Calm Before The Storm

Thursday February 7, 3:09 p.m.

It's been an enervating and energetic past few days for me. As Cozy has been a bit delayed in some of those financial statements to be translated, I've been lucky to get work from my regular gig this week, and I did get a nice healthy check to be deposited in the old account. Still, with the precision needed with this work, I could use a massage AND a nap just about now. As for the energetic part, I've gotten a couple of guest contributors for my Japanese music blog, Kayo Kyoku Plus, and they've been absolutely great with their articles. They're covering artists that I've never covered which means that I have a good chance to discover new singers. It's good talking with folks that share my admittedly niche interest, and I don't feel as much pressure to get a couple of songs up there everyday. I've had some good talks with each of them via e-mail about the wonders of kayo kyoku.

Calm before the storm? Ah, yes, Toronto and much of Southern Ontario is supposed to be socked with about 15~20 cm of the white stuff starting from tonight. So, the big news on the news channels highlights the salting trucks and the weather map. Tokyo was gonna get walloped by a second major snowstorm but it turned out to be a mostly false alarm. Some flakes did fall on The Big Sushi, but here in Toronto, we eat those flakes for a light snack. I'm just glad that I don't need to commute anymore. Although if it's as bad as they're forecasting, I think most people will be more than happy to take a sick day on a Friday.

Looks like I've got another Santouka run next Tuesday with another ramen buddy of mine. The two of us got together more than a year ago for ramen (we've gotten together a few times over the months but with his family and not for ramen) at Kenzo but nothing since then. One of my old students who's now living with his family in California recommended the toroniku ramen with pork cheeks. I did see a page devoted to that type in the menu last Friday, so hey, why not? Plenty of cholesterol to go around.

I got a call out of the blue from another old friend yesterday. Looks like he and his family had gotten bogged down by the flu over The Holidays which would explain why I didn't hear much from him for the past few months. But it sounded like he's hale and hearty again, so hopefully we can all get together for lunch or dinner in the next few weeks.....provided I can shovel out of the snow.

It looks like my Skype student will be continuing on with me. Very grateful for that but I have to find a certain textbook for him. I'll be doing my scouring via Amazon or going downtown to the various bookshops.

Learning How to Slide/Nagisa Oshima

Tuesday January 15, 10:15 p.m.

Well, it's been about a couple of days since the big snow hit the Kanto Region. And the consequences are starting to befall commuters. Yup, the traffic on the major highways has been snarled up....kinda like looks like the Gardiner Expressway here on a bad day...which is usually everyday. But the NHK report also told of over 1,500 incidents of people falling over on the sidewalks or floors since Sunday. Looks like it's not just cars that need the chains....and yep, tires in Japan often get the chains for snow driving. I haven't seen chains here on car tires since the 1960s....and that was through ancient Canadian Tire catalogs. Anyways, I'm not laughing....we may be getting some of the white stuff as well in a few days. It would be appropriate, though....NHL season is coming back on Saturday.

As soon as I entered the living room this morning, I caught the news on NHK that director Nagisa Oshima had passed away from pneumonia at the age of 80. His name is not particularly a household one on this side of the Pacific. But for some of the veteran cineasts out there, he was the auteur who had directed the controversial "In the Realm of the Senses" back in the 1970s and "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" with David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1983. Never saw the latter one, but I remember it making news for the fact that Bowie was in it, and at the time, he was hitting another peak in his career in his incarnation as MTV-friendly pop star. Sakamoto was also cruising fine as one-third of the Yellow Magic Orchestra back in Japan. Actually for me, the theme song, also created and performed by Sakamoto, is the most well-known part of the movie for me.

Not sure how long this video will stay up on YouTube, but here is a series of commercials that the director actually appeared in. Some of them match the image of zaniness that Japanese commercials have cultivated. But that was the thing about Oshima. As one of his friends pointed out today on the news, Oshima had no taboos about anything. He showed that in his movies, his interviews (his friend also remarked that Oshima would fight with anybody anywhere anytime), and even the commercials. He may have been an intimidating high-level director but his ego wasn't so big that he would pooh-pooh the idea of appearing in a TV ad.

