Miki's Fat City

Went to Akiko Yano's show last Sunday. I didn't expect much but it was great. I had to see it because we were supposed to do an interview with her drummer Jay Bellerose for a magazine right after the show. It went okay, I mean Jay talked a lot about his love for music, drums and playing drums that his interview was pretty interesting. The reason why it was OKAY is that a well-known English journalist suddenly interrupted it and he unconsciously put pressure on us a bit afterwords- we never knew he was waiting for Jay to finish it outside the dressing room until we were done with it. The record company guys, however, looked worried and actually asked us a couple of times how more MINUTES we would need to finish it while we still had 10-15 minutes. You know, this kind of behavior always tells you something is happening. Which is more important for them than an interview but obviously not good for us and letting us feel time-crunched. I saw this English journalist 4 days before...

Went to my first Extreme show on the 4th. The band and the audience truly rocked!! Guess I was so lucky to experience their show in that great atmosphere. One of my good friends Mika booked tickets for another good friend of ours Aki and me. Our seats are in the 9th row on Nuno's side, which is close enough to see his expression clearly. I've been a fan of Extreme since their first album but didn't know what to expect this time. It was my first time, you know. My biggest wish, however, was to see Pat play live. I had a chance to interpret at his interview for a magazine 14-15 years ago. I don't know exactly what triggered this feeling of comfort in me but during the interview, the atmosphere he created and his tone of voice reminded me of my American dad Duane Batdorf who had passed away about a month before it. Of course I loved his bass playing but his great personality made me fall in love with him. Since then, I looked for an opportunity to see their show but did...

Blondes? Wow! Looks cute!! I want one for me although my hair is black. Get the details here: www.keyboardforblondes.com I liked the song played at that website and tried to dig it on the internet. Eventually my initial interest was forgotten as I got exposed to some French female pop singers such as Yelle, Lorie and Alizee. I ended up getting Yelle's album "Pop Up" at iTunes store. Oh well, that's me.  During that fun time, I also discovered an interesting DJ, Hakimakli.  If you are Japanese, you instantly pronounce it "Hakimakuri" and go "What the hell?" Because Hakimakuri means "puke one's guts out." Oh dear! I wonder how he got this name.  His mini album released in October has not been released in Japan. I'm going to look for the way to get a copy. Until then, I just go to his MySpace site and listen to his remixes.  I don't know why but I always love the sound of French language when it com...

I stayed up late - almost until morning - just watching TV. I happened to watch a TV drama made in 2006 called "Jane Eyre." Yes, that Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Brontë. They showed the first half of it and it ended where Jane leaves Mr. Rochester's castle to look after her once mean now sick aunt Mrs. Reed. I remembered having a copy of that story while I was watching it and actually found it far back on my book shelf. Dusty and smells old... I bought it when I was a sophomore at college but I don't remember the story. I don't even remember why I got it, either. Perhaps I was told to get it by a professor or something. Anyway, this TV drama made me want to read it. I was determined to do so until I opened the book. Oh no, the letters are so small! The story is so long!! I don't know if I can read it through. Well, just give it a try, maybe. It takes 4 or 5 chapters before Mr. Rochester enters... am already discouraged a bit. I didn't read for ...

It's been some months since I last updated my blog. So many things happened. The biggest thing is that my beloved grandmother Matsue passed away on October 1 at age of 93. It was the first day of my 3 day work with Joe Sample. I didn't tell anyone about it before all the interviews were done. But my grandma seemed to choose the best day to leave us because I could get to my hometown 30 minutes before her funeral after finishing all my work and arrangements that had to be done to have some days off. What a great grandma she was! She wasn't really sick... just got senile and quickly became weak a few weeks before her death. She really lived out her natural life. So her funeral was more like celebrating her life rather than wailing in sorrow. I hope she was smiling when we talked both good and bad things about her at my mom's house. She also gave my sister a chance to introduce her husband to our relatives for the first time and they all loved him. I was going to ...

