Today, Keita and I hung out and jammed some old tunes in Aoyama. We’ll be getting together on a regular basis and making more music videos so watch this space. We take requests…(he he)
The other day I pretended to be a hipster and visited the Diesel Art Gallery in Aoyama to see Natsuki Otake’s exhibition. The exhibition runs until April 11th and includes colorful batik print designs and installations. It’s definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.
Date: February 10th – April 11th, 2010
Open: 13:00-20:00
Place: DIESEL DENIM GALLERY AOYAMA 2F
Address: 6-3-3 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81-3-6418-5323
I made a video of the exhibition and managed to talk to Natsuki about her work. Here is the video I made for Tokyo Weekender.
View Tokyo Weekender Map in a larger map
The Weekender 40th Anniversary party was a success. We had a great turn out at 57 and I think all had a good time. Keita, Ethan and I did a live set that wasn’t too bad although we were told to “play something a little more up tempo”. The guests were polite enough to not throw bottles and I think they even clapped at one point. Yes, even a bunch of reggae hippies can connect with the urban hipsters of Tokyo.
Guy Perryman did a great job on the decks and MCing the prize give away which at one point seemed as if it might get out of hand. All behaved however and the police didn’t have to be called.
I was interested to see that most of the party-goers were young urban hipsters in their 30s and 40s perhaps a little younger than the traditional demographic of the Weekender. Are things changing?
All in all I had a great time and I’m pretty eager to get another party happening. Any takers?
You can check out the Weekender Website here. Check out the latest 40th Anniversary issue. And here is the Weekender Facebook group.
I’ll write and update here when party pics are posted.
Today, Keita and I jammed in the studio in preparation for our gig at the Tokyo Weekender 40th Anniversary Party on Friday January 15th. Looks like it’s going to be a great event. We’re really looking forward to it. This song is called “Intro song”.
Keita and Alex Jam from Alex Brooke on Vimeo.
As part of my goal to get more of my music on this site, I will be doing some guitar tutorials with audio. I’ll start off easily with some scales and chord exercises. I’ll then progress onto some more advanced guitar techniques. I’d also like to put some original guitar compositions on this site including full tabs and musical scores.
For my first offering here is what I call possibly the happiest chord on the guitar. It’s pretty close to an E Maj 13th with a C# and F#. It’s a bar chord played on 11th fret. So try it out and feel all happy inside.
My life used to be an extended vacation. Now I’m working like everyone else it’s always a struggle to find time to do the things I want to do… In the meantime here is an update on the various goings on in this corner of Tokyo…
Guitarists I’ve been listening to
Recently I’ve been pretty inspired by Toronto based guitarist Maneli Jamal. He has a great youtube channel with videos of him playing his own original compositions.
I was intriguied to learn that he is selling MP3s and the accompanying music scores and guitar tab if you are up for the challenge of attempting these pieces. I was thinking of doing some online guitar tutorials. However I like the idea of publishing one’s own original works as opposed to just guitar lessons. It stamps one’s unique creativity on the whole endeavor.
Great stuff, check him out and watch this space for some original compositions.
Places I’ve Been Eating at
Thanks to the suggestion of my friend Kelly from Tokyo Weekender, I have discovered Frijoes, an awesome restaurant that does deli-style burritos and other kinds of wraps. It’s super delicious and they do cheap lunch sets which is pretty special for the Azabu-juban area. If you are a hipster I am told it is just “Juban”.
I got talking to the manager, a cool Japanese guy who had lived in San Fran for a long time. He came back to Japan and opened this place just recently. It’s a damn good wrap and I might go and stuff my face today.
Ch-ch-check it out kids.
Music I’ve Been Listening To
I’ve been listening to the Japanese indy rock band Natccu pronounced Nachew. Great energy, arrangements, melodies and guitars. I featured them in the last Learn Japanese Pod Fun Friday Podcast.
They’ve been touring all over the place in recent years including their UK Debut last year.
I managed to find these cats through my friend Ethan who writes the Tokyo Werewolf blog which covers the underground Tokyo music scene. Ethan also happens to be one of the masterminds behind Pongzilla which is Tokyo’s first beer pong event.
Wouldn’t be cool if Ethan could get Natccu to play at one of those?!
And…
No that’s it. I haven’t got anythign interesting to say. I guess when I can pull another 10 hours out of the day with my magic hat I will be embarking on changing this site to have a more guitar oriented feel. It should include guitar tutorials and my own original pieces.
Oh yeah, and then there’s my Flash tutorials…
Let’s slow the earth down so we can have more hours in the day…
Prapatang Living is back from the deep freeze. It’s an audio blog about my recent goings-on, music projects and tech. Enjoy.
To hear the other Prapatang Living Episodes (#01 -#07) CLICKY HERE.
They were originally hosted at News From The Other Side.
Featured Intro Music: Thru You
6 presenters; 20 slides; 20 seconds; 1 evening to listen, meet and mingle.
From 11-13th of November, Web Directions East hosts a series of prominent and inspiring web professionals discussing all things web.
For the opening party on 11/11, Web Direction East teams up with Tokyo 2.0 and PechaKucha to host an evening of six PechaKucha presentations from conference presenters and members of the Tokyo 2.0 community.
So mark the date for a dose of sharp, energising presentations, and the chance to network with conference presenters, attendees and T2.0 locals alike.