I used to see him in my early years in Japan on TV shows regularly. At the time, I hadn't even known it was Nagisa Oshima. I saw this cheerful, talkative old guy as a panelist on a number of game shows, not realizing that this was THE Nagisa Oshima. Still, when I finally did see him at work in some documentary footage, he was the scariest sumbitch. He probably had the power to reduce yakuza to tears if they didn't act like he ordered. People did not cross this man intentionally.

There was a Saturday night program called "Hammer Price" which was hosted by the comedy duo, Tunnels (one of whom is Takaaki Ishibashi, who had his brief 15 minutes of Hollywood by playing the insane baseball import in the last few movies of the "Major League"franchise). It was an auction comedy game show of sorts where the studio audience could bid on some crazed piece of pop culture whether it be a sample of bathwater that a buxom actress had sat in or Robert DeNiro's attempt at calligraphy (both true). Well, one night, someone bid and won the opportunity for his child's graduation ceremony to be filmed by Oshima himself. And Oshima actually did it....with crane shots and all of the energy and anger that he brought to all of his other projects. It was quite the scene...no pun intended.

Anyways, I leave you with the theme from "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" which is one of the de rigueur Xmas tunes heard everywhere in Japan during the Holidays.

And this is "Ai no Corrida", the Quincy Jones disco tune from "The Dude". It's one of my favourite songs from that era of R&B, and the original version was written by Chaz Jankel and Kenny Young. "Ai no Corrida"was the original Japanese title from Oshima's "In The Realm of the Senses", and according to Jankel in his first album, he decided to adopt the title for the song.

Goodbye, Dave!

Thursday December 6, 11:07 p.m.

Well, it's been a pretty quiet week although no less busy. I've gotten a fair amount of translation work in the past few days, and in fact, I even got to meet my fellow translators for a powwow last night over a beer. But it's been interesting now that I really no longer need to go downtown anymore....not too bad a thing considering that TTC token prices will be going up next year. Still, the odd trip downtown would be nice just as a bit of a respite for being at home most of the time. Did meet a bit of the urban residents before and after the meeting. While I was waiting for my two colleagues, a homeless man approached me for some money. Nice enough fellow and fairly erudite...I just gave him what little change I had in my pocket; I'm sure he didn't get nearly enough for that Burger King Whopper Set he was looking for, and I'm not sure if that's what he was aiming for, but at this time of year, I'm not gonna pooh-pooh a man for being hungry and cold. On the bus ride home, a clearly deranged lunatic was trying to pick a fight with the driver over some sort of "injustice"he had suffered in some sort of fight with another TTC employee which supposedly cracked the crackpot's tooth. I got off before anything major happened but considering I didn't see anything on CP24 this morning, I assume there was no other follow-up to the first fight.

Got the first of my Japanese CDs that I'd ordered through Amazon.jp the other day. Not nearly as easy to get them anymore obviously since I'm back in Canada but certainly far better than 20 years ago.

Speaking of music, my hat is going off to Dave Brubeck. I came across his surprise obituary in the Toronto Star today. He lived a good, long life. And he's part of the reason that I got into jazz, along with Bill Evans. I think "Take Five" is a great song to get into the genre with. It's probably one of the most recognized jazz songs for even non-jazz fans.

Oh, Geek

Wednesday November 28, 10:39 a.m.

Had another round of translations yesterday. Got those done and may get another assignment in an hour or so. Not too, too difficult but the feedback can always blow back any satisfaction.

Yup, the geek inside me....80%; the other 20% is makeup....got some intriguing information via the movie site "Dark Horizons". I found out that the two British thespian knights, Sir McKellen and Sir Stewart, will be coming onto the next "X-Men" project. Of course, I'm thrilled since when those two were in the original trilogy (overall, a mediocre trio), any scene that involved them was easily up there with the best scenes. But at first, I had wondered how they were going to be shoehorned into this new series; then I realized that the title was "Days of Future Past". Somewhere in one of the filing cabinets, I have the original comic books for that story arc, and everything started to make sense....or as much sense as that story had.

Then, came the rumours about this supposed "Justice League" movie that's in the works after the success of "The Avengers" this summer. Apparently Joseph Gordon-Levitt may be playing the new Batman (not Nightwing?!). If this is actually true, then "The Dark Knight Rises" served to be a launching point for the new Caped Crusader.

