know how to milk a farewell.)

Oh, the 2nd anniversary party at The Shack was … eventful. ’nuff said.

I have several pieces of gear, including my Rane SP 13, for sale at Yahoo!Auctions. If you are interested, please have a look at my auction page.

I spoke with Jamie on the phone today, and he invited me to perform with him, Kit, and Maggie at a local restaurant’s 2nd anniversary party on 1 March. The owner wants acoustic music, so I’ll be playing the spoons in support of Jamie and Kit’s bluesy and “fake bluegrass” music. Since I was born in Kentucky, one would expect me to have at least a little bit of bluegrass in my blood (at least compared to Jamie the Scot and Kit the Brit). While I wouldn’t say my bluegrass/blood ratio is 0, I think it isn’t too much higher than that. However, I started practicing with the spoons around the end of December, and it has grown on me a bit. This gig should be interesting.

My Guitar Rig software arrived on Saturday. Since the 828mkII is back-ordered and won’t be delivered until early February, I’m not yet able to process my Stick through the software. All I’ve been able to do so far is install Guitar Rig into my iBook and use the pre-recorded samples to experiment with the huge variety of effect/amp/cabinet simulators. This looks to be a very promising software package, although it may be a bit more of a CPU hog than I had expected. I will definitely need to dedicate my iBook specifcally to my MacRack, and avoid installing other software, or using it for the Internet or email, etc.

Very early this morning while doing some work around the outside of the house, I tried to climb up over a short cement wall with my arms full, slipped and banged up my legs and knees. It hurt pretty bad and I even felt nauseous for a very brief moment, but it passed and I finished my work with a bit of a limp. It wasn’t until I got back inside that I noticed that my right sock was quickly becoming soaked in blood. I managed to stop the bleeding, clean and disinfect the wound, and dress it with some cotton and gauze. The wound wasn’t large or very serious, but it was right on my shin, where the bone is very close to the skin, and I could see something white-ish in the wound. While I was pretty sure it wasn’t bone that I was seeing, I figured it was better to be safe than sorry, especially when it began bleeding a bit again around noon. So I went to the hospital expecting to get a stitch or two. The doctor laughed at me, closed the wound with a couple of strips of surgical tape, and sent me on my way. I’m kinda surprised he didn’t offer me a lollipop.

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.

I spoke with Derek on the telephone a few days ago to go over last minute arrangements, and then he sent me an email yesterday just before he and Hiroko hit the road. Derek will be playing a show in Kita-Kyushu tonight, and then they will set out sometime tomorrow for Hiroshima.

Jamie is organizing a huge benefit event for Sunday 9 January at El Barco and Barco Tropical, with live music and DJs. The goal is to raise 500,000 yen to donate to the Japan Red Cross to assist the victims of the tsunami that hit south Asia last month. See the Schedule section for more information.

There is an outside chance that I may be able to put together a “MacRack” sooner rather than later. I spent several hours yesterday shopping and deciding which iBook I want, and generally getting a bit too excited before I even have all of my ducks in a row.

Whenever people are kind enough to compliment me after a performance, I always try to smile and thank them even if I am personally disappointed with how I played. Sometimes it can be difficult, and Sunday was one of those nights. It is important to remember that most compliments are offerred sincerely, and to reply with anything less than a minimal smile and “thank you” is not only rude, but just poor form.

The Barco Tropical Live Christmas Special on Sunday was actually held in El Barco (on the second floor) rather than the usual Barco Tropical (on the third floor). It seems there was a double-booking for that night on the third floor, so we were moved downstairs. As it turned out, the second floor stage area, lighting, customer seating, and bar area are all much nicer than the third floor, and I was making suggestions all night that the event should be held on the second floor from now on. I think many of the other musicians agreed with me, and by the end of the night the owner did too. I’m guessing he was happy with the crowd that showed up, because he has requested that the next monthly open mic be held on the second floor.

I will be sitting in with AKA Toe Jam at Molly Malone’s Midnight Masquerade countdown party on the 31st. The band’s bass player won’t be able to be at the party, so I was asked to fill the bassist’s role. I told them that would be fine, as long as they have no problem with me playing The Stick. Last week they gave me a CD of about 17 songs to learn. My first rehearsal with them will be on Thursday.

Last Friday I started pushing the advertising for the “Solo Trio” show coming up in January, and a few inquiries about advanced tickets are beginning to trickle in. I’m both excited and anxious about this show, because its level of success will determine whether I’ll be able to invite more Chapman Stick players to Hiroshima in the future.