Tokyo Day 5 May 24, 2008

Going to work. Who knew what the day's event was going to be like? Yuri Shibuya and Kumetani Satoshi, unawares of the quiet before the storm. But you know what, it s all in a day's work.

GreenRoom Surf Music Festival in Yokohama's Osanbashi Hall was quite an event. There was some people checking it out.


There were 3 stages, this was one of them.




(Positive Vibrations!! Saritah, giving thanks.)


(Keison Getting Ready)


It rained, but that did not stop the organizers from keeping the rain off the outdoor geo dome wood performance space.







(Umbrellas work, too.)



There were artists galore. The people behind the whole surf culture industry image, the people behind the cameras and those behind the mics and on the stage.



(yusuke Hanai was mad busy)



(two of the thirty five rythmn knockers called Panorama Steel Orchestra)

(Pepe California. The Next Krafterk, Chemical Brothers do it yourself band! Had me JUMPING!!)

(Models of 'Fine' Magazine.. fashion getting in the mix)

(two lovelies from australia, one dork. Saritah and Natalie of Blue King Brown)

(Battling the forces of evil and ill intent. Jonas Kaku, Jonas Glass Vision)


(exactly)


(check out the hat!)


(Taisuke Yokoyama. OG Shonan lens man)


(Naoko. Live Finger Painting the Booth)


(Don't Mess with this guy. OG! Cyborg Magazine and Dangerous Legendary Lensman, NISHI with Good buddy, Rick!!)

(Future Generation)


(John from California and Yuri from Kichijoji)

(Shonan Lensman)


(The man, Kamaichi, organizer of this little throw down with DJ Tommy of Shonan Surf Mafia and killer selector!)



It is what it is.. a music festival requires organization and funding.

(thirsty?)
17 Bands, 7 djs, 42 artists and 3 stages later, I m tired, my legs are tired and my mind is swimming. The lights, colors and sounds engulfed my being. The now was later and I m at the key pads typing stuff out, which I am finding no good words to express with. The sounds were all positive, the artists were all positive and the audience, they made the floors bounce and the walls shake!


(can you feel IT, SUCKERS!!)
Did I mention there was a tree house? When you got to the top of it, there were three stained glass window pieces and when you looked through.. did I mention there was a tree house?







I m done, put a fork in me, until osaka.

Tokyo Day 4 May 23, 2008

(getting the room ready)

My day started at 1.45 this morning. I had a lot of catching up and was busy preparing for the show. Got it together, check out the flicks. Greenroom Festival, here we come! Blue King Brown from Australia was preppin us for tomorrow and made working and setting up that much more easier!! Thank yOU! Sounds so good.


(mikey, taking control)


(Nakameguro Meeting Spot)



(Blue King Brown, Rehersals and Sound Check)

(Natelie and the rythmn section)

(Horns and Percussions)

(YO!! We GOTS A WALL)

(more prepping photos)

Tokyo Day 2 May 21, 2008

Day two began early morning. I ve never been a good one for traveling time zones. Even driving to another time zone, I am always stuck in new york time or wherever time zone I happened to be at the time. I do not really remember the details of this day so let me highlight and abridge. There was a meeting in the evening to discuss the greenroom festival.

(left to right. Yuri Shibuya, Jonas Kaku, Mikey of Dedication, Kumetani Satoshi, Mike Ming)
My partners, Yuri Shibuya and Jonas Kaku, and I thought about how we would like to finalize the action before we get to the festival to prepare for the show. We had two support members, Mikey of Dedication Studios in Kamakura, a long time associate of Jonas Kaku and Kumetani Satoshi of Dooor to nail down the final plans. We discussed our plans at the future location of '!!NEXT!!' show at Uplink Gallery in Shibuya. By the way, there restaurant/cafe is exquisite. Delicious blend of Euro/Asian/Middle Eastern. Please come and Enjoy! After the discussions, we all made our way back to get rest and prepare.
There was a quick trip to shibuya's Tower Records. They were selling our DYZUE Zine and art books!



I had my own personal agenda after the meeting which involved english pubs and futbol!

It so happened, the day after my arrival was the biggest futbol event of the year. It was the World Series of Futbol, as the European Clubs all competed to have the title of .. 2008 Champions. It happens that in this particular year, it was Manchester United vs Chelsea, two english teams. The first kick was scheduled for 3.45 am! Yikes! I went to bed and set my alarm for 3.15. Of course being jet lagged, waking up was not a problem. I was later to find out, the problem was a lack of standing room at the premier futbol pub in ebisu.



They even charged ¥1,500 including drinks but it was still too crowded. They were nice enough to suggest a different pub to go to though, and it was a short jog away. I was 4 minutes from kick off and all of a sudden, I got strange futbol fever and found myself running in a general direction to find a british pub somewhere in some building near the ebisu station on the 5th floor.


My heightened futbol awareness led me right to where I had to be, just in time to see the players lining up on the field and getting into position.
Unfortunately, this pub was not as crowded as the other pub. What I wanted was Futbol Fever and guys going nuts! But at least there was a place for me to watch the game. I ve never bent over backwards for futbol but well, I was not in my city any more. 3 hours later, as any news caster will tell you, Manchester beat Chelsea in a double overime, double penalty kick battle. Both teams played marvelously. Although it did feel like some of the referee's calls were a little bit questionable. I returned back to Footnik to see how the audience was and true to any sport lovers form, there was cheering, merrymaking and crying.


The fans wearing the chelsea blues were teary eyed and heads hung low.

(or just passed out from the booze)
The Manchester fans were very loud for 6.45 in the morning, kinda hecking the Chelsea Guys. Intense.



(hooligans?)

Going to Japan May 19 2008

I arrived in japan, may 20 2008. I left for three weeks to attend a bunch of events and move some wear. Been kinda hectic the week before, my wife and I started to crank out some shirts to sell at the events and somehow decided it might be a good move to try doing this in the city and create a brand... this is just a taste, the ideas in the works!

I will be at the Greenroom Music and Art Festival on may 24, saturday at Yokohama and June 1, sunday at Osaka. I ve got three new designs and will be creating an installation with Yuri Shibuya (www.yurishibuya.com) and Jonas Kaku. We are making a fantasy remote surf location shop art wall. Come check it, drink and be merry! We might even have an impromptu skate session, but don t let the festival people know... also, will be selling paintings, photographs, zines, tee shirts, hats and glass wear!

(just some of the wears we will be unleashing!)
On June 5-june 16, I am curating a show called '!!NEXT!! adventures in visual expressions'. It is a group show of six artists who are showing the next part of their art. The artists included in the show are Kenji Hirata, Yuri Shibuya, Chris Mendoza, Aiko Nakagawa, Jonas Kaku and Mike Ming.

If you are in the shibuya part of tokyo during the two weeks the show is running, please come by and check it out. There will be surprises for the viewer because these are the 'Next' works. We will be having an artist reception in shibuya's Roots Bar, 200 meters away from Uplink. Please join us to celebrate the event. If you have any questions at all , please refer to www.mikeming.com/next.html .thanks!!! See you there!