And of course, news on the new "Star Trek" movie had to come out. Once again, another threat comes to Earth which means only the Enterprise can save the day. Well....not exactly news there.

All I can say is that millions of "Big Bang Theory"-like kaffeeklatsches (kolaklatsches?) of geeks are probably going into heated discussions over their cocoa right now. After reading some of this, I'll take mine with a huge crystal of salt.

Hey, can't wait to see the new "Doctor Who" Xmas special. I still think the swan song for Amy and Rory was ugly....

Goodbye, Andy

Wednesday September 26, 10:45 a.m.

Heard the somewhat surprising news of Andy Williams' passing just this morning coming back from my ultrasound appointment. Mind you, he was 84....but still, my impressions were that the legendary singer had the stamina of a bull. He was giving performances all the way in Japan not that long ago.

His golden voice was one I heard regularly on TV and stereo. He had those Xmas specials which came on NBC just about every year just like those for Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Mom had an album of his love songs which she played fairly often. And while I was in Japan, his old TV show, which I may or may not have seen as a toddler, was being re-broadcast on one of the local cable networks every Sunday night. He was one of those entertainers that seemed to have had a more successful legacy in that country than in his native one. The Carpenters can be added to that list.

It was interesting watching "The Andy Williams Show". The broadcasts tended to jump all over the 60s timeline. One episode was from 1963, so Andy and all the guests looked like they just got drafted into the military while wearing dapper suits....then the following week, it was the late 60s with Andy's hair a big shaggier and wearing somewhat more wilder shirts sans tie.

In any case, "Moon River"is just going to get more poignant now.

Lost another Andy....first, Griffith and now Williams.

Bank Stuff and Linda Ronstadt

Wednesday August 15, 3:13 p.m.

It's a pretty quiet day today. But this morning, I went over to my local bank to do some housekeeping, so to speak, concerning my account. Nothing too bad....got everything done within half an hour. I will have to go down to the school....if and when I'm called for duty....to hand them another form so that they can send my pay to the new account.

Listened in bed last night to Linda Ronstadt's "What's New?"CD. I have to say that it's the first disc in a while that I've been able to listen to every track without falling asleep. Such is the magic of Nelson Riddle. I read some stuff on Wiki about the album....I was quite surprised to read so much acclaim for it. Basically, it's been hailed as the saviour for The Great American Songbook after it nearly got snuffed out by The Beatles and rock music. Well, I like my disco, AOR, R&B and New Wave just fine, but it's nice to know that jazz and standards can still claim a place in contemporary music. Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Buble ought to make that pilgrimage to Ronstadt's house.

I like the title track but I've got a crush on "I've Got A Crush On You". And I have to say that Linda hasn't looked so ravishing than when she appears in the video.

Japanese Dance and Hibari Misora

Monday August 13, 10:15 a.m.

It was a pretty miserable day on Saturday when I went up to The Toronto Buddhist Church to catch my friend's dance recital there. It was actually my first time to the church in its new location and configuration. I'd used to go with my family to the old one on Bathurst St. deeper into downtown way back in the 70s, but not to pray but to watch Japanese drama videos on that newfangled contraption called a VCR. The old church had that traditional thatched-roof architecture, but this new one up north looks more Tadao Ando.

This buyokai was dedicated to the music of Hibari Misora, one of the singing legends of modern Japanese music. In terms of comparative status, I'd peg her with Elvis Presley and The Beatles in terms of how much an effect she had on the Japanese population. Her untimely death in 1989 at the age of 52 may have had Japan unofficially declaring a day or two of national mourning. Misora, through her music, led the people through the dark early days of the Postwar period all the way to the end of the Economic Bubble days of the late 80s. Her nom de genre was enka but she was known to have gone into jazz and even pop. I can't say, though, that I'm a huge fan of hers but since she released over 1,200 songs during her 40-year career, there are a number of them that I know just from hearing the opening notes.

These were the dancers...or at least, some of them...unfortunately, we were forbidden to take pictures during the performance itself. I was joined by The Dancer's family and so we all saw about 20 different performances all done to Misora's songs over the decades. The audience mostly consisted of folks older than me, so I was pretty sure that her music had an even more resonant effect on them. As for my friend, she performed a couple of dances....one in which she portrayed an old-fashioned Japanese thief in all-black, Her daughter also had a dance as well with two other young girls.

