L.A. Story, Part 4: "The Concert"
I had made a reservation at Takami Sushi the night before the concert. It's a swank little place on the 21st floor (there's even a patio area) in the middle of downtown. Since I had made the reservation before the trip started, it was only for Tom and me. But we brought along our new friends Lamp and Matt, and Takami had no trouble accomodating. It was a good place, although to be honest I've had sushi that was just as good here in Iowa; since the prices are similar, I enjoyed it. We were the only ones there who weren't wearing collared shirts... but the restaurant itself told me via email (it took them only 8 minutes to reply to my question) that jeans and sneakers were acceptable attire.
The other side of the 21st floor is an even-more-classy nightclub called Elevate, and it actually advertises itself as a filming location, if you have any movies that need to be shot there. Among other music videos filmed there, Britney Spears' "Womanizer" chose it as a location... I know, that's your favorite song, how cool is that? Upscale attire is mandatory for that side of the building, but anyone who doesn't consider a Tanaka Reina t-shirt to be formal wear is waay too uptight for my tastes.
Afterwards, Matt and Lamp dragged me to the AX After Dark dance in the Westin. We were ID'd 3 times within a few steps, then given a wristband to show that we were over 21. Hold on to that thought. We were told that if we took off our shoes, we'd be booted from the party. Okay. Every wild party I've ever been to starts when someone says, "I'm taking off my shoes!" I paid 80 bucks for my new Nike's just a week before I left, so they were staying on my feet.
Why the wristband, I don't know. They weren't serving alcohol (although maybe the pretzels were laced or something), and on top of that the whole venue smelled like a big armpit. So we made one pass through the place, found only a few people lounging about, and headed directly for the Bonaventure Brewing Company. I mean, we'd just spent our day in the presence of Morning-friggin'-Musume, and we had to celebrate.
We had ourselves many a drink that evening before we joined forces with another Musume fangroup. The leader of that group was a big bald guy with a moustache, and if his name isn't Vinny, he should change it to that, 'cause I can totally see it.
In contrast to our group's collective misfortune of being shut out from the autograph session, this dude was *there*. So he was excited, and at that point had a lot to drink. So he was practically (by which I mean he pretty much was) yelling about his love of the group, in an hilarious monologue that could not be aired on television. We just doubled over in laughter, he was so excited. I felt a little embarrassed about his choice of language but believe me, I couldn't have done anything about it. And we all just enjoyed the moment. I repeatedly told him, "that's so cool, I'm happy for ya." Well anyway, we shut down the bar with those guys and we knew that if anyone wanted to give us any trouble, we'd just send in the big drunk guy.
With our evening capped off from all that weight-training and zen meditation (by way of listening to the big guy tell us all the explicit things he would do to our beloved Musume), we were in perfect shape for the concert the next day.
The queue formed at 12:30, and the concert began at 2:30. We'd gotten there early and hung outside the venue listening to Morning Musume do a soundcheck. If you could jump high enough, you could see the VTR screens, and in addition, the speakers were loud enough to confirm that they were in there practicing away. Moze and I grabbed a quick $85 lunch at the AX cafeteria and got in line. Since our seats were already confirmed on the ticket, there was really no reason to show up at 12:30, but what else did we have to do?
AX decided that the best place to queue was in the sun outside the venue. They went around with bullhorns and threatened to kick us out of the concert if we tried to take pictures. Okay, we got it. Nope, tell us again...
Not much happened in line, although we talked to a guy from, what-was-it, North Carolina(?) who was in his late 50's and like us, had come all the way to AX to see the Musume concert. When we finally got to our seats, we met up again with Mage, who told us about C-Zone, another Jpop girl group who'd be doing a couple of smaller shows in the merchant hall on Sunday.
A guy just a couple of seats over noticed that Moze and I didn't have glowsticks so he offered one to each of us. Giving me what was presumed to be a pink glowstick, he asked, 'do you like Sayu?' I replied that I did, in fact, think myself a fan of Sayu and graciously accepted the gift. It turned out to be orange, which I'm told is Kamei Eri's color, but that's not the point. I had a glowstick and whoever's color I happened to get was the one I would claim. I had made a declaration on this site some months ago that I was planning to kidnap Eri if I ever saw her in person, and although she's safe for now, there's always next time.
They blared AC/DC music from one of their newer albums for most of the pre-show time. Huh. Eventually they started playing those terrible AX promo videos on the VTR, and one of those was the 'Tour of Little Tokyo' video, where they hung out by the 'red thing' like we did, and the music was '3, 2, 1, Breaking Out!' so whenever it started all the fans would mime along with glowsticks, until the music stopped abruptly and everyone went, 'Awwww...' until the video was over. This happened several times.
