Every
once in a while I actually contribute to the health of the world's
economy by buying a bunch of stuff, and today's visit to Shinjuku
was one such day.
First
stop, Like An Edison, where I was supposed to go a month ago, when
Rob (from Secret Secret) asked me to get Jun's (Like An Edison's manager)
email address. But I put it of, and didn't get out there, and one
thing led to another, and I totally never got her email addy, and
he had just asked about it yesterday, and so today I went. She wasn't
there. Bah! But some Due le Quartz costumes were up on mannequins,
so that was cool.
Then
I popped across the street to Club Indies, that store that failed
to post my band-wanted ad last 6 weeks ago. I guess they read this
site too -- because the ad was up this time! None of the little phone
number / email addy tabs were taken from the bottom of the ad, but
at least it's up now! I ripped off two of the tabs for luck.
The
shop also had some Dir en grey costumes on mannequins on display.
I asked if I could take a pic, and the clerk said no. I asked if they
had any Dir en grey DVDs, and the clerk said no. And she was so bitchy,
my brief elation from having the ad up was shot down. I hate that
dump! Boo! Boo! Hiss! I did learn that Dir en grey's macabre tour
00-01 live video came out on VHS on 7/25 though -- and will be
released on DVD on... 8/19? Thereabouts. The VHS I looked over had
NO track listing, but did indicate 120 minutes' worth of video, which
is a lot of friggin songs, unless they blow 30 minutes on an overly-long
audience participation segment (which I can't imagine even being fun
for the audience after five minutes or so... after four repeats of
"yeah yeah yeah yeah!" ANYONE would get bored, I don't care
-what- band is on stage!
Next
stop Mari's Rock. Nuthin'. They seemed to have gotten a few more old
La Sadies demo tapes in, selling for $200 each. They've got a bunch
of stuff like that -- super-rare and promo stuff from Dir en grey,
Pierrot, Sex Machine Guns, L'Arc, Luna Sea -- I usually debate the
worthwhile-ness of robbing the place around closing time, but lugging
a giant batch of videotapes hardly seems conducive to a quick getaway.
(I've also thought of just going in and buying the top 10 videos I
want, paying in cash, and then robbing the place just for more easily-portable
money... but then I remember how tall, blond, and non-japanese proficient
I am, and how easy it would be for any witness to go, "Oh, it
was that big gaijin -- i think he has a band ad hanging up at the
j-rock shop next door.")
Right
next door to Mari's, down two flights of stairs, is a nameless little
CD shop that had a "for promo use only" copy of Opeth's
Morningrise last time I was there. This time they have a Y1500
copy of In Flames' Tokyo Showdown. So now I have TWO of those...
one for gifting, one for me.
And
leaving that shop, quite by accident I see a tiny sign for "Disc
Heaven". I investigate. Disk Heaven, 3F; Disk Hell, 8F. Nothing
used at either. But, ah, here's Opeth's My Arms Your Hearse
with two bonus tracks for Y2200. Hmmm! ("Demon! Demon of the
Fall!" swirls through my mind.) Ah, everything's 15% off in the
store according to this little green sign... so it only ended up costing
me Y1800 after tax, that's pretty cool. And the cash register guy
was a cool long-haired Japanese dude that spoke English, and he was
friendly, so I'll probably go back again.
(The
two extra tracks are Celtic Frosts' Circle of the Tyrants and
Iron Maiden's Remember Tomorrow... available on tribute albums
elsewhere. "The only two covers we've recorded," asserts
Mikael in the liner notes.)
Anyway,
so then it's time to get some money at the bank, so I do. And then
I pop over to another little CD + DVD used shop that's more or less
across the street, which I think is called "Liberty" --
that's what it says on the bag, although there's no sign anywhere
near the door, so who knows! They've got Luna Sea's Final Act DVDs
for $60, which is very tempting... actually, thinking back, I'm surprised
I passed it up! I also stumble across some Sleep My Dear ("Ask
for Eyes" is stuck in my head -- Sung's fault) and, in a bargain
bin (actually just a dusty cardboard box) I come across the CD I'm
Currently listening to as I type this, Siam Shade V. Tenk had
suggested 'em to me on AIM a while ago -- "Aren't they lightweights?"
I replied. "No they're pretty good, check out Siam Shade V,"
I think she said back to me... although I could be wrong. But I think
it was Siam Shade, and specifically Siam Shade V... so for
Y380 I rescued it from the bargain bin, alongside LaPPisch (god I
hate that band -- I've never heard them, but whenever you look for
Luna Sea or L'Arc, there they are, getting in the way) and King and
Queen (whatever the hell THAT is).
The
Siam Shade is pretty good; I'm reminded of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani's
solo albums, only not so much the technical / virtuoso-ish songs as
much as the poppier "this could be a single" type of songs.
