Mr. Potato Man visits Osaka

So, this past weekend was sparked by an opportunity to play my music for an event at Mad Kafe in Amemura at moment's notice, and ended in a surreal progression of events due to sharin' good music, meeting cool people, drinking too many energy drinks mixed with alcohol, dancing, lack of sleep, rain, acting, and in the end, talking to a potato.

I had played at Mad Kafe once before, with some other friends of mine who set up this show. Pauley and boys of KJ rockin the place out last December, shortly after I came back from our visit in the States. I remember, though, I had a bad first gig there because my sound was for shit and I wasn't gettin' the vibe, so I never expected to come back. Just chalk one up, I thought, but out of the blue the other week I got a contact from the owner of Mad Kafe to see if I wanted to join in on a live event that was happening the upcoming weekend. After a bit of pondering, I agreed, and hoped to redeem myself from my first appearance there.(note, I don't think I played a horrible show the first time, 'cause people were digging it, the negative vibes is just me criticizing myself) Now, whenever I have a gig in Osaka, there comes the inevitable decision of whether or not I can or should pull and all-nighter(since trains stop running by around midnight: our last train to go back home being 11:32pm) Throwing caution to the wind, and it being warm weather, I decided that I'd party all night. One deciding factor was that I had to be back in Osaka on Sunday morning for a film shoot, where I was asked to be an extra before hand by a good friend of mine. So, with plans for Sunday, I figured staying up in Osaka all night till Sunday morning would be the best, and most interesting, course of action.

I got to Mad Kafe about 8:30pm, located in Amemura, a central hub of nightlife in Osaka named after I guess the "American" style which permeates the stores, bars, and shops there. It's short for American village; mura means village in Japanese. They were setting up the sound, and I noticed a drum set, two guitar amps, a few mics on stands, and a highway of cables. Yay, I thought, maybe I'll play some drums tonight too. It's not very often I get to these days in Japan, for lack of space as well as the noise factor. The headlining band, １★狂 ／ ICHI BANG BOSHI CREW, came in about a half hour later and did their sound check. The whole night was to be arranged around their set, which didn't start till 1am, so I asked Will, the owner, whenever is cool with me. There were also to be various DJs of various styles spinning all night(and eventually morning) in between live acts. I was the first live act to play, my set started at 11pm for about a 30min-40min.

I did a live looping set with my guitar, vocal, portable drum machine, and also jumped on the drum set. It was a great set, I thought, the highlight for me being an improvised jam that was a mix of Middle Eastern, Indian raga style and surf music. Don't ask me where that came from, my fingers just decided that's what they wanted to play. Wish I had a vid or recording of that. Since this small club was geared for dance music, the system was bass heavy, which is not very friendly to acoustic instruments, but I took advantage of this feedback phenomenon and shaped some rather metallic, pulsing sounds through out my set and integrated those into the soundscapes I was creating. I watched the people there, it wasn't a full room yet, eyes watching me, some heads bopping, phones taking pics, and after each song... silence. I think they didn't know how to react to what I was doin' because I probably looked like a man possessed, but after a few seconds cheering and applauding would ensue. So, that was a good sign. Closed the set with an accapella version of Redemption Song I've been known to do, while beating out a rhythm on my guitar. The sound in the room was real nice.

I packed up my gear, and headed out to catch a subway train down to Tennoji. I wanted to catch a friend's band who were playing at Tin's Hall, and also get my pay from my last gig.(I had to leave so quickly last time I played at Tin's, I forgot to get paid!) I was also courting the idea of possibly playing a set at Tin's tonight too, if possible, so I took my guitar with me just in case. I left Mad Kafe a bit after 12am, and got to Tin's just in time to catch the tail end of the last song. Rising Sons are a power trio and perform all their own original material. Nice sounds. I hung out for a bit, talking to the drummer and his brother, ordered a hamburger and drink a few drinks, then talked to the lead singer, Danny, for a bit. Since we're both musicians with our own gigs, we rarely get to see one another because of conflicting schedules, but it was nice to be able to chat with him. He decided to come back with me to Mad Kafe and join in a jam session. We left Tin's around 2am, walked in the rain to catch a taxi back to Amemura.


