Kazuo's Birthday!

　ウチのバンドリーダーの一雄さんの誕生日（の前日）でございます。みんなでピザでお祝いしました。

It is (the day before) our fearless leader Kazuo's birthday. We celebrated with pizza.

Concerts and Recording

We are going into a studio in May to record some new materials for our second CD!

But before that, we've got the Spring Concert Series, where you can have a sneak preview of what's going to be on CD, and hopefully we keep the band HOT and ready for the recording session.
Some dates have not been announced yet, so check back our schedule often not to miss out our performance!

Thank you for your support!

Thank You Card

Thank You!

Thanks!!

Hi everyone,

Thank you very, very much for joining us at our Winter Concert Series despite the brutally cold weather- we had great turnouts and had so much fun on both concerts, and the compliments we received were overwhelming!!

Here's the set list for both gigs for those of you who couldn't get the program (our apologies - we'll make sure to have enough of them next time).

Felicity
Blessed by the Sun
Wa no Canon
Crying Sumo-Man
Unsweetened
Crepuscule
Sunny Side Up

Encore: Spring Thunder

I believe Ippei took some pictures and he'll post them when he's got a chance.

We certainly hope to see you again at the upcoming events!

Holy Child Church in Staten Island, NY

Yuuki Koike (Flute, Alto Sax, Melodica) Takeshi Asai (Keyboard) Kazuo Nakamura (Acoustic & Electric Basses) Yutaka Uchida (Drums) Ippei Ichimaru (Shamisen, Sanshin, Cello, Percussion)

　この日最後のミサが終了後、急いでセットアップをし直しました。そのミサの大部分の方が残ってくれていて、教会には数多くの人がひしめき合っていました。間違いなく我々のコンサートでは１番の動員数だったと思います。そして、わずか３０分後には本番が始まりました。惜しむらくはサウンドチェックができなかった事ですが、でもまあそこはプロですから、全員自分の耳で調整しながらコンサートを進めました。

After the last mass of the day, we immediately started setting up again. The church was packed because the most of the people from the mass kindly stayed there for our concert. I think we had the most number of audiences for our concerts so far. We had to start the show only after 30 minutes. Our small regret was that we could not do the through sound check but we are pros. We dealt with it by adjusting the volume and tone while we are playing.

　新曲が多かったし、リハーサルも足りていなかったと思うのですが、コンサートに来て頂いた方々にも喜んでいただき、CDもたくさん買っていただきました。コンサートは大成功に終わりました。いやー、良かった良かった。不安もあった分、お客さんの笑顔が見れた時は本当に嬉しかったです。ミュージック・ディレクターの方から、また来てくれ、と言われました。今度はさらにパワーアップして帰って来ることをお約束いたしましょう。

　コンサートに足を運んで下さった方々、本当にありがとうございました。

Although we had new tunes and were worried about the lack of rehearsals, the audience enjoyed the concert and bought many CDs. The concert was success. I was so relieved when I saw the audience smiling because I had those worries before the show. The music director of church told us to come again. We promise we will came back, and when we come back, we will be seriously souped up.

People who came to the concert, thank you very very much.

この日の私、一平の機材です。上から三味線、サイレント・チェロ、そしてパーカッションの小物各種でございます。いやー、本当に私の機材って少なくなったと思います。以前はこれの３倍ぐらいのスペースは軽く使っていました。 Ippei's equipments of today's concert. From the top, a shamisen, a silent cello and lots of small percussions. Come to think of it, my equipments really reduced to minimum. I was using three times more space before.

Little Rest

　セットアップが終わり、コンサートまでの間、韓国料理と日本料理の店に来ました。みんな仲良く一時休憩でございます。この休憩は本当に有り難かったです。私も前日からの強行軍で疲れていましたし、一雄さんは朝のうちにバンドの機材を教会に運んでくれて、それからゆうきちゃんと一緒にギグをしてきた後でしたから、やっぱりヘトヘトだったと思います。

We finished setting up and checking the equipments. Till the concert, we came to a Korean/Japanese restaurant nearby to finally have a rest. This little rest was golden for me because I had been working for literary two days straight, and Kazuo must have been tired too because he brought in the band's equipments by himself and did another gig with Yuuki in the morning before he came to the church.

