North America Guitar Tour
San Antonio
June 30th - July 1st, 2014
I left Starbucks a little before the appointed time and went to the address I had confirmed in advance. First, there was a security check at the gate to the premises. After passing through there and going a little further, there was the mansion of Mr. Ramiro, who I would be staying with that day. The whole environment was like a movie set. Mr. Ramiro retired a few years ago and is now living in retirement in San Antonio.
I played for about an hour in the spacious living room in front of an audience of four people, Mr. Ramiro and his wife Amy, as well as his daughter and fiance. Until then, it hadn't affected my performance much even right after arriving, but at first, I was stressed out over the translation, and I couldn't get into good form. They were looking forward to me coming, so I tried not to waste this once-in-a-lifetime time by shaking off the translation from my mind and gradually getting into the groove.
Since it was a house concert, the conversations between songs were relaxed and full of jokes, and in the second half, the pace may have shifted to playing in between conversations. After the performance, I talked their daughter a little, and then went to bed, but from this point on, I became a translator. Until then, I would fall asleep with my guitar in my arms, but this day I was prepared to bury my face in my MacBook Pro.
The next morning, while taking a break near my car parked in the rotary in front of my house, I felt something in the shade of the trees in the garden, so I looked in that direction and saw a deer walking. In Japan, it would be like a detached housing complex in an urban area, but if a deer was walking in that garden, it would be news.
When I got back to the house, Ramiro showed me a piece of paper. It had written out all the steps of my journey (what I had made public at that time), including the distances and time required between each point. It was a rather haphazard journey, so seeing it written out like this made me realize once again how reckless it was. I was supposed to copy it, but I guess I was blissfully unaware. It wasn't until a while after I left San Antonio that I realized I had forgotten to even copy it. However, I was able to fully understand Ramiro's warm feelings, and my heart was warmed.
On this day, I was scheduled to arrive in Georgetown, a little north of Austin, by evening, and according to the navigation system, it would take less than two hours. Ramiro said he would treat me to lunch, so I loaded my luggage into the car and followed him (I wasn't rolled up this time), and we arrived at a Japanese-style restaurant. Strangely, we had Japanese-style lunch two days in a row. When I asked if there was mustard when ordering fried chicken, he looked suspicious and asked, "Mustard?" When I repeated, "Japanese mustard," he replied, "Wasabi?" So I smiled and said, "Forget it." From then on, this mustard became a deciding factor for whether it was a real Japanese restaurant or a Japanese-style restaurant. We hug as I thanked them for not only the lodging but the food and drink, and for the three meals a day, including breakfast, we headed off to cars, as they always do, without looking back.
*People who appear in this article are listed by their initials until their identities can be confirmed.
Contents
Introduction
Until Departure
Seattle
To California
Day Off
Sunnyvale
To La
LA 2 Days
To Tucson
Albuquerque
To Colorado (beginning of Miracle)
Berthoud
Denver
to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City 2 days
To Texas
San Antonio
Georgetown
Dallas
Houston 2 Days
Benton
Nashville (CAAS)
Roswell
Tampa 2 Days
Miami
Orland 2 Days
Myrtle Beach
Chapel Hill 3 Days
Kingsport
To Indiana
Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar Festival
To Staten Island
Manhattan
Phillipsburg
Nazareth (Martin Guitar Factory)
To Massachusetts (end of Miracle)
Methuen
To Montreal
To Buffalo
Meadvill A Day Before
Meadvill Ghost Hotel
Detroit
Chicago
Minneapolice
Spin Off #1
Spin Off #2 "EU Tour IN 2008 / Until Departure
Czech 1
Czech 2
London
Liverpool
Chesham
To Germany
Lemgo
Ingolstadt
Bregenz
To Italy
Florence
The Last Gig
Going Home