TOKYO, JAPAN

DEEP PURPLE- My Woman From Tokyo, 2002, Live From Tokyo

This CANNOT be the original band members... no way! It's hard to tell. The singer is like a whole different person. Not so hot on how his voice aged. But whoever these guys playing are, original or not, they certainly know how to shine up an old wonder.

Listen to this while you lookat pics of T O K Y O below... I wonder if you know....Teriyaki Boys (our intermission artists): Tokyo Drift

Harajuku Girls (you can click me)

Cosplay (clicky)

Cosplay

Cosplay

Beautiful Harajuku

National Art Center, Tokyo (yep, you guessed it)

N.A.C.

N.A.C.

Mikimoto Building (me too)

World's Finest Pearls

The Tokyo Dome (for sure I'm a clicker!)

TOKYO SETLIST

Mr. Roboto........................Styx

Renegade...................Styx

Kickstart My Heart................Motley Crue

Devil Inside........................INXS

One Way or Another..................Blondie

Every Rose Has Its Thorn....................Poison

Love Me Two Times.............The Doors

Sunshine Of Your Love...............Cream

House Of The Rising Sun.................The Animals

Roll With It.................Steve Winwood

Pour Some Sugar on Me..................Def Leppard

Eye of the Tiger.........................Survivor

Sitting on a Fence.....................The Rolling Stones

Zero..................Smashing Pumpkins

The Beautiful People..................Marilyn Manson

Roadhouse Blues....................The Doors

Rip This Joint.................The Rolling Stones

Black Dog..................Led Zeppelin

Free Bird..................Lynyrd Skynyrd

Tokyo footage was tough to find for most of these songs (except for one that I am most happy about finding). The following are all various locales, some music vids.

N.A.C.

Believe it....not a one good live version of this song. But who cares when you have this!

I like to imagine this played behind us.

Nothing like the sex-rock Gods of the Beatles, LZ, Stones, Henderix (the Beethovens of Rock)... but they still effin rock.

Styx: Chicago (date??): Renegade

This is their encore song in their hometown. These guys are just fun.

For sure, Jack Black got his moves from Styx guitarist, James Young nearer to the middle of the song. Think Jack Black, School of Rock. For sure Black was watching this dude.

And as goofy and geeky as they are-- they also happened to be incredible musicians.

INXS: London, England: Live at Wembley Stadium (1991) Devil Inside
I've been noticing something about the year 1991 in my research. A renaissance seemed to occur when the fusion of live musical technology and rock intertwined at its peak in this time period. Incredible productions were created in the name of great rock. I can't imagine what Led Zeppelin would have been like had John Bonham still been alive to play a recorded concert live at Wembley or Donnigton in the 90's in the way that INXS, below, did. Can you imagine if LZ or the Beatles had the luxury of this kind of production for their music. Not to take anything away from one of my favorite bands of all time: INXS.
In this clip, you really sense Michael Hutchence. His romances are linked on his name... I've always found him fascinating, even before he died hanging from his belt in a hotel room in his hometown, Sydney in 1997. He was believed by even his own brother, to have died from Autoerotic Asphyxiation.

My love for INXS goes deep.



Poison: MTV Unplugged (1990): Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Yes, even Poison gets a little nod. Come on, these guys did write a good little ditty here. Admit it...

Whoever says The Doors don't rock are just plain silly.
Back Door Man

Swagger back into 1988:
Steve Winwood: Roll With It (date???)

Early 80's rock was awesome.


Def Leppard: Pour Some Sugar on Me (UK VIDEO)

First of all, I had no idea these guys were English? But from viewing the Deep Purple vid, it's clear these guys are their British offsprings.

Oh Def Leppard, this vid is too much. If you don't get a kick out of this, you're just silly.

Sometimes one hit wonders have a hell of a lot of influence on the world... and although they had other hits, it's really only because they made such a splash with this one.

By the way, a list I'd like to get together? 25 Most influential one hit wonders of all time.

Enjoy this UK vid, but for a really fun ride, watch their US Video, which disallowed embedding so I couldn't blog it. It's worth seeing, as it documents the set up of the concert. And they've got a kick ass stage. These guys have a lot of heart, damnit. I never was a huge fan. But I've got a lot of respect for them. Click here for the US Video.

Marylin Manson: Live from Tokyo (2005): The Beautiful People
Finally... great live footage from Tokyo. And how happy am I that it's Manson of all things.
I find him to be so wonderful in his Macabre grotesque. Whether you dig him or not, Marylin Manson is a brilliant conceptual artist. I love his long- legged march across the stage. His band is just as sic. This cacophony could only come out of a post-holocaustic/nucleic cold-war culture that is spoiled rotten, works less hard than its preceding baby boomer generation, and is currently over-fed and mass-consumptive.

KYOTO, JAPAN: A 5 Day Shukubo Retreat

Click one of me (below) and listen to me while you go to Kyoto...

When you click the pictures to enlarge (which I highly recommend) you will lose the song.  If you copy the URL into a second tab, looking at the other while allowing the music to play on this tab, you will enjoy it more.  The music is key.

This first one (Koto & Shakuhachi) is seriously tha jam, really.  It kicks into this total groove.  

Enjoy, My Tomodachis... and welcome to the Far East.

Listening Pleasure.... play when the above is finished.

Hokusai... play thirdly.

