The rest of Europe

9-11-09 The rest of Europe

I have visited a few other places in Europe – Germany, France, Italy – for instance. I liked all of those countries, and I have the most friends in France of these three countries.

Of course, the music from each country is very different! The Germans tend to like machines, the French are very romantic and the Italians have an amusement factor that seems to be absent from the Germans.

My favorite German acts are the same as they have been for nearly four decades: Faust, Amon Duul II, Can, Neu!, Achim Reichel…Michael Rother, Manuel Gottsching, Lothar Meid.

My favorite French artists are Roland Bocquet, Serge Gainsbourg, Alain Chamfort, Charlelie Couture, Lard Free / Urban Sax…

For the Italians, I love both their 70’s progressive rock, and some of the 70’s & 80’s Italian pop music. Remember Il Balletto Di Bronzo, Museo Rosenbach, The New Trolls, and Osanna? Later on, I gravitated towards Lucio Battisti, Adriano Celentano, Righeira and Pino Daniele.

The food is also very different between these countries – with the Italians favoring red tomato sauce. The Germans do beer right, and have good sausages. I liked all the food I had in France – an odd amalgam of Northern African, “typical French” and wonderful brasserie food.

I understand more French than I do Italian or German. It always seemed to me like the Germans all spoke English pretty well.

I only ever went to Spain once. Let’s just say it was not a pleasant trip – we had guns pulled on us in Irun – and that was by the police! After that, we decided to walk along the railroad tracks and wait in the French train station for the train back to Paris.

I am not much of a fan of what is marketed in the US as “World Music”. I infinitely prefer the stuff that is sold in the country that it’s from. The stuff that is believed to not be of interest outside of the country it’s from. Holland is probably the strangest, as most of their pop music is in English, and a lot of it is unknown outside of Holland. Most Japanese domestic music is created only for their “domestic market” – and largely unknown outside of Japan.

Thanks for reading my brief rambling hallucinations about assorted countries around the globe that can enrich our lives, if so desired. I am always up for a discussion about music, if it falls a bit outside of the ‘comfort zone’ (i.e. anything not in English).

Japan

9-10-09 Japan

I have been visiting Japan since 1994. I first went there seemingly a lifetime ago, at the suggestion of my good friend Ken Heaton. Ken had gone to Japan via his job in the US Coast Guard, and just loved it. He wasn’t wrong.

Fortunately, there is video footage of my first glimpse of Shibuya, thanks to Ken. This was in 1994. My story with Japan starts much earlier than that, however. In the late 70’s, I met Tony Harrington, a British entrepreneur who was trying to sell Japanese music in the U.S. – with acts Chronicle and Far East Family Band. It was Tony H. who suggested Kenji Sawada and Y.M.O. to me. It was also around this time I met Wes Oishi, who was importing records directly from Japan, and flogging them at the Country Club swap meet – it was from Wes that I first heard P-Model and The Plastics.

At one of my early 80’s record distributor jobs, I was told that we could import stuff from Japan, if desired. Once that connection was made, the promo LP’s started flowing in my direction, with the first few releases on the Yen Records label (Hajime Tachibana “H” and Yukihiro Takahashi “What? Me Worry?”). I went to work for Tony Harrington in a tiny office in Studio City, California – we were importing LP’s from Japan, mostly jazz re-issues. The promo LP’s continued to arrive – Melon / Watermelon, TRA Project cassettes, just amazing stuff. It seemed like there was a Y.M.O. release every few months. And “music video” was on the horizon! Everybody buy a Beta! Uh, and a Beta Hi-Fi. And a SuperBeta. And MTV. And, and, and.

I remember when I saw the first compact discs from Japan – ’83? ’84? Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Toto, Paul Mauriat, Richard Clayderman…obscenely expensive. What do you play these things on?

My job with Tony ended in 1987, but my interest in Japanese music did not. At one of the larger Tower Records stores (Bascom Ave. in San Jose) I could find CD’s by Mute Beat, the Japanese dub reggae band – and sometimes the occasional Y.M.O. solo album on CD. ‘Spensive!

