Breakfast in Japan

October 21, 2007, 10:30 a.m.

I woke up this morning around 9:00 a.m.. I wanted to get some food in me prior to going to the venue. Today is a “festival” date, which means the band plays for 50 minutes, and absolutely no more than that. We are able to take the stage at 2:45 and the band must play at 3:25, so that only leave 40 minutes to set up all the amplifiers, cables, pedal boards, guitar boats, and “guitar world”. Then we must do a quick test of the equipment, line check the signals going to Steve at the Front of House (FOH) board and Static at the Monitor board, and last second final tuning of the guitars. All this while another band is playing of a second stage 75 feet away, so it is impossible to communicate. As soon as I arrive at the venue, I will begin restringing and tuning each guitar. I’m sure there will be no time for lunch.

So breakfast is a mix of traditional Japanese and American fare. Being adventurous, I plate mainly Japanese foodstuffs, including two types of fish, some miso soup and rice, among 20 other items. The most “interesting” item is a small bowl with a tiny spoonful of a shredded green something or other, held together with a clear slime. (It would be as if I was eating the cud, straight from a cow’s mouth. Mmmm, breakfast of champions.) As I eat, I notice I am the only Caucasian in the room of 50 to 75 diners. I try to ask for bottled water, but no one understands, so the waitress gets me a glass of ice water, instead (is there a word for Montezuma’s revenge in the Japanese. I don’t think so, so I should be o.k.) Approximately a half hour later, the drummer and guitar player from a band called Wig Wam join me. They are from South Carolina, although the singer lives in Greece. Frankly, I’ve never heard of them, but they have a following in Japan. Both of them were very nice, despite the hard core nature of their music. (No they really don’t want to sell their souls to the devil.) Steve finally joins us about 15 minute later. He sticks to the American side of the food line.

At 11:00 we meet in the hotel lobby, where there was already a small group of fans who had been waiting. They take pictures, attempt to converse in English and ask for guitar picks from each member of the band. Although the band hasn’t been here in 17 years, there is still a loyal following.