When we got there another live band was playing; piano, vocals, drums and bass called The Geminaic. Kinda singer songwriter type of music. Then this cat Dan Kane joined them, doin' a few bluesy numbers. He had really good voice, played acoustic, and blew a pretty good harp. I was getting antsy, so I asked Danny if I could borrow his Strat(I only had my acoustic guitar) so I could join in and jam with them. He said go right a head, and I waited to catch the eye of Dan the singer, to see if it was okay if I could jump in with them. Got the green light, so I plugged in Danny's guitar to an amp and we did a few tunes. His Strat was real nice, but his strings were heavier than I'm use to. Good sounds though, and the people were diggin' the music.

After that jam, Dan stayed on and did a few solo original songs. On this last song, a cover that I can't remember at the moment, the piano player joined in, and I grabbed my sticks and brushes and jumped on the drum set. Good times. I stayed behind the drum set and we played a bit more, then it was just me and piano player, Derron, and Danny jumped in and starting playing bass. We got a sorta Medeski, Martin, and Wood groove going on, but I'm so outta practice on the drums my endurance is lacking. I kept it was tight as I could, no doubt. Then, the original Japanese bass player guy grabbed the bass, and Danny picked up the acoustic guitar, and Dan the singer rocked the vocals. It was good jam session, especially since it was the first time we all played together. We didn't even know each other's names at that point.

We got the crowd cookin' and decided to hand it off to the next DJ. Finally, introductions were made, drinks were drunk, and the music pumped on and the room was dancin'. My friend Louis, who also lives in my neighborhood of Goido, showed up with a few friends of his. We happened to take the same train into the city, and I told him where I'd be playing and to stop by. We all danced and drank and had good ole time. Consequently, last time I hung out with Louis in Osaka all night was the night of the yakuza incident which I posted awhile back, Kicked in the by Yakuza.

Hours zipped by like minutes in the non-stop music, as the DJs handed off each set to the next DJ like relay runners passing a baton in a race. Even Will the owner pumped the grooves at one point, bringing the Chicago house flava into the mix. It's an environment I haven't recently found myself in, dance clubs, that is. Not that I don't like dancing or dance clubs, just never went to them on a regular basis. There were those off nights in my younger days we'd head up to Chicago to clubbing. It was great to see people dancing and letting loose, voyeurs and exhibitionists mingling in the electricity generated by bodies jumping, shaking, slithering, and twisting to an ever increasing tempo. I traded my beers for energy drinks, which kept me going strong as the evening progressed to dawn, and dawn turned to morning; all hidden from our senses in this little club, with no windows or clocks. At one point, a few of us were chillin' in the lobby area, taking a break from dancing, and one girl insisted that we NOT tell her what time it was after some else asked the question. You think if Cinderella didn't know it was close to midnight, she could've stayed later and wouldn't have had to go through all the trouble to get the prince? I looked at my watch, nearly 6am. Still over two hours before my meeting at 8:30 for the film shoot. Louie was pretty wasted at this point, but had a trio of very nice English girls taking care of him. The girl who didn't want to know what time is was kept telling Louis she was a Russian spy, or some other kinda of nonsense... hahaha. I went back in, got another drink and talked with Dan the singer for awhile about music. And the DJs played on.

Before I knew it, I checked my watch again and it was 8am. The crowd had dwindled to about half a dozen, but still goin' strong. The music was ever more intense and the DJ was also free styling over the heavy, heavy beats, steadily flowin' a blur of indecipherable words and phrases. It was quite impressive. A Japanese couple, who I noticed had been there for a good portion of the evening, had been trolling the scene for what I deduced a late night lover to take home with them. I didn't know if they were looking for a boy or girl, I wasn't sure, but I saw them leave with a young, Middle Eastern looking guy, that morning. I caught Louis attention, as he was nearly falling asleep on one of the speakers, and told him that I was heading out. He left with me and we headed to the nearest subway station, and was pondering the notion of joining in as an movie extra, but by the time we got Shinsaibashi Station he decided it would be best to just chill out and sleep in one spot. So I left him there just outside of the staton, where he picked a quiet, unobtrusive spot on the sidewalk to sleep. He does this quite well, sleeping in public. It's kinda like his super power. And, fortunately, in Japan it's safe for such behavior. Not many people, other than homeless or drunk people, do it, but it's reassuring to know you can be fairly safe in public slumber.


