Skin milk, super potato and Spider Steve

Its shortly after having played an enjoyable show at the lovely intimate acoustic venue, Velvet sun in Ogikubo, Tokyo. Myself and my amigo Dan Moran are sat in his flat, with feet up, a cuppa tea, eating a scone and we are both ringing home to say happy mothers day to our mums. Yer can take the lad out of England but yer cant take England out of the Lad!!!

Me and Dan and Natsuki at velvet sun

I have played about 6 shows here in Tokyo and am really enjoying it. Yesterday Dan made his stage debut guesting with me on A Drawer which sounded mint.  The people are friendly, the club staff are efficient and helpful and the standard of musicianship among other artists is very high. There is a huge pop culture in Japan and love it or hate it, that does come across in a lot of bands music.

I met a fine Chap called Daisuke at Velvet Sun. He came to England some time ago and was helped to book some live shows, so in kind he has helped me book a number of slots around Tokyo to contribute to my tour. That is testament to the helpfulness of the Japanese which seems to know no bounds. I have struggled finding small live houses and been rescued by fellow musicians who after consulting for directions have approached the police for me, used e-phones to find maps and guided me streets out of their way, right up to the door of the venue before saying Sayonara.

Me n John on Japanese TV

At Cave Be in Shimokitazawa

Its a fact that packaging and marketing people in Asia like to use a certain amount of English words to sell their products. Rightly or wrongly, they pick out a choice word to name their product and in doing so provide some amusement to visiting English speakers. At first it seemed very strange to consider drinking a bottle of “Sweat” during or after excercise. I was also highly amused when friend Jacqui explained that after seeing a dispenser labeled “Skin milk” in her hostel bathroom, she assumed the product was a moisturizing lotion and for two days, applied it to her face and let it soak in expecting beautiful results. It wasn’t until the irritation started that she realised it was actually liquid soap…ha!

Octopus or pie

I spent a day with Jacqui and Mr Merrington in Akihabara, often referred to as Electric city. We were escorted by their good friend and key-tar player for Tokyo pop girl band “The Moist Towelettes” …Dave. I was introduced to him the previous night after which we went to a Karaoke bar where he blasted out an amazing performance of Rio by Duran Duran to the cocky English lighting crew who were there to work on the Oasis tour. They were goading everyone to have a go and clearly weren’t expecting anyone to follow up.

It was in Akihabara that we went to retro gaming nirvana …Super potato. It is nestled between electrical goods shops and maid bars. A maid bar is a place where you can go to be served coffee by girls dressed in very cute maid outfits wearing knee length socks and looking like they just stepped out of “The Wizard of Oz”…indeed. Super Potato is like a Mecca for gaming freaks. The real connoisseurs of gaming who appreciate the early consoles and the playability of classic super mario bros. It was awesome having a blast on some of the old stuff. I tried a special 3d game console that was never released in the 90s because they found it gave people headaches. I couldnt leave it alone… I went next door and bought a special mic connection for my Ipod so I can record samples with it…joy.

Went to a baseball batting centre for the first time. Baseball is massive here. You can stand in a net and have 100kph balls pitched at you for a few quid. Its pretty cool. I couldn’t hit the thing for love nor money at first but after a while I started to connect with a few. I think the fact that there was a girl in the adjacent net smashing every ball, made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

That evening we met another friend of Andy’s and had Okinawan food in a tiny family restaurant. It included pickled pig ears and boiled pig trotters..mmm…. my favourite.

Fancy shutter painting

So there is a 4 digit code to get into the apartment block where I am crashing with my Amigo Dan. I went out for a few hours the other evening and and chatted sh*t in local bar, Zzyx, with Dans mate Steve who has lived out here for about 10yrs. Anyway it got to about 3:00 am and I headed back to bed only to find I had forgotten the code. After trying several times, I found that I had locked out the keypad. I rushed back to Steve who at this point was pretty drunk and got him to ring Dan to come and let me in. There was no answer. Two girls had now arrived at the apartment who knew the code but were now unable to use the keypad. It was pouring with rain and blowing a howling gale…… Suddenly Steve lurched into action. I have no idea how he did it, but he climbed 5 stories, pissed, starting with a 7ft fence up a skinny little drainpipe over balconies and railings with wind and rain rushing into his face and his foothold slipping several times. I must say I was expecting to call an ambulance at any moment. He got to the balcony and banged on the patio window until I heard Dan open up with a “What the F*ck!”. When he emerged at the front door to let us in, his first line to the girls who were showering him with praise was “this is Terry… he is a musician… come to his show”…then with a wink he disappeared into the night with blood, cuts and filth all up his arms… a proper surreal moment….hero.

You ming!....this is actually chinese I think

I have some copies of my album to give away at forthcoming gigs. I cant do free-climbing up apartment buildings but I can play the odd tune so if yer want one then come and say Hello. Ja mata ne!

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