I would be rather intrigued if there were ever a similar buyokai done to the strains of Seiko Matsuda. Yes, I am being sarcastic here.

Marvin Hamlisch The Entertainer

courtesy of Officer Phil
from Flickr

Tuesday August 7, 10:55 p.m.

There have been quite a few celebrity deaths over the past couple of weeks. Chad Everett of "Medical Center" fame and George Hemsley from "The Jeffersons" have passed away.

Then there was the news this afternoon that composer Marvin Hamlisch died at the age of 68. I was surprised by the age...still plenty young to go so soon. He was younger than either of my parents. I hadn't seen the man in a few decades but he was a fairly common fixture on TV during the 70s. Hamlisch gained a certain amiability from the audience not just for his works on projects like "The Sting" and "A Chorus Line", but also for coming off in front of everybody as this likable nebbish...a musical Woody Allen, so to speak. He had this nonstop nervous banter whenever he was behind the keys in front of an audience. Nothing exudes sympathy more than open neurosis.

I've always like "The Entertainer" and I always liked this entertainer.

Check-Up

Thursday July 26, 1:36 p.m.

Went to my parents' doctor to have myself checked out earlier this morning. It was pretty painless. He just gave me the usual stethoscope, tongue depressor and blood pressure check, and also took a look at that arm that's been aching a bit. He said it's probably just a touch of tendonitis or other strain. As for the bloodwork, I'll get that done sometime later.

The GTA got doused overnight with a bunch of thunder and water. Luckily, there was no leakage into my parents' bedroom as has often been the case, but it looks like some cars got deluged in the lower areas of town.

I actually got my first celebrity follower on Twitter this morning. Since my Twitter account is just for my old J-Pop blog, "Kayo Kyoku Plus", it'll be interesting to see if Ms. Akiko Kobayashi, a singer from the 80s and 90s, decides to take a walk through my cyber-museum of music. I've been following her account for a few months; she's now living in London with her husband so she tweeted about yesterday's win by Nadeshiko Japan, the women's national soccer team, and how she was looking forward to seeing their next game against Sweden. I just replied innocently how lucky she was to see them in person and hope that she has a good time on Saturday. I never expected a reply but then she sent me a complementary and complimentary response and just became a follower of mine. I don't know if she did it just as a reflex but I'm just happy to have her join up.

Donna Summer (1948-2012)

courtesy of Bart & Co.
of Flickr

Thursday May 17, 1:27 p.m.

Heard within the hour of Donna Summer's passing. I had no idea that she had been the least bit sick, but apparently she had been suffering from cancer.

I was not a die-hard fan of hers but I enjoyed a number of her songs: "Hot Stuff", "She Works Hard for the Money", her version of "MacArthur's Park", etc.. She evoked the memories of the first years of my interest in music as a kid.back in the late 70s and early 80s. And of course, "Last Dance"was often the go-to song for the last dance at any school dance party.

Not sure if people in Japan will agree with me, but I think a lot of the J-R&B divas should give tribute to Summer....singers like Misia, Yuki Koyanagi and Kumi Koda. I've heard a lot of her influence in their voices. Koyanagi, especially, has covered "Hot Stuff"and "MacArthur's Park"on one of her albums. And for a while, the former song was getting lots of airplay via a popular commercial over there.

Elbow Bones and Racketeers

Wednesday May 9, 11:34 p.m.

I've come up with my fair share of strange entry titles but this one was made nearly 3 decades ago. Elbow Bones and Racketeers was this 80s disco/big band swing band that came and went years before the brief Neo-Swing boom of the mid-90s. It was a one-hit wonder but what a one hit. I used to listen to "A Night in New York"all the time on AM and FM radio. Wouldn't fully go into jazz for another several years but this was one of my favourites.

I just remembered it tonight so I checked out the ol' YouTube and not only found the song but the music video that went with it. I had no idea that a video had been made...yep, it definitely looks like a 40s big band set done in the 80s. I would love some enterprising fellow to have a go at a remake.

Dick Clark (1929-2012)

courtesy of Clotho98
of Flickr

Thursday April 19, 1:53 a.m.

