Started
the day with Brendan Frasier and Blast From the Past, followed
by Interview with the Vampire, which is one of maybe 10 films
I enjoyed so much I actually own a real copy of it. (Other faves include
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, and
both the Bill & Ted movies.)
Then
I caught the second half of This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie
Roberts, one of those Sunday political shows that I started enjoying
about five years ago, especially if I also had the Sunday New York
Times and a fresh bagel in front of me. (Plain's fine, so's Sesame...
but occasionally I like a good blueberry bagel with strawberry cream
cheese and a cafe au lait -- the meal that got me through all my 8am
classes at university back when Kurt Cobain was quite alive and Dir
en grey were but 12-year-olds.
Before
I knew it, it was 2pm, and the day was half wasted... and with such
an layabout beginning, the best I thought I could hope for was maybe
finding a new can opener at the hundred-yen store. (The one we currently
have seems is so Draconian, I don't even know how to describe it...
but if I created the mental image in your mind of putting a crocodile
in a headlock, maybe that'll give you an idea.)
Right,
so, off to Shinjuku because it's been a week since I shopped there!
I
caught the express train, which is a 20-minute ride and usually standing
room only (there are seats, but they're always filled). But there
was one seat available, so I sat. I almost had to sit on this college-ish
dude's legs, because he insisted on slouching in his seat with his
legs spread, but when he saw I was just gonna plop down anyway, he
moved -- for a second. But then for the next 20 minutes, we engaged
in a battle of wills; he pushed his leg against mine, and I pushed
mine against his. His legs were agape! He was purposely occupying
more than his allotted amount of leg space! You subway riders out
there know what I'm talking about!
I wasn't gonna let him get away with it, so the whole bloody ride
we spent pushing... neither of us relenting, neither of us speaking,
neither of us making eye contact or anything... my leg was a wee bit
numb after only 10 minutes, but I couldn't give in. Sometimes we'd
shift a little; sometimes, on sudden starts and stops, we'd knock
into each other a bit. But still the pretense of mutual unawareness
dominated. If you had asked either of us "what the fuck?"
we'd just have gone, "Who? What? I'm just sittin' here happy
as a clam! 'Leg battle?' What are you talking about, I'm just sitting
here enjoying my book and/or the scenery, happy as a clam, yes indeedy!"
Then
we pulled into Shinjuku Station; the last stop. "Everybody off!"
announces the conductor.
Neither
of us got up! Everyone else got up, and we stayed seated! People started
filing out the doors, we just sat there. The car was nearly empty,
and then finally the jerk stood. And I sat, reading my book for a
little a couple more seconds, "completely oblivious" to
anything, before I got up and followed, triumphant!!!
Right,
so anyway, on to Recofan. Kayo had found one about two days ago, inside
Pepe, which is either the name of the department store or the name
of building. I take the escalator, and on 5F, I spot a music store...
I need springs for my guitar (to tighten up the Floyd Rose tremolo,
which I only use because of the fine tuners... anyway, I get three
springs (Y300) and spot a sale bin. One mag has Dir en grey on the
cover, a poster of 'em inside, and tab for Luna Sea's Be Awake
and Glay's Mermaid, which I remember was one of the songs Or'iel
had considered learning for that show we did at Whachimacalit Hall
back in ...March? April? Plus bits on Pierrot and Raphael, and the
price, Y700, meshed nicely with the Y300 springs... no extra change
required! (Although I forgot about the tax, like a dork, so it wasn't
nearly so neat.)
So
then I got up to 7F and Recofan. At varying times I held used discs
by Alienne Ma'riage, Syndrome, Dir en grey, Missalina Rei, Neil, Pierrot,
La Mule, Raphael, and others... but I was operating on limited funds
today. I got Pierrot's Private Enemy, which was extremely cheap
at Y1600. I almost got Dir en grey's Macabre, but that's not
toooooo hard to find, so I held off (plus I've got the mp3s to hold
me over). The Alienne Ma'riage thing's just a clock and a CD single,
though at only Y1200 (orig. price: Y3500) it was very tempting. As
was the Neil single for Y450, but I don't know them at all.
The
used Syndrome CD was really hard to put down, but it was Y1700 and
appeared to be only one song, and I wouldn't pay Y1700 for one song
if it was one of MY songs, as performed by Dave Mustaine adn the resuscitated
corpse of Hide! So I certainly wasn't gonna take the risk, especially
with only $150 on me. (It was -really- tempting though! Because you
never see anything used from Syndrome, ever.)
I
saw Symphonic Luna Sea II for Y500, and got that, (it has Rosier
AND True Blue) and Aikawa Nanase's best of disc ID,
just for the acoustic version of Koi Gokoro, which is on my
list of top ten songs: more than any other song, Koi Gokoro,
with that cool Iron Maiden gallop, represents all the fun I had in
Japan back in 1996.
I
also grabbed Mirage's Risk en Eve, a six-song job with, it
turns out, a couple good (not great) tracks. At the time of purchase,
I didn't know much by them, but they had five members according to
the back cover photo, which usually means two guitars, which, as you
know, I dig, so I took a shot. Only Y750!