The Japanese music magazines always looked good to me – Viva Rock, Ongaku Senka and Music Life (the magazine after which this blog is named). After Ken got so excited about visiting Japan in ’93 and ’94, I started to take a look at Japanese music magazines again. This is where I first saw Pizzicato Five. Shortly thereafter, I met David Ponak – he wanted to know if I knew where to get Pizzicato Five CD’s. I knew what he was talking about – Ken had sent me cassettes of Pizzicato Five, and a CD single I had ordered (from Wes) had already arrived. We got to meet Pizzicato Five, when they first came to Los Angeles – and again, when I first visited Tokyo…in 1994.

Pizzicato Five and their managers (Terry & Tom) told me about Cornelius. I began writing for Giant Robot magazine. I’ve been to Japan 9 or 10 times now. I love the food, the people, the city of Tokyo and it’s suburbs. Can’t wait to go back, but – the U.S. dollar really sucks right now. Must be patient!

pictured: Ryuichi Sakamoto "Futurista" CD, currently being auctioned on eBay

The U.S.A.

9-9-09 U.S.A.

Except for my extended visit to Holland, New Zealand and England, I have lived most of my 51 years in the U.S., California – to be exact. In and around Los Angeles. Up and down the west coast. I once went to Seattle to visit my friend Ken, but I haven’t been back there. It was at the time of grunge (post-grunge?), so the record stores there weren’t all that interesting.

I am a bit fonder of Portland, OR – the city where I had my 50^th birthday party. Good food, good coffee, good record stores. Good friends, too. How many of you were at RK50PDX808? I know I was…

I have always enjoyed short visits to Las Vegas, NV. The record stores seem to come and go, don’t they? No more Tower, Big B’s, J-Mar, Benway Bop, The Underground… stores I patronized for years! These days, the big fun is at the 2 x Zia Record Stores (the Phoenix chain). And the food’s not too shabby in LV, either!

More recently, the GF & I have been having fun down in San Diego. We became members of the San Diego Zoo and really enjoy visiting the aviaries. We liked the new elephant attraction they have, too. Some really good food in SD, too – Basic Pizza downtown, some good Japanese places in Hillcrest and Kearny Mesa…gotta love Lou’s Records in Encinitas, Folk Arts in Normal Heights…

Ventura, CA! My old friend Steve “Mott” Hernandez” still lives there. And you’ve got Grady Record Refuge, Salzer’s, Buffalo Records…hey, that’s more record stores than Santa Barbara! And I can stop in CD Trader in Reseda on my way home from Ventura!

S.F. Bay Area, with 2 x mighty Amoeba stores! And Dorothy’s sister, Ruth. And other good friends. And all that good food! Vik’s in Berkeley Marina, T. Rex BBQ on Gilman, Jupiter Pizza on Shattuck. Fun places to eat at. And the mighty Kinokuniya bookstore in Japantown Center in S.F.! Been going to S.F> bay area (and San Jose) for many years now – it’s like a home away from home for me. Santa Cruz!

But L.A. is home – yes, we have an Amoeba, the aforementioned CD Trader, Freakbeat in Sherman Oaks, Poo Bah Record Shop in Pasadena, Rockaway in Silverlake, the wonderful Record Surplus on Pico…and all my favorite restaurants! Zeke’s BBQ in Montrose, Taco Spot in Eagle Rock, Mae Ploy in Silverlake, Porto’s in Glendale, Elena’s in Glendale…home is where you gain weight (lose weight?), see the doctor – try to lose weight. Home is where my records are. Home is where I type all this stuff. It’s where I can listen and try to better understand Bob Dylan. Where else can I do that? Yeah, I know, but…(click of shoes) there’s no place like home.

Yep, I live in the U.S.A., I was born here – and I’ll probably die here. Unless I run afoul of the authorities in Kuala Lumpur or something… the U.S. is my home. We don’t always have the best government, do we? I mean, the dollar really sucks again most currencies these days…against the Yen, for instance. Yikes!

Holland and Belgium

9-8-09 Holland and Belgium

Holland and Belgium are two of my favorite European countries. I have friends in both countries, and I love the pop muziek from both countries. And they’re next to each other. And Germany.

I spent 2 entire winters in Amsterdam, staying in a closed hotel that belonged to friends of mine. I love Holland. And I am a huge fan of Mam, The Kewis, The Nits, Gruppo Sportivo, Supersister, Fay Lovsky, even Golden Earring! And the Belgians are not slack – with Telex, Jo Lemaire, Marc Hollander / Aksak Maboul, Lio etc.

