Log Session
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.
Yaki-niku restaurant – “grill your own” beef and sides on a personal grill in the table! We need these in the USA.
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.
