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Bach from Japan find With fl flew Track On This year's flthfest Comp find fi Gig fit The 40 Watt Club,
Casper G The Cookies frontcouple Jason fieSmith find Kay Stanton Regale Us With Tales Of faratuay Lands.
ujeonesofiy. feb. 23
from Athens to Tohyo to Kyoto
Jason NeSmith: Fd had seven hours of sleep
in the previous 52. In that time, Td had a
birthday, eaten Indian food on Broad Street,
watched four movies, run a quarter-mile through
San Francisco's airport and slurped soba noodles
in Tokyo. Fd been in a constant state of slack-
jawed gawked-ness. For weeks, our trip to Japan
loomed, a fantasy born from infrequent and excla
mation mark-heavy emails between me, our trans
lator Sumiko and Sakamoto, who is Elekibass'
leader and the owner/ operator of Waikiki Record,
our label in Japan. Once we arrived, it didn't seem
any more believable.
For various reasons, the standard Cookies
lineup—Paul Walker (Neat Stripes), Tim Schreiber
(CoL Knowledge & the Lickity-Splits) and Suzanne
Allison (63 Crayons)—couldn't come with us. In
their place: Bryan Poole (The Late B.P. Helium, Elf
Power) and Ben Spraker (Ceiling Fan, the Shut-
Ups, ex-Cookie), two of our best friends and great
musicians.
A 90-minute train ride from Narita brought us
to Elekihouse, our home for the week. Elekihouse
is a two-story, 600-square-foot kingdom in a
suburb of Tokyo called Shimokitazawa. Our hosts
Sakamoto and JP spoke broken but surprisingly
effective English.
Kay Stanton: The toilets in Japan were really
funny! Some were squatters, of course, but [on
the familiar sit-down type] when you flushed, it
activated a water faucet located on top of the
tank where you could wash your hands.
We went to a soba restaurant for dinner. Soba
is a small noodle dish often served as a soup with
various flavors. It was absolutely amazing (and
cheap! 55!), and all the Cookies practiced our
slurping techniques to the delight of our hosts.
We were falling-down exhausted, but decided
it was absolutely necessary to experience a little
Japanese pop culture, sc we went to Club Que, the
club that the Cookies were scheduled to play, to
see a band called Delicious Sweet Just as in the
States, the tallest person in the building came
and stood directly in front of me. (There are tall
people in Japan!) As we waited, the cigarette
smoke got thicker—everyone there seems to
smoke—and our attention was directed to a drag
queen on a stage to the left of the room.
JN: Somehow during her brief spiel the main
stage was filled with Japanese girls in mod-
fashion dresses. The music was a unique mixture
of Motown, French ya-ya girl
hipster rock and a parody of the western
stereotype of traditional Japanese music.
The impressive number of costume changes,
props and dance moves made the Cookies
feet slightly unprepared for our upcoming
shows.
KS: I couldn't take my eyes off of them.
After about seven costume changes, the girls
removed their bloomers (of course they were
wearing another pair underneath), jumped
off-stage and gave the used panties to audi
ence members. Now Jason can say that he
got a pair of used panties in Japan.
THIIRSDflU. FEB. 24
Shorn at Kyoto East Club. Kiyamachi
KS: Sadabass was late picking us up for
our trip to Kyoto, Japan's first capitol city.
The “spring wind* had arrived, so we sat in
Sakamoto's room with the window open,
practicing music and enjoying the sun and
breeze. I was looking forward to seeing some
of the traditional buildings. So far, it'd been
mostly modem. In the more commercial dis
tricts, things looked much as they are por
trayed in movies: complete over-stimula
tion—flashing lights, many recorded sounds and
advertisements going at full blast, trains roaring
by, mobs of pedestrians quickly moving toward
whatever destination. On every comer are brightly
lit vending machines. Fd heard you can get used
panties from some vending machines, but we
already had some of those, so we were good.
JN: When Sadabass finally showed up, he was
wearing what looked like a surgical mask. People
frequently wear them there whenever they are sick
or trying to keep from getting sick. I had the
thought that we should invent designer masks and
make a mint.
KS: In Kyoto, we stayed in a Japanese-style
hotel one large room with bamboo floor and six
pallets on the floor. The pillows there feel like
they are filled with dried beans, but are surpris
ingly comfortable. Being completely exhausted
helps.
We went out for drinks and food. We had
funny pickled things and sashimi. So good!
After sake, we returned to the hotel for a
traditional Japanese public bath!
JN: Sadabass and Sakamoto
basically dared us to go. Being
body-fearing Americans, we
waffled pretty hard,
but when Sakamoto
the traditional Japanese way, I said, “We have to
do it'
KS: I had the whole place to myself. The boys
had to play the 'don't look below the waist"
game. Ha ha.
JN: Ben kept forgetting to remove his shoes.
We kidded him that he was dishonoring our hosts'
ancestors: 'Fourteen times, Spraker-san!'
KS: We had a Japanese breakfast of rice and
mackerel. We also tried natto, a somewhat
revolting snack of soft fermented soybeans in a
gooey mustard suspension. Mmm?
Our first stop was Nijo Castle. This was our first
traditional architecture on the
trip. As we were walking into
the castle, we noticed a
strange squeaking noise,
which turned out to
be the 'nightin
gale' floor.
JN: It's an ancient early alarm system. There
are nails under the floor that rub against the
wood planks to make this cool chirping sound.
I used a squatter toilet for the first time at
Nijo Castle. Incidentally, Nijo was the center of
power during the Shogun era. The walls are made
of paper and decorated with beautiful animal
paintings. The landscaping is unbelievable, too.
They've pruned the pine trees so that all the nee
dles face the sky!
KS: We went to a shop where we found our CD
on display! That was really cooL We were all
starting to get nervous as the 3 p.m. sound check
drew nearer. When we got to the club. The Love
Me fland was checking. It was some of the highest
energy shit Fve seen. Two lead 'singers' start
yelling 'HEY HEY HEY (ha) HEY HET while the
drummer (floppy Denis and all) jumped around
like a madman in white tights. An older guy was
sitting on the side of the stage, holding a TV
screen with images of nuclear bombs, etc. These
guys were crazy.
JN: On the way back to the hotel after
sound check at Kyoto East Club, Sakamoto
took a phone call. The Tokyo show on
28 had sold out! Were we
big in Japan? The Love Me
Band basically played
one song for
22 FLAGPOLE.COM • MAY 18, 2005