With Yonago being such a short drive today Yoshi takes us for a bit of sightseeing. We’re visiting one of the prettiest and top shrines in the country, Izumo Taisha Shrine. Up here in this part of Japan where Izumo is located, there are lots of myths about their Gods or Kami that originated from this area. Needless to say there’s many sacred and revered places to see. The Taisha Shrine had just had its once-every-60-years-cleaning done so the place had an extra shine and sparkle to it. [rev_slider yonago]

Around Japan, there aren’t too many significant structures that are still the original. Most were either destroyed by an accidental fire, civil wars and earthquakes or from the bombings in WWII. They were of course rebuilt as close to the original as possible and to my beginner’s eyes all the ‘redux’ have been spectacular. This shrine is the original. It’s around 1,500 years old. For once I also have a bit of spare change in my pocket as an offering to the Kami for my prayers. The place is beautiful.

That being done we get on the road to Yonago. We get to the club and it’s the usual. People waiting to receive us and many to help us load in our equipment. We prepare the stage and then we’re told they’ve prepared a little lunch for us. We eat and head over to a local radio station to do an interview that is to be broadcast the first two Sundays in January. (January 3^rd & 10^th – Daraz.fm79.8- link will be posted) it’s fun doing the interview and listening to the back and forth of the main DJ and his assistant. I do the interview in English and only sometimes do I speak in Japanese. I still have pretty bad pronunciation. If Yoshi is with me and I attempt to speak to someone or jump into the conversation, most people will be polite and let me finish with my woefully bad syntax and grammar then they’ll look over at Yoshi with wide eyes and raised eyebrows in an obvious unspoken attempt to ask Yoshi – “What the hell did he just say!?” Oh well, no pain; no gain. Gotta’ keep at it. It’ll come eventually.

We get back to the gig for our show and tonight it’s two opening bands on the bill. Both have been around this area for a while and have good followings. One band features a pair of brothers and the next is the DJ Hamasaki fronting his band. It was funny to see how he really changed from being this mild mannered regular guy then on stage with his leather pants and jacket and rock star gestures while the band played…music is so moving sometimes. Tonight is our biggest crowd of the tour. Over a hundred people have come to see this event and the room is full and sold out. SRO only, and here we are in Yonago. This is pretty exciting. We hit the stage but I notice when I’m setting up my pedals the people sitting right in front of me start telling me ‘My Way Down’ and another tells me he saw me a long time ago here in Japan and to have a good show. Still – people out here in the middle of nowhere in a town that sees so few foreigners in it but they know me and my music from over 20 years ago and here I am. Amazing.

After the show the promoter had arranged a dinner in our honor, like all the others had done but this was the most elaborate. When we arrived at the restaurant and I was shown to the room I walked into this big area with the sunken tables and a long table on one side with three smaller on the other side and everybody broke into applause upon seeing me. It was a bit overwhelming to me. Everybody from the opening bands were there and some of their friends and the staff from the club. We then did the pictures with everyone and all the girls that were there said ‘Chris goes in the middle and let’s put all the girls around him. ‘Jo se maru ni’ – ‘a circle of girls’- I had no objections to this arrangement. With the photos done we all did ‘Kanppai’ then the eating commenced. [rev_slider dinner]

They had printed up special seating placemats for this dinner with our names on them and the menu for tonight’s meal with each course listed. There was to be 8 in total and the main culinary feature is the Yonago specialty – Snow Crab. The crab was prepared four different ways and each one was ravenously consumed by me because it was just too delicious. From steamed to ‘Nabe’, (a soup/stew), to raw, yes raw. All delicious. There I was again, having a grand time talking in both English and Japanese and making new friends and memories. The hour was getting late and so I said I needed to get back to the hotel to rest up for tomorrow. The hotel was a short 5 minute walk but the promoter insisted upon getting me a taxi and I acquiesced. The promoter said ‘Nobody walks in this town, they take a taxi’, when in Rome I guess….sure enough the streets were dead quiet of pedestrians and I attempted small talk with the driver for our short trip to my hotel. Another memorable evening here in Japan.

