Yura Yura Teikoku : ゆらゆら帝国
I was lucky enough to see Y-Y-T the first time they played outside Japan back in 2005 at North 6 in Brooklyn. HERE are three pictures I posted from that night three years ago. I got into them thanks to friends at Tiny Cafe in Sengawa, and (if I recall?) a former roommate. Then came a massive rental session at Janis in Ochanomizu to get the rest of their collection.
I was excited to hear they'd be back in town. Unfortunately a few friends couldn't make it, but others stepped up and we had a great time. Thanks to M for letting me know about the show!
And here are the photos @ the Williamsburg Music Hall 10/19/2008
A worthwhile slog.
coffee in Warsaw, with Geoff and Daniel
circa 2004
part three and the deal is sealed
And in the third debate, he scuffed and huffed, but ended up with a somewhat muddled conversation with a plumber. Little wonder, in the ideological wilderness of 2008, a time when McCain’s dark-side supporters want him to stay dirty, that McCain chose to dwell on a guy who spends a lot of time with his head in the toilet.
At least it seemed like McCain was trying to finesse his crash landing. He surveyed Nobama conspiracy terrain (and class war!)(particularly apt in this age of bailouts and golden parachutes!) but did so in a befuddled and awkward way. Deliberately? Could be. Go out on a slightly more honorable note while you still can, John!
The summed-up-in-one-image version (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty):
And here is the short video version from TPM:
UPDATE
Oh good, here's a better one minute version:
the last Dudman show
I joined Dudman in 2002 and we've been a long-distance band for the last five years since I entered grad school in the US. Everyone else stayed in Tokyo, I shuttled back and forth from New Haven. My first year here it was something like every other month that I was on a plane back. Usually for a just a weekend. Luckily my summers were free(er). Being able to keep up with the the band was a happy side benefit to the generous summer funding we are afforded here.
Several records, a tape compilation, five or six t-shirt designs, pins and badges, a couple hundred shows, a few CDs, a west coast tour and a European tour later (I missed out on Europe), I made another big move. I didn't officially quit the band, but I won't be going back for shows, and a good friend will be taking over vocals. An extended-verging-permanent hiatus? Something like that. The dissertation beckons and binds.
Here are some pics from the last show we played. It was at a new club in Waseda that had terrible ventilation. Fitting that we finally played in my old neighborhood, but bad luck that there were several conflicting shows (fewer friends there) and pretty terrible weather. But a few friends and a few informants came to watch, and Ami took some very nice shots.
And after we'd recovered a little bit:
The Golgo13 shot of Shugo is amazing. Too bad more of Mikuni (drums) didn't come out, but the air quality was so bad that anything behind the front stage area was a mess of smoke......
Ahh......we had a good run!
Ozu Retrospective at Yale
I've missed more of these than I intended to....but here's hope that the rest of the semester offers up a bit more time (doubtful, but I can hope--I hope).
Wow, that PDF-to-JPG got all negative. If anyone is interested in dates and times, they are HERE (along with the other Whitney Humanities Center films).