MetaAnomie

More pictures here.

More photos here.

fit - Live at 87 Sonic 3
Milk (Ebisu, Tokyo), 10.21.2007

Last Samurai
Lucy + A Glimpse of Beauty
Abused
Hit the Ground + Escape These Moments

The rest of the entire event can be found here.

Sunday’s event was an absolute blast!

We went in for our sound check at about midday as 87Stupid were rehearsing. The venue, Milk, was really impressive. The top floor had a bar area with a balcony overlooking the stage area on the next floor down. One more floor down from that was another DJ room (with obligatory disco ball and everything), a rather shady looking “VIP” room, and down the hall and in the very back behind a black curtain was an extremely large backstage area. You could climb the stairs from there up directly to the stage, coming out of a hole in the industrial looking caging. It was a really cool place.

Being that we were doing our sound check at around noon and we were playing second to last, we had plenty of time to watch and meet with the other bands, drink with some customers and our friends who came along, and in general it was just a really good time. Everyone I met there was utterly enjoyable to be around — band members, customers, everyone.

After going backstage to get prepared for our set, I remember mentioning to Masato how I had a really good feeling about things. We were all really excited to play, and after playing concert after concert for more years than I can even count anymore, you do get a bit complacent. It honestly felt like I was going on stage for the first time again.

Getting on stage, the first thing I noticed was that the room was absolutely packed — many more people than I have ever played in front of since coming to Japan. A couple songs into the set and the whole crowd was jumping up and down, going nuts, all the way to the back of the room. It was amazing, and so, so much fun. The audience was utterly fantastic. It was a hell of a good time.

As for the stage itself, it was rather small and claustrophobic, but the main speakers were suspended in the air and there was no railing so we were really, really close to the people in the front row. There were two raised platforms on either side of the stage that you could get onto and you would literally be right on top of everyone. It was a really neat layout. I did hear some complaints here and there about the on stage sound (the off stage sound was great by the way), but I particularly had no problems with it. I could hear the vocals and bass really well so that was all I was really concerned with.

Our set itself? Well, the new songs, which composed half of it, I thought came out rather good. From a technical standpoint though, our “oldies” were all over the fucking place. I kind of mark that up to the atmosphere though. We were having so much fun at that point that the performance was taking precedence over technicalities.

All in all, it was an absolutely fantastic day, and I really want to thank 87Sonic for the invitation. Also of course, a big thanks to the fans, other bands, and our personal friends who made it into such an enjoyable event!

Once again, pictures are coming soon. I promise.

Yesterday when I got home from work I had this conversation with the wifey:

Me: “I met this French guy at the smoking area today. The French are always smokers.”
Wifey: “Hm? French people are tomato soup?”
Me: “Yes darling, that’s exactly what I said.”

It seems like we have a conversation like this at least once a day. I used to think it was my Japanese, but then again this is the same person that said I looked like “a cactus” in my picture in the last post.

Don’t ask. I sure don’t anymore.

Saturday we had our early Halloween Party! Somehow I ended up messing my wrist up early that morning preparing, which of course was wonderful considering I had a show to play the next day. Luckily though, it didn’t turn out to be too much of an issue. The party itself wasn’t as “happening” as last year but then again we had a lot of first timers and most people don’t really like getting all shit-faced with kids around.

That is except for the parents of course.

Anyways, we had a blast and it was really fun getting to meet new people and catch up with others who we haven’t talked to in a while. A big thanks to all that could make it! Oh, and pictures are coming soon, I promise.

I found a error at line 666 when trying to compile some code today. I’m pretty sure this is no coincidence. Satan has invaded my application.

Yesterday was our last full rehearsal before the show on Sunday. One of the songs we are playing we just completed — um, yesterday. That can’t be good. From a percussion perspective, it isn’t all that difficult of a song to play. That part worries me rather little. I’m more concerned if I can even REMEMBER THE DAMN THING.

By the way, I think I have developed a fetish for circular mirrors.

Tokyo has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. At night at least. During the day it’s probably one of the ugliest. Every time I look out at the Tokyo skyline, it all seems so surreal, almost artificial even, like I’m looking onto a miniature model of a city used for an old movie. Sometimes I think it’s my brain not being able to register just how enormous this city really is: over 12 million people last I have heard. That’s a lot of people. And it’s still growing. I wonder when it will hit its break point. In my opinion, we probably should have hit it years ago.

Yesterday the wifey and I headed out to a “baby massage” class. By the end of the class, pretty much every baby in the room was crying. Kind of makes you wonder how much it was worth. Basically, they give you a little bottle of olive oil and you just rub it all over your baby, which is wonderful of course because when you pick your baby up, she wants to fly out of your hands like a bar of soap. That’s a nice thought.

After a morning of rubbing oil all over Princess Anna, we met up in Yoyogi Park for a picnic that some of our friends were organizing. Unfortunately, my camera died on me after just one picture. The one above is the only one I got. It was a really good time though. A whole bunch of international couples showed up so we all had something in common. We had people from Japan (of course), America, Canada, Vietnam, Iceland, and um — I think I am forgetting somewhere but that’s OK. The point of the story is we had a good time.

Today I had my annual health check up for work and I learned that I have gained a massive 3 kilos since last year. Not good. I really need to find a way to get some exercise into my schedule. I used to walk back and forth to work everyday, which ended up being a total of about an hour in total, and it really did wonders. Now that my work is relocated, I am taking the trains. Besides rush hour just being a bitch in general (not the movie by the way, but that might arguably be considered a bitch as well), it has taken away the remaining physical activity that I have. I sit in front of a computer all day for gods sake.

Anyways, here is a potentially interesting fact: in Japan one of the standard tests they give you is for checking for stomach cancer. First, they make you drink this suspicious, disgusting, white liquid. They call this something in Japanese that sounds exactly like “Valium.” I figure this is just very good marketing. Anyhow, this mystery substance supposedly fills up your stomach and makes you really want to belch, but the nurse being the cruel mistress that she is tells you that you cannot. And then continuing with the wonderful S&M theme, you get stripped down and attached to movable table that spins you every which way until you want to throw up. By the way, this account is all due to observation. You don’t have do go though this torture until your 30 — thankfully.

So, here comes the interesting part: I have never seen this in America before so I figured I would ask the nurse about it. She told me the following:

•  The test is for detecting stomach cancer
• Japanese people are highly susceptibility (1 in 1000)
• It was introduced somewhere around the early 80s
• The fatality rate has dropped significantly since then
• For an extra 50$, she will also paddle your ass

Update: I think I have unlocked the “Valium” secret. According to Wikipedia, the drink is a concoction containing barium salt. If you pronounce “barium” in Japanese, it sounds almost just like “Valium.” So next time you have upper gastrointestinal tract radiography preformed, be sure to impress your doctor with your knowledge of Japanese.