Sounds Pretty White...

"When your ready to let go of the 90's, let me know buddy"

These were the words uttered by my good buddy Channi when we were walking through the east village of New York about ten years ago and I told him that I didn't want an iPod. I had maybe upgraded to a minidisc walkman from a cd one at the time and was making some kind of argument against the iPod. After each point, in that unmistakable tone he just kept saying.

"LIke I said buddy, let me know when your ready to let go of the 90's"

Obviously, at some point in the last five years, my resistance to apple technology become futile and I succumbed to the ways of the dark overlord that was Steve Jobs. Speaking of which, It is pretty well documented that he was an absolute jerk (which is probably exhibit A in Joel Tacorda's theory that success is not possible without being a jerk). 

There was some news lately that Neil Young has developed his own digital audio format that does not compress the hell out of music like the mp3 does and this was something that he was working on with Steve Jobs. I think the award for most pretentious quote of the year should go to Mr. Young. When talking about his late friend Steve Jobs and about how he made billions on ipods but didn't use them himself he said something like, "He was a digital pioneer who listened to music on vinyl".  When I read that I sat back and it finally came clear. Steve Jobs really was a dick.

I somehow lost my digital ball and chain (iphone) last night in Shibuya. I have been trying to get a new one for weeks but it has been sold out everywhere. The only thing I was worried about was that it had a lot of pictures and contact info on it that I won't be able to replace. That's when an email from Channi reminded me of the iCloud. It says that it backed up three days ago, but so far I have no idea how to retrieve any info. Maybe one of these days I will finally let go of the 90's.

Tokyo Tower

Digressing a bit, I started the day going to Tokyo tower with Masako and Yuka. At the top we talked about how scary it would have been to be right there during the earthquake. I thought to myself that it would not be nearly as terrifying as when it was attacked by Gojira (Godzilla). 

Skytree is just left of the middle

It was pretty amazing being 250 meters up in the air, being able to see Tokyo in every direction. Up until this last May this was the largest structure of it's kind on the planet. It is a whopping 13 meters higher than the Eiffel tower. Now both of these structures are dwarfed by Tokyo's Skytree which could be seen in the distance. You are able to go another 200 meters higher than Tokyo tower, but unless it is a clear day, you may just end up in the clouds.

Me and Yukachan 150 meters up

Tokyo's most popular radio station InterFM was broadcasting live from one of the observation decks and we were able to give a shout out to Masako's mom on the air. After all, today was her birthday.

Shibuya Crossing

We then went to Shibuya for a few hours and I finally got to check out the 6 story music store that I had seen from the car the last few times I was here. I then got lost in Disc Union, arguably the greatest record store on earth. I could go broke in this place. I came across a first pressing of the first Thin Lizzy record (too rich for my blood), an Aphrodite's child 7" (two songs from the 666 the apocalypse record, cool but ,again, too rich for my blood), I got a few rare and out of print Neubauten records, topped off with some April Wine (it's no secret that I'm a sucker for Canadian hard rock). Masako and Yuka were shopping elsewhere but eventually showed up to drag me out of there kicking and screaming. 

I took pics of the records I didn't buy, but they were lost with my phone. It disappeared somewhere between taking a photo of a neon Aston Martin parked next to us in the garage, and getting in the car to leave. I actually think it slipped out of my pocket right when I got into the car. That happened earlier in the day but I caught it.

We then headed back to go to Mama Sudo's birthday dinner.

I sometimes wonder if it would have been better if I never visited Japan. This place has proven to be the destroyer of many things for me. The first time I came here I had to leave a week earlier than Masako did, and I spent that week without her eating nothing but cheerios. The reason being that there was nothing outside that could take the place of the food in Tokyo. Tonight my perception of what Indian food should be has forever changed.

We went to a local Indian place that the family visits frequently. I always thought before that the best Indian food I had ever eaten was years ago in Sydney. Tonight's restaurant was called Rosni, and it did to that restaurant in Sydney what the US military did to Uday and Qsay. In case you forgot or weren't paying attention, they blew the holy shit out of those fools.

Curry clay pot chicken, amazing

Saag Paneer, Tuna Vindaloo, Chicken Makhani, Paneer Tikka Masala

Hands down, best tandoori chicken ever

At one point, Hide told the chef and his wife (who works the front of house) that I said this was the best Indian food I have ever had and they were beyond stoked. Enough so that they wanted to pose for a pic with the family and their Gaijin (foreigner).

I first bonded with my father in law over long sessions of cigarette smoking and watching long form music videos (documentaries, if you will). He got me into the Ventures years ago and we must have stayed up half the night watching concerts and footage of them playing in Japan in their heyday, chain smoking the entire time. They are one of the most popular bands ever in this country and there were thousands of Ventures cover bands when they were around. 

Fast forward a few years, I quit smoking a good while ago (i must admit that being here definitely makes me want to start again), but we are still into the music thing. This time it's THE MONKEES!!! We actually watched a great documentary on them last night and I stated that the song below is one big muff distortion pedal and a touch of raspier vocals away from being a Nirvana song (a little research showed that although it was originally done by Paul Revere and the Raiders, it was made popular by the Monkees and later performed by the Sex Pistols). 

A week ago on the phone I was telling Eyad about the Monkees attempt at making a movie that resulted in the film HEAD. It has to be the most disturbing rated G movie in history and is downright strange. Maybe that is because it was co written by Jack Nicholson who also penned the Peter Fonda LCD vehicle The Trip.

There is a scene where after a song and dance number on a soundstage, Davy Jones walks out on to a studio back lot accompanied by Frank Zappa with a cow on a leash.  The first thing Zappa says is "Sounds pretty white.."

I always have the feeling that is what is thought after each time I finish a sentence here…..sounds pretty white………

………..well, so am I, what can I tell you

…..until next time……….