We had a day off after Uwajima and our itinerary had us staying in Hiroshima for the night. Yoshi has decided that instead of taking the express toll highways he’s chosen a nautical route; a ferry. Our ferry left out of Matsuyama port and we were to travel thru the Aki-nada Sea. Departure was right around sundown so it made for spectacular viewing of the islands that are dotted in the sea channel. [rev_slider ferry]

Quickly as the sun sets the islands in the foreground start to be silhouetted and the top of the cloudless sky takes on the dark blue hue with the remaining true blue hugging the horizon. I retreat into the boat and sit down to gently sway to the rhythms of the waves and water surface that we’re floating through. A fairly brisk gust of wind is going on outside making the flag on the bow appears as if it’s the same flag unfurled on the moon. Straight with an almost plastic-like rigidity. I’m doing a walk around on this ferry and it’s not a very big one at all. Years ago when I was touring Europe with Jeff Healy, we took a ferry from outside Oslo down to Hamburg. This was an overnight trip and on this ferry there were many options for entertainment besides your ‘Econo-sized’ birth you sleep in. (I remember the shower in our birth was this solitary stream of water coming out at a micro-pace faster than a drip), But today’s ship there’s only a woman to attend to the duties in the seating areas. She’s doing it all; cleaning up after people when they disembark, cleaning the restrooms, announcement duties and selling snacks if the snack counter opens. There’s plenty of vending machines on board that are selling basically the same assortment they have at the counter so it stays closed. I’m also walking around trying to read the signs. For the most part I get the gist of the message but what I’m getting better at is family names. First names can still be tricky but family names aren’t so liberal as to their interpretations and use of the kanji. There’s one plaque that has the name of the entire crew listed on it and my eyes go down it getting some names and others I don’t get. It’s dark outside now and we’re getting close to Hiroshima. The ferry was a roughly 3 hour trip. Nice change from the droning sounds of asphalt beneath us.

Our hotel is right on Peace Avenue and they’ve got a Christmas light display going on. I’ve seen grander displays of Xmas lights in other cities but this one is fun cuz’ it’s right outside our hotel. Couples young and old are walking hand in hand gazing at the lights and snapping photos and selfies. They have smiles on their faces with dreamy looks at one another especially amongst the younger couples.

[rev_slider izumo]

Up the next day and this time it’s into unchartered territory for CDG. We’re heading northwards towards Izumo. Izumo sits on the same side as Kanazawa or the west side of Honshu Island, the main land mass most of us know as Japan. Part of our drive parallels the coast and since it’s winter here the waves from the Sea of Japan, (or the China Sea depending on your allegiance, I think we all know mine here), the waves are big and we stop at a picturesque turnoff to gaze at the beach below us. Gorgeous.

Arriving at the club we load in. A common name in Japan for venues and or clubs that feature live entertainment is ‘Livehouse.’ This venue doubles as a recording studio and a livehouse. It’s pretty much a box configuration for the livehouse side but with a good system in it and another pro staff on hand. The walls are painted black and the floor is smooth concrete, it’s a common motif among livehouses here I’ve noticed, and the stage is permanent and about 3 feet high. There’s one opening band on the bill tonight. Yoshi informed us that for an ‘outside’ person to have a gig here is pretty rare and that we’d be getting our share of stares from the locals if we go to walking around here. The staff is used to us but not the rest. I think I surprise them the most when I open my mouth and I’m speaking Japanese and using proper decorum and customs along with formal and informal discretions. I love it here.

The opening band is on and I’m checking them out. They’ve got this fun vibe going with their disco type apparel on and some are sporting wigs too. There’s one with long curly tussles, an afro and a more form fitting wig with a short but stylish look to it. Two sax players, guitar, bass, Keys, and two drummers. They’re playing retro type rhythms with a nod to ‘house funk’ and slight ‘go-go’ beats. I can’t help but smile at their hammy-ness on stage and the cool grooves going on with it.

Not a big crowd tonight but it’s not too bad. Turns out I actually have fans in the area here that know who I am and my music too. With the Internet now firmly intertwined in the social fabric of the world, it still never ceases to amaze me with exactly how far my music can reach and where it can go to touch somebody no matter how isolated they might be… and the past was called the Golden Years?