The food is very good in these countries. In Holland, I first had Indonesian food! In Brussels, I had really good frites (aka French Fries). Garlic fries!!! And I do not need to mention that I am a fan of Belgian and Dutch beers. I learned my lesson – order your food and drinks in English, they’ll figure out what you want. Unless you are in a Surinam restaurant, where everything comes out “Moksi Roti” (or thereabouts).

And almost everyone I know in Holland speaks better English than I do. And certainly everyone I ever wrote to or spoke to on the phone in Belgium speaks English. Or I spoke enough French to get by. And so much of the pop muziek from the Benelux is in English! Would we all have got on The Nits’ bandwagon if they sung only in Dutch? I have always championed Mam, the Dutch-language group from Tilburg in Holland. The music is beyond words, the voices are perfect. It’s just not in English.

Holland is also a really good place to look for 45rpm singles with picture sleeves. I have so many Dutch picture sleeves! I love the record faires in Holland – I always found such neat stuff at Dutch record faires – things I bought and have never seen again (A Certain Ratio bootleg LP from Italy, some missing Gruppo Sportivo 45’s, a Golden Earring poster from a single from “Bloody Buccaneers” etc.)

I will never forget wandering up and down Boulevard Adolphe Max in Brussels, near the north station. There was even a FNAC, like in Paris! I had trouble equating the Belgian francs with the French francs, as I chose my pastries and chocolates. I once rode a train from Brussels to Amsterdam; some people got on the train and came into my 1^st class train compartment. I must’ve looked odd, with my headphones and Frank Zappa cassettes – it startled the people so much that they got off of the train somewhere in southern Holland, leaving their pastries (and a sack of movie posters) for me. (Henk said the pastries were very good, and “typical Belgium”).

I have astonishing memories of touring around Holland with Mam. I attended several shows in ‘exotic’ locations – Tuitjehoorn, for instance. Pieter Bon: “Perhaps there is a Chinese restaurant in Tuitjehoorn?” – all the venues where Mam played always fed the band (and their hanger-ons, like me). Does Big Mark remember running across a large train station, desperately trying to catch a night bus back to Amsterdam, after a Mam concert? I sure do.

Australia & New Zealand

9-4-09 Australia and New Zealand

In the 1980’s, I went to New Zealand about 7 times. However, I only got to Australia (Melbourne) once, in 1987. I like both places very much, and the music that comes from that part of the world.

There was certainly an element of exclusivity in my NZ music fandom. I was the only person I knew of who was going to NZ between ’81 and ’87 strictly for the music. I did make some very good friends in NZ, however. There are several people there that I still know 25+ years hence. Hi Gary!

Easy: English is spoken in both countries. Kiwis and Aussies are very easy to get along with. It seems to me that I spent a lot of time, especially in NZ, having people wonder aloud WHY a young U.S. music fan should find himself in NZ so often! “Uh. I really like Split Enz, especially Mental Notes” was what I answered with often. I also got to see amazing bands play live, such as Blam Blam Blam and D.D. Smash. I made good friends with The Clean and Tall Dwarfs (Get well soon, Chris-san!). I remain in awe of the talent of Fane Flaws – the best album you’ve never heard is by his band I Am Joe’s Music.

What I was really a fan of was the voice and writing of Phil Judd (of Split Enz, The Swingers and Schnell Fenster). In Australia, I was a big fan of all those bands beginning with “M”: Mental As Anything, Midnight Oil, Models, Machinations etc. Time has been kind to Aussie rock music. I remain a big fan of The Whitlams, Boom Crash Opera…and Barry Humphries. Dame Edna isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but I do recommend seeing Barry / Edna perform if you ever get the chance.

When they closed the record pressing plants in NZ about ’87 or so…and all Kiwi product had to be made overseas…maybe that’s what burst my bubble. And, as always, the mode of the music changed. Gone was the sweet NZ pop music I had grooved to for so long; NZ bands were then (late 80’s, early 90’s) all trying too hard to sound like U.S. acts, as far as I was concerned.

