THE PIRATE BOAT THAT HARD ROCKS!

At the premier of the movie "The Boat That Rocked" (Japanese title, Pirates Rock) with Radio-i director, Iida Chan and DJ Nori Ueno. The Radio-i team filled the entire back row for this great  movie about Pirate radio in the 60's. I saw it on the plane to L.A. in August, enjoyed it so much I watched it again on the way back, and for the 3rd time in Nagoya,...laughed every time!
After the movie, what better way to wrap up a rock and roll evening than dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, Nagoya with my programme's team. Talk centered on the movie, the music, the radio industry, the music and the movie,...in that order! LOL,...oh, we talked a bit about my programme too...

HAMMOND ORGAN

Sunday evening I went around to musician friend Kashi's studio. Kashi works with the likes of Yazawa Eikichi, Fukuyama Masaharu, Hirai Ken, TUBE and other top Japanese rock and pop stars as a session musician and touring band. In his studio, amongst grand pianos, electric pianos, instruments and equipment is this classic Hammond Organ...
The organ is connected to a classic rotating speaker, and under Kashi's expert hands the old sound of the 60's lives!!

The guitar is a 1967 Fender,...Like the Hammond, it's older than me, but probably in better condition!

SUNDAY LUNCH

Sunday lunch...Drove 120 Km from Nagoya to Makabi in Shizuoka Prefecture to a friends' restaurant on the banks of Lake Hamanako. The Italian styled restaurant Azuri is quite popular in the district, and has been operating for a number of years.
main course was Italian styled, however dessert was something special,...CHOCOLATE FONDUE! Oh yes, I'm very fond of fondue!
Pineapple, kiwi, grapes, banana and apple were on the table, along with some sweet Italian bread for dipping into the warm, sweet chocolate....
Banana was my favourite, followed by apple and kiwi. Choco and pineapple didn't match, so I ate the pineapple as is! Yum!!

Choco banana,...I think I could have eaten another three or four...

GREAT OUTDOORS

After lunch at my friends restaurant, we went for a wander along the shores of Lake Hamanako.
Conditions were perfect, nice and warm with a fine blue sky, ...the slight wind made the salt waters choppy, but not unpleasant. Interestingly, the ocean connected lake Hamanako resembles the fjords of Norway with it's crinkly edges and nobbly coastline, however there is only one island in Hamanako,...and that's it, above! A small chunk of pine covered rock barely 100 meters across....

On the rocks... or, "Look Ma, no hands..."

Musician friend Kashi was with us... He's a real down to earth guy, easy to talk to, and being a music fan, we had a lot to talk about....
It was great to be outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine, and not have to think about work or business, and to be able to chat utter nonsense with some friends. Something I've needed for some time now, a simple, fun, nice and relaxing day!

BEACH BONES

Wandering along the Beach, I found this large piece of bone with what looks like a tooth. The tooth was about the size of my thumb, and connected to a fist sized chunk of jawbone.
I found about 9 pieces all in close proximity that seemed to match. Parts resembled ribs and jawbones...
But this tooth has me wondering. I reckon it's from a whale due to it's size and rounded shape. Shark teeth are usually more triangular. Wish I'd brought it home to research better, it would go well with the dinosaur tooth I have on my desk...

PPF PARTY

Saturday Sept 26.  Every now and then we organise "get-togethers" for the PPF Radio School students. This time 8 of them managed to attend for a chance to blow off a little steam...

Musashi, Kohei and Keita

Shirakawa Yo, Miki and me,..

PPF Manager, Yuka and Mai Chan...........

Naomi and Gyoten.....

Talk topics on the night ranged from music to movies, radio to rock & roll, work to weird and everything in between... Good bit of fun for all!

FRIDAY'S FASHION

Friday Sept 25... With no official business meetings today comes a slightly more casual look...

The shirt features a classical guitar motiff...

The T-shirt has Japanese ink drawn dragons...the pendant too features the symbol of the Japanese Gods of Thunder...
The trousers feature buddhist tapestry like clouds...and the belt too has a buddhist like motiff for a buckle....
And the sox, as always since 1982, remain RED! Some things never change. Today's ensemble is almost entirely by one of my favorite fashion brands, Mash Mania...the belt is PPFM, the boots socks and underwear are various...and the sunglasses, naturally RayBan!  All dressed up with no place to go....

TODAYS GUEST

Todays special guest at 79.5FM Radio-i was singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, record store and cafe owner, record collector, father of 3 and performer, Sokabe Keiichi. The man does about 100 live shows a year with his 2 bands, "Sunny Day Service" and "Sokabe Keniichi Band", but still had enough time to visit PM-i!

JELLY BEANS

Somebody brought some Jelly Beans into work today. Eating Jelly Beans On-Air,..That made me happy. Life should feature more Jelly Beans.

SAYONARA SALLY

Sunday.  At Nagoya's top sports bar and foreign haunt, Shooters for the Nagoya Australian Consul's farewell luncheon. Consul Sally (far right in the blue) is being transferred to Osaka after a year and a half of hard work in Nagoya,... Sad to see her go!

SEKIGAHARA TV

Sunday Sept. 20th, 8pm... Watching NHK, re-creation of the Battle of Sekigahara, the greatest of all Samurai battles as part of this years' on-going period drama series. Haven't really followed this year's story much, but seeing it's Sekigahara, I guess I'll watch it,...

SUNFLOWER ART

Been feeling mentally and physically stressed out recently, and as I haven't done any painting in a long time, I shut myself off from the world over the weekend and settled down to losing myself in some creative endeavors. This painting I started about a year ago, and never got around to finishing. This weekend, I did the bee and the petals coloring, currently working on the sunflower's middle...Still a long way to go...

