Hitting the Road

Well, true to the anime-style weather report on TV, a nice hurricane blew through Tokyo today. Unfortunately not only was it not cute, but it was also the same day we were driving to Nagoya for a gig at Club Oys. Hoping to beat the storm, Enocky mentioned the night before that it would be wise for us to get an early start.

Come morning, a group of tired and weary foreigners and one native waited for Enocky to show up with the van. It had already started to rain and looked pretty dismal. However, there was a chance we could outrun the storm and get past the front before it hit. The evening before people were wishing us kiyoskete (be careful) so it made you wonder what was awaiting us.

Enocky arrived soon leading Billy to quip that for a bunch of guys from a country obsessed with punctuality, they were always late! The large touring van was a rental and just barely fit five A-Bones, one photographer and two Cedrics. In a rush to leave, we just packed the inside jammed ourselves in and took off for the Tomei Expressway. A four/five hour ride was ahead.

About two hours out we stopped off at the Fujikawa Service Area near Mt. Fuji for some lunch and a driver shift change. Despite it still being grey and raining, a quick look at the multiple HD flat screens inside the rest stop area revealed we had beat out the storm. As chirpy elevator music surrounded us, were treated to images of people walking around Tokyo amid buckets of rain and an occasional lingering shot of an open umbrella being blown around. In high def no less.

Like everything in Japan, even the rest areas were incredibly clean and had an attendant ready to mop down a stall as soon as someone walked out of it. The eating areas beside have what I thought was impossible--double capacity--vending machines, also had fresh food. You saw a photo and description what you wanted, placed your money in a machine, pressed the appropriate button and got a receipt. Immediately the order was prepared and when ready your number was called and you got your food.

Since I'm not big on eating while travelling, I just got some snacks and looked around for the equivalent of an info booth that might have a map. My two years of Japanese finally came in handy when I remembered the word chizu. Which was presented to me by a woman who was dressed in a uniform eerily similar to that of a flight attendant. General travel hostess?

After our break we took off again and headed south.

Amazingly, after a short while the sun started to come out. Which was nice but we all wished it happened about 30 minutes earlier when we were looking at a cloud-covered Mt. Fuji. As the van moved on we entered really beautiful country areas where you could see the main source of living was farming. The guys in the Cedrics said "hillbilly country" meaning I am sure farm folk. (a fact that was further emphasized in the previous reststop's bathroom which had pictograms showing how NOT to use the western-style toilet.) While on the road, Bruce pointed out some beware of monkeys signs. Now thats rural.

We pulled into Nagoya around 4:30 or so. About five hours since we started. Sound check was at five so it actually worked out pretty well. As soon as we pulled out of the van at the club the band went downstairs, did a sound check, and we all departed to our hotel a block away. With the gig slated to start around 7PM we wanted to catch the openers the King Brothers. With Jackie and the Cedrics and the A-Bones following it was to be a thankfully short night.

Nagoya Oys was another tiny underground club with a capacity of about 150 people it seemed. Unlike the festival-style metal barriers they had at Loft, this place had two u-shaped metal tubes oddly just positioned in the center of the stage. Having no real backstage to speak of, I just positioned myself in a spot up front and shot away.

The Cedrics and the A-Bones were in very good form. They put on a great show despite having driven this huge distance. If I had to grade the show I'd say it was just a teeny notch below the Loft performance, but having seen them twice in the past three days, I'd be the only one who'd notice. The crowd had a great time, as did the band. The closing number brought the Cedrics up on stage to switch instruments with the A-Bones and bang away like there was no tomorrow. At some point Miriam wound up with Lars' sax, Enoki peeled the Mad Mike face from Miriam's kit and was walking around the stage wearing it, and Jackie found himself co-playing the kit with Miriam.

After the gig, we had a quick bite at a Chinese restaurant a few blocks away. Bruce brought up the fact that a lot of us in the States were brought up on dubbed Japanese cartoons as kids. Jelly Bean and Jackie were quite surprised, until Bruce started singing all these theme songs. Turns out while some were complete rewrites, others retained the melody. Which lead to some interesting West/East sing-a-longs that amused the wait staff and chefs. With the ride remaining to Osaka the next day, we decided it was best to call it a night and crash out.

Some more shots from the day