We play our gig and the 25 or so people that came are moved and excited to have seen us. We do the merchandise thing and pose for pics and sign autographs for those still hanging in the club after our gig. It’s a subdued vibe tonight so we opt out and just go back to hotel instead of an after party get together. The owner said he wants us back next tour and I assure him we’ll be in contact.

Another CDG flag planted.

Uwajima is such a pretty little town. Hardly a skyline to its name, it is surrounded by mountains with the leaves still changing their color and down one of its main strips in the downtown area there’s tall spindly palm trees to give it a southern California look to it. On my run the day after the gig I run alongside a river and by this river there was this medium sized shrine that I went into. Some of the trees here were still a brilliant yellow and against the cloudless blue sky it was a beautiful compositional subject for my camera. All the while I was listening to one of my favorite pieces of music; Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony. The third movement pulls at my heart strings the most but as a whole it’s really hard to beat. I’m still surprised the weather hasn’t been so inclement and on a whole it’s been downright pleasant so far. I didn’t bring a jacket for this tour cuz’ I knew I wasn’t going to be outside that much and a hoodie suffices just fine but I’ve hardly used my hoodie. Just a scarf around my neck and maybe a long sleeve shirt. We’ve been lucky and I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.[rev_slider uwajima]

This is our second time to play Uwajima with the band that opens up for us, The World. They’re local heroes here. The World is mainly a metal genre band but due to the proficiency of their talent and the good melodies of the songs they’ve won a regional ‘Battle of the Bands’ contest that’s scored them some much deserved notoriety here and the surrounding area. The World is also our promoters for this gig. When we came last time it was supposed to be a kind of ‘under the table’ type ‘private’ engagement so as not to ruffle the feathers of other area promoters that were doing our shows on the last tour. On the posters plastered around town it was declared that the Chris Duarte Group’s performance was a rare occasion and that we would ‘never’ return to Uwajima again so you’d better get out and see us and not to miss this opportunity! We all had a good laugh about that declaration when we saw each other again. They’ve rented out this hall and it’s a club that’s dark inside with an elevated platform stage on one side. We throw our stuff up and do our thing. We come back for the gig and there’s a good crowd on hand tonight. No tables and chairs are set up so the people are standing in front of the stage soaking in what The World is giving them on their opening set. There’s a lively vibe in the room tonight and this crowd is more vocal then most of our past crowds. I’m not saying our past ones were less interested, just that they displayed a different way to view and enjoy the show. It’s been obvious to me that we’re reaching the people. There’s screaming between songs, standing gyrations and upper body swaying with mild subdued head banging going on. This is a different crowd here. Yes, The World’s music is metal and it’s blaring at them now so I didn’t know how the crowd would react to our blues rock based rhythms. Only one way to find out and we’re up next cuz’ their set is finished.

We ascend and the crowd is standing closer to the stage in front of us. We kick in and the crowd starts to respond the same for us. This is going to fun. When we play ‘Minefield of My Mind’ the crowd starts cheering and shouting in unison in time on the half notes stirring me further on stage. I’m starting to lose myself in the moment and be nothing but the music that is playing now. It’s a mini-out-of-body-experience that I’m having and I can’t stop it nor do I want to. This was the most energetic crowd on the tour so far. What a blast!

We hang out with The World at a yaki-niku restaurant after the gig and talk about how much fun the gig was. Another great time here. Arigatou Uwajima and to The World.