One of my buddies Ernie asked me for help a couple of weeks ago. He is writing a text for SHOJO BEAT magazine about Japanese traditional yokai (scary creatures). I was incredibly busy at that time and it became a nice escape and had fun researching it on the internet. Thanks, Ernie!! I didn't know anything about the magazine but it looks interesting. You can take a look at http://www.shojobeat.com When I was a kid, my family lived in an old farm house. My great-grandparents had it built, so it was pretty scary at night. Our restroom was at the edge of west side of the house and you had to walk through a roofed dirt floor, one small dim light hanging from the roof, to get there. For a 3-4 year old girl, the dim dirt floor looked pretty big and it was just like the entrance to devildom especially at night. I couldn't go to the loo without my mother when it grew dark. She sometimes left there while I was in the restroom, so I had to keep asking her "Mom, are you the...

Not real chipmunks because we don't see them in this country. At least I haven't seen them anywhere I have lived in Japan so far. It's the movie "Alvin and The Chipmunks" that helps me feel better and get back into my swing this month. I got a DVD copy on US Amazon along with a movie "transamerica" in mid May. "transamerica" is also a great movie that makes me want to say "I love you" to all my favorite people. A nice story about a conservative transgender Bree and her son Toby who see each other for the first time in 17 years. At first Bree looks ugly but within 10 minutes you start loving her. Believe me! I don't remember seeing the cartoon version of Alvin and The Chipmunks when I was little but probably saw it some times with my friends' kids in Colorado back in '85. I didn't know much about it before I saw the movie but their singing voices reminded me of one of my favorite songs when I was a kid called ...

I went to visit my friends in Germany in March and stayed at their place for a week. It coincided with Easter holidays and I was absolutely relaxed - 100% out of touch with my coworkers. It was my first true vacation in 4-5 years and I realized I really needed it!! Really wanted to be surrounded by my favorite people who don't hesitate to show love and friendship, which is one of important things you just can hardly get in my country most of time. Such a precious time! Extremely comfortable to be there even if I don't speak German at all. All the people I met in Wiesensteig gave me so much energy for sure. My friends Elizabeth and Ulf are really good at spoiling me and treated me just like their sister or daughter. Elizabeth kept telling me every day that she is happy to have me there as well as how happy she is living with her husband Ulf in that town. Elizabeth, I feel very happy about your wonderful life with Ulf. You guys are awesome!! I LOVE YOU!!!! I got back in my o...

I worked for an interview with Steve Ferrone for Rhythm & Drums Magazine about 10 days ago. The interview as initially scheduled on February 10 but he was still jet-lagged that he couldn't do it that day. I know how hard it is to be jet-lagged since I had a hard time getting my biological clock back to Tokyo time at the end of January after my trip to winter NAMM show. Anyway, we had an hour to interview him before he flew from Narita. He is really open and funny. We just kept laughing during the interview. Teruyo, the interviewer, says she was fascinated by his smile. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to see him play live with Yosuke Onuma, one of excellent Japanese young guitarists, but could imagine how he enjoyed the shows in Japan from what he told us that day. The thing I thought funny was about the project he participated, Burning for Buddy. Neil Peart from Rush produced it. Steve played with a big band and he says it worked very well. He was happy with it. B...

On Valentine's Day, I found tons of spams with subjects such as "Love you," "I Like You," "I Find You Interesting," etc. when I logged-in my work email account in my office. Wow! So many secret admirers!! ;-) Since I sometimes receive emails from strangers who are actually business associates, I don't basically filter spams to go directly to my spam box. I certainly delete obvious spams when reading subjects. But I had an experience of deleting a few important emails by accident a couple of years ago, so I don't trust the filtering system in my email software. 98% of spams I receive are in English. It's because I often go to English websites to get information. Not many Japanese spams come to me. But when I got those "I like you" spams that day, I asked my coworkers about Japanese spams they got. Voila! They are much more interesting than mine!! I mean, the text in those emails is like cheap porno dialogues but it seems they ...