20秒のスライドを20枚使った6人のプレゼン！パーティーに参加して出逢って楽しいひと時を過ごしましょう！
11月11日〜13日まで、Web Directions East はWebの超一流プロフェッショナルが素晴らしくそしてインスピレーションを与える講演をおこないます。
11月11日に予定していますオープニングパーティは、Web Directions East、Tokyo2.0、Pecha Kucha Night が 一体となり、PechaKucha Night形式で開催いたします。
WDE09に出演する豪華スピーカーとTokyo 2.0のメンバーとコラボレーションパーティーになります。
このパーティーはWDE09のスピーカーをはじめ、Tokyo 2.0メンバー、参加者とのネットワークを広げるチャンスです。
今から予定を押さえておこう！！
Upcoming Events
From November 5 – 7th TEDxTokyoLive presents TEDIndia.
In association with Tokyo Hacker Space (11/5&6) and Keio Media Design (11/7) a unique opportunity to experience a live stream of TEDIndia The Future Beckons. more
Visit Tokyo 2.0 at: http://www.tokyo2point0.net. http://www.tokyo2point0.net の Tokyo 2.0 にアクセスします。
Guitar School and Music Online
I’m planning to make a selection of guitar tutorial videos. As I want to make a guitar school I thought it might be a good idea to make some videos to attract students.
Since music is a major passion, I can see this being a long term project. Since I also love composing music I want to put up some of my compositions on the web.
I was reading recently that Moby has put up some of his music which can by downloaded and used for free by independent and non-profit movie makers. I believe their is a clause on his site which allows him to get some royalties if the movie makes cash. That seems like a very good idea which I would like to try to.
Now all I need is another 24 hours in the day to do it. If you have any comments, suggestions or ideas please leave a comment here or email me. Yoroshiku very much.
こ れからギターを勉強するためにヴィデオを作りたい。これからギター学校を作りたいので普通のone to oneレッスンとオンラインレッスンもするつもり。何よりも音楽が一番すきなのでこれからこのプロジェックトを長く続きたいと思う。そして作曲が好きなの でウェブサイトにオリジナルな曲を載せて、無料と有料のLoopも作ろうと思ってる。最近Mobyがnon profitやindependent映画の監督のために無料にダウンロードできる音楽を作った。すごくおもしろい話なので同じようなこともしたいなと 思った。音楽を作るための時間を作らなきゃという問題があるけど。がんばるぞ〜！何かいいアイデアやアドバイスがあると是非コメントを書いて下さい。よろしく！
It’s been a mad week. An apartment move, a new job and meeting a million new people has kept my head spinning in downtown Tokyo. Not sure if I can keep up with all these hipsters but I’ll give it a shot, maybe a shot of whisky. So what the hell has been going on?
大変な一周間だった。家の引っ越しや新しい仕事やいろいろな人と出会って、頭が回ってる。このペースでいけるかどうか分からないけど頑張ってみる。ウィスキーがほしい。
That’s right, Learn Japanese Pod has been going for four years which is the same life span of a petulant toddler. Thankfully, the community that has built up around the podcast has been very active and supportive. With the Facebook group, main forums and the various get-togethers in Tokyo, I’ve met some great people and had a barrel of fun. We hope to be shipping more barrels of fun your way in the form of podcasts and videos soon. So thanks for listening and here’s to another four years!
Learn Japanese Podは４歳になりました。小さいこどもの年みたい。ポッドキャストを聞いてくれる人のおかげで大きいコミュニティになった。いろいろな面白い人と出会って、すごく楽しい時間を過ごすことが出来た。これからも楽しいポッドキャストとヴィデオを作ってまた４年間頑張りましょう。
The new Earth Embassy home page is up and looking good thanks to Jake Reiner’s battles with the internet and worpress. It’s been a long ride baby but we’re finally here. The Earth Embassy is an organic farm and learning center for permaculture and sustainable lifestyles. You can also volunteer on the farm and in the Solar Cafe which is part of the complex.
The site represents a portal for Jake’s projects and also a network of people broadly concerned with green issues and sustainability. Check out the website here and some photos here.
時間かかったけど地球大使館の新しいウェブサイトが完成した。地球大使館は山梨県にある有機野菜の農園や持続可能性な生活についてを勉強できるところ。エコや地球大使館の活動の情報はこのサイトに載せてる是非見てください。
My friend Shell is planning a new site called Bite Sized Japan. As the name suggests, it’s going to be a website with short articles and content on all things cool and Japanese. It’s still in the planning stages but I’m looking forward to see the website go on line sometime early next year.
Yoroshiku Shell.
You heard about it here first…probably.
Shell(シェル)という友達が日本のカッコイイ物について新しいウェブサイトを作る企画を立ってる。来年に開幕するらしい。日本の文化やイベントに対して「齧ってる程度」という短くて面白い記事や情報を載せる。私はこのサイトの完成のを楽しみにしている。頑張ってシェルくん。
And on the subject of music tutorials, Kutiman has spliced together some youtube videos to make an incredibly funky mash-up. I kid you not, I literally fell of my chair when I saw this. It’s simply too good, dammit.
No, really.
Enjoy.
このヴィデオは今まで一番いいYoutubeヴィデオかも。本当にすごい。うそじゃない。絶対見て！
A big thanks to Sandrajapandra for inviting me to the Pink Cow for the Tweet Up, drinks and enough burritos to overwhelm a small donkey. A a big shout out to @jlontine @mma323 @gwenbell @sandrajapandra. I had a great time and hope to bump into you cats again sometime.
And…
I COMMAND YOU TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
The reason I wrote that is because according to a blog post I read the other day, the more bossy the link to your twitter, the more people will click on it. Silly… But fun.
この間サンドラという友達に誘われて渋谷にあるPink CowでTweet Upに行った。とても楽しかったで私と同じようなTwitterお宅と話することが出来た。みなさんありがとうございました！。またよろしくお願いします。
Help!