Music: ConnectForce Productions Presents…
Music 
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Producer Adren Hart (Nagano-ken, 1998-2000) is showcasing some new music talent this weekend at Drom in NYC’s East Village.
Friday, May 8th 7:30pm – $10 in advance/$12 at the door
Vocalist Catarina dos Santos sings a unique mix of African, Brazilian and Portuguese music with a groove that is bright, colorful and full of the joy of the tropics.
Saturday, May 9th 7:30pm – $10 in advance/$12 at the door
Described as “the kind of artist musicians love to play with and audiences love to appreciate” NY-based Japanese jazz vocalist Mamiko Taira takes center stage along with Tadataka Unno on Piano, Joseph Lepore on bass, and Luca Santaniello on Drums.
DROM
85 Ave. A (btwn 5th/6th Sts.)
NYC 10009
www.dromnyc.com
JetWit job poster Stephen Palanik (Fukushima Ken, 2004-08) learned of the following events through the Consulate General of Japan in Toronto website and thought they might be of interest to former JETs in the Toronto area. Stephen is a translator based in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Ken, and he periodically posts job listings and event information for JET alumni.
Click the respective links for more information related to the following events taking place in the Toronto area at the end of April and throughout May.
April 29 – The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre hosts a Dedication to Bill Hashizume, the translator of an invaluable directory of Japanese living in Canada, published in 1921.
April 30 – The Tokyo String Quartet plays the secnd concert of a Beethoven cycle which will develop over two concerts each season of Music Toronto for three seasons.
May 1 – The Japan Foundation, Toronto presents ANTIMATTER: A Viewpoint on Contemporary Japanese Art, a lecture by Yuri Mitsuda, the Curator for the Shoto Museum of Art in Tokyo.
May 2 – It’s time once again for the annual JCCC Bazzar at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre!
May 3 to 31 – East Meets West – The Art of Gerald and Setsuko Lazare at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre is the coming together of two people from distinctly different cultures, in love with art, and how it affected their future lives and careers.
May 6 – After hugely successful performances for two years in a row, Katsura Sanshi, the Rakugo master, will be returning for the third time to Toronto for a single performance at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.
May 6 to 9 – The annual CanAsian International Dance Festival is known for the presentation of world-class, pan-Asian dance that ranges from rarely seen traditional dances, to cutting edge contemporary forms.
May 25 – The Canadian Soccer Association will host the Women’s National Soccer Team of Japan for an intermational friendly match.
U.S. High School Japanese Karaoke Contest – via YouTube
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Definitely some future JET alums in this crowd. It turns out there’s a national contest for U.S. high school students to submit “karaoke videos” in which they sing Japanese songs which are then judged by a panel of experts. (Come to think of it, I wonder if there are any JET alums now working as Japanese teachers who have students who submitted videos.)
You can see the full slate of the winner and finalists here: http://www.cheng-tsui.com/superstar/index.php?q=finalists
And the winning entry below:
Via Sabrina Carlin on the JETAA Pacific Northwest e-mail list:
For those Yoshida Kyodai fans out there, the Brothers are playing at the Triple Door on May 20th. There are two shows, 7 pm or 9:30. Tickets are $23 or $26 at the door. You can call over the phone for tickets for a small service fee. http://www.tripledoor.com/ The doors open at 5 pm, and they have a full dinner menu available. A few of us Alums are going to the first show. Want to join us?
For those of you who’ve never heard of them:
One more video clip below the fold: Read More
“Bankruptcy Lover” – by Bankruptcy Bill and The Fresh Starts
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Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. To see more strips as well as original bankruptcy haiku, go to bankruptcybill.wordpress.com.
Ladies and gentlemen, debtors and creditors, we are pleased to share the debut single by Bankruptcy Bill & The Fresh Starts….
“Bankruptcy Lover“
http://bankruptcybill.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/bankruptcylovermp3.mp3
(Click either the link above or the image below to listen.)
Bankruptcy Bill & The Fresh Starts groupies can get their…
Click here for the lyrics and explanatory notes as well as a note on copyright and use restrictions. Read More
Happy Fun Smile, will play at Columbia on April 10.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/japansociety/matsuri.html
Date: Friday, April 10, 2009
Raindate: Friday, April 17, 2009
Time: 4:00 – 8:00 PM
Location: Low Plaza
Thanks to JQ (JETAA NY Quarterly) Magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for sharing this info for the benefit of all the Utada fans out there. Oh, and stay tuned for Justin’s exclusive, in-person interview with Utada-san in the Spring 2009 issue of JQ.
