Blog - Escalator days
Escalator days
Yesterday I met up with friend Alan in visit from the U.S., we first had made plans to go to Escalator Shop so we met in Harajuku at 7pm. However I had just heard that Cubismo Grafico, Miniflex and TGMX would be appearing at Apple Store Ginza from 7pm, talking about how they used Garage Band for recording the "Garage Land" album. Knowing Alan is a big Escalator fan I couldn't resist telling him even though it was a sort of sad news as we were already missing the show at that moment. He seemed very excited, and him being the guest I gave him the option to head to Ginza and try to catch even if just a few minutes, though promising nothing,... and that became the new plan.
So we hurried to Apple Store Ginza (not without a bit of trouble, as I'm not as a regular visitor as some others!) and got there at about 7:50, the show was scheduled to end at 8:00 and as we walked in the event floor Matsuda "Chabe" Gakuji (Cubismo Grafico) was already saying his thanks and closing the event... All of the large presentation room were filled with fans, so we stood at the back. They then proceeded to hand out flyers and stickers to everyone, so at least we got to see Chabe and the gang up close, the reward for the crazy race!
I was a bit surprised and happy that Chabe greeted me with 「久しぶり！」 ("long time no see!"), probably remembering me from when we saw Cornelius together years ago with common friend Jesper! Now I can rest assured that he'll recognize me from now on. :)
One of the reasons I was heading to Escalator Shop this week was to pick up the new Caede single "Maple Soap" out on Christmas day. I had reserved my copy last week as there are only 500 numbered copies, and the Web site said that the shop was planning to only stock 10 copies (at first they planned to stock none at all) aside from reservations. Today being the last day the shop was open before the New Year holiday, I rushed back to Harajuku after work to pick up the CD, and also to get a recent remix 12" single of Chromeo's "Needy Girl", with remixes by Paper Faces and Bloc Party.
At the counter I was served by label boss Naka Masashi himself, who somehow recognized me as a frequent visitor! He asked me to please come to their monthly party at Web (next is January 21st, featuring himself and Chabe), and gave me a limited edition Stikfas toy with the Escalator logo on it! I'll definitely try to catch the event, which I've been wanting to check out for a while, especially if my friend Jens gets back into town in time.
The Caede single is great, and features a very cool, softer alternate version of title song "Maple Soap". An album is to follow next year, and also new albums by Cubismo Grafico and Harvard, ... Yes, I love Escalator!
Posted on December 30, 2005 at 00:01 | Tweet
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I want to go to Japan to buy all those records for my radioshow... I envy you ^_^;;;;;
Yo otoshi wo!!
Posted by T3tsuo on December 31, 2005 at 00:51
When I went to the Escalator shop I had the uneasy feeling that I was walking into a strangers apartment unannounced. I liked the idea that you probably couldn't find the shop unless you were looking for it and knew exactly where it was. They were really friendly though, I got a Yukari Rotten sampler (this was a while ago now) with the Neil and Iraiza albums I bought.
Posted by jariten on December 31, 2005 at 09:52
> I had the uneasy feeling that I was walking into a strangers apartment unannounced.
Indeed, the first time I went in the renewed Escalator Shop (after Caprice), I wondered for a second whether I should remove my shoes. :)
Posted by Patrick on December 31, 2005 at 12:47
hmmm i hope to visit the escalator shop one day... for now i'll just buy their albums online!
Posted by oliver on January 1, 2006 at 12:43
It's hard to find, but it's worth it!
Posted by Patrick on January 1, 2006 at 13:22
hey patrick! i'll be back in time, so we should definitely head out to the esc party on 21st!!
on a related note, Chabe can be heard talking about the japanese copyright laws/royalty system in my latest radio report(downloadable through the link)
Posted by jens on January 3, 2006 at 04:54
Fucking Jensper! ;)
Posted by Jesper on January 7, 2006 at 02:46
Jens: Let's make it a plan!
Jesper: He knows everyone!
Posted by Patrick on January 7, 2006 at 13:18
Yeah, Jens is da bomb!
Posted by Jesper on January 9, 2006 at 20:50
Are you ever wondering how the escalator are working? One of my friends,Xiao wang told me that he thought about it.Some days ago, he went to the shopping mall.There were salesmen of Hosting escalator Company.He asked them about it. So he know more about the Hosting Escalator.And he told me that they are vvvf,the technology which is energy saving and these products are mostly the CE approved products. I asked him where is the company? He told me that Ningbo Xinda Group is located in Dongwu Town,Yinzhou District,Ningbo City. Maybe later we shall go there and have a look.
Posted by mike on November 2, 2006 at 17:45