Osaka or Bust

Osaka. Known within Japan for its primo cuisine and quirky sense of humor, was to be the A-Bones final stop before heading back to NYC. For me, it was the end of one journey and the start of second one. Once the band took off from KIX airport, the Tokyo-ites (Jackie and Enocky) and I were to immediately head back. No more touring...I could just be Mr. Tourist for a week.

The day started with all of us meeting in the lobby of the Nagoya hotel at 11AM. Bags packed, and ready for the final 2 to 3 hour ride to Osaka. With no internet access in the hotel (my room had no modem) I was jonesing to not only check my email but also update this blog. Unfortunately, both would have to wait.

The day before Miriam noticed that our hotel happened to be located next to a shrine. While Osaka has its share of nice shrines as well, we didn't know if we'd get a chance like this again. So, come morning, we gathered the guys for a quick walk over and shot a few quick snaps. Except for the geisha, and the instruments, the pictures looked just like the Ventures in Japan LP.

With the shots done, we piled into the van and took off.

The drive leaving Nagoya was pretty industrial and not very scenic. Lots of power lines, factories, and flat landscapes with nondescript older style Japanese houses. However once we were about an hour out, the landscape once again turned mountainous and quite picturesque. It seemed we went through several mountain tunnels, some quite long. And at times, gusts of wind on certain stretches were strong enough to make navigating the heavy van, actual work. One swerve-y stretch led to a few to yell to Lars to drive better. Which he agreed to do despite the fact that he was sitting on the non-drivers side (but the actual U.S. drivers side).

After a couple of hours on the road we made one last rest stop along the way. While the rest of us took a break under a few shady tables on the hot day, Marcus and Lars went off to the designated smoking area for a puff. Unlike New York City, smoking is pretty much allowed almost everywhere. Clubs are swimming in a smoky haze like it used to be years ago in the States. In certain public areas though you do still find the "smoking" and "non-smoking" areas physically marked off. In this case, there was a small blue tent, sans sides, set off just a few steps away from the main building where the smokers congregated.

An hour or so later, we arrived in Osaka. As Japan's second largest city, it was clear we were approaching by the onset of first the suburbs, then the manufacturing areas and finally the skyscrapers. Upon first glance it didn't look too different from Tokyo. But upon closer inspection, something about it was decidedly different. While busy, it just didn't seem as frenetic as Tokyo. And true to its stature as culinary capital, there were a ton of small places to eat as opposed to mega-shopping areas. At least on the route we came in on.

We found the club (thanks to the GPS) made note of its location and then headed off to Time Bomb records; Japan's legendary garage rock label and store. Located not too far from both the club and our hotel, the store was record collectors dream come true. Old US singles from the 50s and 60s side-by-side with used recent singles, LPS and CDs. It was by far the largest independent store we saw while in Japan. The store sold clothing from Erostika as well as videos and other paraphenalia. Located just inside the store, we were greeted by a full blown Norton Records display. All set up with flyers, records and promotional material for all the gigs and the photo show. After spending a good amount of time here, eyeing and buying, we took off for the club for soundcheck.

Osaka's Rock Rider club was, yup, underground and a little bit larger than the matchbox-size OYS in Nagoya. It did though have a side area where there were couches as well as a tiny loft-like space directly above them. Miriam and I both decided to explore that space and climbed up this steep ladder only to find ourselves walking, Groucho-like, through a 4 foot high space which actually had a futon-like couch in there. Once you sat down it was pretty comfortable, but during the din of a live show I wondered if it would still be that way. Not only that, it took us a few minutes to make our way slowly back down to the main floor. I just pictured drunken kids toppling onto unsuspecting patrons below every now and then.

At every club the band had to fill out a form that the soundman uses to know who was lead singer, drums, etc.. Probably also used to scrawl down related sound info. As it was all in Japanese, usually someone else filled it out for the band. I ran across the form for this gig on a table by the side of stage. Jackie from The Cedrics had been filling it out. With my limited knowledge, I was able to make out syllables spelling "Bii-Ree" and "Mii-Rii-Am". Jackie noticed me looking at the form and pointed out the spot where age(?) was listed. Billy's was 20 and Miriam 17.

With soundcheck done it was back to the hotel to wait until the openers, The Go-Devils to hit the stage at 7PM. All openers it seems start at this time in Japan. Possibly because transportation shuts down at a certain hour. Subways at 12:30 AM and JR trains at 1AM. It is good form to make an effort to get your patrons back home before that and not have them wind up sleeping at some 24-hr manga cafe.

Momo, Jelly Bean's wife (and member of the Go-Devils) had, along with Junichi, played a huge part in helping set up the gallery promotional material. From creating the John Fay T-shirt to just generally passing the word along. The Japan Tokyo/Osaka garage music community is pretty close and you can tell that everyone knows everyone else. I'm sure they attend each others gigs as often as they can afford. It is quite expensive to travel between cities. But this tour seemed to be a big reunion for a lot of people. which was nice but did make cutting out early a little tough on some evenings.

