Wedding Crasher

Simulacra + Vera Icon-Summer in Tokyo Part I

Simulacra + Vera Icon-The Changcutters at 代々木公園 10.07.11

Spending summer in cities is such a bittersweet experience. I've spent most of my summers stuck in a city, usually mastering how to be a hermit extraordinaire, accidentally picking up flawless planking skills along the way. Nowadays, it's a long process to get myself out of the house mostly due to my contemplating until the very last minute, in my full makeup(for some reason, it makes sense to walk around looking like a drag queen in this humidity) and outfits, whether I really want to tear myself away from my beloved AC or not.

In my teens + early 20's, one of the very few things that got me out of my hole voluntarily during the humid, scorching hot weather was a gig, which is one of the upsides of staying in a concrete jungle in this awful weather. It's been a long time since I've spent my summer in NY but fortunately, Tokyo has no shortage of great gigs, albeit much more expensive than its NY counterparts.

Years ago, before I had a chance to attend any gig in Japan, some bands who had played here told me about the superb lighting systems and Tokyo is indeed gig photographers' wet dream; even the dingy looking venues are equipped with astonishing lighting, making it so easy to snap away.

The audience however leaves much to be desired, mostly because of the reserved, collectivistic nature of the culture. People dance and clap in unison, not one person doing a thing out of line. For someone who's used to mosh pits full of sweat, blood, screaming, cheering, beer/water/whatever liquid being thrown around, crowd-surfing, stage-diving-basically, chaotic fun bordering a bedlam, here, it's rather...tame.(whereas NY is full of bores who are "too cool" to enjoy themselves).

This is where The Changcutters come in-leave it to the Indonesian expats + band to deliver proper fun in Japan. It's been such a long time since I've been to a gig with a properly energetic audience so I was a bit awestruck. The videos and these pics don't really do justice to demonstrate how much fun they are live-imagine the Indonesia's answer to The Hives but with an even better frontman(sorry Pelle) who can perhaps best described as Pelle Almqvist meets Dennis Lyxzén-but let's face it, I have never seen anyone who "dances" as well as Lyxzén.

Simulacra + Vera Icon-Festivals Part I

Usually I'm your typical pretentious New Yorker who sneer at the idea of family-friendly activities and spit out snide remarks. One of the few exceptions to this is that I unabashedly LOVE festivals of every kind, from a traditional historic festival to a music festival, where people are full of joviality (& alcohol in some cases). You'll find me practically beaming in the first row. 

I've been fortunate enough to attend quite a number of festivals around the world, and one of my "life goals" include participating in a Japanese festival in a very particular way-I realize this sounds more perverse than it actually is, but it's really rather innocent. We'll see if I can achieve it this year. 

It's hard to make a comparison between all these festivals since they are all very different in nature, but I think my favorite has to be El Gran Poder of La Paz, Bolivia. Usually stern and reserved Bolivians danced merrily in stunningly colored outfits, sometimes clutching beer in their hands, while some randomly set off "dynamites." For someone who almost never drinks, I must admit, I am strangely pleased to see people drinking for fun and joy. 

I had broken my hand in Copacabana a few days before the festival, so I visited an ER in La Paz early in the morning before running to the city center with my left hand/forearm freshly put in a plaster cast. I started to snap away with very restricted finger movements, while being completely awestruck between shots, and having a laugh with random strangers(not a common thing in Bolivia) at how ridiculous I must have looked-with fresh plaster bits and stains all over my hood, snapping away pics with two barely moveable fingers while sprawling on a main La Paz street. 

Back in Tokyo

Yep I'm back in Tokyo, will remain here at least several months.
I finally have my own room for the first time in....ages.
It's good to finally unpack and by unpack I mean have my stuff strewn all over the floor & playing involuntary Twister to get around.
Will expand on it in a few days. :]