Get out of the van

After a week on the road, I'm back in the GR office. Selling merch for Damon & Naomi with Boris (above) and Kurihara was amazing, but I have an awesome job and an awesome wife and am more than happy to be back to the grind.


Following Bellingham, the second show was in Seattle at this Chinky place run by gweilos called Chop Suey. Go figure! On the stage is D&N doing soundcheck with Helena's cello peeping out of the left, saxman Bhob on the right, and Kurihara blending in with his amp in the shadows (he prefers to hide on the stage's periphery). In front are Boris guitarist Wata and her three-year-old girl! Drummer dad Atsuo must be resting up with guitarist Takeshi for their high-energy rock moves.


My friend Nick took a break from making new music with Death Cab to dig the show, put me up, show me some funny videos on YouTube, and grab some breakfast.


We didn't know there was a jam named after the disgraced/entrapped ex-Washington D.C. mayor!


On the left is Enju, who runs Inoxia records and manages Boris. Yes, she's a badass and I was glad to make her acquaintance and help her out. On the right is a Portland local who got all dolled-up to rock out and practice Japanese!


I met Naomi's cousin Ben, who's an inventor. Not only has he made bicycle-powered TV sets, but he is the creator of the Yang Fang, a saw that can be used to cut snow and make igloos. A very interesting and nice guy. Also, you can't see them in this pic, but I had special tour packs of GR33 (Naomi's travel journal and photos), GR40 (Boris interview), and GR48 (Kurihara interview) on sale for 10 bucks on the merch table.


I was also reacquainted with my Danny Sasaki, who played with show opener Jackie O Motherfucker. He spends his winters as a snowboard instructor, and one of these days I'm going to hit the slopes with him and maybe his ex-bandmates in Enemymine, too. If I recall correctly, they were part of the Lib-Tech crew.


I've known Jeff since we were students at UCLA. He, our friend Brad, and I were English majors who skateboarded to class. Eventually, we became friends and would play dominoes together after the lecture. Following the show and before he and his wife Rebecca took me home to crash at their home, I introduced them to Kurihara, who played guitar for both D&N's and Boris's sets. The tour was pretty much a showcase for the humble axeman's sonic sobbing and shredding. I think Jeff said something like, "Gibson SG, just like Tony Iommi!" which humbled Kurihara.


Wow, lots of people in Portland. Here's Derek and Leah from the UNKL brand of vinyl figures checking out the D&N merch. (Hey, Bwana, Scrappers, Martin, and everyone else, where were you? Aaron, I totally forgot to call you. I blew it and I'm sorry.)


At the show, I had met Stephen, an employee of Jackpot Records who was a huge fan of Damon & Naomi. He suggested we stop by the store, and it doesn't take much to convince Damon to go record shopping. We stopped to shop for music at least two other times. In the bag are the great Summer Records anthology from Light in the Attic, the deluxe version of The Harder They Come soundtrack, Graham Parsons, and The Monks. (They gave the latter CD to me in an effort to further my musical education--not deducted from my 20-dollar per diem.) We had new music to listen to for off-day drive from Beard Country to California.

Contrary to popular belief, I hardly visit the New York or San Francisco shops. Damon and Naomi wanted to visit GRSF, so I made my second visit to its new location and helped fold some T-shirts while they shopped. The store was packed, and the Deth P. Sun art was excellent and almost sold out. (Too bad I missed Francois, but I stayed with Myleen.) Afterwards, we dropped into Amoeba where Damon sought out performances of David Tudor's Rain Forest and I got to see Om play a few songs following up on Boris's instrumental set... Sorry, I couldn't get close enough to take pics.


Boris's set at the Independent in San Francisco was very different than the other shows on the tour. The bass part of Takeshi's guitar was broken, and he was bummed to the point of giving his amp a big kick. A long noisy interlude proved to set the tone for the the most droning, dirty, angry, and perhaps the most beautiful sound of the week. Everything was figured out for the encore, which harkened back to the Rainbow/Pink-leaning tone of the tour.

For the longest time, I thought that S.F. was the Giant Robot town. I've been wrong all along. L.A. is the true heart of GR. Here's one new friend who read about the show on this very blog then came up to say hi! There were others, too, and having Eric, Wendy, Pryor, and others around is never a bad thing. Other GR contributors included Ken (below) and Naomi herself (also below).

From the first show on, fans lined up before the doors opened to buy rare vinyl, band T-shirts, Kurihara guitar picks, and a limited-edition poster. The poster, which was screened by Burlesque (an art/business venture involving our friend Wessucksdie), was totally sold out and probably on Ebay. When Naomi mentioned that she wanted to give me one of copies that was set aside for the band, I was stoked but not content. I went one step further and asked if both bands would sign it for me. She spared me the embarrassment of running around with a Sharpie and did it for me! Fanboys, eat your hearts out:


Not a bad souvenir for me. For everyone else, there will be a lengthy travel/music story in GR51.

(If you're in the Southwest, South, or East Coast, you can still check them out!)