Heard about the passing of Dick Clark yesterday. I didn't know him so much from his original show, "American Bandstand", but he was a fixture on my TV set due to "The $10,000 Pyramid" and the bloopers show he did with the late Ed McMahon. But of course, we all knew him from "New Year's Rockin' Eve".

He had that natural DJ-esque delivery which made him an ideal host for a game show, and for the longest time, he never seemed to age until the last decade. When it comes to music, he was probably one of the luckiest guys on the planet after introducing literally generations of singers to generations of fans. In that way, he was the ultimate arbiter of pop culture.

He lived a good long life but he will still be missed.

The Nightfly

courtesy of VeryDistorted
at Flickr

Friday April 13, 3:17 p.m.

Over the decades, I've collected a small rental shop's worth of discs. Most of them I hear perhaps once a year or even once a decade. But for Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly", I give it a listen a few times a year. I used to remember listening to "I.G.Y."on the radio as well as "New Frontiers". The former song just struck me as being this weirdly arranged tune sung by a fellow who sounded as if he were being strangled every few verses. Of course, the album has become an icon, going into its 30th anniversary this year, and its cover, at least for those who used to buy LPs and CDs, is amongst one of the most recognized.

But I only finally purchased the album just a little over a decade ago when one of my fellow teachers, who used to be a keyboardist for a band in California, kindly lent me the disc. As I said, I only knew the songs that had been released as singles. But though I didn't immediately catch onto all of the songs (with the exception of "Maxine"which is an urban ballad classic), it was good enough for me to get my own copy. Pretty soon, after a few listens on the stereo, I grew to appreciate "Green Flower Street" and the title track. And just over the last few years, I've finally gotten to enjoy the last few tracks such as "The Goodbye Look".

Through the Net, I've read about what a masterpiece "The Nightfly"is. I've read it on Wiki, which led me to some other online reviews, and the authors and commenters have been absolutely effusive in their praise of Donald Fagen's lyrical mastery. Of course, sound engineers have called "I.G.Y."the song to test any equipment out. However, I didn't buy or repeatedly listen to "The Nightfly"because it's a masterpiece. Frankly, I wouldn't know or appreciate or recognize a masterpiece if I saw one. I can only recognize masterpieces because experts or the media have told me they are so. "The Mona Lisa is a masterpiece!" "Rodin's 'David' is a masterpiece!" OK, Mona and David, you are masterpieces. Congratulations.

Nope, I bought "The Nightfly" simply because it sounds good. I'm not a lyrics man by any means. Some of the expert reviewers spoke of how Fagen lyrically managed to make himself sound tough and tender through some of the lines in "Maxine", especially focusing on one line. I can't remember that line or all that many of the lyrics, to be honest with you. What makes it a great ballad for me is the arrangement, the jazziness, Fagen's voice placed alongside it, and that saxophone.

However, I can say that after hundreds of listenings to it over the 3 decades, I do remember a lot of the words from "I.G.Y."and Fagen's somewhat satirical tribute to the Kennedyesque American's vision of a utopian future. Heck of a song to try to sing at karaoke, though.

I've Created a Monster!

Thursday April 5, 5:23 p.m.

It's amazing what the right niche blog can do. My sister blog on Japanese popular music of the 70s and 80s, www.kayokyokuplus.blogspot.com, has accomplished in 9 short weeks of existence that my very first blog on life in Japan couldn't do in 9 years. It's already garnered over 2,500 pageviews, almost doubling the pageviews that I'd ever had on "A Canuck in Emperor Akihito's Court", and far outstripping what I've gotten for this blog, although this blog has more posts and started a few weeks earlier.

But the superburst in traffic started a few days ago when an article I'd posted a few weeks ago got attention from an otaku website by the name of Kotaku.com. The Japanese techno girl unit, Perfume, was being featured there and the author compared them to an old girl trio from the early 1970s by the name of The Candies. He or she found my article on The Candies, and suddenly Kotaku's viewers flooded into my little niche world of music. I can only hope that these folks will also take a gander at some of the other artists as well.

It's definitely been interesting where these pageviews have been originating from. Of course, the United States, Canada and Japan have been well represented but I've also been getting tapped by nations like Ecuador, Costa Rica, Sweden and India. Perhaps the tappers are nostalgic Japanese expats but they could actually be anime-swooning natives. Africa had been the only continent that hadn't made its presence felt but I finally got that pageview from Egypt a few days ago.

