Roadie Blog: 2005-03-13

Show Day #2, Tokyo

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Up early, check emails, etc. Go walking around the hotel. First thing I see is a Starbucks, I'll hit it on the way back. Next to it is a BMW motorcycle dealer, now we're talking. Look at a few Beemers, a guy is test riding a new R1200GS. That a big bike over here, where most bikes are 400cc or under. Walk around some more, there seems to be a Starbucks on every corner... Find a large Japanese book store and spend a while browsing the magazines. Can't read a word, but they have nice pictures. They even have a dozen or so magazines devoted to the Mac or iPod. Cool. Wander back to the hotel, getting a Chai Tea Latte on the way. Off to the gig again.

Show is super early today, doors at 3;30pm and we go on at 6:30pm. It's sold out again and a girl who has been only playing guitar for 6 months is selected to jam with the band. She so nervous she starts playing the wrong chords, no matter Bobby ghosts her parts from offstage, and she sounds great!! After she's given the guitar she's crying so bad we let her sit in guitar world until the encore.

Load out, and it's still not even 9pm. Back to the hotel by 10pm. Call and upgrade my flight home on United to business class. Should be worth it... Off to bed by midnight.

Pink Bunny vs. Godzilla

If you have a hi-speed internet connection, here's a movie of our preshow in Tokyo.

Show Day, Tokyo

Sleep in till 8:15am. Get up, read Japan Times newspaper, off in van to catch the Bullet Train. Get on the train headed to Tokyo, fall asleep. Wake up just as we pass Mt. Fuji, which is the tallest point in Japan (I think). Back to sleep till the Tokyo station. Back in van for 40min drive to Chiba (near the Narita Airport) to the gig.

Arrive at the gig, check email, eat lunch, set-up, soundcheck...

Sorry if this is getting boring and repetitive, but not alot of time off here in Japan. Mostly just hanging at the gig...

Show Day, Nagoya

Friday, March 18, 2005

Up at 5:15am. Shower and down in lobby by 6am. 15min drive to the train station. Have to wait 30min on the platform for the Bullet Train to Nagoya. It is freezing, I'm wearing 2 coats and stil cold. Board train, fall asleep immediately, wake up as we're pulling into Nagoya. Sweet.

Arrive at gig via taxi vans around 9am. They are still building the stage, ugh. Go to catering, have a bagel. Everybody is really punchy from lack of sleep, our drum tech Kenny especially. He proceeds to crack everyone up for an hour or more. He has so much energy, he builds a diorama by cutting out the birds that adorn a Kleenex box. Very creative.

Everyone converges on the production office as soon as the wi-fi is up, spend a few hours online till its time to take the deck...

Setup, soundcheck, then dinner, show. Show goes well, they change up two songs for new ones. Load-out is quick again. Off to hotel and in room by 11pm. Call is not till 9:15am tomorrow, awesome!! I can get some sleep.

Show Day, Osaka

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Up early, it's pouring rain and cold. Walk over to the gig at 10am, work on the wireless network, give up after an hour. Set-up, etc. Have lunch, spaghetti with pesto (no kidding). Soundcheck, dinner, etc.

After dinner, someone turns on the TV in production and we start watching a show about a chimp and an Englsh bulldog. Basically the chimp walks the dog to the store, ties him up outside, goes in and gets some grapes, pays for the grapes with money from a little purse, then walks the dog back home. Very bizarre. One of the Japanese crew says it is a famous show about a monkey and a dog, where they give them tasks to do every week. Crazy!!

Show goes well, after pulling the three kids to jam onstage, the singer gives the guitar to the guitarist (which he does every night), the kid starts crying and falls to the ground bowing. Wild!! Load out is quick as they pretty much do everything for you here, killer!! Walk back to hotel, read a little while, fall asleep. Gotta be in lobby by 6am...

Travel Day / Day Off, Perth to Osaka (continued)

Flight lands 7:45am in Japan. Clear customs in Osaka. Get ready for the one hour bus ride to the hotel. Fall asleep on bus, so does everyone else. Get to room about 9am. Catch a couple more hours sleep. Everyone but backline has to load-in today, we have the day off. Maybe I'll venture out later, we are in an industrial area though, right next to the venue.

Go out around 5pm. See a convenience store in front of hotel, very handy. Walk around a block and only see office buildings. Then I see a McDonalds and Subway, well at least there's food. Across the street I see the International Marketplace (?). Looks like a mall, so I bypass for now. When i get to the other side it actually looks kinda cool. i venture in, see a few clothing stores and then I see "Dog Mind". Dog Mind is a pet store, but they have a room where you can "relax with dogs", that's what it says. I look in and there are about 20 dogs of all sizes hanging out with people feeding them and playing with them. It's like a pet store / petting zoo. How cool is that. Dogs seem very happy. So do people.

Venture on some more and BOOM, Starbucks. Also a few Nooodle houses. Cool!! I wander back to the hotel and ring Bobby to let him know I found a Starbucks. He's starving so we head back to the mall and get some noodles (soba) and edamame. After dinner get a Green tea Frap. I see the secret is Green Tea Powder!! Must get some and try to replicate at home.

We decide to walk over to the gig (next door). We end up setting up our stuff and I work with the production manager on configuring the wireless network. We almost get done when they kick us out for the night. Oh well, we'll work on it tomorrow...

Back to the room for email and reading...

Travel Day, Perth to Kuala Lumpur to Osaka

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Up early, go to laudromat to do laundry before Japan. Get back in time to checkout at 11am, as told, but we don't leave till 1:30pm. Bobby and I decide to hit the same Vietnamese for lunch, it was just too good and cheap to pass up. It is great again. Walk around a bit and hang in the lobby till time to go to the airport. Change my seats to aisle, board flight and off we go. Watch movies and read on flight, no sleep this time.

Just stepped off the plane in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Why are all the new airports more like malls now? Not that I'm complaining. I'm sitting at a Starbucks having a Green Tea Frap and enjoying free wi-fi access. I love this country... Off to Osaka in a few minutes.

Board flight, sit next to Nathan, our lighting guy. We both are excited to see a couple of movies and then sleep. Unfortunately the system keeps rebooting and all we get is a Linux terminal screen with the word "File not found". Ugh. Well, back to more reading, not even tired. Read till 2-3am and fall asleep for a few hours, wake up right before we land.

Day Off, Perth

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Sleep in till 8. Get some emails read. Off to find my wife some Australian wine at a shop I spotted on the ride back last night. Great modernist architecture here, especially condos/apts, take a few photos along my route. After getting some wine, walk back a different way and spot Bobby at a laundromat.

Meet Bobby later and we go to a Vietnamese restaurant I spotted near the laundromat. The food is amazing and cheapest I've had here yet. Less than $5 US an entree...

After lunch, walk around trying to find a Starbucks-type place, as there are no Starbucks in Western Australia. Stop at a juice bar and Bobby gets a Wheatgrass shot (yuck). Guy tells us they have a sister company in the next outdoor mall, so we go and get our Frap on. By now we have walked at least 10-12 blocks away from the hotel, so we enjoy a nice walk back...

Spend the rest of the day burning Bobby some CD's for the flight, as he left all his CD's in his workbox. Also watch Metallica's "Some Kind Of Monster" DVD, very interesting, and kinda sad.