As for the show, well, it was all new to me, but not to the seasoned Japanese veterans in front of us who had two glowsticks of every color in the waiting. I've seen a few concert DVD's in my life and I knew what was to come. The group took the stage, everyone stood up, and the short girl behind me got upset about it. Okay, fine; for your sake, we will all sit quietly and watch the Musume perform. Not a chance. To that girl, I'm sorry a thousand times if you couldn't see over me, but clearly AX does not care about you, and it was not in the plans when they decided to hold such an event with a flat viewing area. I'd have sat down if it meant you could have seen the stage better, but the reality was that neither of us would have been able to see the show at that point.
Hopefully I have a few fresh things to say about the concert which everyone's already been talking about, because my knowledge of performance (from both an audience and a performer's perspective) is one of my strong points. You all may watch Haromoni like it's going out of style, but I know what a good concert should be.
From my perspective, it was great. I was in the seventh row, center, and I could see everything and hear everything. Anywhere else in the hall, further back or more to the side, I don't know. I don't think the hall was ideal, just a square room with a concrete floor and some 8,000 yay-hoo's (myself included) going nuts as the show went on as planned. I don't know what the view was from the back of the hall, and frankly, I don't care, because I had a great seat.
The girls sang and danced wonderfully. It was guaranteed to be epic just based on circumstance. But overall, it seemed kinda shoddy. The sound system was pushed beyond a comfortable limit, even sounding 'broken' in certain parts of the show. The girls deserve some sort of medal for being able to put on a decent performance with all that sound just beating 'em in the head. Sayu was particularly off-key in a few places, but again, with the sound system, it's hard to blame her, and if you were there to hear recorded-quality music, ya should have stayed home and listened to the CD. I, on the other hand, pretty much stared a hole through Koharu, but I managed to get a glimpse of all the other girls; enough time that I could pick them out in a police lineup after they mugged me on the street.
Next issue was the space for the audience. At one point (I think it was) Reina advised us, 'everybody JUMP!' and my reply was, 'this is not advisable, Reina!' as we would either rack ourselves on the chair-back in front of us, or the chair-seat behind us. My legs touched the chair behind me the whole time, and likewise, my waist touched the chair in front of me. I could not jump, although I wanted to.
Then there was the strange choice of the setlist. The girls came out and performed all their songs but one, and then Tsunku came out to announce the winners of the AMV (amateur music video) contest. We heard '3, 2, 1, Breaking Out! (Short Version)' three times while the winnning videos were played, and the girls danced to themselves every time the song played. Yossie, under the alias 'HANGRY' (which fooled no one) came out to explain that Rika (a.k.a. ANGRY) could not make it to Los Angeles because she was 'angry'. Lame, lame, lame joke. No one really needed an explanation for her absence, but having offered that, clearly they could have come up with a better excuse.
The audience's energy was sapped by the end of the presentation, and the girls wrapped up the show by doing '3, 2, 1, Breaking Out!' for a second time. It was a blink-or-you'll-miss-it kind of thing. By the time our energy had picked up again, the song was nearly over. They said their goodbyes and left the stage. 8,000 people chanted "EN-CO-RU!" for what I'm told was 12 full minutes but no encore was given. Instead, several of the AX crowd-controllers came out looking frustrated and waved their arms like a football referee does when a field goal kick is called 'not good'. Someone got on the microphone and said, 'the show has ended, please exit to your right' and AX staffers along the way ordered us to keep moving, like it was some sort of weird death march. I am a fast walker, and I was going as fast as the crowd would allow me, and they kept yelling at us to keep moving. We were moving, dammit.
It was clear -- and I love you guys and thank you all for the hard work putting the show together and all the time you spent that week -- but it was *clear* that no one on staff knew who they were dealing with. No one even bothered to come up with a hypothetical for the outcome of the show. A sane group would have thought, "you know, this group is known for having some real fanatics; what do we do if they refuse to leave the venue?" Did they think that we would file out quietly and just accept that the show was over? The decision which the AX staff decided to go with is this: act confused, tell everyone to leave immediately, and be staunch about it. Tell everyone to keep moving.
Mr. Tsunku, was an appropriate encore for your first actual American show just a repeat of *one* song? Did you hear the frenzy that was 8,000 people calling for an encore? Just wondering.