Kobe is the next town up on the itinerary. I can only remember playing this club here in Kobe; Varit. It has this rock/industrial vibe to it on the inside. With clear cut angles and metal railings this could also be a techno-house music venue. Who knows, maybe they do have nights like that. The stage though is great with ample backline available and a great pro staff to manage our sound needs. It’s an easy load in with an elevator and small carts for the big and heavy items and the small stuff I can just run it downstairs for quicker results. Before we get to the club we had lunch at Ten-ichi ramen then we ran by this music store named Tone Blue. A small shop with a few vintage instruments but the main output of this store is that the owner is a pedal manufacturer. His pedals, PD or Pedal Diggers gave me a pedal when I was here last time. An 819 pedal. Fashioned after another pedal that was popular among enthusiasts; an 818 I believe, but with different colors to it. I used it for a while but I found it had just a bit too thin of a tone and it fell out of the ranks in my pedal chain. (I say ‘chain’ cuz’ I still don’t use a board).  When I arrived here for this tour Mr. Mizui, the owner, had sent me a new 819 pedal that he modified just for me and sure enough this pedal is warmer and has real ‘cutting’ power to elevate the guitar on top when stepped on for a solo. I’ve had a lot of distortion/booster pedals that when you apply them your guitar signal isn’t put on top like I want it to be when I’m taking a solo. It’s as if I’m the guy mixing our music in a studio and when the solo comes I boost the guitar’s volume up just a bit so it stands out. This current 819 was doing just that. Plus like I said it’s warmer too. So today I’m presented with an upgraded model of the 819 with better circuitry and a bigger housing. Industrial size. He also variated the color just slightly to give it the unique look that only belongs to me. And yes this pedal is an upgrade. Gets a great driving blues tone to it for shuffles and the like, but if I crank the gain I’m getting into the ‘Holdsworth-tone’ area. I’ve only had this pedal for two gigs and it takes me several to learn the workings of a pedal so I’m going to have fun with it.

Tonight there is also two opening bands on in front of us. Happy People and Foxy Ass Rip. Happy People is a two guitar and drums instrumentation set-up. Electric and Acoustic respectively. Both are of exceptional talent and the band is very young. With the guitarist’s age being at late 20’s and 31, the drummer brings up the rear at 21. They’ve got their charts on stage and the chords are dense at times but pleasant enough that dissonance does not dominate the spectrum. Nice melodies with fast runs and furious drums they’re not just fun to hear but fun to watch. The show ends with the drummer being featured and in the course of this time he shows off some pretty flashy stick-hand work to give it more ‘Wow’ factor. I’m impressed.
Next up is Foxy Ass Rip and these guys are here just to have some rockin’ fun. It’s a four piece classic rock set-up with a front singer strutting his stuff with attitude and verve. These guys were just straight up fun and they rocked!
The crowd tonight is a decent little crowd but by no means a sell-out like we’ve been enjoying the past week. Nevertheless we go out there with conviction. We throw ourselves into the show and the music. After our show I have fun talking with the staff then we go do the ‘traditional Kanppai’ with the opening bands. Light chatting ensues then they throw on the Jimi Hendrix Story on the screens in the club and I’m hard pressed to look away. Love this movie, especially when Hendrix smashes the guitar he set on fire at the Monterrey Pop Festival. So visceral and emotive. I find myself lightly grunting every time Jimi swings the guitar and crashes it down on the stage. What a release….
Makes me feel as if I have nothing as strong to offer like that. It is Hendrix though… He’s still a giant amongst us all.

[rev_slider osaka]

We drove to Osaka for our day off in a small attempt to cut down on expenses. Yoshi could go home and stay at his house and John and I stayed down near the Namba Hatch station and the other few areas in Osaka that I know so well. The Soemon cho and Dontonburi areas. Lots of people out and shopping and sightseeing seemed to be the main endeavors here tonight. I’m just snapping pictures cuz’ the lights are just too hard to keep from gawking at. I venture out to my fave ramen place and eat and then go get a couple of donuts from Mister Donut’s shop, which is in the subterranean shopping mall. You forget that there’s all these shops in this area but then there’s this whole other area below your feet. It’s almost as expansive below as it is above. I was using my phone’s map apps to look for it and I couldn’t see it, couldn’t see it, couldn’t find it then it came to me; OH! It’s below me! Really beautiful here above and below ground. It’s amazing. I wanted to go out late at night and see the goings on that happen at that time because it changes when all the families go home from shopping and the ‘evening entertainment’ business begins. Great time to people watch and soak in the vibe. Love it here. But it started raining and I resigned to stay inside my room.
The hotel was a bit strict with their check out policy, 10 am check out, and we got on the road. Not too far of a drive, about 3 hours, and soon we were off the express toll highways and on to the regular ‘free’ roads heading in Okayama. The leaves here have changed color and many are still attached to the trees giving the hills and surrounding mountains in the southern Honshu area a mainly yellow or golden appearance with spinkles of red, green and brown from the other trees in the mix. Pretty stunning. It’s still not too cold down here but up north above Sendai they’ve already received a lot of snow. That is the snow country after all.