I had a chance to chat with one of my fellow photographers Yoshika at work yesterday. Actually the planned interview with Steve Ferrone was cancelled because of him being jet-lagged. He was too sleepy to do it and went back to his hotel for a nap right before we arrived at the venue. Yoshika and I had about a couple of hours to chat before Steve returned to the venue for performance and we caught him on the way to the dressing room to take some photos of him. Thank goodness, the interview was rescheduled. Girls just love to talk about Love Life for no reason and we started talking about it in the course of nature. She said that her boyfriend is young, which is a bit of problem for her because she wants to get married but he doesn't. Well, she is 2-3 years younger than me and I understand it when she said so. I mean, I don't see the importance of marriage as long as I'm happy with the relationship with my partner. But for some girls, they certainly long for marriage especi...

I found a copy of Firehouse's "Hold Your Fire" CD on my coworker Kondo's desk a week ago and told him I had the same one. It was released in 1992 when he was a high school student and I was already working in this business. I don't remember how I got that album but do remember listening to it a lot at that time. I tried to find that album in the huge pile of my CD collection that evening when I was back home. And it took me a week to find it! When I found it this morning, it felt like seeing an old friend again for the first time in 15 years. Then, I went to YouTube to find a video of my favorite song "Get In Touch" but all I could find is videos of other songs. Anyway, here is a nice ballad from "Hold Your FIre" album called "When I Look Into Your Eyes." I actually don't know much about Firehouse. All I know is music on this album. Just like I only know Dokken's song "Alone Again" regarding Dokken. The reason ...

I saw this great young French drummer Damien Schmitt again in Anaheim. I didn't expect to see him there but he played live with Hadrien Feraud at Markbass's party on January 19. Everyone, take a look at Damien's playing! I met him in Tokyo for the first time in early December 2007 at the interview with Hadrien Feraud but didn't have a chance to see him play live. He was there at this Hadrien's interview to help him communicate with us in English. My impression to Damien was that he is funny, cute and very friendly. Never thought he would be that great as a drummer, as a matter of fact. But when I saw him play live in Anaheim, I was absolutely astonished!!! And fell in love with his playing right there. I don't usually listen to the style of music he plays with Hadrien - basically more into Rock/Pop music - but it's so much FUN to see and listen to him play drums! He's coming to Japan again in April and I hope to see him play the whole set then. L...

My annual trip to Anaheim, CA, is over and I'm back in Kawasaki now. It was an easy trip for some reason which I didn't have much trouble looking after my coworkers. Of course, there were certain things that frustrated me during my stay over there but most of them were fairly balanced out because of love, hugs, smiles and good will of those people I met there. Million thanks especially to my lovely friends!! I love you guys!! The first real meal I had was Mexican. Dave Kurihara, who works for a guitar company and is very kind, took us to a nice Mexican restaurant nearby for lunch. Dave is a Japanese but his smile is more like that of American's. I think it's because he lives there for years. Anyway, that restaurant is pretty good and so was the cute looking waiter of our table. I was still jet-lagged and wasn't really tuned in the American mode so I had to ask him what he had said a couple of times whenever he said something to me. As he said what I ordered was hi...

I spent the new year's holidays here in Kawasaki this year. It's the first time in 4-5 years to do so - I usually spend it with my mom and grandma in Akita - and what I mainly did is seeing my friends. I was invited to a party in Yamanashi by good friends of mine Hiromi and Harper. Harper's family was also there to meet some of Hiromi's relatives and friends. The restaurant is cool. Food is good. People are nice. But most of all, it was full of love and happiness that everybody there just smiled all the time. Such a great party! Thank you so much for your invitation, Hiromi and Harper!! I love you guys!!! Before going back to Tokyo, I had a mini sightseeing tour in Kofu with my friends Kumi and Daisuke. Kumi is from that area and she knows where to go. Daisuke has been there some times to see his wife Kumi's family. I used to live in Tsuru and went some of the sightseeing spots years ago. Anyway, it was December 30 and most of the places were very quiet or even...