Interests:Music. Art. Writing. Tattooes. Filming. Photography. Different cultures and their artistic expressions. Graveyards. Movies. Cherry Blossoms. Stamps in my passport. Expertise:F-U-N Occupation:Rocktronically rocking faces Industry:Music, Media
I'm currently in Winston-Salem, North Carolina... getting ready to play our last show of this tour in Greensboro (and actually our last show until mid-January 2009)! It's been a great little trip! I had an amazing time in PA with my family! {I will post more about that when I get back!} The Empire State Building show was a lot of fun as well- getting to play with Scott, our ex-bass player, was the highlight for me!
We realized while we were in Manhattan that we have had the amazing privilege to play in 3 major world cities within the span of 3 weeks! {Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York}. I am so grateful and feel so blessed to be apart of this band! It's amazing.
We played at 2 services this morning, and we'll be leaving in a couple hours to play our third gig for today! It's going to be a long day! We're going to end with a bang. I'm excited.
So strange that I won't see my band mates, colleagues, if you will... for almost 2 months!
I'm planning on leaving tomorrow morning around 8am. I'm really looking forward to my solo 8-hour road trip in Jess and Tim's Suburban! a.k.a. "monster truck" I love that thing!!!!
I am currently wide awake sitting in our living room, just having finished dinner at 2am. Gotta love jet-setting across time zones and date lines! It feels somewhat strange being back, actually. I had a few moments of reverse culture shock. I think I became comfortable and familiar with things in Japan- more than I realized- because there are a few things that seem foreign to me here in L.A! Here's some things that are noticeably different.
1.) Seeing so many cars! In Tokyo, it was mainly buses, trains, and lots of taxis. 2.) Hearing English and being able to read signs again! 3.) People are louder! (Especially our neighbors!) 4.) Highways and wide open spaces (relatively speaking compared to Tokyo). 5.) Way less skyscrapers! Downtown L.A. looked so small! 6.) The fashions here seem so dull and boring. Everywhere you looked in Tokyo there was somebody with some sort of amazing outfit or hair style!
The weather has really changed since we left! I'm all bundled up and am actually pretty cold! I think it's about 70 degrees during the day, but the night's cool down significantly.
So our day of traveling turned out great, after some stressful and strange series of potentially unfortunate events. We left the house around 2pm with all of our gear and luggage. We walked to the end of the road and waved down a taxi. At that point, it was way easier getting a taxi than trying to get all our gear on the bus! We explained where we wanted to go, but the taxi driver didn't speak English, so it was very interesting. She kept nodding her head like she understood, so we went with it. We ended up getting dropped off at this random place, and we had no idea where we were. We stood there trying to decide what to do while Tim went to find help. We discovered the bus we were supposed to take to the airport would only get us there about an hour before we had to board our flight, so we moved on to Plan B. We caught another Taxi to Shibuya station to get to the airport via train. The taxi driver kept circling around the station... I'm pretty sure he was just trying to get more money from the "stupid foreigners who didn't know where they were." I was annoyed watching the meter rise about 150 Yen every couple minutes. He finally let us out and we hurried up the escalator to buy our tickets. We had about 30 minutes to get our tickets, walk to the platform on the other side of the station, get on the train and get to Shinagawa, where we were going to switch lines and get on the Narita Express. We arrived in Shinagawa and had to go up and down some stairs to get to another platform. As we walked onto the platform, the train arrived. Always funny SPRINTING with a huge pack on your back, another little backpack in front of you, another bag over your shoulder, carrying Tim's cymbals, and pulling your keyboard behind you. If we would have been even 30 seconds later, we would have missed the train, thus missing our entire flight back to L.A.
So all's well that ends well I suppose. It was stressful few hours, that's for sure! The train to the airport took about an hour, and it dropped us off right at our terminal. I love how convenient Japanese transport systems are! We had absolutely no trouble checking in... and it was smooth sailing, or flying, for the rest of the trip! I was really impressed with Singapore Airlines.
Here's the video blog that I wanted to post within the first few days of being in Japan, but it never worked out! In this installment, you will be educated on Japanese toilets. Do enjoy!
I want to upload and work on some more footage from Japan this week.
I've hardly scratched the surface of my photos- editing and photoshopping- so it might be spread out over the next few posts! Here's a few to hold you over!
Leaving Japan! Despite my happy expression, I was quite sad to leave!
Love Japanese vending machines!
And payphones!
Tokyo Tower!
Playing at Welcome Back Live House.
End of the tour celebration at Hard Rock.
I wish I would have counted the amount of train rides we took!
Sometimes when there's no seats, you make your own.
The Nijubashi Bridge at the Imperial Palace.
Tim, Arika, and I at the Imperial Palace.
Yamanote Line. The busiest and the most crowded subway line in Tokyo.
Kickback Cafe. The whole crew.
Off on my own adventure!
Kanda Myojin Shrine.
Yokohama.
Waiting at the train platform.
Shinjuku! It's electrifying!
Rainbow Bridge.
Building muscles.
On the Narita Express train on the way to the airport.
So 2 days before leaving for Japan, I was at Disneyland (with a free ticket thanks to my friend George!) and lost my camera. It feels so strange not having a camera. I think this has been the first trip I've been on where I haven't had one! To make a long story extremely short, God provided me with a new FREE camera and it is in the mail on the way to Japan. I can't wait to take lots of pictures to make up for lost time.
Here's a few pictures that Tim has taken. I'm borrowing them.
Eating Ramen noodles!
Walking around Shibuya.
A gorgeous sunset!
Mos Burger...hanging out with Tim Willson!
Tim is freakin cool. It was so much fun hanging out with him again!
New Tim and Old Tim reunited!
One of the best places in Japan. 7 & i holdings... aka, 7-11.
