Our gig in Peace Park on Saturday afternoon went extremely well. In addition to our individual solo sets, Maggie, Tony, Jamie, and I did a final set together. We had to cut it a bit short due to time restrictions, so we chose 4 of our more up-beat tunes and let Maggie and Tony’s powerful voices wow the crowd. We also had our friends Cannery Row do a set of their songs, and invited a cookin’ blues harp player, Kit, to sit in on some tunes. Kit is new to Hiroshima, and I expect to see him out playing a lot.I was pleased with my set, and got several nice compliments. Overall, Saturday was a big boost to my spirit, following my disappointing gig the previous Wednesday.Right before I went on stage Saturday, I had the pleasure to speak with Kamitsuna Katsuhiko for just a few minutes. Kamitsuna-san, a native of Hiroshima, is a very well-known pianist/keyboardist/songwriter in Japan. Although I’ve known his wife well for many years, I’ve only spoken with Kamitsuna-san briefly, and that had been several years ago. I was shocked that he remembered me. He was excited to see a Chapman Stick for the first time, and told me a story about how he had met Dan Chapman, Emmett’s brother, many years ago, and that they had performed together. (Dan is a harmonica player.) What a small world!

The music ended at 4pm, we packed up our gear, and then promptly found a nice spot under some cherry blossoms to spend a few hours eating and drinking with a large group of friends. Springtime in Hiroshima is just amazing.