Although my bias against Satch and Vai type solo stuff is that the
vocals and vocal melodies always tend to be weak, so my opinion shouldn't
be taken as positively as you might've originally thunk! They're good;
they're not great, at least not on the first listen. The songs are
put together well, the production's clear.. but I think the guitars
are a little low. Overall, the album's lacking some aggression that
could make it more powerful. Cool little timing bits and fills here
and there though -- it's not in the Dream Theater ballpark, but they're
in the parking lot at least. :)
So
with Sleep My Dear's 1999 2CD Last Live Final Spark ($17 --
but it was $80 at Like An Edison... but then it had a video as well...)
and Siam Shade V, I head of to buy some much needed guitar-related
items. A 20" cable (everything's in meters though! So I get a
7 meter cable after struggling with the tremendously tricky mathematical
conversion for a few minutes) ("um, 7 meters, 3 feet in a meter..
um, uh, damn I wish I had a calculator.") I also get a clever
little fold-up guitar stand, a cheap tuner (does anyone know why there
are $20 tuners and $70 tuners? Is there any difference at all?! I've
never noticed one if there is), a set of GHS Boomers (8s - 38s --
nice and light for a change, because heavier gauge strings on the
Aiji model i've got feel weird), and, um... I think that's it. $25
for the cable (it's not one of those Spectraflex types, just a cheaper
black dealie that only has to last a couple years), $20 for the tuner,
$15 for the collapsible and eminently portable stand, Y480 for the
strings--
Ooh! I know this Siam Shade song! (Track 11 -- Dreams.)
--
and as soon as I pay it starts POURING rain. I dash across the street
looking for cover, and end up in front of an adult movie theater.
Who the hell watches porn in a public theater anymore? Buy a fucking
VCR! (Ha -- no pun intended!) Oh wait, i forgot to mention how nice
the Rock Inn cashier girl was, and she threw in a couple AAA batteries
for my tuner! Now -that- is one cool thing about Japan, they do that
little shit for ya that saves you the hassle of doing it yourself.
Lastly
I hit Tsutaya, the Blockbuster of Japan. One whole floor is for CD
rentals, one whole floor is for movie rentals (VHS and DVD), and one
whole floor is for just Anime (VHS, DVD, and CD soundtracks). Oh,
and one whole floor is for "adulto".
Dir
en grey
Missa-ness
achieved! (The two stickers are from Tsutaya -- they slap 'em right
on the cover. Terrible, but whatcha gonna do.
Anyway,
so they had Dir en grey's Missa, and Inoran's new album, and
for Y290 I could have Missa for a week. SO i signed up for a card
(Y500 fee) and got Missa! Yeehaw! (I didn't get Inoran's solo album
because it's new, and subject to a maximum 5-day rental, whereas Missa
was either one day for Y240 or one week for Y290, and I wanted it
for a week.) (It just occurred to me that I could have gotten Inoran's
CD as well, and just returned it and Missa at the same time,
on the fifth day. I'm such a dork.) But anyway, finally getting Missa
was cool. I already listened to it, and the CD is better than the
shitty 128kbps MP3s I first listened to (I can't stand any MP3 under
160kbps -- even that's too low for me. All mine are at 256k!) You
can actually hear guitar tones now! Congratulate me! Thank you!
Should
I Say I Lost It and Keep it? Or Return It Like a Good Little Boy,
to Share It with Others? I Honestly Don't Know Yet.
I
figure most of you have never seen the back cover before, since apparently
only FIVE bloody copies of this disc were ever printed, which is unusual
-- East-West Japan is a big label with great distribution, gobs of
capital... so why aren't there any more copies floating around?! Oh
wait, I know: Deg don't wanna release it, probably because they'd
make no money on it (artists don't make much money on album sales,
especially on a first album, when they're nobodies)... I guess they
included the songs they liked on the Osaka 1999 video... or as remixed
b-sides with the Gauze singles... Ah! Or it could be that I
have no clue, and that I'm just talking out of my ass.
The
ride home (I'm reading Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
currently, btw) was uneventful except for the fact that the woman
sitting next to me (it was a local train, so seats were available
-- on the express trains, it's impossible to get a seat unless you
wait in line for the train coming AFTER the currently-sitting-in-the-station
train, which is SO stupid... standing in line and going nowhere when
you could just stand and actually get thine arse home faster, but
anyway -- so this woman is nodding off (like a lot of people tend
to do on the trains) but her head keeps falling to one side, then
her whole body tilts like the Leaning Tower of Piza, and then she
wakes up and sits up straight and then falls asleep again and crumbles
in the other direction. Nothing too unusual, but then she starts bouncing
from my shoulder to the guy seated on her left like a rag doll hanging
from a noose and flapping in the breeze: wake, sleep, wake, sleep,
back and forth like a tennis match. Boing bong boing boing boing!
It was really funny... guess you had to be there!
<<<prev
/ next>>>