Shinjuku= Times Square on acid.
Playing at the high school. I wanted to hug all of them... they were so cute!!
Playing at Art Decision Cafe. Acoustic set.
That's about it! Hopefully by this time next week, I'll have my camera and will be able to post lots of pictures!
This has been an insane week! We've been moving
around so much by foot, bus, train, elevators, and escalators that even
when I'm standing still, I still feel like I'm moving! For those of you
who are interested, here's a brief summary of our amazing week!
Monday: Had the chance to meet up with our old drummer, Tim
Willson, for the day! We met at the famous intersection crossing in
Shibuya and went out to lunch at Mos Burger. Very Japanese, I know. :)
We walked around Harajaku- the hippest, most happening spot for young
people in Japan. The crazy Harajuku girls with their crazy fashions
hang out in this part of Tokyo. We went to a kareoke place and had the
best time singing songs and acting like idiots. We spent the evening in
Shinjuku- which is pretty much Times Square on acid.
Tuesday: We played at The Prophecy Cafe in the evening. It was
freakin amazing. We played for about an hour. There were about 30
people there- mixed company of Christians and non. At one point during
the set, I was playing what I call the "Holy Spirit" pad- an
atmospheric sound on my keyboard that, upon playing the first note, I
sense God all up and down in the room. Nat started singing out
prophetically. Basically, without realizing it, she sang the entire
gospel. After Nat would sing a line in english, a women that was
translating would SING what Natalie sang in Japanese. It was amazing. I
swear I heard angels at one point! People were crying and God was
moving big time. When it was all said and done, 3 or 4 people raised
their hands to accept Jesus. Our translator, Aki, said that he has
never seen that kind of response in his country before!
Wednesday: We had the morning and afternoon free, so I ventured
into Shibuya by myself. It was invigorating and liberating heading off
on my own. I had the greatest time trying to order an iced chocolate at
Starbucks. I was pointing and bowing and making a fool out of myself. I
sat along the window on the 3rd story overlooking a massive
intersection that over a million people cross everyday. It was
fascinating. Later on the night, we attended a church service at
Kickback Cafe. It doubles as a club, or live house, as they call them
in Japan, during the weekend.
Thursday: We rolled out around 5:45am to catch a taxi and 2 trains
to the high school we were playing at at 8am. (Let's just say that I'm
going to be BUFF by the end of this tour. I am rolling or lifting my
keyboard all around Tokyo... up to 4 hours a day. It's intense. I'm
usually exhausted by the time we even arrive to our destination.) The school was amazing. It was an all-girls jr. high school- about 600
adorable girls!! They were so cute I wished I could have hugged each
and every single one of them! Nat gave the entire gospel and even asked
if anyone wanted to receive Jesus into their hearts. Over 20 girls
raised their hands!!!!! Man, we are just totally sensing that God is about
ready to explode in this nation, hey. It's so exciting to be a part of.
After the high school, we traveled all the way home to rest for
about 2 hours, and then we headed out again. We got the chance to meet
up with Braddigan- an amazing guy who is Dispatch's ex-drummer. If you
don't know Braddigan, look him up. He's doing some amazing things...
starting orphanages in Nicaragua and whatnot. Anyway, we played with
him at a Surf and Skate Trade Show. We did a 30 minute set and then he
and his percussionist jammed one of our songs with us. We had a great
time chatting with him and praying together for Japan and each others'
ministries. We're definitely going to be hooking up with him more often
and hopefully doing some more shows together in Cali and possibly
Central America in the distant future!
Friday: We left at 6:30am to play at another high school. We had 20
minutes to play and present the gospel. It went amazingly. Nat
communicated everything very clearly. We've taken a slightly different
approach here in Japan. Our main message is telling people how loved
they are and how unique their life is. Nat has everyone look at their
fingerprints and feel their heart beat. Our song "Life" has been really
powerful and Aki said it is one of the most important things we could
say to the people of Japan. The staff asked us not to have the kids
raise their hands at the end to accept Jesus, so we'll never know for
sure just how many lives were affected!!! We're believing that seeds
were sown and hearts were changed!
Friday evening we played at the Art Decision Cafe, which is
actually a Christian owned and operated bar- go figure. We had a long
chat with the owner and he has an incredible vision to reach the
unchurched, so it was awesome to support his cause! It was a really
small venue, and only about 10 people showed up, but we played our
hearts out nonetheness. We did about an hour electro-acoustic set. It
went really well. Of all nights, a Japanese music producer/ Indie
filmaker "RANDOMLY" showed up. He was really interested in our music
and we had a really long chat with him at the end. To make a long story
short, he's going to try to get our music onto some Japanese
commercials, and he's also going to look into some other possibilities
for us... distribution in Japan (which would be HUGE! we've been
praying for it!) I can't explain the passion we have for this nation. We
all feel like our band carries a big piece of God's heart for these
people, and we have hopes of Japan becoming a nation we return to as
often as possible. Having distribution or a record label behind us
would make it all the more possible- financially and practically-
booking gigs and stuff. We are blown away at God's timing and
"randomness".
TOMORROW, we are playing at a church in Shinjuku.
Sunday
we leave EARLY, EARLY, EARLY in the morning to train to Ome (about an
hour outside of Tokyo where we spent most of our time last time we were
in Japan). We'll be taking the morning service at Grace, as well as
playing a show in the evening.
It's been an exciting, insanely busy, and tiring week.
Please
pray for energy! Everyday has been full-on. As you can imagine, it's
not easy lugging all of our gear around everyday, sometimes up to 4
trips total per day! We walk for miles everyday... Sometimes I just look at us and think we're totally crazy, but it's SO
worth it!!!!!!! When I get home and night, I crash and my entire body aches!!
Thanks for all your prayers and love! Keep um comin'!
