Concert: Miyavi

Guitar-rocker Miyavi is making his way around America as a part of his Neo Tokyo Samurai Black World Tour. Though his image may be visual-kei, his sound is very bluesy-rock, and I encourage anyone to go see! I'll try to catch him on an East Coast date. Here's the tour schedule, and you can see links to buy tickets at his site here.

2010/6/10 San Diego, House of Blues
2010/6/12 Los Angeles, Club Nokia Live
2010/6/13 Anaheim,The Grove of Anaheim
2010/6/15 San Francisco,The Fillmore
2010/6/17 Vancouver,Commodore Ballroom
2010/6/18 Seattle,Showbox
2010/6/19 Portland,Roseland Theater
2010/6/23 Chicago,House of Blues
2010/6 /24 Toronto ,Sound Academy
2010/6/25 Boston,Harpers Ferry
2010/6/27 N.Y.,The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
2010/6/29 Washington,9:30 Club
2010/7/01 Atlanta,Masquerade
2010/7/03 Dallas,House of Blues
2010/7/04 Houston,House of Blues

Concert: Andymori, mothercoat, and more

Andymori, mothercoat, owarikara, グーミ, and Kulu Kulu Garden are performing from May 22 - 29 at various locations in Canada, starting with Vancouver and then making their way over to Toronto. This tour is a part of Next Music from Tokyo!, a tour organized by a truly impressive person over at a Japan indie forum I frequent. I probably won't be able to make these shows, but I'm sure it will be amazing! Expect an andymori video immediately following.

Concert: The Pillows and more

The Pillows, Noodles, Pop Chocolat, and Monokuro are playing two shows in California on May 21 and 23rd. For May 21, it's Slim's in San Francisco, and for May 23, it's The Glass House in Pomona. I don't really know these bands, but the Pillows are LEGENDARY, so anyone over in the West Coast should definitely try to catch them! I'll also try and upload some of their tunes so you can get a feel for them.

Concert: Sakura matsuri part 2

情熱マリーとしゃぼん玉ハイスクール (Jonetsu Marie and Shabondama High School) - モーレツ!!調教ママ

Genre: ska, jazzy rock
Song style: a catchy song of a woman being tough

Turns out this band (what a crazy long name) will be playing at the Sakura Matsuri tomorrow in Washington DC! I like their song a lot better than Uzuhi's, gotta say. I could see them being really exciting and charismatic. I'll be there tomorrow. I hope the event is fun and not "fake Japanese".

Also anther band, Spirit + Noise will be performing tomorrow. They're a shamisen rock group (mainly instrumental). I'm not totally sure how I feel about them so I'll cover them after the show if they end up being good.

Concert: Uzuhi

Uzuhi

Genre: punk
Song style: a pianoy alternative song. Not wonderful hehe.

I walked outside this morning and saw the beautiful scenes of petals drifting down from trees all around me. These weren't the cherry blossoms I was used to in Kyoto, but from today I will be going to Washington DC to see some and relive my memories. While I'm there, there will be a "Sakura Matsuri," or Cherry Blossom Festival, featuring many Japanese cultural activities. I'm very excited, I've never been to it before... let's hope it's not fakey! At this Matsuri, this band "Uzuhi" will be performing. The members are all Japanese but formed their band in New York. They're really a very "local" band, and they still seem amateur to me. Not really my style (in particular, check out their really bizarre not so wonderful single. But I'll still be there to check them out. They'll be playing Saturday, April 10 at the Sakura Matsuri in Washington DC.

Concert: More Chatmonchy

As a quick note, Chatmonchy has decided to perform an additional date in NYC, tonight at Cake Shop. It's $7, 21+, and they're performing first. Doors open at 8 (so in 10 minutes). Go support them!!

By the way, just to ramble - I had an amazing night at Japan Nite at the Bowery Ballroom yesterday! All the bands were amazing in some way (which surprised me, because I wasn't really expecting much). After the show, my friend and I got to talk with most of the bands and take photos - they were all so sweet and friendly! (New love for JinnyOops! and the Red Bacteria Vacuum - also got photos with Chatmonchy!). I bought Omodaka's cd so expect some reporting on that, along with info on the other bands I haven't mentioned yet. We made so many friends that night, it was amazing. :-) We were asked to be interviewed by a Japanese tv station, but my friend and I were with the bands so long that the TV crew had already left. Came back to school at 7am today. What a dream.

Concert: Sakura-con 2010

From April 2-4, Sakura-con will be taking place in Seattle, WA. Though I'm not really one for anime conventions, this year's will have two great hard rock bands playing - High and Mighty Color, and Dazzle Vision (expect to see these gal groups featured on this blog soon). They will be performing on Sunday April 3 at the main stage. There's also apparently going to be some guy DJ Sharpnel who does some "hardcore DJing" (don't know him...).

Go visit the Sakura-con website to find out more information. I won't be there (too far and nerdy) but hope a lot of people show up for these bands!

Concert: Japan Nite 2010 (USA)

In a couple of weeks, the Japan Nite 2010 tour will be starting up, as a part of the SXSW Music Festival in Texas (which will also have some other Japanese bands performing). The tour will hit up New York, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and LA and will feature bands like Chatmonchy, Omodaka, Red Bacteria Vacuum, Okamoto's, JinnyOops, and Riddim Saunter! I don't know most of these bands (only know Chatmonchy) so expect to see some of them posted on this blog as I discover them. Check out the Japan Nite website to see which bands are playing which dates (it varies venue to venue). I'll likely be at one of these shows so come say hi!