Oh well, I've seen Morning Musume in concert. And not just any concert, but the first (and until they get so popular over here that we can't get rid of them, the *only*) concert on the US mainland. I was sweating like crazy while it was going on, I've never pumped my arm so many times in my life. I lost my voice for about a week yelling along with the songs and as well, in responding to the MC parts, where they asked us questions like, 'Minna-san genki desu ka?' (Reina got that honor) As I and others have mentioned, the appropriate American response to that question is "I'M FUCKIN' GENKI!'
They did the song I had expected them to do, "Ame no Furanai, etc...." with the Chinese solo lines, and when those occured, even in the seventh row, you could not hear them singing. I know at least one other fellow blogger was perturbed by that; I decided the opposite, and every time I hear that song, I'm reminded of how much support we gave to JunJun and LinLin. Sure, I may crack a few jokes about how I won't accept Chinese Musume, I mean, I really think it goes against the whole point of the group, but whatever... the American crowd clearly has their backs. And all that disrupting of the song was intended to be support on their behalf. Yeah, we ruined the best part of the song, but it's seriously one of the best moments in audio-recording history, and we just had to say something to show our love.
In conclusion, I don't think I can ever go to an American concert again that doesn't include choreographed yelling, glowstick waving, and fist pumping. Aside from seeing Slayer in a tiny little Iowa venue, for me it was Best. Concert. Ever. Minus the glowstick waving, the Slayer show was pretty similar, although I was further back in the crowd for that.
Well then, next episode (maybe there'll be pretty pictures for that)... Part 5, including Hello!Party and the Tsunku Q & A session, et al. Bai bai!
The other side of the 21st floor is an even-more-classy nightclub called Elevate, and it actually advertises itself as a filming location, if you have any movies that need to be shot there. Among other music videos filmed there, Britney Spears' "Womanizer" chose it as a location... I know, that's your favorite song, how cool is that? Upscale attire is mandatory for that side of the building, but anyone who doesn't consider a Tanaka Reina t-shirt to be formal wear is waay too uptight for my tastes.
Afterwards, Matt and Lamp dragged me to the AX After Dark dance in the Westin. We were ID'd 3 times within a few steps, then given a wristband to show that we were over 21. Hold on to that thought. We were told that if we took off our shoes, we'd be booted from the party. Okay. Every wild party I've ever been to starts when someone says, "I'm taking off my shoes!" I paid 80 bucks for my new Nike's just a week before I left, so they were staying on my feet.
Why the wristband, I don't know. They weren't serving alcohol (although maybe the pretzels were laced or something), and on top of that the whole venue smelled like a big armpit. So we made one pass through the place, found only a few people lounging about, and headed directly for the Bonaventure Brewing Company. I mean, we'd just spent our day in the presence of Morning-friggin'-Musume, and we had to celebrate.
We had ourselves many a drink that evening before we joined forces with another Musume fangroup. The leader of that group was a big bald guy with a moustache, and if his name isn't Vinny, he should change it to that, 'cause I can totally see it.
In contrast to our group's collective misfortune of being shut out from the autograph session, this dude was *there*. So he was excited, and at that point had a lot to drink. So he was practically (by which I mean he pretty much was) yelling about his love of the group, in an hilarious monologue that could not be aired on television. We just doubled over in laughter, he was so excited. I felt a little embarrassed about his choice of language but believe me, I couldn't have done anything about it. And we all just enjoyed the moment. I repeatedly told him, "that's so cool, I'm happy for ya." Well anyway, we shut down the bar with those guys and we knew that if anyone wanted to give us any trouble, we'd just send in the big drunk guy.
With our evening capped off from all that weight-training and zen meditation (by way of listening to the big guy tell us all the explicit things he would do to our beloved Musume), we were in perfect shape for the concert the next day.
The queue formed at 12:30, and the concert began at 2:30. We'd gotten there early and hung outside the venue listening to Morning Musume do a soundcheck. If you could jump high enough, you could see the VTR screens, and in addition, the speakers were loud enough to confirm that they were in there practicing away. Moze and I grabbed a quick $85 lunch at the AX cafeteria and got in line. Since our seats were already confirmed on the ticket, there was really no reason to show up at 12:30, but what else did we have to do?
AX decided that the best place to queue was in the sun outside the venue. They went around with bullhorns and threatened to kick us out of the concert if we tried to take pictures. Okay, we got it. Nope, tell us again...
Not much happened in line, although we talked to a guy from, what-was-it, North Carolina(?) who was in his late 50's and like us, had come all the way to AX to see the Musume concert. When we finally got to our seats, we met up again with Mage, who told us about C-Zone, another Jpop girl group who'd be doing a couple of smaller shows in the merchant hall on Sunday.
