Busy
day!
First,
I got a new pair o' shoes so's I can look well dressed shold the need
ever arise ("Geez, -another- Grammy, oh, okay, I'llbe at teh
awards ceremony tomorrow!)... There's a place called Hikari no Shoes
("Light's Shoes?") about 10 minutes west of Shinjuku Station,
way past Kinokuniya, that has up to size 35. Sometimes I fit into
30s, sometimes into 32s, sometimes neither, depending on the brand,
but otherwise, nomatter what your size, shoe-shopping in Tokyo is
about the same as in America save for one crucial difference: all
the shoes are out, so you can try them all on -- there's no reliance
on some shoe salesman doofus having to run into the back to get another
pair of shoes if the first pair doesn't fit. So the whole process
so much easier.
So
I spent $200 on a nice pair of shoes, which is a lot (for guys anyway...
for you girls, i dunno, $200 seems like the ~average~?!) But hopefully
they'll last a few years.
After
that, I still had three hours to kill before meeting up with Roiyu
at Like an Edison; Roiyu's the guy that emailed me about drumming
for a X-Japany / Deg-gy Luna Sea-y band he's forming.
So
I hit Liberty, just on the off chance they might have something, which
lately is rare. But as it turns out, not only do they have Dir en
grey's first EP Missa, but they also have Pierrot's early album
Pandora's Box (now playing), both used, and neither of which
I've never seen elsewhere, ever. Picture me leaping into the air like
Superman flying away... there goes Gordon lunging for more rare CDs
and tripping over other customers again!
So
with both those discs firmly in hand ($20 and $18 respectively), I
further explore the store. X Japan has just released their entire
pre-Dahlia video catalog on DVD, just last week, I discover.
The 1992 Tokyo Dome live album On the Verge of Destruction
is doing jumping jacks up and down, trying to get my attention, and
it does... and it's used?! How can that be?! Or a promo version without
liner notes? Whatever it is, it's Y2300 less than the Y8000 that it
originally sold for. <grab!>
I
also toy with the idea of getting the Y3200 (orig. Y3990) Visual
Shock vol. 3 as well, but, well, I do have -all- the videos on
VHS already, so it's not like I -need- it!
A
few shelves below, that damn Y6800 Luna Sea The Final Act DVD
set I'v mentioned in previous diary entries is taunting me. So I pick
that up too (my actual thinking being, hey, a plane could crash into
me tomorrow, so I might as well watch this tonight). Way to stimulate
the economy, Osama bin Laden you shit-eating turd! It's got pretty
much every good song Luna Sea ever did, and I don't have any other
live videos of them, so... oh wait, I have Rewind! Lol, okay,
fuck!
Anyway,
add to this nice stack a used Missalina Rei EP (which will be important
later, so remember it!), and that's a nice $200-worth of j-rock. Time
for the next store!
But
the next store, Recofan, is lacking; nuthin' good, except some Aikawa
Nanase used live DVDs which I know I'll see again, chepaer, elsewhere,
eventually... and I have the VHSs and/or VCDs of Live Emotion 1997
and Foxtrot Live 2000 anyway... plus I'm already $400 in the
hole today, thanks!
And
it's 5:20, so I've got like forty minutes to hit Mari's Rock and Like
and Edison before meeting Roiyu. These stores are required visits
for any j-rocker in Shinjuku. Mari's Rock has nothing, except some
La Mule singles selling for $13 instead of the original $15, which
I debate getting, but... ugh, only two songs per single?! Bah!
And
at Like an Edison, I try to find a specific Due le Quartz disc for
a certain friend, but can't... and Rock Indies across the way is apparently
going out of business, so there's no way I'm gonna find it in there
either. And it's 6pm, time to meet the fellas, so i go outside and
wait...
and
wait...
and
wait...
and
Roiyu comes along only 25 minutes late, with Ai in tow; we head to
"Makudon" (McDonalds) for some food (I get the Teriyaki
Burger Set -- love that stuff!)
We
talk for an hour+ about bands and gigging, but with difficulty because
my Japanese is as bad as their English (worse, actually!)... but clearly
the music is dead-on exactly what I wanna be doing (X Japan, Luna
Sea and Dir en grey) and they play some impressive work in/from their
past bands from a portable MD. And in the course of sharing our musical
histories, I bring out my awesome haul of CDs:
Roiyu:
Ack!
Ai: Aargh!
Me: What?!
Ai: Missalina Rei!
Me: Yeah, um, its, um, for a friend!?
Ai: No, ach! <laughter>
Me: Whuh?! <laughter>
Roiyu: <laughter> Ai is ex-Missalina Rei!
So
that's pretty cool.
After
a good 75 minutes of discussion we break. We discuss how long I've
played, how long they've played, bands we like, gigs we've had, how
many songs we've got written, what kinda makeup I'll do (Ai seemed
pretty keen on getting me into dreadlocks as well for some reason...)
...and whether I know any vocalists.
So
it went okay, but already I'm worried whether it's gonna work -- that
damn language problem and everything (they seemed to feel the same
way). But I suggested they download my songs and if they wanna audition
me, just email me. So it went well, but I'm not gushing with positivity
over it... but one never knows, does one? It's too bad you don't get
to know who your future good friends/bandmates will be right as you
meet 'em for the first time, isn't it?
On
the way back, I saw another band practicing outside Shinjuku Station's
North exit... for 15-year-olds in tacky spacesuits, they really weren't
bad.
Other
news: Bishop (that band I auditioned for way back when -- but still
hadn't officially joined or not joined) is breaking up -- check out
www.worldwide-bishop.com for deets. And visual kei flags at half-mast
tomorrow, please. :(
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