Arriving at the club we load in and it’s got this nice layout to it and it’s small but cozy. Just a tiny area that’s elevated to the right of the stage where you can only sit and not stand and with a metal grated fence that goes about 3 feet high so you’re able to lean on your elbows and watch the stage. It’s an industrial/Thunder Dome look to it and I like clubs that look like this. The stage is ample and the system is nice. Should be good tonight. This is my first time here and this is Yoshi’s first time in this club. It’s a first all around.
We get back to listen to some of the songs by the opening band. I’ve played with this guitarist before but not with this band. They’re called Y’sT, (wise tea?) and Frankie, who heads the band, has hired a female horn section to fill out the sound and they’re sounding pretty strong. John and I were in the dressing room off on the side of the stage and we were digging the horn kicks they were doing on the last song. Real strong sounding. Frankie was playing good too. We had fun listening to them and I told them so after their show was completed as we were all changing the stage over. We put our gear back up and soon were counting off the first song. Nice crowd and all the tables and chairs are filled and a few against the wall. Couldn’t make out if anyone was in the Thunder Dome section but I don’t think so. I was happy to see this many people last night and for my first time in. Yoshi told me the next day that Okayama is notoriously hard to get a crowd to come out for a local rock band and even harder for a blues based band. We have fun tonight and the crowd shows its approval with loud yelling and the shouting of our names between some songs. I speak just a little bit of Japanese from the stage, with Yoshi fixing my mangling of the phrase should silence befall the crowd after I’ve said something and then the crowd roars with a mixture of laughter and agreement.

The after party was fun too because I was able to talk a lot with the opening band and their friends and at the end when I got up to return to the hotel I went around to each person and said how happy I was to meet them and to hang out and talk. I hope we come back here next year.

Four years. It’s been four years since I’ve played here in Matsusaka at M’AXA club. The club looks great inside with a lot of things ‘Americana’ hanging on the wall. The owner, Tsuyoshi san, is a singer and a big fan of rockabilly and western swing. He likes all kinds of music actually but seems to spin those types of platters when I’ve been there. He’s a jovial and friendly guy and his staff is great. The club is a comfortable venue and set up to accommodate a musical performance environment. I’ll always play here if Tsuyoshi lets me.

We arrive and as usual the staff, even the owner, helps us load in. Gotta’ give it up when the owner is schlepping gear along with us. We set up and do our sound check and tweak the monitors and run over a few vocal things that we’ve just added on some songs. The ‘gakuya’ or dressing room is right off the left side of the stage and up a slight staircase. There’s a tatami mat up there and I inform John to not step on it with your shoes. Then as it turned out when I changed into my stage clothes I would absentmindedly stand up and wander lost in thought and drift over on to the mat only to jump off it like my feet were on fire and cursing myself for the breach of Japanese etiquette. John just laughs. He plays it safe by just staying on the other side of the room.

When I did play here four years ago it was a light turnout of a crowd. I was really hoping for more this time. I knew our sold out streak was going to end at 3 shows tonight but I set the bar low as far as my expectations for a good house tonight. Matsusaka is a small little seaside town and although I couldn’t see the ports or water from my hotel room, I knew it was close after looking at the maps. So for us to get a crowd out in this town is nothing to laugh at. When we got back for the gig there was only about 7 people in the club not including staff. OK, I think to myself, it’s going to be light again. To my pleasant surprise the room started to get some people in it and soon we had us a nice crowd. Way more than last time and I felt better for it. I mean I still would’ve gone out there and played with all my might but a crowd is like the cherry-on-top for me. We start up and we’re all feeling good. At the end of the night, there was this table of 3 people sitting right in front of me and they’d been there since we got back for the gig. A young couple and a small girl who was maybe 8 to 10 years old. She was introduced to me as Karen – a blues drummer. I told her to always play from the heart and to practice. She was sweet.