I got to Fukushima Station, which is just West of Umeda, around 8:45am. I was late, but Shizuka and a guy from the film crew where waiting patiently for me. That short subway ride seemed to drain me, or maybe it was the sun, or all those energy drinks were crashing my will. Whatever it was, the world had that haze you get when you've pushed your body to its limits, everything looked softer and the sounds around you are muted, and your body is a heavy bag of sand. I jumped in the waiting car, and we drove a few blocks to the wine bar cafe where the shoot was taking place.

I met some of the crew, a few other actors, and was briefed on a scene I would take part in. I was to play a chef's assistant, so they gave me a costume(chef's jacket) and informed me that I had a line... well, sorta. I was supposed to mumble "Bochi bochi" over again five times, like I was trying to find the meaning. Which, honestly, is not far off. It means something like, "so so" in Kansai-ben. And, my character, Mike, is supposed to be kinda daydreaming and talking to himself while peeling a potato. Then, they told me to talk to the potato. Mixed with my smoldering fatigue and melting delirium from a night of dancing and music, talking to a potato seemed quite the right thing to do. I guess I nailed it... I honestly don't remember.

I took a very brief nap on a couch, maybe like 15min-20min, and woke up remembering that I had invited a bunch of people to come to the set to also be extras. Erin was suppose to arrive at 1pm with Doc and Emily. I was told my friend Genny was already at the station. So, Shizuka and I walked back to the station and waited around, then went to a nearby deli to get a bite. Erin and crew met up with us, and we were off back to the cafe for the party scene. We walked in the rain and it felt good to me.

The next few hours were spent sitting at made up tables as if we were at a party. It was still very surreal, with all the directions in Japanese, and the crew buzzing around with lights and cameras and mics and big pieces of styrofoam to deflect and control the lighting. My directions were simple, keep day dreaming about the potato... which I did. I was so engrossed in my potato dreams that I made a face with the potato wedges, a mound of mashed potatoes on my plate, and halved cherry tomatoes on the table. Apparently, the director was inspired by the honest channeling of my delirious state of mind into my character that, at the end, he had me talk to my potato based face plate for an improvised shot. Oh, potato man, where are you from?

We left the shoot around 5pm. So, let's see, I worked Saturday afternoon, starting at 2pm. After work, came home to get my gear and went to Mad Kafe by 8:30pm... 12 hours later, I was on a train to Fukushima for the shoot which all ended by 5pm. I think I was up for around 30-35hours. Not my record, but who's counting? I had a good time exploring the Osaka night life, sharing good music, dancing, meeting cool people, and have my debut on film. Even though I'm not as young as I used to be, it's still nice to know I can be from time to time(it just takes me much longer to recuperate).

Kicked in the head by Yakuza

*I had a gig last night in Osaka, my first electric gig at The Blarney Stone near Higashi- Umeda. It was me on lead vocals and guitar/bass and Andy on the Drums. Anyways, we rocked out till nearly 3am(then the place closed). My new friend Louis came out, he lives in the same neighborhood Erin and I live in, so we were both looking at several hours before we could catch the morning train back home to Goido. We decided to walk south, down Midosuji(a main street that cuts Osaka city down the middle from North to South) and make our way to Namba Station, a central train station, were we could catch the early morning train.

*On the map it looked super far, but it only took us about an hour and a half to walk.
So, we arrived near Dotomburi around 5am and decided to cop a squat in the main crossroad of foot traffic of Dotomburi, people watching and just chatting till the trains started up around 6am. We were right in area where the most famous bridge in Osaka is located, also the iconic "Big Crab" was right at our back.

This is the bridge in Dotomburi
The night moved on and turned to morning rather quickly. All the while a constant flow of foot traffic never stopped. The nightlife scene in Osaka is a truly sleepless breed.Gorgeous Japanese girls stumbling around in their short shorts and thigh highs, drunk salary men puking and singing down the road, slick Japanese gigolos and pimps with their alladin lookin' shoes and black suits hustling for customers, drunk foreigners being led on the shoulders and arms of friends, and, on this particular morning, there was me and Louis, two normal dudes just waiting for a train. Not drunk. Not in the sex industry. Not weary, haggard salary men. Not passed out on the bench. Not homeless. And, certainly not looking for a fight.