I
then found Sex Machine Guns' Video Sex, for Y1800. Normally
it's Y3000, and I was gonna pay that much for it, eventually, having
more or less given up on finding it non-new. It's got a live version
of Japan on it ("I live in Ja~apan!"), which is cool
(and from the same concert as the first few songs on SM Show,
their live concert vid). The other five tracks (Burn, Tekken II,
Minna no Uta, Onigunsow, and Hanabi-la) are all music videos,
and at least the first two are similar to that other "MTV"
that's on SM Show, the title of which I forget. They've got
the same grainy film look, jaggy camerawork, sped-up cutscenes, sharp
lighting and wind-tunnel windiness. Cool stuff.
So
I walk out with Private Enemy, ID, Symphonic Luna Sea II, Risk
en Eve and Video Sex, for about $50 after taxes. (I'm a
member, so I saved 10%. Membership is free. Dig.)
Next
stop Victory, the store with that Luna Sea Final Act DVD for
Y6800. Damn I wish I'd buy it already, but I just KNOW that the day
I do, I'll see it for Y5000 somewhere else. I -know- it.
Victory
does have Puffy's Jet CD for Y80. It's a shitty album with
nothing of value, but I'm feeling charitable, so I flip through a
few more copies just in case the prices are different (they usually
are). They get higher at first (Y180, Y220, Y250), then I hit the
last one, which is marked at Y50. "Schwing!" (Jet CD
for Y500 isn't hard to find, but Y50?! Yowzer! The jewel case alone
is worth that much!)
Next
to Jet CD are Victory's used copies of Fever Fever,
priced at Y780. There's ONE cool track on there (a very Black Sabbathy
one), but I can wait I guess. I also see Private Enemy -- for
Y2350. Phew. Hehe.
At
this point I'm tired (I spent a good hour debating which discs to
get at Recofan, believe it or not, and my brain hurts from calculating
all the odds of the likelihood of seeing one disc again versus another,
and at what price, and if I'll even LIKE the songs or not based on
what little information I have on each band... I love doing this needling
little shit, but it's hard work!
So
there's Tsutaya, where I can rent the new Inoran and Tetsu solo albums,
which I'm sure I won't like. Or I can hit Disk Union, which won't
have anything because I was just there 10 days ago. I decide to hit
Disk Union, just in case.
THANK
GOD I DID.
Walk
in; first floor, J-Pop. First shelf, videos. Shiina Ringo... Judy
& Mary... some old guy... Aikawa Nana-- DIR EN GREY!!?!! <lunge!>
I
instantly recognized it as the If Trans... video, which I knew
had either Garden or Unknown Despair A Lost, two of
my favorite jrock songs... (it has Garden as it turns out)
and snatched it up. LEAPT at it, more like! I never thought I'd find
it used; I had resigned myself to the fact I'd have to either buy
it new, or buy a bootleg online.
I
just watched it all (it's just 20 minutes). I can say it's worthwhile,
but not unbelievably cool. It's only four cheaply made promo videos,
and the third one is just bits from the first two edited together
-- a total cop-out. But the Garden video is fun, and the first
two songs, Ash and ...shit, I forget, it's in kanji... sound
a little different than they do on Missa (slight changes to
the vocal melody here and there, extra clean, chorused guitar bits
in the bridge, that kinda stuff). Kyo (if I may again say so without
surrendering my devout heterosexuality!) is quite cute in the Garden
vid; he's got this girly little do and, ach, nevermind, I'll try to
get a picture up this week!
So
anyways, I immediately bought the video -- for only Y600! (Holy fuck!)
-- and felt so guilty for getting such a good deal I also bought the
VHS version of Chain Reaction, the latest batch of videos from
Aikawa Nanase (for another Y700, compared to the Y5300 DVD). And I
got a disc by Pleur (aka "the stuffed-animal band") that
I listened to while I typed the first half of this page. It was mellow,
relaxing, lite stuff, but good, I guess, sort of. Cuddly. La Premiere
Porte is the title.
After
that, I went upstairs to 5F, the Heavy Metal floor. Nothing good,
but, it being Monday, it was cool to see several businessmen there,
and several attractive office ladies as well, shopping while the clerk
played something that sounded very Gutenber-ish. Wait, Gottenberg-ish...?
(You know, In Flames-y!) I love little dichotomies like that.
There
was nothing good -- I toyed with some Marilyn Manson discs, but after
all the stuff I'd already bought, I'd never get to them! On the way
out, I saw a box of In Flames Tokyo Showdown promo posters. I flagged
the clerk, and knowing the answer would be, "They're not for
sale," asked:
Me: Sore poster wa, ikura desu ka?
Clerk: japanesejapanesejapanese.
Me: <pouts>
Clerk: japanesejapanesejapanese?
Me: <smiles>
Clerk: <rolls up a poster, discretely hands it over the
counter>
Me: <not discretely> Woo hoo!
I
think the clerk recognized me; I'd been there 10 times already --
I even bought a copy of The Tokyo Showdown there! (Used, of
course!) Nice guy, I owe him a beer I think.
So
that was how I got an In Flames poster to go with the Dir en grey
poster and Luna Sea posters I have. Nice way to cap off the evening,
ne? :)
<<<prev
/ next>>>