Now, if only I could somehow harness all this amazing worldwide interest in kayo kyoku into financial rewards...

Electro Jazz -- Fresh Fred

Back in Japan, where I developed my taste in jazz, I was in the Shinjuku Tower Records when I came across this album which specialized in this fusion subgenre known as Electro Jazz...basically taking all those chestnuts from the 30s and 40s and adding a modern DJ's touch to it. Results vary, but I always kept going to Club Des Belugas' treatment of Fred Astaire's take on "Puttin' On The Ritz"....just one of the most fun 3-4 minutes I ever had with my headphones.

Then I came across the video on YouTube, and I couldn't believe it but Fred looked even cooler with some of the added digital touches. Always one of my touchstones on YouTube if I'm not feeling all that happy.

Davy Jones (1946-2012)

courtesy of Hidelee81 of Flickr

Thursday March 1, 8:19 p.m.

Yesterday while I was with Shard, his cell got a message and then he showed it to me: Davy Jones of the Monkees passes away at 66.

Another touchstone of my childhood gone.

Many was a Saturday that I got home from Japanese Language School and saw "The Monkees" show with that theme song "Hey, hey, we're the Monkees!"and the slightly Pythonesque antics and the musical interludes of "Last Train to Clarksville"and "Daydream Believer".

Davy was, of course, the cute little heartthrob of the quartet. Mind you, everybody was cute: Michael Nesmith was the cute silent one with the toque, Peter Tork was the cute naive one, and Mickey Dolenz was the cute schemer. However, Davy was the one that all the girls went for. "Star Trek"did something similar in its second season...they brought in Ensign Chekov.

Davy also had his fans in Japan, too. I remember him showing up on some sort of variety show one day. He looked rather amused and bemused...a very common reaction for Western celebs when they appear on Japanese shows. They soon find out that the manufactured inanity in their projects can be all too real when they go over there.

Anyways, I'll wear my Nehru jacket in honor of him.

MISIA

Sunday February 12, 3:21 p.m.

The passing of Whitney Houston is still sending shockwaves all over the planet. The Grammys tonight will definitely take on a whole new dimension....probably won't be a dry eye in the house. Throughout the various media broadcasts over the past several hours, one repeated sentence has been how she had influenced so many singers of the current generation. I think that can also be the case in Japan.

Japanese R&B has been a mainstay here for well over a decade or so, and one of the best interpreters of this most American musical genre has been a petite singer from Fukuoka who goes by the name of MISIA. Like Houston, she had a background in gospel and then went into R & B. She debuted in 1998 and her heyday was in the early 2000s. Although she isn't as high-profile as she used to be, any song she releases will guarantee attention.

This song is one of her very best and is somewhat reminiscent of a Whitney Houston ballad. It's called "Hatenaku tsuzuku Story"..."The Never-Ending Story"...not to be mistaken for the 80s Limahl song.

Whitney Houston (1963-2012)

Saturday February 11, 10:14 p.m.

About half an hour ago, I just switched to CNN, expecting only to see the latest results of Mitt Romney's win in the Maine caucuses. Well, I got a shock seeing Don Lemon and other people talking in hushed tones about the passing of Whitney Houston. She'd had her problems with alcohol and drugs, but never did I think she would go like this so soon.

It's starting to hit Facebook, and it looks like the Japanese equivalent, Mixi, has had comments about her death for well over an hour.

My first memory of her was as a university student. It was her second release which caught my attention, "Saving All My Love For You". An epic ballad that was and still my favourite song by her. The rest of the 80s for me was filled with her songs. I saw her in "The Bodyguard", but it will always be the music for me.

I Believe...

Didn't expect to write down another entry but I came across this video via the YouTube video bar at the bottom of my blog. Nice little drive through the major parts of Tokyo. Feels rather natsukashii seeing my old haunts at 100 km/h. Nice musical accompaniment by Kat McDowell.

Yet another blog

Tuesday January 31, 3:43 p.m.

Crossover announcement here. I just started another blog dealing with my love of J-Pop oldies called "Kayo Kyoku Plus". It's even more niche blog than this one, but if you're one of the dozen fans in this country, please take a look. As for the explanation of the title, you can find out over there.