North America Guitar Tour

Phillipsburg

July 29, 2014

I was sleeping on the second floor of Mr. P's house, and when I woke up in the morning, I heard an indescribably beautiful sound coming from downstairs. I love the sound of an acoustic guitar through the wall. When I went downstairs, Mr. P was holding his guitar. He played with a delicate touch that I would never have imagined from his appearance or previous words and actions. After that, he and his wife sat on the front porch and talked about various things, from World War II to 9/11 and Fukushima. Mr. P is a patriot who hangs the Stars and Stripes in front of his house, but there is no way US couldn't have detected the fleet heading for Hawaii at a time when the contents of the Imperial Conference reached Churchill's ears the next day, and he listened with interest to my hypothesis that there is something behind the cry of "Remember." He also seemed to fully understand that I had no intention of justifying the attack. After spending such a relaxing time, I prepared to depart, and as usual, we reluctantly said our hot and dry farewells as I headed for our next destination, Phillipsburg, New Jersey. The trip that day was very easy, taking just under two hours with the navigation system.

The subtitle I gave to the title in Berthoud, Colorado, "beginning of Miracle", will unfold here in Phillipsburg. The people I met and introduced to places in various places are connected to me through YouTube and Facebook, but they are complete strangers to each other. The place where I would be playing that night was introduced to me by Mr. D, who told me about the terrace in Miami. I went there based only on the information that there was a pizza place where he and his friends often play, so I was planning to look for a nearby motel that night (Mr. D is on the left in the photo below, and Mr. D's silent friends are on the right).

I arrived in front of the pizza place around 4 p.m., and when I went inside, a young staff member asked me in a brusque manner, "What is it?" When I explained that I was going to play tonight, he said, "Oh, I see. then, do it over there," and pointed to a corner of the shop where old mixers and amplifiers were placed. The mixer had complicated cables connected to it, so I decided not to touch it, and brought in the AER and started preparing to make sound. Then Mr. D came in with his friends. His friend was very quiet, and I'm not sure if we actually had a conversation.

First, I played a few songs as a greeting, and then they played a few songs. At this point, there were no audience members, so it was like a rehearsal. Then a couple came in, and the woman's name was Michelle, so I played "Michelle" by the Beatles, which I rarely play at live shows. Even at this point, everyone was still kind of unfriendly except for Michelle and her boyfriend. Next, a couple of two men came in, and one of them, Mr. Zink, started talking to me, "My grandmother, who is from Yokohama prefecture, is coming today too." Since there is no Yokohama prefecture, 600 kilometers north of Tokyo, could had mean Yamagata prefecture, and secretly thought that I would do the Hanagasa Ondo when they came in. It's a folk song of that prefecture.

It was my turn again, and after playing a few songs, a woman who was clearly a Japanese grandma came in, so I quickly stopped playing the song I was playing and started playing "Hanagasa Ondo". However, she looked up without even looking at me. I wondered if she hadn't heard me, and went back to my usual repertoire.

After playing a few songs, I noticed a photo of a young man hanging on the beam across the ceiling, so I asked, "Who is that?" and the atmosphere in the store instantly stopped. It was like the atmosphere when you ask something you shouldn't. Then, one of the young staff members said, "That's our eldest son, who passed away earlier this year." This store is actually a family business, with Joe, the owner of the kitchen, and Yvonne, serving behind the counter, a married couple, and their sons were the staff. It wasn't the kind of atmosphere where I could just end it with "I see," so I said, "Well, I'll play a song for him," and started playing "Folk Song," but one of the sons said, "Wait a minute," and called over the other son, who was in the kitchen, and the father, the owner, and all the employees (in other words, the whole family) lined up side by side and said, "Go ahead." "Folks" also means family, so it's the perfect song for a time like this. When I finished playing with all our heart, the feeling of being away that had been floating around until then disappeared all at once, and one of the sons (probably the youngest) came up to me and asked, "Where are you staying tonight?" When I replied, "I'm thinking of looking for a cheap motel," he kindly replied, "My father wants you to stay with us." Needless to say, I took him up on his offer. Mr.

Zink and Sakata's grandmother, Ms. E from Sakata, Yamagata

Their sons

The owner Joe and the landlady Yvonne

The restaurant was filled with a sense of unity, and Mr. Zink was completely drunk. The old lady spoke English at first, but gradually began to speak Japanese, and told me that she had come from Sakata 60 years ago. I went to Sakata for the first time in February of that year, when I was called by Hideaki Domon, a guitarist who plays on the subway, asking me "do you want to go to Sakata to eat ramen," and I never expected to be connected to such a thing with a pizza place in New Jersey. I got along well with the old lady and her family, and hugged her tightly when she left. She was a very strong old lady for an 87-year-old. When I talked to Yvonne after they left, she said that the old lady had a strong core. It's only natural, as she is from a generation that knows the poverty era before the war. As a fellow citizen, I was also proud of her. She told me that she looked up when she entered the restaurant so that people wouldn't notice that she was crying. This is the world of "Sukiyaki" song with Japanese lyric. The dramatic development made my heart pound.

On the far left is Zink's boyfriend, and in the center is Michelle and her boyfriend.

Mr. D, who introduced us to this place, and his friends left the store, and I packed up my equipment and carried it to my car. After closing, I went to their house behind the store and chatted again in the kitchen. Who could have imagined this happening when I entered the store in the evening? However, this is not the end of the events of the night. The real miracle was to come after this.

*The people who appear in the text are listed by their initials until their identities can be confirmed.

Manhattan • Supporter's Area • Nazareth (Martin Guitar Factory)

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