Japan 2010- Teaching w/Toshi

Headin Home...

2010-08-17T12:24:00.002+09:00

Last three teaching days...
Tokyo school of music in Shibuya, then NishiKasai, then a 2 hour train to Sendai- known for their Cow Tongue. I tried it again as it does taste good, but the texture is just too chewy for me.
Glen has been getting some good vids of the band via Flip video. I'll surly be adding some of the footage to this blog. Glens drum solos are amazing- great arc and attention keeping ability, and monster chops performed with accuracy. Then I try to solo and just play off the top of my head. Sometimes it works. The disadvantage to this is that if I'm on a day where I'm not feelin it- then the crowd doesn't either. Again- I'll post some vid.
PS.
Anyways-
I'm on the plane back home now and will try to get some shut eye. I'll have my apt. To myself for a week, where I'll dog sit my neighbors chihuahua for a week. I can't wait- the cat will just have to get more social or deal with it. Come visit the fat man- I put on 10 lbs. In 2 weeks (yes, really).
And then Burning Man prep... Time for sit ups!
Ciao for now.
Thank you Toshi, Glen, Kanami, Ikui, Nobuyoshi, Azusa, Emi & Kumi, Brenda, Victoria, Errol, Paul, Kaleb, Yukiko, Yukiko, Seiko and our local additional band members (singers and Keyboardists).

In the words of LL: I'm goin' back to Cali.
-Uriah

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

The final stretch in Japan...

2010-08-17T03:33:00.003+09:00

I'm just gonna start puttin a ton of links in the posting, as a picture is worth... You know the rest!

The time off in Tokyo.
Lots of running around- trains and such, all in 90 degree heat. I can do both rail systems now- easy peezy. The humidity that was the real kicker, with my shirts often getting soaked with sweat- and I'm not even the sweatin' type.
I met with new and old friends alike. I didn't ever make it to the bootleg dvd place, Shinjuku records, where they have my autographs and pictures of me adorning the walls, along with James Hetfield, Eric Martin, Billy Sheehan and the like. I did however make it to Aires- the other bootleg shop in the Shinjuku neighborhood, where I had the pleasure of meeting Junko. Junko has worked in the biz for about 20 years, and we chopped it up forever about bands, bootlegging specifics through time (like the lost romance of attaining low generation VHS tapes) and other things musical- she's very knowledgable, to say the least. I left there with a good 13 or so DVDs- on the house! I'm on at least half of them, as I bolster my Whitesnake footage for nostalgic and archival purposes.
I had a couple of nights at the Gravity Bar- where my friends Nobuyoshi (& sometimes his brother Ryuta) run the show. It's a small rock bar off the beaten path, upstairs 1 flight in an office type building- very non assuming. Inside the walls have display cases containing guitars of Steve Vai, Nuno Bettencourt & Ritchie Kotzen. There's a small electric drum kit and a bass rig for impromptu jams, which Glen and Toshi took to on our drunken night there- a night where we packed the place and decided to play until he trains started running again (5:30am!). We were quite hammered. As many of you know, my love is in bringing people together that I know will enjoy each others company and form good relationships. Mission accomplished... Yet again!
Another day I spent exploring alone- in Ginza. Too LA for me, with tons of US type stores- Tiffany's, H&M, Apple etc... The Mac store has free wifi so that was cool. Oh, and my Subway Shrimp-Avocado sandwich.
At night Yukiko (whom I hadn't seen in 4 years) took me to dinner in Roppongi- it was one of the best meals I've had. I then dragged her to my favorite variety store - Don Quixhote- as I HAD to see all the junk I don't need- once again. In fact, this was just the start, as I would hit up 2 more Don Quixhotes on this trip- late night and beer fueled.
Somewhere along the way, I took on a Japanese name: Yamanote. Yamanote is one of the most popular train lines in Tokyo. (for you SF peeps it'd be like calling me Mr. Concord, except that this train goes to way cooler places). So I'm lookin around in Don Quixhote and find YAMANOTE UNDERWEAR! SOCKS TOO! So the name sticks- I am now Yamanote-san.

Well, gotta get back to work. The total is 5 days on- 4 days off- now 3 more days. Glen Toshi and I are sounding tight, and I really dig playing for and helping these kids achieve their goals.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Tokyo - 4 days off!

2010-08-10T14:09:00.002+09:00

Watchin' movies, eatin food. Saw the amazing Paul Hanson play Cirque Du Soleil at Disney Land Tokyo. Gonna go explore now...

