Bend It Like Beck

Hello all! Paul and I went to see Beck perform last night at the Nippon Budokan Hall, and it was fantabulous!! He put on an incredible show, whipping through all of his best songs. I would have to say that out of the entire set, there was maybe one song I didn't recognize. His band is spectacular and put on a great show. Beck didn't dance (I understand he used to put on quite a spectacle at shows past). Maybe he's had some injuries and can't keep up the physical intensity show after show. Instead, his bongo player did all moves. He was the "sakura" for the show - sakura means "cherry blossom" of course, but it's a slang term at concerts in Japan for the people the concert promoters hire to rile up the crowd and get them excited about the show. He is a permanent band member, but he also served as sakura nonetheless! It was neat to attend a show at the Budokan, from a historical perspective, considering it is the same venue that multiple famous artists have performed at, most notably the Beatles, who were the first to play there in 1966 despite criticism that the building is a holy site to be used strictly for martial arts. Many of you may be also familiar with "Cheap Trick Live at Budokan". I don't know why that's so well-known. The building itself is a lot smaller than what I imagined.



The most innovative part of the show was the use of marionette puppets representing each of the band members. The "puppet show" was choreographed to match everything the performers were doing and broadcast on the large screen above. Even their costumes matched the clothing of the band. It was an absolute hoot! Unfortunately, I couldn't snap any photos during the show because the camera nazis were on patrol, so here are some pics I ripped from the web. Judge for yourself, but the Beck puppet looks uncannily like Owen Wilson!

Look Mom!

I finally joined the yakuza (Japanese mafia) and got the prerequisite arm-length tattoo! Just kidding of course. Akemi and I went out with some friends from work a couple weeks ago because we were curious about this "hard rock" bar called Bar Dude. That bar was kind of lame, but we had a good dinner at a favorite izikaya called Raku. Junko-chan brought along this novelty fake-tattoo sleeve that we had a lot of fun with.

Uncle Moz

Who's cooler than cool you ask? Why Morrissey, of course! "Pushaw!" I say to all you naysayers that say he's old and he's a has-been. Quite the contrary! He gets better and better with age - just like umeboshi (sour, pickled Japanese plum), like Akemi would say. He's not producing WalMart-ready, candy-coated radio hits (not that he ever did), but his music (his lyrics) nowadays is just as witty, heartfelt, complex, and important as it ever was. He has really become one of the elder statemen of alterna-rock, very comfortable with himself and his image. He's that cool, eccentric uncle you never had. And to boot, he's going to be touring like a madman this year, making stops in smaller venues all over the U.S. Heck, he's even playing the Moroccan Shrine Auditorium in Jacksonville, FL. That's like Beck playing at a public library (which, incidentally, would maybe be the coolest thing ever!).

Below is a photo of him I had to include. I ripped it from the Morrissey-solo fansite. He's pictured here with Kristeen Young, his current protege who is now touring with him. It goes without saying that her music, like any of his other pet projects, is definitely not as good as his. But maybe that's by design! If you want to see a fantastic, recent live performance of his, check out the DVD "Who Put the 'M' in Manchester".
Mozzer - still rockin' the pompadour in the free world.