Blog - Weekly revue: 2018 week #38 (September 15 to 21)

Weekly revue: 2018 week #38 (September 15 to 21)

Food: - Curry at Indo Fujiko, Kōenji
- Sanma (Pacific saury) curry & moon cake at Tapir

Music event: - Following the great event from last year, I just had to go again to Grand Gallery's 13th Anniversary "Home Party"! Held at Daikanyama Unit/Unice/Saloon (three venues in the same building), it featured a lot of great artists, and this year the ticket price even included a free CD from Grand Gallery's vast catalog (I picked Horie Hirohisa's album "At Grand Gallery").

I got to see Hicksville, French singer Clémentine feat. violinist Kinbara Chieko (backed by DJ Hashimoto Toru (Café Après-midi), Sandii, hitomitoi (backed by DJ Kawanabe Hiroshi), bird and Yann Tomita (feat. special guest Oyamada Keigo (Cornelius)), and then some..!

Hicksville

My evening started at Unice, a café-like venue where food was also served (I had Abe Kumiko's Thai green curry!). It was my first time seeing Hicksville live! Formed of just two guitarists (Nakamori Yasuhiro (also of SOLEIL) and Kogure Shinya) plus lead singer Mashiro Megumi, the band has a very cool sound!

Clémentine feat. Kinbara Chieko, Sandii

Still at Unice, I got to watch Clémentine visiting from France, accompanied by Kinbara Chieko (a violinist I like very much), and backed by DJ Hashimoto Toru (Café Après-midi). A very nice mellow set of some of her best songs (mostly covers). Clémentine has a very nice voice!

Clémentine set list (partial): Pillow Talk (Sylvia cover) / Les voyages (Jeanne Moreau cover) / Couleur café (Serge Gainsbourg cover) / L'été (Gontiti cover) / Un homme et une femme (Pierre Barouh cover) / À St Tropez

Then I ran down to Saloon, a very small club venue, and caught a set by Sandii who sang mainly Hawaiian-style songs, sometimes accompanied by a pretty dancer named Marilyn who danced in hula and Tahitian styles.

Hitomitoi w/ DJ Kawanabe Hiroshi, bird

Next at Saloon, hitomitoi did a fun club set backed by DJ Kawanabe Hiroshi (Tokyo No.1 Soul Set, InK). She sang several of my favorite songs! I like the fun dance she always does in "koi wa omoi no mama". :) Then back at Unice, I watched bird who played an acoustic set with her guitarist. One song she sang was from her early days, produced by Mondo Grosso aka Shinichi Osawa.

hitomitoi set list: Dive / Harbor Light / Flash of Light / Let it Out / Weather Report / koi wa omoi no mama

bird, Yann Tomita feat. Oyamada Keigo (Cornelius)

Then it was time to go to the main stage at Unit, to see Yann Tomita! On the way I stopped by the merch table where Donuts Disco Deluxe were selling some goods, I got their new mix CD "Tropical Mix" and got to shake hands with Afra and Ani!

Yann Tomita's set took place on the large stage (last year it was in a small corner on a side), and both sounds and visuals were mesmerizing and very impressive. Towards the end he introduced Oyamada Keigo (Cornelius) who wore one of the cool helmets and played guitar. Once the show was over, Yann said it was his last set of his "Space Program" series, and that his upcoming performances will focus on his "Mobile Army Communication Corps". While there was no proper encore, organizer Ide Yasushi (Grand Gallery) came on stage and there was a party time as Yann sequenced some Doopees sounds live. Lots of fun! I look forward to seeing new performances by this unique artist.

- On Wednesday I dropped by an in-store event by Vanilla Beans at Tower Records Shibuya. It was a seated event held at the Stage One floor, and consisted of an hour-long talk show with Tower Records' president (also founder of the chain's T-Palette Records idol label) and also a mini-live of about half an hour. One of the most interesting points of the talk show was that the president recalled first knowing of Vanilla Beans at an event he was at to see Cutie Pie! How cool! The mini-live was a bit longer than usual with 5 songs, and it was followed by a handshake/autograph/photo session so I took the opportunity to go say hi again. :) The last days of Vanilla Beans are counted, with the last one-man live on October 6 that will be followed by a final "thanks festival" the next day.

Set list: Tokyo wa yoru no 7ji / going my way / Summer Vacation / Nicola / Last Song

Exhibitions: - Okano Akiko solo exhibition at iGallery, Ginza. This time was a concept of tummies linked to the universe by their umbilical cord, with the help of bees. Beautiful patterns were painted on the inside of each piece.

- Vanilla Beans have a special shop open at Shibuya Marui's 4th floor, only until October 7 when the unit will see its end. On display are a lot of their stage outfits used through their 11 years, as well as many personal things (even wigs!). CDs and a few goods are sold there, and there's a guestbook where visitors can write a message. I wasn't quite able yet to put my thoughts together then, so I'll probably have to go back and write a little something. I just know I'll really miss them.