Utada will be appearing at the following Sephora Locations:
Sephora Hollywood & Highland
Tuesday, March 24 – 6-8PM
6801 – Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028
Sephora 5th Avenue
Wednesday, March 25 – 6pm-8pm
597 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Sephora South Beach
Friday, March 27 – 7-9pm
721 Collins Ave
Miami, FL 33139
More info at http://utada.com/news/default.aspx?nid=1698
Hey Folks,
Fresh from the desk of the JETAA Ongaku Connection Group, here are a few shows around NYC for music fans. Click here for more info or to join the group.
NOTEWORTHY SHOWS
– NIPPON JAZZ NYC Meet-Up – 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month, 8pm –
11pm. Yours truly hosts an event bringing together Japanophiles and
emerging Japanese talent.
Blue Owl Cocktail Lounge, 196 Second Ave @ 12th St., NYC 10003, $5
cover
www.meetup.com/Nippon-Jazz-NYC-Meetup-Group/
– CHIEMI NAKAI AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ PROJECT @ KITANO March 19, 2009, 8:00pm
– 11:00pm, The Kitano, 66 Park Ave. @38th St., NYC 10016, $15 min. www.myspace.com/chieminakai
– JAPAN NITE ’09 @BOWERY BALLROOM March 22nd, 8pm, 6 Delancey St. New York, NY 10002, NY, New York 10002, www.myspace.com/japannite
– ASOBI SEKSU @ BOWERY BALLROOM April 2, 8pm, 6 Delancey St. New York, NY 10002, NY, New York 10002, www.myspace.com/asobiseksu
JET alum and NY-based Japanese band otaku Ilya Blokh is going to this show on Thursday night and welcomes anyone else who’s interested to join him.
Bloody Panda – A doom band from NYC with a Japanese female vocalist @ Santo’s Party House (96 Lafayette St in Manhattan), 2/26, 7pm.
BLOODY PANDA
Driven by the mournful, melodic vocals of Japanese frontwoman Yoshiko Ohara, Bloody Panda’s transcendent sound finds its roots in the dirge-like power of Swans, the amplifier-worshipping textures of Earth, and the ethereal tension of Skepticism, as well as in various traditional styles from around the globe. The band synthesizes its esoteric influences into focused, powerful, anthemic songs, hailed by Decibel Magazine as “Khanate-caliber doom metal” and by CMJ New Music Monthly as “New York microtonal funeral doom”.See their MySpace page here: http://www.myspace.com/bdpanda
JetWit Blog Beat by Crystal Wong (Iwate-ken, 2002-04) is a recurring item featuring posts from the blogs of various JET alumni. Crystal is a former English-language writer for Kyodo News. She now works as a media planner in Chelsea and sorely misses all her favorite midtown ramen joints.
Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04) is pleasantly surprised to find out about the Green Book Award, which is designed “to promote books that inspire a child to grow a deeper appreciation, respect and responsibility for his or her natural environment.”
Current JET Jody Godoy (Fukui-ken, 2005-2009), brings a taste of inaka life to her readers as she prepares to leave JET.
Still trying to make it up to your sweetie for a less than stellar Valentine’s Day? Rack up bonus points by sending him/her this sweet tune found on Lee-Sean Huang’s (Oita-ken, 2003-06) blog.
Happy Friday, everyone!
JETAA Philly: KyoDaiko
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Via the JETAA Philadelphia subchapter:
On Friday, March 6, 2009 there will be what looks like an amazing and fun taiko performance taking place – cosponsored by KyoDaiko, a group in which Therese Stephen (fellow Philly JETAA member) is a member. We are hoping to support this performance as a group! Please let me know if you are interested in going, and we can hopefully arrange for a fun night out! Please see the details below… Thanks!
Renay & Natasha
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http://streettalkin.com/asian-arts-initiative-and-kyo-daiko-taikoproject/
This is to let you know Philadelphia’s first community taiko group, KyoDaiko, is co-sponsoring, with the Asian Arts Initiative, a performance by Taiko Project at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. We’d love it if you could support the event by coming, or by passing this information along to your friends and family!