*It was about 7am and from the distance, maybe about 50meters, I heard shouting and loundness, which, at this point, was not a big surprise considering our location. As they came closer, I noticed it was a group of five 40-something year old Japanese men, in disheveled suits, yelling and stumbling their way down the street, toward our general direction. Their suits were not salary men suits, but nicer. By their swagger and obvious aggressive behavior, these guys were no doubt drunk and not ready to quit. There were a group of young, gigolo-type Japanese guys sitting near me and Louis, minding their own business, when this group of older drunken men started harassing them and jumped them. They grabbed one dude by the hair, and was yelling in his face, while a few of the other men started punching the other three younger guys. One guy was bleeding from the mouth. The young guys did nothing. They did not fight back. This led me to another deduction, these drunk older guys in disheveled suits where more than likely yakuza, which in the name for the Japanese mafia. Only yakuza could act so brazenly in public, in a high traffic area, in Japan, with no regard and no fear of consequences.

After beating the young guys, more yelling and rolling for the r's(this is one characteristic of how yakuza speak, which is a more rough way of talking in Japan) one of the yakuza guys got in our face as we were still sitting on the park bench, shocked at this every un-Japanese display of violence. The one guy was in my face, yelling what I think was "Dare!", which means "anyone" or "who"; I'm assuming they were looking for any takers. I was wearing a towel around my neck, a custom I've adopted while living here, which he grabbed and yelled some more in my face. I was calm, but naturally freaked a bit, this whole time. I still did not feel that I was in any present, unavoidable danger. I kept a cool head and continued to assess the situation. Louis was still next to me. They did not attack him. Then, another yakuza guy gave me a kick to the face. Seriously, a kick to the face! Not much of a kick though, 'cause these guys were totally drunk, so it didn't knock me over and it certainly couldn't do any damage. After that, they left us and went down the street a bit more.

At that point, two police officers came into the scene. What happened then further proved that these guys were definitely above the law. They got right up in the officers' faces, yelling at them, bumping chests with them, still relentlessly acting with aggression. This went on for at least five minutes, even still as we left the scene to catch our train in the subway. The group, police officers and yakuza, drifted onto the famous bridge where you can see the Osaka icon, "the Running Man", and the drunk yakuza guys were still yelling and challenging the officers. The cops did nothing, just like the young guys that got beat up, absolutely nothing. No handcuffs were drawn, batons, nothing. One yakuza guy even picked up a yellow and black pvc pole, maybe about 4-5 feet in length, that was used to section off a construction site nearby, and brought it over to the bridge where they were yelling at the cops and started banging it on the ground and guard rail. It was like watching an aggressive group of gorillas, beating their chests and making loud noises. Louis said that more officers showed up, but still did nothing. It was definitely time to leave.

We made our way onto the train, heading back to the safe, quite comfort of our little town of Goido. Japan is not like this. Just the day before, Louis, Erin and I were discussing how safe it is in Japan, how you can sleep on the street or the train and not worry about someone stealing your stuff. And, definitely violence is a rarity in this group-oriented society of Japan. That's why this spectacle was so utterly shocking; to witness this display of drunken aggression and the untouchable power that the yakuza weilds, let alone be caught in the storm of it, was an eye opening experience. It also made me realize that violence like this, drunken aggression, or any type of violence for that matter, is the same all over the world, and just as pointless no matter who's involved or where it occurs. I've witnessed my share of bar fights and drunken melees in my line of work as a musician playing late-night gigs at bars, and this was no different. I'd actually have to say that these yakuza guys were more talk than fight, just proving their presence, status, and power. I'm glad I made the decision not to fight back, considering the circumstances and the people involved, and keeping a level head in the face of aggression. Though, I know if I had felt more threatened or deemed the situation harmful to by being, I would have had to defend myself. Plus, I'm certain that if we were to challenge these drunken yakuza guys, it would have only escalated what was already a tense situation. I was not hurt, nor was Louis, thankfully, so we're lucky to leave unscathed with our first, and hopefully last, run-in with the Japanese yakuza.
*pics were taken the just before the incident, though I did not get a moment to take any during or after the attack.