Just uploaded a bunch of pics from the first 5 days of teaching... and eating!
Click the text below for full gallery:

Japan 2010 | Uriah teaches with Toshi

Day 5 - Tokyo School of Music - and Summer Sonic!

2010-08-09T03:51:00.000+09:00

Woah. what a friggin day! A long crazy adventure AFTER our full day at the music school in Shubuya. Errol & Victoria are playing with Stevie tonight, and I got a pass. But getting there, and out of there proved to be long, expensive and super shirt soaking on multiple occasions due to the humidity. More to come...

Day 4 - Fukuoka School of Music

2010-08-07T03:41:00.000+09:00

Fukuoka is known for their Ramen, but I've already been eating so much that I can't mess with it today. Another breakfast and lunch comprised almost entirely of convenience store food. Instead of giving a big bass class today, Toshi and I ganged the guitarists up with the bassists, and talked about bass stuff, as well as playing together. We really got to jam 1 on 1 for the first time and show how important communication is. Oh yeah- tons of shredding licks too! Flight to Tokyo... More to come...

Day 3 - Nagoya School of Music - AND WINGS!

2010-08-06T03:38:00.002+09:00

Nagoya was awesome- Loved the peeps at the school. Gave a great hour long bass class, and had a great rig this time- A Walter Woods with an Epifani 6x10 cab. Wicked! Dinner with Nagoya's own famous Chicken Wings. Full day of work, then flight to Fukuoka, pausing briefly to have ramen and beer at the airport. More to come...

Day 2 - Osaka Music School

2010-08-05T09:19:00.000+09:00

So hot and humid. Why'd I bring all these long sleeve shirts, hoodies and beanies? Today we showed up just past 10am, and assembled a convenience store (Lawson's) breakfast of coffee, sandwiches, and instant ramen- which wasn't half bad! We rehearsed, I taught a bass class for 5 (more manageable than the 13 yesterday) and performed a bit. In fact, we got to play on the pro stage- with lighting, cameras and audience, as this was the ending ceremony for new student orientation. I'm sure we'll have vid up soon of our rock version of Canon in D. Off to the train station to finally grab a beer and take the hour ride to Nagoya- famous for their CHICKEN WINGS! Again, all pics can be found at Japan 2010 | Facebook Pics
-U

Vid at Student concert - first time playing this one! ELEVATION

Day 1 - Flight easy; Osaka HUMID & HOT!!!

2010-08-04T07:43:00.000+09:00

A few pics may be posted here.

All pics can be seen at: Japan 2010 | Facebook Pics

Still no sleep. The past few weeks have been hectic to say the least, but all in the name of good family, friends and music. Just finished a 4 day gig with Kid Beyond. Shilo and his gf were also in town for 2 weeks, and we spared no time between activities. I'm bushed! Anyways...

I met drummer Glen Sobel at the gate at SFO. Easy flight- passed out, but still listening to the 12 tunes I have to learn for this teaching/performance run. It's for 2 weeks in Japan- I love it there!

So humid. So hot. 1st stop: RAMEN! You'd think that with the amount of Asians and Japanese in SF I could find a decent bowl- but that's just not the case. There is absolutely nothing like going to Japan and getting it there. Toshi brought us down the street for some ramen and it was slammin. They only had boiled Gyoza- not fried, but it was still the bomb. I ordered a lemonade, which didn't taste like lemonade but tasted familiar. It later clicked that this was the same exact flavor of Big League Chew, except in a sparkling beverage.

Hotel, more cramming of tunes and charting until I passed out. More charting in the am; rehearsal at 11am, teach a 70 min bass workshop @ 1:30, perform 3 tunes for students with ensemble, then watch as about 10 groups work their way through Deep Purple's "Burn" (here I am playing and singing Burn in Sweden) & Chickenfoot's "Soap on a Rope" with varying success. By the time 8pm rolled around it was time for dinner, and the usual Osaka trip to see Yoko & the gang at Rock Rock. My local drunk buddy Hirayama was there, and we joked as much as possible before Glen and I had to split- we were BEAT!

The highlight of the day for me was finally getting to play some of this difficult music with Toshi and Glen. Glen is an absolute monster on the drums- I dunno why he hasn't landed any huge gigs- real pro and slick- def a blast to play with as a bassist- and you know I'd tell ya otherwise! We def all clicked- Toshi and I are already having fun jamming and throwing in similar and complimentary fills during the tunes. SHREDDING!

That's it for now... my sleeping schedule is all f'd up, but it's been like that for a few weeks now. So long as I get enough hours (which I'm not) I'll be ok. G'nite.