Turns out her father is a magician and a famous one in Japan. When I was told that by his wife after the show I requested some magic. He was brought over to me and produced a regular set of Bicycle playing cards, red, and started off with the fanning of the cards and expert shuffling techniques. One trick was especially dazzling when he fanned the cards with one hand and the cards in the deck were moving left to right in a rapid motion on a vertical plane. I’d never seen that before. Then he started with the slight-of-hand stuff which was baffling and fun at the same time. He made me sign a card, 2 of diamonds, and would make that card reappear out of nowhere. The first trick was the ol’ pick any card and take it, and he told me what it was, (how did he know!?), made me take my autograph card and put it in my hand then lay my other hand on top, then he showed me a King of Spades then laid that card on my forearm and snapped his fingers and the King was now between my hands and the two on my arm!? Just amazing. Cuz’ I’m looking really hard at his hands and I didn’t see anything funny or unusual. That’s how the good ones perform, they make it look easy and natural. I’ll have the video posted so you should see. I was truly entertained. I was told that this magician was hired to play a party given by Tom Hanks while he was here. This guy was good.

All our stuffed packed I went to another after party and the Taro, of tuna, was freshly caught on a rod and reel just the day before and was being served up to us. Most tuna is flash frozen before coming back but this tuna didn’t have that process done to it and the meat just melted in your mouth with a clean taste to it. Along with a half dozen or more dishes later I was super stuffed. So far the best food on the tour. Simply wonderful.

Tomorrow is a day off in Osaka and then we’re on to Okayama.  First time in this town for me.

I can’t wait.

Baseball is big here and every time I come to Nagoya it doesn’t take long before I see some place supporting their city’s team; The Dragons. They have this LA Dodgers look to their uniforms, blue and white,(I swear even the color is Dodger Blue) and we seem to frequent this after party place that cooks up the Nagoya specialty; chicken wings, and the walls are plastered with autographs of many Dragons and other famous celebrities. But I’m getting ahead of myself. There is the matter of the gig first.

We used to play here at a place called The Apollo, nice place with a real rock feel to it. Played there several times with Bluestone. That was years ago and for the last few tours we haven’t been coming to Nagoya for some reason or another but this time we’re back. It’s a different club this go around – Tokuzo. The inside has this nice wood interior in neutral shades and the stage is almost like raw unfinished wood but worn smooth in some areas due to the normal occurrence of activity on the stage. Still I have to be careful while gathering up my cables and pedals cuz’ I’ve dealt with stages like this in their raw form and if you’re not careful you could get a splinter in your finger or even worse under your fingernail and that puts a damper on the gig. Ouch! So no quick movements. A sort of small room but not too small. Sound check done our hotel is just on the other block by a 3 minute walk, depending on if you have to wait at a crosswalk. I put new strings on both guitars. I always change strings on my gold guitar every gig. The Ice blue gets strings about every 4^th gig unless I play it a bunch then it could be every other gig. Like I’ve said, strings only have to last me about 90 minutes then they’re out of here. Thank you GHS! I head back over a little early to catch the opening band The Monk Session. Headed by guitarist Hiroshi Mura. I was enjoying his tone and phrasing during their sound check as I was gathering up my stuff to return to the hotel for my bit of pre-gig respite so I wanted to hear them in their real playing conditions. Turns out The Monk Session band is an all instrumental group. Reminded me of my early days of playing when all I wanted to do was play really hard jazz-fusion songs and just fill the musical canvas up with as many notes as I could paint. This band wasn’t that busy on the music but they still were ambitious with some of the music and it was also a two guitar attack with bass and drums. They also had some impressive vintage instruments – bass player 59’ Fender P-bass with anodized pick guard – all original and the guitar player had a Candy Apple Red 64’ Fender strat but the neck was a later one maybe about a 65’ at the earliest. The logo was the thick variety as opposed to the spaghetti one on mine. Still to see a CA Red strat is fairly rare. I was enjoying looking at them and holding them. They sounded great too. The crowd tonight is a good one, in fact it’s sold out and a few standing against the walls. The opening band did a lot of promotion for the gig so gotta’ give it up for their hard work. Arigatou! We step up for our show and tonight I’m wearing this really old T-shirt that I’ve had. Long time ago I opened up for Alan Holdsworth when I was in Bobby Mack and Nightrain. It was at Liberty Lunch in Austin Texas and I was only 21 years old and nervous as all get out cuz’ not only was this one of my current guitar hero, (as aforementioned I was always playing crazy jazz fusion and I had a band where we played a few Holdsworth songs, Red Alert and Snake Oil, trying my best to mimic Holdsworth), but I knew all the ‘kats’ would be at this show and I was going to be mercilessly analyzed, stared at with folded arms with occasional eye-rolls and then picked apart and mildly slagged on if I was lucky. Tough crowd guitar players are. To top it off we were a blues band!? WTF!? How did we get this gig? I didn’t want to question the Guitar-Gods, I was glad and scared at the same time for the opportunity.

