Burning Man 2007...Vegas Baby Vegas!

So my tickets for Burning Man arrived this week. Awesome.

So this is the plan: My roommates Wing, Jinja and myself will strike south from Calgary on or about the morning of the 24th of August. We will take about three days or so leisurely driving down to Reno and Black Rock City. We'll probably camp, motel it, Jinja wants to take some pictures. We hope to arrive earlyish on the 27th, in order to stay at Burning Man the full week. We'll meet up with some people I met last year, and some of my Japanese friends I went with.

Last time was pretty crazy, but this time we're gonna be staying longer, we're much better prepared, and I at least know a little bit about what I'm getting into. Last year I saw two topless girls fight in the Thunderdomw, participated in some performance art and just generally went a little nuts. This year is gonna be crazier.

Following Burning Man, we plan to stay one day in Reno, then drive to Las Vegas. We're going to go from a week in temporary artist's community, where there is no money, to the world centre of greed. I've never been to Vegas, so I'm not sure what to expect during the four days or so we're there. Then we go home.

I fully expect to take a good three years or so off my life with this trip, but it will be worth it, because I'll have gained at least five year's worth of experience.

See you on the other Side.

Richie

New Music Part 1

As you may or may not know, my roommate Wing's girlfriend, Chelsey, is currently in Japan doing, all kinds of crazy stuff.

Before she left, I gave 30,000 Yen (About 300 dollars) in order to buy a bunch of music for me. Yes, I'm that big a nerd. Nine CD's off new (to me) music just arrived last week. It is hard to express just how excited I was. Something like a little kid at Christmas. I tore them all open, but then couldn't decide which one to listen to first. I even did all the dishes so I would have some thing to do while I listened to the music.

Amongst the new music was the first full-length album for this band, Empty Black Box, "What's EBB?". The addition of this album means I now own every release by this not-particularly well-known indie band. Looking at their Two-Tone suits and horns, you would think of them as a Neoska band -and they do have some ska influence- but in fact they refer to themselves as Brass Rock. I think it's a great description; really high-energy pop-rock with a great brass section. Their songs are all just your basic love songs, but with great arrangement. The really great thing about this band is that no matter what, they can always put me in a good mood.

I think that encapsulates what I like about the Japanese music scene, the positivity. Not just within individual bands, but amonng all the people that support them. There's very little infighting, and none of the attitude you see so often from rockabilly fans: "That's not real rockabilly." People are honestly about the music, even if they can't understand the lyrics. They get that music is about fun and emotion, and really should not be thought about too much. And even if someone is a fan of one specific type of music, they are usually pretty open to other things. I remember standing on the patio of King Cobra after my band's first gig, a huge ska event, and talking with a bunch of rockabilly guys with no problems.

Anyway back to the band. These guys put on an amazing show. I saw them in Nagoya after spending the day at the zoo. (the things you think when you're hungover; 'you know what I should I do, travel to another city, go to the zoo and then a concert. RIGHT NOW') Their are two kinds of show that are awesome; the kinda shitty band that goes on stage, drunk, and just has a great time with great energy. You can't be mad at those guys, and they just sweep you up into their energy (that was my band, Los Skauters). The other kind is the really good band, that's organised and puts on a show. Empty Black Box is definitely of the latter variety. The trombones have choreographed dances, they wear matching suits and the music sounds as good as the record. The lead singer also speaks incredibly fast. Unfortunately, they were somewhat overshadowed by the Hot Hunny Bunny Stompers who came on next (and win the prize for best name). Now that's a show! Costumes, a dedicated a dancer/stagehand, props, all backing some really talented musicians. However, I still love EBB more, I think.

At some point I'll figure out how to add links then I'll show you all the band's homepage, etc.

Thanks,

Richie

Introduction

So here it is; I have sarted a blog.

How modern of me.

Don't worry, this is not going to be entirely self-indulgent; basically, it's going to be about my adventures in the great city of Osaka, Japan. Hence the title, which means Osaka drifter. I stole the title from Tokyo Nagaremono (Tokyo Drifter), a classic 1966 yakuza movie by Seijun Suzuki. The film was definitely an inspiration for the visual style of Kill Bill vol. 1.

In case that last paragraph didn't make it clear, it's gonna be pretty nerdy, especially as regards to music.

Th chief obstacle to this plan is the fact that I am not currently in Osaka. I am back in Calgary, saving up my money to go to school in, you guessed it, Osaka. So for now I'll probably just relate stories of my previous trips to Japan, some of the much less exciting life I live now, and of course, my big Burning Man/Las Vegas trip.

Once I do go back however (in April 2008 hopefully), I want to write about all my favourite bars, restaurants and live houses. I want to introduce you to my friends who are much more interesting than me.

There will also be a huge amount of talk about the music scene in Japan, and hopefully I can introduce you to some new bands.

Richie