Ohanami and playing tour guide

May is ending here in Japan, and my first spring outside of the States was quite colorful and festive. I had my first experience of the Japanese tradition of the Ohanami, or flower-viewing get-togethers held in parks, river banks, and anywhere the Sakura(Cherry Blossom) trees were blooming. It was great to be in the company of friends, enjoying the warming weather, and seeing all the other families and parties enjoying their ohanami.



I also took the time to walk and bike around our neighborhood in Kashiba, and enjoyed the local sakuras in bloom.

I can't help but reminisce that a year ago Erin and I started our adventures in Door County with our wedding and a magical summer. Now, here we are in Japan, a year later. I think we've settled into our way of living here, day to day, but Japan is still so new and exciting to experience and share. We recently had a couple of out-of-town visitors, our first, and it was so great to show them around and share the things we've learned and seen since our arrival here last August.

Our first visitor was my buddy Mike, who came from Tokyo to experience Kansai for the first time. He's from back home, Lansing more specifically, but living and studying at Sophia Uni in Tokyo till August.
It was great fun to show him around, revisit some of the sights I haven't seen since we first got here, feed him some good food, and also create some new adventures.
We went to Osaka Castle, a Ninja Village and castle in neighboring prefecture of Mie(that's correct, a real Ninja village!!!), a little bit of Nara(where, on our way, we randomly met a great family from DC on vacation who happened to be lost and at our local train station of Goido. I played Nara tour guide to them and Mike for the afternoon, and it was a great twist of fate to have their company for a traditional Japanese lunch at a great little Okanomiyaki place our friend Elaine introduced us to), and a bit of Kyoto before he had to get back to Tokyo.






I forgot, I also had the great opportunity to meet up with kuya Rich, my cousin Corrie's husband(who we stayed with on New Years Eve in Tokyo), while he was visiting Kyoto for a day and a half with a friend. It was great to see him again, and another great chance to visit Kyoto.


And just recently, our friend Shotaro came to Kansai for yasumi(holiday) and I got to show him around and eat some really good food in Nara and Osaka. We actually met Shotaro through Rich and Corrie, he's a family friend who's from the Tokyo region as well. Haven't seen him since our first meeting around New Years Eve, so it was great to reconnect after so many months. Unfortunately, Erin was in Kobe for a JET conference, so she could not partake in the the Kansai sightseeing.

Also, this past month, there was Golden Week, which is a block of holidays at the end of April and beginning of May when many people utilize this precious time off for travel around Japan or abroad, or just relax and not have to worry about work. For us, we had the great fortune of spending a few days of Golden Week with our friends Chetan and Doug from South Africa, in the mountains of Mitsue Village, where Chetan lives. They are both JETs like Erin, and we had great fun. We actually met them up at the Ninja Village I mentioned earlier, but it was packed and late, so we just created our own ninja adventures and enjoyed the atmosphere. On this particular day there was a "Ninja Fiesta" as Erin translated from the banners, and a majority of the people, families, and patrons wore their ninja costumes. So, it was interesting to observe whole families, little toddlers, couples wearing the ancient garb of the ninja... not so sleathy when you're sportin' a pink ninja gi with a fanny pack strapped to your waist, but it's all in good fun.




This month we also met our friend Elaine's visitor, her good friend Nalini, who was coming from Dublin, Ireland to visit Elaine. We all bid her farewell at this great Okanomiyaki place in Nara(the one I later took the DC family and Mike to for lunch) that Elaine suggested. Great food and great company including Elaine, Nalini, Sarah, Jack, Erin and myself.

So that was our first Japanese Spring. I also kept quite busy playing gigs the past several months, but I'll put up another post for that news. The Sakura is definitely beautiful, and I can understand why it's been the subject of many a poem, song, and painting throughout Japanese history. The trees only bloom for a brief few weeks in the Spring, all over Japan, so it is a very special event and cause for celebration each year. I am thankful that we could experience this Japanese tradition with our new friends here.