Blog - January 2016 Archives

January 2016 Archives

Index

.23 Weekly revue: 2016 week #3 (January 16 to 22)
.17 Weekly revue: 2016 week #2 (January 9 to 15)
.09 Weekly revue: 2016 week #1 (January 2 to 8)

January 23, 2016

Weekly revue: 2016 week #3 (January 16 to 22)

Food: - Monte Cristo at Sandwich House 55, Shibuya
- Coffee at Little Nap Coffee Stand, Yoyogi-hachiman
- Salad (kale, pomegranate, tomato, hazelnuts, cheese & quinoa) and lamb couscous at Path, Yoyogi-hachiman
- Satoimo fries, miso onigiri, etc. at Minazuki, Hatagaya

Music event: On Sunday January 17, I went to see 80's style idol group Especia's "Estrella" tour final show at Studio Coast! This was a special show backed by a full band of 11 musicians (guitar, bass, 2 keyboards, drums, percussion, sax, trumpet, and 3 back vocals)! I was expecting a great show, and it was even better. The band was part of the show from start til end (except the last encore that was karaoke style), they were rehearsed and the sound just perfect! I hope this will be released on DVD. The DJs for the evening were DJ Fukutake and Mitsy.

The show unexpectedly ended being very emotional, as the group's manager announced that they will be moving to Tokyo (from Osaka) shortly, and because of that they will lose 3 of the 5 current members who cannot move along (because of studies, etc.). After seeing such an amazing show, I am hopeful that Especia will continue doing great music despite those big obstacles. But for now I'm just looking forward to new album "Carta" coming in February.

Set list (source): uchu senkan Yamato (Inst.) / Intro / We are Especia / No.1 Sweeper / YA-ME-TE! / Aventure wa giniro ni / Midnight Confusion / Saudade (Inst.) / West Philly / Sweet Tactics / Sensual Game / Mistake / Boogie Aroma / kurukana / Twilight Palm Beach / Abyss / kirameki Seaside / Interstellar / Aviator
Encore: Clover / Rittenhouse Square / We are Especia (Reprise) / Night Rider / Twinkle Emotion

Music release news: Sunny Day Service, The okawari Sisters, Vanilla Beans

Playlist: Hoshino Michiru, Metafive, Especia, Pizzicato Five, Halfby

This week's video:

"Forest Green (arui wa, ano uta o itsu ka utaeru ka)" from "Brown, White & Black"

January 17, 2016

Weekly revue: 2016 week #2 (January 9 to 15)

Food: - South Indian curry dinner at Cochin Nivas, Shinjuku
- Sri Lankan lunch plate at Acala.naatha, Nakano
- Coffee at Shozo Coffee Store, Omotesando

Music event: - I went to see Sally Soul Stew's "annual" show at Shinjuku Red Cloth! Sally Soul Stew is the band of Sally Kubota, my favorite bassist! While he usually plays a Rickenbacker, this time he played an "Orender" bass of Etō Isao's signature. His is autographed on the bass neck.

The band played many great covers (with a lot that were new to their repertoire) and their originals such as "anata ni maketa no" and "Joy to the World" (written by Takanami K-tarō). There was a special appearance by The Scooters' Ronnie Barry and Lucy, for "Heatwave" and "Tokyo Disco Night", which was awesome! And also there was a short solo performance by Tablet Jun who I had been wanting to see again. A great evening!

There I also had the chance to get my 7" autographed by the two girl singers, Lemon and Mashiro Megumi, in addition to Sally's autograph that I got when I bought it. A great evening, also for the good times spent with friends there. :)

Set list (excuse the blanks): Intro / Golden Cup / anata ni maketa no / ... / nakazu ni irarenai (I Can't Keep From Crying, Sometimes) / Black Coffee / Heatwave (w/ Ronnie & Lucy (The Scooters)) / Tokyo Disco Night (w/ Ronnie & Lucy (The Scooters)) / ... / ... / Boy and Girl / hitori no kanashimi (Zoo Nee Voo cover) / ... / Joy to the World / Hey Hey Hey Hey

Exhibition: Briefly dropped by Spiral and Aoyama where an installation called "Dimensions" by Rhizomatiks Research was on display. See a short video (better than what I took) shot by Tomo Suzuki. This ends today (January 17).

Tech: I was still using Windows XP on my PC at home, but it had been crashing and also I couldn't install the latest iTunes anymore, so I finally decided to get Windows 10. Not being qualified for free upgrades, I went to Bic Camera and bought the packaged USB edition. After some tweaking and disabling of unneeded features, so far it's all much better!

One stupid thing was that I got stock in the installation process, which boots from the USB stick but then reboots automatically hoping to start in the new installed Windows, but since there's no cue to remove the USB stick it just rebooted into the install. Not having been looking at the screen I thought it had failed and needed to started over, so I wasted time installing twice.

Music release news: Kera, Yogee New Waves, Perfume

Playlist: Cornelius, bambino, Towa Tei, Negicco

This week's video: The Lady Spade "Aretabetaina"

January 9, 2016

Weekly revue: 2016 week #1 (January 2 to 8)

Food: - Carrot cake at to_, Mito
- "nanakusagayu" (sevel herbs congee) and ginger & dates ice cream at Tapir, Shin-Okubo
- Galette des rois party! I didn't win the fêve, but it was delicious, and I also did my first "kakizome" thanks to Picaro Taro. :)

Music release news: De De Mouse, Count Joke, Sexy-Synthesizer, Hamada Bamyu Bamyu, Denki Groove, Negicco, Metafive, Konishi Yasuharu (Tokuma Japan 7"'s), Charan-Po-Rantan, Cherryboy Function, tofubeats, Hoshino Michiru