Never Fail

I just came back from The Bad Plus concert in Roppongi, a popular night life district here in Tokyo for those with expendable cash, lax morals, and privy to brand names. Having already seen TBP four times already, I expected to have my mind blown as par the course. But this time was different. I was still excited throughout, but something about my understanding had changed, as if my usual giddiness and unrestrained pleasure were replaced with a tempered maturity. Granted, the moment Dave King put stick and brush to drum, I felt a welt in my throat; and so did a single teardrop be shed (because deep down inside I really am a sensitive guy). Obviously this comfortable feeling is a product of how often I had seen them, but the change was not mine alone. I noticed something different in TBP's playlist and style, different even from the previous time I had seen them in Tokyo at Blue Note. I wouldn't say they were reserved, but rather deferential towards the audience and never once insulting the listeners with cliché.

This was in contrast to the last time I had seen TBP play in Washington DC at the 9:30 club. As expected the crowd was rowdier, more exciteable, less patient. That crowd treated TBP like a traditional rock band by wooing more than clapping and shouting out the titles of their favorite songs during breaks. I found this to be disrespectful, especially considering that they had a vocalist on stage for their previous album "For All I Care". I did not like the atmospehere in that show - I felt the audience was trying to pigeonhole them to those first few albums, something that I feel is in direct opposition to the ideals of a TBP concert.

In any case, the music. TBP played a wide variety of tunes from their repertoire, playing only a few old standards and promoting songs from the new album and some that had yet to be recorded. Even after all these years I still cannot take my eyes off of Dave King. He garner the most applause thanks to not only the visual aesthete of drumming, but his ability to corkscrew familiar beats and tame a chaotic flurry of hits at a moment's notice. He pops and jumps and surprises, and continues to reimagine tunes that seemed like bulwarks of intricacy. Frank Zappa would have loved and hated Dave King. Ethan Iverson remained that technical and intellectual titan, and Reid Anderson tears heart wrenching melodies out of his bass like a sadistic cupid.

Hearing them play tonight, I felt a desire to play a brand of music that few can understand or willingly seek out. I was lucky enough to have been exposed to TBP, but it is not enough for me to appreciate and love their sound. I want to affect the way TBP has affected me; and I know that to do so is no easy task, nor one that can be obtained in a short amount of time. Someday I would like to be on that stage - whatever that stage may be - and know that were I out in that audience that I would feel the same way that I do when watching and listening to TBP.

Thanks TBP for all the wonderful music and memories. Please come back to Japan.

Side Notes:

• Rick Springfield is coming to Tokyo. It's unclear whether "Jessie's Girl" will be sung ironically or not.
• JoJo Mayer is also coming to Tokyo. I'd probably go see him if his name didn't remind me of John Mayer. Still, this solo makes it very tempting, but I wonder just how much of his music will just be fireworks.

Never Stop

And so it is that tonight I will be going to see the Bad Plus perform, once again, in Tokyo. The only thing I expect is every synapse and capillary in my body exploding with excitement as Dave King careens across the universe in his spaceship called drumming. I hope to do a post show write-up in order to unsuccessfully capture the moment.

I am reading the "Oxford's Guide To Plain English" and came across this:

Myth: Never start a sentence with 'but' and never end a sentence with a contraction.

Thanks for the LIES my former public school English teachers.

New Directions In Life

I'm in full gear with my new job and my new responsibilities, and I will finally be moving into a new apartment, hopefully tomorrow. No idea if utilities are running but that kind of thing will sort itself out with time. I'd write a longer post, but I'm exhausted and need my rest. I'm going to have a crazy week and just starting to realize that I will be 26 years old on Friday. That's still considered young, right? Anyway, I enjoyed this email from my dad. Please enjoy:

When you do the furnishing, make it as Japanese as possible. Futons for guest are ok. Just make it nice and with some Japanese "flair"!

Thanks Dad. I will make sure there will be at least 23 pieces of Japanese flair decorating the new apartment.

So Last Night

So last night as I was trying to remove my pants before going to bed, I fell over and scuffed my knee. Even the 3 stooges in their graves are putting their hands to their faces while they shake their heads back and forth.

Turtle Powered

I had no idea but the TMNT cartoon actually made its way over here to Japan and was extremely popular, as did 'Transformers' except instead of staying true to the script all the voice actors improvised the dialogue and turned it into a comedy.

This, however, was never popular anywhere for the simple reason that it is terrible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGMfb60lc14

This is what my Japanese friend wrote about it: "Wow, it is so fucking stupid tihing. But it is interesting."

Cultural Sensitivity

The other day I met a co-worker's friend who works at a ramen shop. When I asked her if she actually made the ramen, she promptly stuck her fingers above my lips. I thought she was trying to point out something on my face so I stood there like an idiot trying to figure out what she was doing, and that was when she told me that she wanted me to smell her fingers, as if to suggest I didn't believe she actually made ramen and that I was some sort of olfactorial detective or the dog version of Sherlock Holmes who would only use his nose to solve crimes. Needless to say her fingers were stinky as promised and I felt not only disgusted buy abused.

Life In The Political Fast Lane

Since 1885, Japan has had more than double the number of prime ministers than the United States have had US presidents (94 PMs to USA's 44 presidents). In comparison, The UK has had only 74 prime ministers since 1721.

To you, reader, I ask this Zen koan: When a Japanese prime minister leaves office, does it make a sound?

(As a point of reference I made the mistake of assuming that last year's new prime minister was still in power, but alas resigned in disgrace over 4 months ago.)