The Go-Devils were great. Three girls playing your basic 3 chord rock but with lots of attitude and excellent choice of covers. Whats amazing is that in Japan, even within the traditional patriarchal society, you still find quite a lot of female punk/garage etc.. bands. As I mentioned to a friend, in Japan it seems you don't just breakout halfway...you go all out.

With the Go-Devils set done, and having seen the King Brothers, I thought it would be a good time to go look for some of that famous Osaka food. Namely otonomiyake, a traditional, pancake-like dish. I asked a few of the locals for tips but it seemed the best places were over 10 minutes away...by bus. So, I just figured it was worth wandering around in the area until I found something. Seeing the wealth of small places coming in I was sure I'd find something.

Now many of Osaka's streets, like Tokyo's, go back eons and as such are not really suited to keeping track of where you're going. You start down an alley and before you know it it curves, branches off, curves again etc. So if you're not really careful, its pretty damn easy to get lost. And with no Osaka map at hand, I made sure I was either able to retrace my steps or just keep some landmark within eye shot.

While I did find quite a few places, almost none had photos or English menus. Some looked really expensive and others were so down home I felt like an outsider walking in. Growing weary, I walked into an arcade and found a takoyaki (octopus puffs) stand a short distance in. It wasn't otonomiyaki, but it was close..sort of. A regional dish anyway. I clumsily ordered 8 small fried balls and sat down at the counter. I had tried takoyaki in NYC, and while those were great, these were phenomenal. I enjoyed the dish with the warm, self-satisfaction of actually completing something I had set out to do. That lasted until I realized I had to make my way back somehow.

Upon returning to Rock Rider I got there in time to catch Jackie and the Cedrics performing. Its amazing how these guys just get better and better. And in front of a hometown crowd of Jelly Bean's friends they just were as frenetic as you'd expect. Jackie had warned me earlier that this crowd was going to be "crazy" and to watch out for my photo equipment. Well, while they were quite animated, shooting this show (both on film and digital) was a far cry any from previous mayhem I have endured years past. Still, better safe than sorry. So, I parked myself off to the side and shot the Cedrics from there.

For the A-Bones set there really wasn't any backstage area to squeeze myself into as I had done in some of the other places. So I was content to stand in a narrow opening on stage left. While standing there I met local Osaka rock photographer, Shino and her six-year-old daughter(!). She was happy to see the band and did an outstanding job shooting the gig. Check out her blog for some truly phenomenal shots as well as a funny closeup of me shooting my trusty film camera. Click here for A-Bones pix!.

The A-Bones went on with much fanfare and knowing this was to be their last show, put on an incredible show in front of a wildly appreciative audience. Burlesque dancer Miss Tarantula who had performed earlier with The Go-Devils (as well as at Loft with The Fly) got up on stage and shook her "assets", kids started jumping off the miniscule stage, Momo threw herself off at one point. Although this time she actually landed on people and not straight on the floor like at Nagoya. For a tiny girl, she sure made quite a thud! Amazingly though she popped up like a jack-in-the-box and was off and running again.

As the set continued people were just going nuts. Some fellow got onstage for no other reason than to drop his pants in front of the crowd. Rock and Roll Osaka-style? LOL. Another guy got onstage and sang something into Bruce's mike. It sure wasn't the song. Once done, he leaned back and stood up there for a good few minutes not doing anything, before dropping back into the crowd. Flashes and cameras were going off everywhere. Osaka just couldn't get enough of the band.

As the finale instrument switcheroo took place, Go-Devils, Cedrics, fans were all jumping on and off the stage. While I kept shooting and having a blast, Miriam suddenly nodded to me between beats. I didn't need to be invited twice. I put down my cameras and grabbed a drumstick and played along on Miriam's ride cymbal. The whole thing came to glorious end soon after.

The general consensus was that this was one of the best shows the town had seen in quite a while. And from a hanger-on point of view, it was certainly one of the best A-Bones shows I saw not just in Japan but NY as well. While congratulations and well wishes were being doled out, I cut outside to catch Miriam, Lars and Marcus walking back to the hotel. Mistakenly thinking they were coming back I hung out in front cooling off and chatting with a rockabilly ex-pat who filled me in on her life in Osaka. After 10 years her Japanese was flawless, but what was amusing was that she had assumed I was a Japanese translator for the band!

Well, 20 minutes became 30, then 40, with no sight of anyone. Suddenly about an hour after the end of the show Billy shows up and said he was just waiting to get paid. The rest had already called it a night! Luckily Enocky was kind enough to drop us off at the hotel. Great night, great fun...now for some great sleep.