いつもと同じく、日曜のバルコ・イベントは楽しかった。が、週末は忙しかったため、結構疲れていた。ソロで演奏したが、あまり上手くいかなかった。演奏する前でもそうなるだろうと思った。

金曜の夜にいつもインストルメンタル音楽ではなく、例えば女性ボーカルと演奏したらどう？と友達に言われた。この人の意見を尊重するので、数日真剣に考えた。しかし、自分の思いを表すための自分の「声」を探し出すため、このままのソロ活動を進むべきだと決心した。

七月十一日に行われる予定だったGetHiroshimaの募金のための特別なバルコ・イベントが中止になった。その訴訟が示談にするらしくて、十一日のイベントが邪魔になってしまう心配があった。

今月十日、十七日に演奏があるかも。詳細は後ほどここにアップする。この土曜のアリス・ガーデンにてのアムネスティ・インタナショナル広島が主催するコンサートを楽しみにしている。ちょっと久しぶりに梶山シュウの演奏も見れる。出演者、演奏時間などはScheduleをご覧下さい。

月一回程度で僕のライブ・スケジュール、情報などをメールで欲しいと思う方、こちらへご連絡下さい。

今日、永住許可取得した。四月に入局管理局でビザを永住許可に更新する手続きをした。実は、数年前から取得ができたと思うが、手続きが面倒だから申請するとあまり思わなかった。今までは「日本人の配偶者等」と言うビザだった。「永住許可」の主な違いは：　一　在留期限がなく、更新する必要もない（文字通り「永遠」）；　二　永住許可取得しないと住宅ローンなどが難しいと言われたことがある；　三　…もう一つがあるが、今は内々にして置く。

最近、練習、作曲などの進みが良くない。たまにはこうなるので、あまり気にしないようにしている。落ち着いて、次の「波」がくるまで待った方がいいと思う。日曜のバルコにてのイベントは楽しみにしている。

結局、台風が広島に来なかった。土曜は雨が軽く降ったが、アリス・ガーデンのステージと客席に大きいテントがあって、大丈夫だった。日曜は逆にクソ暑かった。ジェーミー、マギー、キット、トム、と僕が三時間ほど演奏した。家に帰ってから日焼けしたと気付き、首の裏の方がピンクになっていた。

広島のあらゆる情報やイベントを無料で宣伝してくれるGetHiroshimaと言うウエブサイトに対して訴訟が起こされた。ある英会話学校のオーナーが掲示板のユーザーに中傷・誹謗されたと思い、ウエブサイトのオーナーを訴えるらしい。GetHiroshimaとそのオーナーは広島のことを詳しく知りたい人や僕みたい自分のイベントを広く宣伝したい人にとって非常に助けてくれる宝物なのだ。ジェーミーがGetHiroshimaの弁護料などの募金のため七月十一日にバルコで特別なイベントを開く。GetHiroshimaのファンの皆さんやこんな訴訟に反対する方、GetHiroshimaを応援しに来てください。（詳細はScheduleをご覧下さい。）

自分の心のうちを人に率直に言ってしまう、と言うあまり良くない癖がある。すると、反省する時がある。

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.