MINT LAUNDRY SHOOT

Friday Sept 18.  Took part in a video shoot for Private Laundry Developer MINT Laundry services' promotional video...
Long time PPF collaborators, Production company G-Factory were the crew working on the shoot, above is my "On Screen Wife" who is looking at the laundry services web site...
I played the "successful businessman" living in a high rise apartment who uses this Mint Laundry Service... The shoot continues with some night shots in a weeks time...

THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING

Sept. 17. early this morning Folk Rock pioneer and  folk "Supergroup"  Peter Paul and Mary's Mary Travers died at the age of 72 from leukemia. Peter Paul and Mary,...just the name often gets people rolling their eyes or guffawing, they have largely been overlooked by music fans and even the media, however, the group were instrumental in bringing Bob Dylan to the public eye with covers of "Blowin' In The Wind" and "The Times They Are A Changing" amongst others.  As a trio, they were music leaders with hits such as "500 Miles", "Where have All The Flowers Gone", "Lemon Tree",... the song that was often quoted as being a pro marijuana song, but was in fact about the loss of innocence that comes with growing up, "Puff The Magic Dragon" and "Leaving On A Jet Plane". Their 1st album spent 10 months in the top 10, and over 3 years on the Billboard Album Chart. By 1963 Peter Paul and Mary had recorded 3 albums, all 3 were top 10 the week of the Kennedy assassination.

During their 9 years in the spotlight, Peter Paul and Mary were political and peace activists, they were the leaders in their genre, and in world thought. Perhaps the world will appreciate them more, now the winds of change have caught up with them.

TODAY'S LUNCH

I've always hated blogs where people let you know what they had for lunch today. As tho' I really care that much about what friends and acquaintances eat for lunch or dinner, I mean, come on people, get a life! Really!  I'm sure there are more exciting things going on in the world. But here I am, guilty of my own rant and rave. The reason being, that while I have no interest in food, this is one Japanese lunch box worth talking about, a giant prawn and 2 soft, juicy filets of top grade pork cutlet, deep-fried and then covered in a dark, sweet Japanese sauce (oops, not in photo) This was the lunch served at work today. Available only from the Meidia Department Store in down town Nagoya, and in limited quantities each day! Fight for one soon!

HOLE IN THE HEAD

Thanks to the wall mounted speakers in the studios of 79.5FM Radio-i, I have a sore foot and a new hole in my head.............
The average height of the other staff means they're in no danger from hitting their heads on the sharp corners...
Whereas I have to watch out each time I go near them. Today, while tidying up, I hit my head hard on the speaker-box corner! The reaction made me snap my head back, hurting not just my head, but my neck too...
That made me so angry, I kicked the steel framed door, hurting my foot in the process. So, I have a sore head from the strike, a sore neck from the reaction, a sore throat from going Ghaaaaa~ from the pain, and a sore foot from kicking the steel door frame....

And I also have just what I always needed,... another hole in my head! 

PINK GINGER

Yet another ginger drink has come on the Japanese market. This time its sparkling Pink Ginger from Ito En corporation. Sparkling pink ginger, sounds like a Spice Girls member, but let's just say this one isn't a Wannabe, and didn't Spice Up my Life, Mama...

GO WEST

Go West, and just keep going,...that's my reaction to the latest stupidity from one World Famous Hot Shot Voice of this Generation Super Artist  ,...um,...what's his name again?

Oh yea, Kanye West. Crashing Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for her Moonman MTV Award and interrupting the ceremony,...Once again West shows his lack of respect, lack of dignity, lack of manners, lack of decency and common sense. At least the crowd of his peers booed him off stage. What can I do about it? Not much, but as a radio DJ, I'm asking my staff to reduce the rotation of his songs.

His music is alright, but he's an ......................

STUBBORN

Looking after a friend's pet tortoise this week,..the little critter is great fun to watch as he roams the office, bumping into things, climbing into small spaces,...and getting stuck under office chairs. He sat there scrabbling away refusing to accept that he won't fit under the chai legs...
He wasn't going to give up,...5 minutes later I moved the chair so he could continue his wandering.

However 10 minutes later, on the return trip, he got himself stuck again under the same chair, and again spent 5 futile minutes trying to clear it. Stubborn, or determined?

SAMURAI CASTLE BUILDER

This weekend across Japan the movie Hiten No Shiro (The Castle  of Heavenly Flame) opened across the nation. It tells the story of Okabe Mataemon, a carpenter ordered to build the most splendid castle ever for the warlord Oda Nobunaga. Okabe's family had been carpenters for Nagoya's Atsuta Shrine, the 2nd most important shrine in all Japan. His work had been appreciated by Nobunaga, who was a protector of the shrine, and so Okabe was commissioned to build Azuchi Castle.
Okabe built the magnificent castle on the shore of Lake Biwa, and later a giant statue of the Buddha for Toyotomi Hideyoshi after the death of Nobunaga, and later, the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu had him work on various aspects of Nagoya Castle.  When I heard about the movie, I wanted to go see it. On Saturday, while researching for a book, I discovered Okabe was from Nagoya, and upon further research found the site where his house once stood.
The site of the Okabe family home is now a modern day multi storey office building facing the grounds of Atsuta Shrine. Nothing remains of the property but the historical marker. That and the remarkable story of a man forced to build a castle that became a symbol of the mid period of civil war.  Incidentally, the part of Okabe is played by Nishida Toshiyuki, who played Pigsy in the 70's cult TV series Monkey.