Mason's Digressions

Spent a fun afternoon today down at the unbeatable KFJC radio station, playing cassettes and singles (and a few CDs and CDRs) from my collection of Japanese underground music. Thanks to Dan for allowing me to take over for a few hours, attempting to play almost entirely bands that nobody has ever heard of. But I did have to start with "Amerika" by YBO2 from the Alienation album, as that one holds a special place for me as an early wake-up call that there was some seriously amazing music to be found in Japan, a couple of years before I made it over there. (I'll remind folks here that I am working to keep my Japanese music blog active, now at http://ongakublog.wordpress.com)

And after the radio show we went and got some fantastic Indian food. Now that I think about it I'm not sure why we didn't go get Japanese food for dinner, but since it was delicious we must have made the right choice.

No, I don't know what the title means. But I hate trying to put subject lines/titles on entries here. There is no subject, it's just another post, that's all.

In any case, as morbidloren wrote yesterday, we had our 22nd anniversary dinner on Sunday, which was, of course, wonderful. A nice meal and better company, as always. It's been an interesting year so far, with a lot of activity for both of us. A new job for me, a new agent for her, some new releases for me and hopefully a couple of books for her! If only Lenore had gotten into the school of our dreams for this fall, we might not have anything to complain about (though we'd find something, I'm sure).

In music news, the Sloow Tapes label from Belgium will be releasing a cassette with a couple of live Numinous Eye shows, sometime later this year; and a label in China is interested in releasing a CD plus perhaps a re-issue of an old collaboration of mine. I have to say, if that might lead to doing a tour of some sort in China, I'd be thrilled. I'm finally finishing up the edits on a cool recording from over a year ago when Dubmarronics were in town, and I'll be finding a home for it.

Live-wise, Suishou no Fune come into SF on Monday for a couple of shows. Monday night at Bottom of the Hill they'll play with Oxbow and Mi Ami; then Tuesday night at 21 Grand in Oakland with Oaxacan and an improv trio. Then on June 18 I'll be playing at the Hemlock Tavern with Makoto Kawabata from Acid Mothers Temple and a coupla other bands. I'm doing a Numinous Eye set with Frank Grau on drums, and Kawabata will join us for a portion of the set.

The Japan tour planning is looking amazing (see http://www.charnel.com/numinouseye for the dates), including shows with KK Null, Tatsuya Yoshida, Up-Tight, Yamamoto Seiichi, Suishou no Fune, Miminokoto, Oshiri Penpenz, and lots more. The only hitch right now is that plane tickets are about twice their usual price, apparently because Tokyo is in-between SF and China, and I failed to check my schedule against the damn Olympics. Anyone out there a travel agent with tricks up your sleeve? Didn't think so. We'll see what happens. Mike Shoun, my frequent drummer with Numinous Eye, is hoping to go but at that price I don't know if either of us can afford it! Fingers crossed...

It's been a funny, busy time recently. Lots of old acquaintances reappearing all at once, for no discernable reason, writers and musicians from 20 years ago. Odd.

Meanwhile, we played quite a fun show the other night opening for Acid Mothers Temple (and Mammatus), who were as always stellar, down to Kawabata breaking his guitar into pieces at the end of the night -- and then signing the neck for a fan as a souvenir. Mike and I played a good half-hour opening set, especially considering he's been on tour with the Oh Sees constantly and we only had a chance to jam once before this show. Never really a problem, though. The recording came out pretty well, so I'll likely post it on the web site sometime soon like usual.

I'm trying to get more mixing and editing done, while also finding a home for a couple of already-completed albums. Right now I finished mixing a jam session from last year with Dubmarronics when they were in town: the three of them on guitar, toys, and heavily-effected drums; me on guitar; Stoo on bass; and Gabriel on vocal treatments. Abstract, flowing, fun stuff.

Definitely finding it hard to make time for the recording and editing, though. But I am also in the midst of organizing another tour to Japan this August -- it's coming together very quickly. It'll be a special one for many reasons, including several shows with Yamamoto Seiichi (including one with Tatsuya Yoshida) as well as Suishou no Fune.