So
Missy the acupuncturist from New York is in Tokyo...
We
should meet!
Yeah, is Thursday good, in Shinjuku, say 9:30?
Sounds good!
So
I get to Studio Alta (where everybody meets!) just in time. But no
Missy. Two j-rock girls are hanging out in the corner. They are staring.
And I'm only in a suit, not vinyl. Why are they staring, is my fly
unzipped? Then they go, "Hey are you Go? Waiting for Missy?"
"Yup!"
So
Faith is the one with the purple hair and ripped flight-suit lookin'
thing. Maria is the one in all black.
Faith:
Here try these, they're good.
Me: <alarmed> What are they?!
Faith: Potatoes baked in chocolate!
Maria: They're good! Really.
Me: <seeing no way out> Okaaayyyyy...
Honestly,
they weren't bad, and oh, here's Missy come to save me from eating
any more!
Missy's
really cool, and not just because she came to all of Lo/Rez's (http://i.am/jrocknyc)
live shows in New York. She's just very straight-up and honest and
friendly and all that kinda stuff, and she knows a lot of cool stuff.
The vanity license plate on Yoshiki's Ferrari, for example, and how
many properties he owns in L.A... stuff that would be dangerous in
the hands of a stalker, which she isn't... yet!
And
Faith and Maria are accompanying her to the Dir en grey concert. Fan
club seats have they. Standing room only is it. Very much wanting
to go to am I, but other responsibilities beckon. Maria goes to Cornell,
and she's a senior, even though she's younger than the average college
freshman, which is pretty cool, because being smarter than people
expect you to be is quite a cool power. Faith is, um, let's she, she
doesn't smoke, and she isn't missing her first week of classes at
school, and um, neither is Maria.
So
we went to this cool izakaya on the 7th floor fo some building across
from a giant red and white Mister Donuts sign. And hung out for a
couple hours and talked about what they had been doing the past week:
seeing concerts and shopping, pretty much!
But
the interesting thing was that a lot of the shopping was CLOTHES shopping,
not CD shopping. It never even occurred to me that there was any other
kind of j-rocky shopping besides CDs. And Missy had been doing a bit
of jewelry shopping. Never though to do that, either, wot me!
Faith
had also called Saya, and told her to come over, she had a surprise
(Missy). So Saya comes by and is like, "Ugh, you dragged me out
here just to see Missy?!" (Missy, who'd flown halfway around
the world.) That put a damper on the evening a bit. So Saya drops
her bag onto the table and stomps in the direction of the bathroom,
and we go back to our enjoyable evening, and then she comes back out
again, and sulks and we ignore her, because it's either that or face
more of her ire.
If
there is one single thing I just do not care for, it's mean people.
You can be stupid or ugly or poor and still you've probably got something
to offer the world (if yuo're stupid, maybe you're at least easy on
the eyes; if you're ugly, perhaps you're smart and funny; if you're
poor, maybe you're pretty, smart and funny!)
But if you're mean, just fuck off.
The first time I saw Saya, at the Bishop show a month ago, she was
fine. So maybe she was having a bad day or somethin'. I dunno. She'll
get one more chance next time I see her and I will dutifully report
her behavior here, for all the world to see! She's a j-rock fan at
least, and she speaks more Japanese than I do, so she's promise!
So
last call comes (at 10:30 -- a little early) but I think most of us
were happy for the excuse to leave. I spoke to Saya by the elevators
for a minute, where she complained about the unavailability of good
cigarettes (and not humorously or witty-like or with some clever,
intelligent observation, but just with pointless grumbling) and what
can you do but nod and say, "uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah, hmmm"
until Faith, Maria and Missy mercifully return from the lav?! At which
point we descend to the street.
Where
that cute blonde Karaoke 747 flyer-handing-out dude who said "Heyyyyy"
before was once again there. Hey, Faith, get a picture with him! But
he runs away. Chase him! Oh, no, he's working, so no pictures. Ah
well, whatever, let's just get out of here before the kilt-clad bagpiper
drives us all insane with his tooty renditions of popular standards.
Oh,
but first, we have to meet up with two friends of Faith and Maria's
to sell the extra tickets they've got! So w hang rounjd Studio Alta
("Where everybody meets!") (are you getting sick of that
yet?) and after a time two more jrocky girls emerge from the crowd
and Faith hands over the seats for the cash and boom, mission accomplished.
And
with only 40 minutes til the last train, it's time to head home, and
I realize I didn't call Kayo like I should have but all the flower
shops are closed so I'm outta luck.
On
the way home I'm struck by how many otherwise-attrative Japanese girls
have no ability to walk attractively. They almost universally clomp
around like exhausted horses. No finesse, no style, just... remember
the pony-rides you went on as a child? With the legs just kind of
robotically going up, down, up, down, and the kl-klump kl-klump kl-klump
of the hooves at they hit the ground? That's how most of the girls
walk. Especially in those heels they weear, which can't possibly be
comfortable for more than ten seconds at a time. If that.
And
also on the way home I see an ad for "Big Shoes!" and a
Shinjuku location and phone number, which I urgently scribble down
onto the last page of my latests Le Carre paperback (Smiley's People).
I'll have to hit that place in the daytime sometime, baby needs a
new pair o' shoes! <rolls dice>
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