It is not out of the question that I would return to either NZ or Australia. I have friends to visit in both countries. And if you’re in one country, the other isn’t all that far away.

And I know some of my friends in the U.S. largely because of NZ music – shout out to Brian Ware & Bob Gaulke! Anybody else out there remember “ANZ Imports”? That was me, working for Tony Harrington. We really sold a lot of NZ & Aussie LP’s in the U.S. over the years – many hundreds, if not thousands of ‘em. It’s always great to be looking through used LP’s these days to spot an NZ pressing of an NZ artist – and know that I was partially responsible for that LP making the long journey up here!

She’ll be right, good on ya, mate – too right, ah yeh, nice (pronounced “no-o-o-ice”),,,

- Ron

Blogs resume on Tues. 9-8-09

Brazil

9-3-09 Brazil

I have never been to Brazil. I’ve been listening to the music of Hermeto Pascoal for over 30 years – I finally got to see him perform in Los Angeles a few years ago, and it was the best concert I’ve seen in at least the last 20 years. My friend Bob G. lived in Brazil for a while, and he sent me some Pascoal CD’s that were impossible to obtain in the US – a tip of the hat to Young Bob.

Not familiar with Pascoal? Google him, and see what other have to say. In short: This is a man that can make music out of ANYTHING. A water bottle, a pig, flute…doesn’t matter to Pascoal – he hears music in everything. As John Cage said, “Everything we do is music” – and for Hermeto, it is true.

In the 70’s, when I was so interested in progressive rock from England and Europe, I couldn’t see my way in Brazilian music. Yes, the rhythm was always there, but…the singer / songwriters of Brazil (Joao Gilberto et al) were simply not my type of banana leaf. The 60’s jazz LP’s of Stan Getz with Antonio Carlos Jobim were, of course, in my home. But as a young man, that was music for my older brother or my father.

In the 80’s, I discovered Gilberto Gil, via a promo LP sent to my office from Japan. I absolutely love his albums “Extra” and “Raca Humana” – they remind me a little bit of Lucio Battisti, the Italian singer who found himself so interested in Brazilian ‘song’. Gil must’ve found Bob Marley / reggae interesting, as I hear some of that rhythm in his otherwise very Brazilian style. Portuguese is such a neat language!

I’ve been discussing Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell with a Japanese friend for some years now – but I do not really have the whole picture about Powell’s music and influence upon other Brazilian artists. I know that he went to Japan and played there in the 60’s (I think) and that he is deeply revered in Japan.

After finding Pascoal, I also started to investigate composer Egberto Gismonti. I got an LP that I just loved, “Coracoes Futuristas” (EMI Brazil) – but never really went any further. I also got some of his ECM albums, but…

When I was working at the record importer in the 80’s, I remember ordering records from Brazil to be exported to Japan. The “crates” arrived in our office, literally nailed closed. We were concerned that the records hadn’t traveled well – with blown spines etc. I remember unpacking a box to find banana leaves on the bottom of the crate!

I am not sure if I’ll ever get to Brazil. I always sort of thought I would stay away from South America, largely because of the low penetration of English language (and I do not speak any Spanish or Portuguese). But there are so darned many birds down there!

England

9-2-09 England

Just like Finland yesterday – I first went to England in the fall of 1979 – 30 years ago! I got tips from record collector friends about where to look for records in London – but I didn’t have enough brains to have a hotel / bed & breakfast reservation! The only address of a place where I could stay turned out to be full. They took pity on me, and recommended me to a bed & breakfast in Shepherd’s Bush, where I stayed on and off for several years (in “Lime Grove”, to be exact).

How / why did I go to England? I saw The Avengers on TV, as a child. I loved the music of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. I thought that the British spoke the same language as me. And I loved British pressings of phonograph records!

Yes, the common language makes a difference. I can have deep conversations with other English speakers, some of whom actually reside in England! And, as many of you will know – I went to live in England for nearly a year, in 1990. I lived in Lower Kennington, in Bath. I went to Manchester, Swindon, Bristol and London. Manchester to see my friends from Pasadena, Dread Zeppelin; Swindon because XTC came from Swindon; Bristol because it was just down the road from me and; London, because it has a boatload of record stores and I actually know some great people there…

Poet / lyricist Pete Brown has been in my phone book for about 25 years. He wrote many lyrics for Cream / Jack Bruce. I really love his books “Few” and “Let “em Roll Kafka” (both illustrated by the late Mal Dean). Pete is a real music fanatic – we always talk about Hermeto Pascoal together. And it was through Pete that I got to meet the late Dick Heckstall-Smith (of Colosseum). Last time I saw Pete was in North Hollywood, at the studio of Eddie Kramer, the guy who made all the Jimi Hendrix albums!

