North America Guitar Tour

To Indiana

July 24-25, 2014

At first, I didn't have any plans for the next four days until my next stop, Staten Island, New York, so I thought I might go see the White House. My plans after that were already decided to a certain extent, so I didn't have time to come back. I guess it means I'll come again. When I stayed in Boston from 1980 to 1982, I was always struggling, and when I was kicked out of my dorm for holidays, the best I could do was to take a Greyhound bus or Amtrak to my friend's house in New York. The only luxury I remember is going to see S&G's Central Park concert. The concert itself was free, but a round trip from New York to Boston was enough luxury for me at the time.

The route for this day was to leave Tennessee, enter Virginia immediately, brush past Tennessee again, and then enter Kentucky. Come to think of it, Kentucky was the hometown that Mr. W, a good drummer and good friend of mine from my Berklee days, often boasted about. I still remember him dancing in a swimming-like motion when I was practicing "Cascade," my only original song at the time, in the practice room, and his face when he was a hired drummer for a reggae band that came to Boston and was exhausted. To digress a little, the songs I write are not dance-friendly at all, and I don't expect such reactions. However, after that, a girl danced to my music in Tokyo. Those two are only occasions my music was dance music. There was a time when an acquaintance of mine worked at a foreign strip bar in Shinjuku, Tokyo and when I missed the last train in Shinjuku, I was made to wait behind the bar until the first train, but one day, the bar was nearly empty and asked me to come to the customer's seating area, so I followed him and it was a private room. It was basically a private dance. Then, the DJ, perhaps out of consideration, played my "A Big Cloud Is Coming." I stared at the dancer in a daze, not knowing what was going on, and she was dancing beautifully. She was using her whole body, just like Mr. W from Kentucky. A very beautiful woman was stripping in front of me to my music. When the song ended, I told the girl, "That song was mine," but she seemed to think it was from the CD I brought with me, and simply replied, "It was easy to dance to." I didn't say anything more, but it seems that people who can dance to a drifting song can dance to it.

I posted on Facebook that I stayed overnight at a motel in a town called Lexington, about halfway to my destination, but now I can't remember for sure. I arrived in Nashville, Indiana before evening, and after checking the location of the pub where the contest's pre-party was being held, I went to a nearby hotel, but the accommodation fee was far beyond my budget. Even if I had won the third place prize of $100, I would have lost money just on the accommodation fee. So I booked a cheap motel about 20 minutes by car from there, and after carrying all my luggage except for the things I needed for the performance to my room, I headed back to the pub where the pre-party was being held.

The restaurant was almost full with contestants and their companions. When I told the person in charge of the day that I was also a contestant, I was taken to a table where the chairman of the contest's judges was sitting. This chairman was the previous year's (i.e. the first) champion. When I shook his hand and said hello, he said, "I've met you somewhere before." He must have seen me on YouTube. It seems that the system for this contest is that the winner of the previous year becomes the chairman of the judging committee the following year. I thought it would be impossible to make it this far again next year, but I was urged to share a table with him, where there was only one person. As we were saying hello and talking, someone at another table said, "Edgar Crews will also be there," and the faces of the people who seemed to be participants all clouded over. This is because he is a formidable opponent, playing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" with just one guitar. I had met him at CAAS in Nashville, Tennessee both the previous year and this year (just to say hello), and I also saw his stage this year. He is certainly a formidable opponent, but on the other hand, the fact that many people think of him as a formidable opponent made me think that I had a chance.

Edgar arrived a little later, and the participants began to play. I couldn't play well with the PA system, so the bass rumbled and I could only play with the volume turned down, but I was thinking, "The real thing is tomorrow," and I was eagerly aiming for third place. By the way, there was a staff member at the bar who was clearly of East Asian descent, including Japanese, and when I returned to my table after my performance, he came over and said to me in fluent Japanese, "Hiroshi, you were great." That's because he was from Takatsuki, Osaka. He said it was very rare for a Japanese person to come to this place. I also had a conversation with Edgar, who found me, that was more than just a greeting, and we took a selfie together. I met so many people that I can't remember their names, and that alone made me feel that it was worth participating in the contest.

On the way back to the motel, it was pitch black and the roads were winding, so I was quite nervous. This area is completely different from the West Coast.

*People mentioned in the text are written with their initials until their identities can be confirmed.

Kingsport • Supporter's Area • Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar Festival

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