So I’ve got this shirt and it says I.O.U. Tour 1984 on the back and it’s amazing I can still fit in it. I also brought it for this gig cuz’ the last time I saw Holdsworth was in Nagoya about 8 years ago. (Wackerman & Jimmy Johnson respectively) We go through our variety of songs for our set. The stage isn’t the best sounding one but its fine by me. I was also given a new pedal tonight from – Jack in the Music Box – effector company. Yoshihiko san gave me this distortion pedal called – the Bad Key Saturator and it copies the sound of a Marshall. I played it on this night and I liked it. Crazy saturation on it when you crank the drive up, which you know I did. Big Fun. We ended our night with Sundown Blues in our frenetic and emotional style. Just leave it all out there on the stage is what I say. Live in the moment.

Rock on!!! We’re now half way through this tour of Japan.

Log Session,…Not quite sure why the name for this club today but it’s where we’re at today in Toyama. Our hotel is a nice Crowne Plaza that happens to be right across the street for the famous Toyama Castle. Not the biggest one I’ve seen here but Yoshi informs me it has gravitas. So we’re in a nice hotel that obviously caters to more up-scale business people and western people of the like. So when I enter my room I’m expecting to see what I would normally see once I cross the threshold at home. Nope, although a nice room and the pillows are down pillows and the bathroom has a few more amenities to it, the dimensions are pretty much the same as it the layout. The entrance hall is about 4 to 6 inches wider and that actually makes a big difference cuz’ I don’t have to walk like a crab when I’m bringing in my bags. You know, sideways. Still it has a big window and I can see the castle if I just turn to my right. Plus the staff down there is extra nice and polite. I have fun talking with them because they’re too polite to ignore my bad Japanese. They smile and laugh at me.

Once again the club is really close to the hotel and it only takes about 5 minutes to get there. Plus there’s no stairs for load in so this is going to be nice for a change. It’s another small room but we’ve been told it should be fairly full tonight. We do our sound check and I go back to the hotel to change strings. I haven’t eaten much today other than a little Danish and this lightly sweetened roll I got from this bakery that was near the club I got for a snack. What with my everyday of exercising and then basically getting another workout during the gig I’m starting to get a bit thin. I don’t know how. I’m eating like a horse after some gigs and it’s not like I totally cut out sweets like I do for Lent. I do like it cuz’ I blend in better with the crowd. I have noticed Japanese waistlines expanding just a bit but the majority of people here are thin and fit. Maybe a little ‘doughy’ or soft for some guys but on the average thin.

I would be considered thin right now. John and I meet down in the lobby and I bring my last banana with me and eat it on the way to the club. I peek out from the backstage to gauge the crowd and it does appear to be comfortably full so I’m excited. We may not be playing big clubs here on a consistent level but if we can fill these small rooms then that exhibits we’re a viable commodity on the market and I can keep coming here. We start our show and from the hoots and hollers I can hear from the crowd while we play I can sense the crowd is into us and that only stokes my musical muse further. Often times the energy that crowds give me is a trope for my playing. ‘You are the music, We’re just the band’ In the end the room filled up really nice and there were a few ‘standers’ against the walls. We blaze through our set and the crowd is having fun with us. They yell our names and yell encouragements and other forms of approvals. I hope we can keep this streak of good crowds going. We’re about half way through this tour and I’m looking so forward to the rest of this tour.