Ooh, not so fond of the food in England. But the drink was OK. The TV was also very interesting, during my year in Bath. 4 channels, all equally interesting, with easily accessible satellite TV still in the future for the UK.

Before I left England, I took out an advertisement for a “Video Trading Partner” – I forget which magazine it was in – Record Collector? What Video? Long story short: I’ve been corresponding with Terry Greenhill (aka Telberto) since 1991. He’s sent me nearly all of the series of “Later with Jools Holland” – first on VHS tape, then on DVD-R’s!

I seldom buy anything from Amazon in the US, but I am a frequent customer of Amazon.co.uk – I sometimes buy Word Magazine, and see books that will never see the light of day in the US – so I order them up from Amazon.co.uk! I’ve also ordered a lot of CD’s from them, too. Decent prices and, in many cases, the only way to get British jazz that the importers / exporters won’t usually deal in!

Peter Cook & Dudley Moore! Spike Milligan! England, oh, England!

- Ron

Finland

9-1-09 Finland

I first went to Finland in 1979. I arrived in Turku by a boat from Stockholm. I did not have a hotel reservation. I wandered around Helsinki and eventually found a place called (I think) “Hotel Helsinki” (or “Hotelli Helsinki”). I had enough money for a room, and they let me in, as a 21-year-old without a reservation. I remember that the weather was mild when I was there – perhaps in September ’79 – but the windows of the hotel has large wooden shutters, to cover the windows, presumably when it was super cold.

As a you , Finland was known only to me as a place that issued postage stamps. Definitely the first Finnish act I ever heard was Wigwam. I heard “Frederick & Bill” from “Tombstone Valentine” – produced by Kim Fowley. I wouldn’t have known that Jim Pembroke, Wigwam’s vocalist, was British. By the time I got to Helsinki in ’79, I was deeply enamored of Pembroke’s solo album “Corporal Cauliflower’s Mental Function” (Love Records). I bought a factory cassette of it, at a small record shop in a tunnel, near the downtown Helsinki main train station – and listened to “Island Town” and “Bertha Come Back” while I was in Helsinki. Pembroke also guested with Pedro’s Heavy Gentlemen.

I have also been very fond of Finnish bassist Pekka Pohjola, who passed away not too long ago. His solo albums were a source of wonderment for me, especially “B The Magpie” and his debut solo album with the un-rememberable Finnish name. My friend Dana and I always referred to Mr. Pohjola as “Mr. 24 Notes Where 2 Are Necessary”.

I went back to Finland at least one other time, after my first visit. Please understand that it’s a really long way away – with no real over-ground way to get there. You have to take an over-night boat from Stockholm, Sweden (“Silja Line”, I think it’s called). I also met my first New Zealander in Helsinki, while waiting for the boat back to Stockholm. She saw me reading a British (music?) newspaper – so she knew I spoke English. And, after I met her, I went to NZ seven times in the 1980’s.

If I’ve mentioned a British singer and a Finnish bass player – I must now mention a Finnish guitarist, Jukka Tolonen. He was in a band called Tasavallan Presidentii, and later made a whole heap of cool instrumental solo albums, notably “The Hook” and “Summer Games” (both on Love Records).

And I must also shout out to Philip Page, of Austin, TX – who I have known since the 70’s – who has lived in Helsinki, Finland for ages now. He worked with a mail-order company called Digelius Music; last time I talked with Philip, we were both talking about Japanese music. I can only presume he’s been to Japan by now.

I was also once very fond of a Finnish beer called “Koff”. My friend Cameron and I drank cases and cases of Koff beer. I was told that we emptied out a distributor of Koff beer, somewhere in California. The place where we were getting it one day told us that it was no longer available – I can only guess that we drank the entire available supply of it.

- Ron