So two weeks ago I had my first gig with my friends the Kazuki and Chiake Kataoka-san(husband and wife jazz musicians). It was a great time, though throughout the evening the randomness of the situation was a constant that made the experience that much more memorable.For the most part, the gig was for a small audience, for a private party. We later found out that the people were bussiness partners of Chiaki-san's father, who was present and in great form throughout the evening. So, it was me, Chiaki, her husband Kazuki, Chiaki's father, and my Japanese teacher, Miwako(who was the link who introduced me to the Kataoka-sans). They picked me up and we drove to the place, which was great to see a different perspective of the area from the window of a car, since most of my mode of transportation is either train, bike, or by foot.
The party was at a sorta boatclub in a harbor in the Sakai region of Osaka. Here's a view out to the water at night. When we arrived the hosts were preparing the food to be grilled for dinner. It was my first experience seeing and eating Japanese BBQ, and it was oishiikatta(delicious)! We were introduced to the hosts and the other guests, and Miwako-san was able to see me exercise the my Japanese language skills that she has been teaching me. I still have much to learn, but I was able to introduce myself in Japanese. The hosts, we found out through conversations, were promoting their organically grown vegatables, and they promote health consciousness through fresh food and stuff. Very cool to meet organic Japanese farmers. It was n extremely relaxed afternoon, but we(our group) still wondered how random this meeting seemed, and when and where we were to perform. We were informed that there will be another group coming to perform as well, a Filipino group of musicians. Hence, the pink jackets you see above.It was totally random again. We played our set and it was great to perform. They have the inside of the boathouse decked out like a karaoke lounge, and there was a buch of sound equiptment and instruments. We chilled for a bit as the other group set up, and they totally were a Filipino Lounge, pink jackets as all. Totally random. They jammed standards and oldies. I totally felt like I was in that scene in swingers where they were chillin' in the lounge with the Jan and Dean duet... remember that scene? Or back in Chicago at the latenight haunt down the way from the GreenMill, with the houseband of old guys behind the bar. It was great.
They played their first set, rocked out, then took a break. We all played a game called jan-ken, which we know as rock, paper, scissors back home. One note, jan-ken is huge in Japanese culture, for some reason. Kids playit. Adults playit. People use jan-ken as a tie breaker in certain situations. Well, that's how I won my beautiful lettuce plant that is now sitting in my window sill; 'cause of course all the prizes were organically grown veggies... ramdom.
Also, another guest performed some Japanese ballads. This woman I was told had recently recorded her first album at the age of 60-something, quite impressive.
I talked to the band outside and they were totally cool. They have been living in Japan for quite sometime now, and they told me they each have their separate gigs, but get together like this now and again and wing it... much like I've always done back home. They were excited to learn that I was Filipino too, and as they got ready to play their second set, they invited me to jam with them. Of course I couldn't pass up a chance to play music, especially with a Filipino Lounge band, in a karaoke boathouse, on a pier in Osaka Japan, after having won a lettuce plant in a game of rock, paper, scissors... it does sound funny when you say it all together like that, eh?
We rocked out some oldies and standards, then they told me to take the reigns and I introduced them to my renditions Johnny Cash, Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke, and the band followed suite quite easily. It was totally fun, and people were dancing and singing for the rest of the evening.
We packed up, said our good-byes to our new friends, and made our way back to Nara, still a bit dazed and confused by the random events of the night. My only regret was that Erin couldn't make it to enjoy and meet everyone. Next time.
