North America Guitar Tour
Kingsport
July 23-24, 2014
The drive to Kingsport, Tennessee, with my friend Mr. T making rice balls for me along the way, was quite pleasant. In fact, my encounter with Mr. R, who would be taking care of me that day, was quite unique. One morning after this trip was decided, I was surfing the web on my iPad when I woke up and found an interesting article that said, "432 Hz is better than 440 Hz." I was scrolling through it thinking about trying it out, when I came across a sample video, and when I played it, it was a solo guitar performance of Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale." It was exactly like my arrangement. I listened to it several times and was convinced, so I contacted the video creator and he said, "That's right, it's your arrangement." Since I originally arranged someone else's songs and uploaded them, rather than complaining, I felt grateful that he had taken it up. This person was Mr. R, and that was how I ended up staying with him. Regarding this arrangement, when I uploaded it to YouTube, someone related to Procol Harum urged me to include credits for the organ arranger, and when I looked into it to play it at my daughter's wedding, I found out that there had been a long-running copyright dispute, and the lyrics were also very different from the idea of the tune, so I rejected it. I never expected that this song would make such a good match.
I arrived at Mr. R's house before evening, and since there was still some time before the open mic I was planning to go to that night, I asked him, "What would you like me to play?" and he said "A Day In The Life." I was a little scared by the suddenness, but since my fingers knew the arrangement, there was no problem playing it. After that, we chatted for a while over watermelon, and then headed to the store in Mr. R's van. There were several large motorcycles lined up in the parking lot, and near the entrance there was a man who looked to be about 2 meters tall wearing a sleeveless leather jacket, so it was quite a wild atmosphere.
When we went inside, it was crowded with people, and I was a little scared to think that they all came in the cars and motorcycles we saw outside. We found a vacant table and Mr. R's fellow musicians joined us and we were eating hamburgers when a person with a microphone announced, "Let's start soon," but the inside of the restaurant was still as noisy as ever. After several groups performed, it was Mr. R's turn and he started playing that "A Whiter Shade of Pale." When I play this song in front of people, I leave out the organ part that includes the high notes in the interlude, but he played that part too. It was impressive. However, the inside of the restaurant was so noisy that his sound was drowned out by the cheers in the back. I was next, so I was tuning my guitar at the side of the stage, thinking, "This is tough," and was a little hesitant. I started with an up-tempo song (I forget what it was) to attack with a song with a little more momentum, but it was like fuel to the fire and I couldn't control myself at all. So, I started playing Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman," and I heard some people in the front row say, "Isn't this Billy Joel?", and then I heard the first "shhh, shhhh" sound since Georgetown, Texas. Both Mr. R and I were surprised. After the performance, I was taking a break outside, and the old man in the sleeveless leather jacket and some bad-boy-looking people came up to me with big smiles and asked for a handshake. It was the same as the first day of the open mic in Orlando, Florida. All's well that ends well.
そAfter that, I went back to Mr. R's house and fell asleep, basking in the afterglow of the hustle and bustle. The next morning, I chatted with Mr. R's father, a former police officer, for a while, and then left for Nashville, Indiana, where the contest was being held.
*The people mentioned in the text 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