頼んだビビンバが超巨大で、上機嫌の一平 The Bi Bim Bop I ordered was unexpectedly huge! I was so happy.

親子丼を頼んだのにチキンカツ丼が来てスネているユタカ。韓国ではこれが親子丼で通っているのですかねぃ？まあ、一応鶏肉と卵が入ってるから、広義ではこれも親子丼ではないかい？ Yutaka ordered Oyakodon (Chicken Rice Bowl) but they brought Chicken Katsudon (Chicken-cutlet Rice Bowl). Well, maybe chicken-cutlet rice bowl is called Oyakodon in Korea.

一雄さんの頼んだ寿司についてきたワサビになぜかエビがのってます。気づかずに食ってしまえば面白かったのに。お笑い番組で良く出て来る『激辛ロシアンルーレット』みたいですな。 Kazuo ordered a plate of sushi and we didn't know why but they put shrimp on wasabi! It would have been so funny if Kazuo ate it without known.

Setting Up for the Concert

また雪です……………。寒いっす。 Snowing...... Not again..... Freezing too...

　今回お世話になったのは、スタッテン島にあるホーリー・チャイルド教会です。初めて演奏させて頂く場所なんですが、大きい教会ですね。その日は私たちが演奏する前にすでに４回もミサが行われ、そのつど、大勢の信者さんで教会が埋まっていました。これだけの数の檀家さん（ってキリスト教で言うのかは知りませんが）を擁する教会は滅多に見ません。しかも土曜日だったのに……………。日曜日はさらに多くて、計６回もミサがあるそうで、人数も当然今日よりも集まるのでしょうね。すごすぎる。

This big church is Holy Child Church on Staten Island where we play for the first time. They held four masses already before we played and the church was packed each time. I have hardly ever seen the church with this many people. Not to forget that was only Saturday. I have heard that the church is holding the total of six masses on Sunday. That is something I have never heard in my life.

　と、非常に忙しい教会だったので、私たちがセットアップのために与えられた時間も本当に限られたものでした。２回目と３回目のミサの間にセットアップをして、電気系統の機材が全て動くのを確認してから、機材を横にどかしました。片付けをしている途中ですでに３回目のミサが始まっていました。サウンドチェックなど当然する時間はありませんでした。

So, it was a super busy church. We were given so limited time to set up. On the time between 2nd and 3rd mass, we set everything up as quickly as possible, made sure everything works, then put everything aside not to disturb the mass. We could not really do the sound check, and while we were stashing away the equipments, the 3rd mass had already started.

Toshi's moving

　リッチモンド・カウンティー・オーケストラにはWaFooのうち３人がメンバーになっているのですが、そこの主席チェリストのトシさんのご夫妻が引っ越しするというので、一雄さんとゆうきちゃんと私、一平でその手伝いをしに行ってきました。自分自身の引っ越しがようやく終わった私にとって人ごとではありませんし、いつも私のつたないチェロの演奏で迷惑をかけているトシさんのためです。もちろん喜んで手伝わせて頂きましたよ。同じビルの最上階へと移るそうで、『力仕事は俺に任せろ』とばかりに勇んで行ったのですが、ほとんどの物は運び終わっていて（同じオーケストラのクラリネット奏者の方が全部運んでくれたそうです）、後は掃除ぐらいしかする事がありませんでした。せめてあと２、３日前に呼んでくれたら、もっと手伝えたのに。

Three of us in WaFoo (Kazuo, Yuuki and I, Ippei) are also the members of Richmond County Orchestra, and we helped the moving of the principal cellist of the orchestra, Toshi. Well, I have been making trouble to him by my novice cello playing, so that was my pleasure to help the big man. He was moving to the top floor of the same building. I was so ready to bring some heavy stuff up and down but actually almost all the moving part was done --- Toshi said that the clarinet player of the orchestra moved everything including all the heavy stuff by himself on the day before. Only thing left to do was to clean up the old apartment. I did my best cleaning job and wish Toshi had called me a few days before to help moving, then I could help the tougher part.

