North America Guitar Tour
Nashville (CAAS)
July 8-14, 2014
I remember leaving Benton, Arkansas on the morning of the 6th, but my memories of arriving in Nashville on the 8th are fragmented. According to a post on Facebook at the time, I stayed one night before Memphis and another 200km before Nashville. All I remember is that I asked for mustard at a Japanese restaurant in Memphis and they said they didn't have it, and that there was a Dunkin' Donuts. I had already driven over 8,000km since leaving Seattle on June 15th, so I was probably at my physical limit. It was a godsend to be able to stay in Nashville for several nights, even though it was a motel. However, strangely enough, the stiffness in my body had completely disappeared.
This month coincided with the soccer World Cup, so I always watched it when I stayed at a motel. Japan has an image of humility, and America has an image of arrogance, so I was a little confused when Japan, who had been confident that they would pass the qualifying round, suffered a crushing defeat, while America, who had consistently maintained that it would be difficult to pass the qualifying round, advanced to the final tournament. Perhaps times have changed.
At CAAS, I didn't have any performances scheduled, so I went to the master class room to say hello to John Knowles first, and while I was waiting for the break, I met John for the first time in a year, as he was coming towards me down the hallway, probably to relieve himself. I hadn't applied for the master class this year, so when I told him I had come to say hello and tried to leave, he said, "Come on in." There were several faces I had seen last year, and the atmosphere was as peaceful as ever. I love John's gentle touch. This class, where you can listen to his performance completely live at close range, is truly luxurious. Last year, Earl Klugh also stopped by to say hello. However, this year I didn't have the right to be here, so I was sitting in the back of the room feeling embarrassed, when John announced, "Tomorrow, Hiroshi will play American Pie." I was taken by surprise and replied, "Okay," but it's a song I haven't played much since it was included on the CD "Will You Dance?" released in the fall of 2009. Chet is famous for his arrangement of Don McLean's song "Vincent," which is about Van Gogh, and I think he knew that I would be playing Don McLean's masterpiece "American Pie" (I had given him the CD the previous year), so it was a pretty unreasonable request.
*This video is from when I played in Colorado this August.
During the event, people who were scheduled to perform were allowed to stay at the Sheraton, where the event was held, but I had booked a cheap motel about 20 minutes by car, so I went straight to the motel without even saying hello to the familiar faces, and started practicing immediately after checking in. As luck would have it, I ended up staying in a suite room due to a mistake on the their side for consecutive nights. The price remained the same.
At the performance the next day, I had to cram, but my fingers remembered it better than my head, so I was able to enjoy the structure of starting slowly, then going to tempo, then slowing down again. The only other time I could play was at open mics, so I made sure to sign up every day. However, I'm mixing it up with my memories from the previous year, so I don't remember what I played or how many times I played it. The only thing I was able to confirm from the video below is that I played "Folk Song".
The big difference from the previous year was that I was allowed to play for an hour each day in a room reserved by Mr. P of the Ohio Guitar Club, whom I met while playing and chatting on the terrace. It was a stage that was truly rewarding for an arranger, with cheers heard at the tremolo in "When I'm Sixty-Four" and the part in the second half of "Will You Dance?" where the middle part goes down by half a tone. I got carried away and played "A Day In The Life" as well (according to Facebook). P said, "I liked the style of playing the guitar simply in the midst of all the galloping." I knew that my style didn't strictly follow Chet's techniques, but I was honestly surprised to be treated as the polar opposite. I still think I'm carrying on Chet's spirit in my own way.
Another thing that impressed me was that when I was arranging "Guantanamera" on the terrace in Sheraton, the clean-lady from Florida who's probably Sheraton employee smoking on the bench behind me started singing along. I was planning to visit Florida in the first half of the second half, as there are many Cuban people there. It was like I got a passing grade.
The number of subscribers on YouTube was approaching a nice round number at that time, so I checked it every day, and on the last day of the CAAS, I suddenly had over 100 subscribers who were clearly Japanese. I thought I had made a small break somewhere, but then an acquaintance told me about this blog (Japanese).
http://blog.livedoor.jp/zzcj/archives/51868861.html
I'm grateful for that. However, as I scrolled down, my expression gradually clouded over. There are occasional bashing posts in the YouTube comments section, but most of them were racist. I was extremely angry at being looked down upon by a fellow countryman I had never met, and I grumbled things like, "Don't think it's always moonlit nights at night," while looking at the screen. In these situations, it's best for the person at subject to write, so I took a moment to cool my head and then commented to thank the blogger. Am I the only one who feels that this trend of "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down" has become too much recently?
After a week-long stay in Nashville from July 8th, I recovered both my strength and energy, and on the morning of the 14th, I checked out of the motel and headed for Roswell, Georgia, the first stop in the second half of the season.
*The people mentioned in the text are written using 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