Asian Arts Initiative and Kyo Daiko present TAIKOPROJECT in concert
Friday, March 6, 2009, 8 p.m. Read More
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JETAA NY Magazine Editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) has apparently just landed a phone interview with Hikaru Utada to run in a future issue, and he’s looking for good questions to ask her. E-mail responses to Justin at magazine /atto/ jetaaany /dotto/ org.
Hi everyone,
I just received an e-mail saying that Utada Hikaru will call me tomorrow (Fri. 1/30) afternoon to do an interview with JETAA NY Quarterly about her forthcoming English studio album, which will be released in the U.S. at the end of March.
I thought it would be cool to put out a request to the JET Alumni community for any questions you’d like to ask her. I’ll do my best to include as many as I can.
Please e-mail your questions to Justin Tedaldi at magazine /atto/ jetaany /dotto/ org no later than 1:00 p.m. this Friday.
Official release info for the new album appears below. Yoroshiku! Read More
Some upcoming Japan-related music events courtesy of Adren Hart, organizer of the JETAA Ongaku Connection google group.
Jazz and Poetry Evening
My Floating Mother, City: An Evening with Kazuko Shiraishi
http://info.japansociety.org/site/R?i=hk2e7JZ6mgiK1BYYpr3vtw..
Friday, January 30
6:30 pm
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NIPPON JAZZ NYC
February 1, 8:00pm – 11:00pm
Erika Matsuo
Blue Owl Cocktail Lounge
New York, NY
$5 cover
http://www.meetup.com/Nippon-Jazz-NYC-Meetup-Group/calendar/9445145/
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Pop the Rock Japan Music Showcase
http://www.afxakibafest.com/
April 4, 2009
University of Maryland
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Check out the J-Rock & Punk Meetup group GENKI SHOCK
Site: http://www.meetup.com/GENKI-SHOCK/
Mar. 22, 2009 – JAPAN NITE~ AUDREY BENTEN PRESENTS!!
Apr. 2, 2009 – ASOBI SEKUSU
Greetings Fellow Former JETS!
Do you know what yosa-koi is? Good for you.
Do you love nothing more than flailing about with naruko? (wooden instrument, NOT some girl’s name! ^^) Are you an aspiring performer/dancer with an interest in Japanese culture? Are you a non-performer/dancer with an interest in Japanese culture? Do you just really miss Japan and dream of becoming one of the crazy sexy cool people in this flier?
Then fantasize no more!
Hi, I’m Kirsten, a former ALT based in Niigata Prefecture 2005-2008. One of the things I missed most about my life in Japan was an awesome and energetic festival dance called yosa-koi that I used to perform together with my students. I missed it so much when I came back that I Googled “NY” and “Yosa-koi” and found 10tecomai. For a JET with raging Japan withdrawal like myself being a member of 10tecomai was like a dream come true.
Like the flier says, no dance experience is necessary. I can attest to that, folks. I have zero background in performance or dance but I quickly found this was not required. You will be expertly and patiently trained, no matter what level you are and you will have TONS of fun in the process. However, team spirit and serious dedication are an absolute must. My experience with 10tecomai has been truly rewarding and fulfilling on so many levels. I’m sad I no longer live in Japan but I am overjoyed to be a part of 10.
So come on down and try out if you fancy? It can’t hurt. Tell your friends!
[Editor’s note: Kirsten also wrote a wonderful article about the Mitsuwa department store in Edgewater, NJ for the Fall 2008 Issue of the JETAA NY Quarterly Newsletter.]
Christmas Song for JETs
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Back in the mid-1990s, a weekly humor/lampoon-style magazine called The Alien began publishing in Nagoya. A lot of the humor was just cynical gaijin jokes recycled in different forms (which of course we loved). But occasionally there were gems like a verse from a song parody they ran at Christmas time that did a good job of capturing at least one relatively common Christmas memory for most JETs.
Workers’ Wonderland (sung to the tune of Winter Wonderland)
Have to work
On Christmas
For lunch plain rice
De-licious!
We’re slaving away
Day after day
Wilting in a workers’ wonderland
Note: I just did some Internet research and found a Wikipedia entry explaining that The Alien has evolved into the present day Japanzine. I also found a blog post on Jason’s Random Thoughts: Yet Another Gaijin in Japan that opines on Japanzine and, more importantly, has various posts in the comments section by a couple former writers for The Alien plus references to a couple of the great gaijin bars from the Nagoya scene back then. Natukashii!