　この後、トシさんご夫妻から寿司をご馳走になり、日本人について、音楽家の生活について、深〜い話になりました。うーむ、この人生の大先輩にして、音楽の大先輩は、今の今までお金儲けのための音楽はしてこなかったそうです。それでも、このマンハッタンの真ん中のアパートに居を構えられてるわけだし、家庭を持って娘さん２人を育て上げました。貧乏生活と貧乏恐怖症が体に染み付いて、お金儲けの仕事ばかりやってきた私と正反対ですね。いつかは『小さいながらも楽しい我が家』を持ちたい私としては考えさせられる意見でした。お金儲けのための音楽はしてはいけないものだし、する必要もないものなのかも知れませんねぃ………………

　日々の自己研鑽と良い人間関係の構築。これを第一にしていれば、他の事は後からついて来るのでしょうね。

Toshi invited us to a nice dinner and offered us great sushi. We talked about deep topics about Japanese people and the lives of musicians at the dinner. He said that he had never played music for money. That is completely opposite from me and that is something I decided to change this year. I am trying to get more musical gigs but not money gigs. The person in that age with the experience in life and music said that. Of course he is right. Money gigs are the things we should not do, and also, the things we do not need to do. Toshi had lived happily in the middle of Manhattan, had a family and raised two daughters without those gigs. I have to think about that.

前の部屋からの景色も良かったですが、上の階になったのでさらに遠くまで見渡せるアパートでした。下に見る都会の喧騒も、ここまでは全く届きません。 The view from the old apartment was not bad at all, but now he lives on the top floor and we could see much further. All the noises from the New York City down there did not even reach to the new apartment and it was perfectly quiet. That was a weird feeling in the middle of Manhattan.

Richmondtown Library in Staten Island

　この日はコンサートが、スタッテン島にあるリッチモンドタウン図書館でありました。運悪く、朝から吹雪の予報が出ていてので、どうせ人もそんなに来ないだろうから中止にしようかと、本当にギリギリまで皆で相談していました。結局、決行しようということで意見が一致しましたが、人が一人も来なかったらどうしよう、と始まるまで不安がでした。しかし有り難いことに、この悪天候の上に初めて演奏する場所だったにも関わらず、たくさんの方がコンサートに来て下さいました。皆様、ありがとうございました。

The concert at the Richmond Town Library in Staten Island. Unfortunately the heavy snow storm was forecast later on that day and the storm had begun already in the morning. Our guess was that there would be so few people at the library. We talked about whether to go for it or to cancel it, then we decided that we were going to play the concert as planed even if there would be nobody. That was the right decision. Even though we had never held a concert at the library and it was under the bad weather, so many people showed up for our concert. I'd like to say thank you to everyone who came to our concert despite of such a bad weather.
　手前味噌を並べるようで恐縮なのですが、いやー、ウチのバンド、本当にうまくなりましたね。バンドを始めた頃に較べたら、正に雲泥の差です。

I don't mean to blow my own trumpet but this band has got musically and artistically advanced a lot since we formed the band. The band's virtuosity from then and now is like day and night.

Yuuki Koike (Flute, Alto Sax, Melodica) Takeshi Asai (Keyboard) Kazuo Nakamura (Acoustic & Electric Basses) Yutaka Uchida (Drums) Ippei Ichimaru (Shamisen, Cello, Percussion)

My Winter Outfit

　なぜかバンドメンバー全員の失笑を買った私の格好。何がおかしいのさ。冬のニューヨークはハンパなく寒いんだから、こんぐらいの完全装備じゃなきゃ、死んでまうでしょーが。

『顔を隠してるのが限りなく変質者っぽい』
『首はどこだ』
『お前が凍え死ぬ前に他人が笑い死ぬわ』

　と言われたい放題でございました。フンッ、マイナス１０度の世界で格好つけても仕方がないのでございますよ。風邪をひいてからでは遅いのですよ。

　恥ずかしさを捨てて完全武装できない小心者に貸す耳なんぞないわ。フンッ！

All band members burst out laughing at my outlook. Yo, yo, yo, what's so funny about it. It's the world of 20F (-10C) out there. That's a little Alaska! Haven't you ever seen Northern Exposure?

"You look like a perv if you hide your face like that."
"Where is your neck?"
"Before you freeze to death, somebody else will laugh to death."

I don't remember everything they stated about my outfit but they said things along that line. Oh shut it. You guys dress "stylishly" and get the bug, while I will be warmly attired and survive the New York Winter.