We’ve got today off so it’s just a leisurely drive to Hamamatsu today. Occasionally we go by regular roads for a while to save money on the toll roads. A bit slow but we’ve got nowhere to get to in a hurry so I don’t mind. That gives me time to do this blog work while I sit in the back of the van. Touring here is liberating for me because when I tour in the US or sometimes Europe, I’m the one wearing all the logistics hats. I’m tour manager, driver, leader and temporary counselor all at the same time. Here, even though it’s the CDG, I let Yoshi do his job. He tells us when we check-out, where we’re going, what’s going on. I lead only on the stage and that’s fine by me.

We get to Hamamatsu and we really didn’t stop to eat anywhere so I was hungry and I was hankerin’ for Ten-ichi ramen. I got on Google maps and found a shop about 2 miles away.

Planned my course and I was off. I see a few ‘outside’ people on my walk. Hamamatsu has a sort of large Brazilian population and Portuguese here being in a worker capacity. Japan has a long history of recruiting foreign workers from South America for some of their factory jobs. Toyota has a big plant here and they employ a number of them. I notice some churches on my walk and no doubt these service their religious needs. Although there is a booming business in the wedding trade and some brides insist on a Western style wedding, with a little chapel a priest, the clothes and the vows and ‘I do’ etc. They’re not always married the traditional Japanese way, but you can tell the chapels from a real operating church. I make it to the ramen shop and the staff gives a slight raised eyebrows from my appearance but I know I’m not the only one who looks like me that comes here. I grab the menu and I find what I want and tell him. Just like my Spanish, my restaurant Japanese is OK. Finishing, I pay and start the walk back. Hamamatsu does not have a busy skyline. There’s really only one prominent building that reaches taller than the rest and it’s a glitzy high dollar hotel with a modern design and veneer to it. I then make the affirmation that I could never get lost walking around downtown and the surrounding areas cuz’ all I’d have to do is get a visual sight on that hotel and head towards it. I also notice some of the neighborhoods I walked through were pretty new and I wondered if these were areas devastated by the earthquake and they just built everthing anew on this spot. On my way back there was this modern looking shopping mall area with various shops; cleaners, a budget clothing store, restaurants with a supermarket being the anchor store. I needed some things like some fruit and nuts to tide me over for a few days. So I went in. It was right in the middle of this neighborhood and thought how convenient that was plus the supermarket was 24 hours. I finally made it back to the hotel and went to sleep. A pleasant ramen sleep.

The club is really close to the hotel, like 5 minute walk max. It’s in another one of those entertainment areas where there’s lots of bars and restaurants and ‘whatever’ clubs so all the girls are decked out and the guys are dressed nice too. The club is a really small room, maybe seating 30 people with three rows of tables length wise and set up perpendicular to the stage. The promoter is the guitar player with the opening band and Yoshi tells me he’s made a lot of phone calls cajoling and prodding people to come to the show tonight. Not an easy task cuz’ we command a $50 day-of-show ticket price. Daunting. We set up, sound check and retire to the green room downstairs but I choose to take the short walk back to the hotel and change strings there. Coming back everything looked a bit different because now it was night time and my memory was challenged. I took one wrong turn and I knew I was not in the right place so I started just walking down every street like I was in a grid pattern cuz’ I knew the club was close and it would be a matter of 5 or 10 minutes before I found it. It was not in Google maps by the way; tried that.

Club found I went up to check out the opening band. Good sounding rock trio and a moderate volume and I was enjoying them. The room was starting to fill up and I was pleased to see that the promoter’s dedicated work had paid off. We get up and start out and now all the seats are occupied and we’ve got a smattering of standing people against the sides and the walls. I’m having fun and we’re on the same page as a band and even though we play 90 minutes it seems to fly by. The after party isn’t as lively or as big as Tokyo’s was but amiable and the food was good. We went to an izakaya and shared stories and laughs. Great time as usual.

Now on to Toyama.