KYOTO

Nestled in the mountains of Western Honshu, Kyoto has earned a worldwide reputation as Japan's most beautiful city. Kyoto is known as "the city of a thousand temples," but it actually has more — an astonishing 1,600 Buddhist temples, plus 400 Shinto shrines. Kyoto has more World Heritage Sites per square inch than any other city.

Kyoto was the capital of Japan and the residence of the emperor from 794 until the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the capital was moved to Tokyo. Kyoto thus spent a millennium as the center of Japanese power, culture, tradition, and religion. During this time, Kyoto accumulated an unparalleled collection of palaces, temples and shrines, built for emperors, shoguns, geishas and monks. And thankfully, Kyoto was one of the very few Japanese cities to escape the Allied bombings of World War II.

The Silver Pavillion at Ginkaku-ji in Spring 

(I think this place has some seriously magical sacred energy)

Ginkaku-ji, like Kinkaku-ji, is regarded as a branch temple of Shôkoku-ji (Rinzai Zen). Its official name is Tôzan (Eastern Mountains) Jishô-ji. The gentle hills that range along the eastern edge of Kyoto are called Higashiyama ("eastern mountains") and from ancient times have been regarded as possessing a feminine gentleness. The frequent subject of poetry, these mountains are a much appreciated part of the landscape of Kyoto. The peak called Nyoigatake (also known as Daimonjiyama) is well known as the site of the bonfire in the shape of the character dai ("great") visible from the city on August 16, during the Bon festival. Ginkaku-ji is located in the foothills of Daimonjiyama. The "Philosopher's Path," named after a favorite stroll of the philosopher Nishida Kitarô (1870-1945) and a famous route for viewing cherry blossoms in spring and fireflies in summer, runs past its front gate.

The Golden Pavillion (at Kinkaku-ji) Tranquility Pond in Autumn 

(Enlarge all of us, we're all beautiful)

The Silver Pavillion at Sunrise

(the landscape is brushed, manicured sand)

The Silver Pavillion in Autumn

The Golden Pavillion in Autumn

The Golden Pavillion, 2nd Floor
I love how the four guards, surrounding all four sides of the Divine Deity in the middle, are garishly growling at threatening entities, fire streaming behind them.  There are also wide-open eyes surrounding their feet at the base, all as if to say, "Nothing shall get past us!!---for we fiercely protect the divine."  And the Deity sits calmly, unafraid because it is protected.  

Enlarge to see!

The Golden Pavillion (Kinkaku-ji) in Winter

The following poems are from two classic collections of Japanese verse, the Manyoshu and the Kokinoshu.

A poem from Monk Ryokan:

Our life in this world -
to what shall I compare it?
Its like an echo
resounding through the mountains
and off into the empty sky.


By Emperor Jomei when he climbed Kagu Hill to view the land:

Of many hills in the land of Yamato,
I climb heavenly Kagu Hill richly adorned with green foliage,
and stand on the summit to view my realm,
I see smoke rising on the open plain of land
and gulls taking off from the surface of the lake.
A splendid land, is this land of Yamato!


This beautiful and quiet poem was written by Prince Shiki on the occasion of the visit to the Palace of Naniwa by Emperor Mommu in 706:

On this cold and chilly evening,
when frost forms on the folded wings of the mallards
as they swim near the reedy shore,
My thoughts go back to Yamato.

Ki no Tsurayuki (c. 872-945): The night approaches

Ki no Tsurayuki was the foremost poet of his age. He was one of the editors of the Kokinshu and wrote one of the prefaces to the anthology. He was also the author of a travel diary, the Tosa diary.

In what way is the approach of night like autumn?
The night approaches,
darkness on Mt. Ogura
where the deer cry out
and in their voices calling
is it autumn on the wane?

In the classical age much of the verse was occasional poetry, and poetic exchanges were a necessary part of courtship. In this exchange the Lady Ishikawa has taken Prince Otsu's poem and cleverly rearranged it. She repeats in the forth line what Prince Otsu has repeated in lines two and five of his poem.

Here is a sensual and brilliant correspondence between Prince Otsu and Lady Ishakawa:

How does Lady Ishakawa turn Prince Otsu's complaint at having been stood up into a compliment which reassures him of her continuing love?
Gentle foothills, and
in the dew drops of the mountains,
soaked, I waited for you--
grew wet from standing there
in the dew drops of the mountains.

Lady Ishikawa (7th C. CE): Poem by Lady Ishikawa in response:

Waiting for me,
you grew wet there
in gentle foothills,
in the dew drops of the mountains--
I wish I'd been such drops of dew.

The following is where we spent our retreat.  Shukubo  means temple lodging.  Ancient temples turned into places of retreat and meditation.  One must honor the customs of the Buddhist way while residing within the shukubo.  Finding them in cyberspace proved near impossible.  These photos are from two separate temples.

Kyoto Lanterns

Rockou-in Rock Garden

Roanji Temple

Breakfast

Meditation Room

Roanji

Kamo River

Roanji

Roanji

A Bamboo forest we explored

The forest trail.

Fushimi Inari

Fushimi-Inari Taisha (I'd watch this sans the music)

Kyoto Geisha girl

by Italia

"Love, in itself, has no boundary. Love is like water. It will flow and flow and flow, and no matter the size of the container, the shape of the container, it will flow into it. If the angle of the ground inclines, the water will rush down it.   It is constantly in motion, and it is formed in all things.  The earth is made up of over 75% water as are our bodies.  Water is love. So what does that tell you about the earth and our bodies?"

-Lo Elle