North America Guitar Tour - spin off
London
July 21, 2008
I left home with Ms. I at 6am, and arrived at Prague airport a little after 8am after taking a bus, subway, and bus. We returned to Prague from Florence on the night of the 31st, the day before we returned home, and took a flight to Japan at 2pm the next day, so we decided to book the only hotel at the airport, and Ms. I went directly to the hotel and booked in Czech. I just stood next to him. I was bothered by the arrogant attitude of the front desk, but he said he would send me a confirmation email, so I guess the reservation was completed (I ended up having a dispute with the hotel later).
The flight from Prague was an unreserved seat. It was my first experience. I sat in the first seat I found, and soon fell asleep. My flight was to Stansted airport, located northeast of London, and it was about 40 minutes by train to central London, so it was like going from New Chitose to Sapporo. I had heard that immigration procedures were quite strict, but perhaps because I was coming from Prague, they let me through without even looking at my luggage. However, I couldn't find my guitar. I waited until the end, but it still didn't come out, so I asked someone who seemed to be an airport employee, who told me that instruments such as guitars might be carried by people rather than on a conveyor belt, and told me to go to another place. Soon I saw my guitar, thanked him, and hurried to the place where I was boarding the train, following the signs. I bought a sandwich and water from the convenience store on the platform and confirmed that the train I was waiting for was heading towards London.
In the train, I sat in a seat with a table in the middle of what would be called a box seat in Japan, and ate my sandwich while looking at my first British scenery. As I got closer to the last stop, Liverpool Street Station, it started to look a little more urban, but it wasn't like Japan, where houses and buildings are densely packed together no matter how far you go.
I met Hideaki Domon, a Japanese man, through a comment from a guy from Norway on YouTube saying, "Your In My Life is the second best after Mr. Domon's." Me and him had exchanged messages several times, but this was the first time we met in person. He busks on the London Underground. When I arrived at the station and followed the flow of people, I saw Mr. Domon waving from the other side of a ticket gate. It was very encouraging to have someone to welcome me in a new place. After apologizing for making him wait, we took the subway to the flat (apartment) where I would be staying that night. On this day, he was going to an open mic with a female singer who had come to visit here from Nara, and if there was space, I would also go. While the two of them were practicing, I decided not to get in the way and went to the rooftop to look at the London cityscape. The sky was clear blue, and Mr. Domon said that such clear weather only comes a few times a year.
Before evening, we took the subway again to Leicester Square, where the open mic was being held. The shop was on a corner facing the square, with a restaurant-bar style first floor and an open mic venue in the basement downstairs. There were already a few people there, but there was still plenty of room for reservations, so the girl from Nara and I were able to get our spots. Since it was early in the morning, I was put in as the third person to perform. It was also a rehearsal for performing in front of people on our upcoming trip, but it was my first time performing in England. I was more motivated than usual.
When the second singer started singing, I left the shop with my guitar and warmed up my fingers on the stairs leading up to the restaurant above. There were a few other people practicing, but they were all serious and it wasn't an atmosphere where you could have a conversation. The first two people were only doing original songs, so I went up to the person in charge and asked if I could do covers, and they said, "Original songs are the basis, but that's fine." The number of customers had increased to the point where all the seats were filled, and it was starting to feel good. Although I started to speed up a little, by the second song, I could hear the audience humming along, and I was able to perform in a great atmosphere.
The girl from Nara was the seventh. When I returned to my seat, she seemed very nervous, so I gave her a little shoulder rub. If you are too nervous with the guitar, it will be unbearable to listen to, but she was nervous but still performed with dignity. She was amazing. It would be rude to leave right after our performance, so we listened to a few people after her performance and then left the restaurant, and I said goodbye to her there. Both Mr. Domon and I were hungry, so we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant. Mr. Domon said that the restaurant was "listed in the Guinness Book for the bad attitude of the staff." I ordered fried rice, but it was filled with green peas, which I hate. In such cases, I usually remove them all before eating, but this restaurant is famous for its bad attitude. If they saw me removing the green peas, they might kick my chair. I continued working steadily, using my hands and my whole body to hide the plates, and by the time I had removed them all, the fried rice was cold.
At Domon's kind suggestion that we took a double-decker bus to the flat where I had left my luggage, and he made sure to remind me not to use the bed or shower, and said he would come back tomorrow morning, so he left to his flat. It was my first day in England, my first live performance, and my first time on a London bus, so it was a day full of firsts. I was in a daze for a while, but then I realized I was thirsty and regretted not buying something to drink. The door locks automatically, so once you go out and close the door, you can't get in. As far as I can see from the window, there are no shops in the neighborhood. I'm afraid of raw water, so I boiled tap water once, cooled it, and used it to quench my thirst. I was told that if I pulled out the seat part of the sofa, it would become a simple bed, but something got stuck and I couldn't get it out, and there wasn't much space in front of the sofa, so I decided to sleep on the floor.
*People appearing 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