A guy just a couple of seats over noticed that Moze and I didn't have glowsticks so he offered one to each of us. Giving me what was presumed to be a pink glowstick, he asked, 'do you like Sayu?' I replied that I did, in fact, think myself a fan of Sayu and graciously accepted the gift. It turned out to be orange, which I'm told is Kamei Eri's color, but that's not the point. I had a glowstick and whoever's color I happened to get was the one I would claim. I had made a declaration on this site some months ago that I was planning to kidnap Eri if I ever saw her in person, and although she's safe for now, there's always next time.
They blared AC/DC music from one of their newer albums for most of the pre-show time. Huh. Eventually they started playing those terrible AX promo videos on the VTR, and one of those was the 'Tour of Little Tokyo' video, where they hung out by the 'red thing' like we did, and the music was '3, 2, 1, Breaking Out!' so whenever it started all the fans would mime along with glowsticks, until the music stopped abruptly and everyone went, 'Awwww...' until the video was over. This happened several times.
As for the show, well, it was all new to me, but not to the seasoned Japanese veterans in front of us who had two glowsticks of every color in the waiting. I've seen a few concert DVD's in my life and I knew what was to come. The group took the stage, everyone stood up, and the short girl behind me got upset about it. Okay, fine; for your sake, we will all sit quietly and watch the Musume perform. Not a chance. To that girl, I'm sorry a thousand times if you couldn't see over me, but clearly AX does not care about you, and it was not in the plans when they decided to hold such an event with a flat viewing area. I'd have sat down if it meant you could have seen the stage better, but the reality was that neither of us would have been able to see the show at that point.
Hopefully I have a few fresh things to say about the concert which everyone's already been talking about, because my knowledge of performance (from both an audience and a performer's perspective) is one of my strong points. You all may watch Haromoni like it's going out of style, but I know what a good concert should be.
From my perspective, it was great. I was in the seventh row, center, and I could see everything and hear everything. Anywhere else in the hall, further back or more to the side, I don't know. I don't think the hall was ideal, just a square room with a concrete floor and some 8,000 yay-hoo's (myself included) going nuts as the show went on as planned. I don't know what the view was from the back of the hall, and frankly, I don't care, because I had a great seat.
The girls sang and danced wonderfully. It was guaranteed to be epic just based on circumstance. But overall, it seemed kinda shoddy. The sound system was pushed beyond a comfortable limit, even sounding 'broken' in certain parts of the show. The girls deserve some sort of medal for being able to put on a decent performance with all that sound just beating 'em in the head. Sayu was particularly off-key in a few places, but again, with the sound system, it's hard to blame her, and if you were there to hear recorded-quality music, ya should have stayed home and listened to the CD. I, on the other hand, pretty much stared a hole through Koharu, but I managed to get a glimpse of all the other girls; enough time that I could pick them out in a police lineup after they mugged me on the street.
Next issue was the space for the audience. At one point (I think it was) Reina advised us, 'everybody JUMP!' and my reply was, 'this is not advisable, Reina!' as we would either rack ourselves on the chair-back in front of us, or the chair-seat behind us. My legs touched the chair behind me the whole time, and likewise, my waist touched the chair in front of me. I could not jump, although I wanted to.
Then there was the strange choice of the setlist. The girls came out and performed all their songs but one, and then Tsunku came out to announce the winners of the AMV (amateur music video) contest. We heard '3, 2, 1, Breaking Out! (Short Version)' three times while the winnning videos were played, and the girls danced to themselves every time the song played. Yossie, under the alias 'HANGRY' (which fooled no one) came out to explain that Rika (a.k.a. ANGRY) could not make it to Los Angeles because she was 'angry'. Lame, lame, lame joke. No one really needed an explanation for her absence, but having offered that, clearly they could have come up with a better excuse.
The audience's energy was sapped by the end of the presentation, and the girls wrapped up the show by doing '3, 2, 1, Breaking Out!' for a second time. It was a blink-or-you'll-miss-it kind of thing. By the time our energy had picked up again, the song was nearly over. They said their goodbyes and left the stage. 8,000 people chanted "EN-CO-RU!" for what I'm told was 12 full minutes but no encore was given. Instead, several of the AX crowd-controllers came out looking frustrated and waved their arms like a football referee does when a field goal kick is called 'not good'. Someone got on the microphone and said, 'the show has ended, please exit to your right' and AX staffers along the way ordered us to keep moving, like it was some sort of weird death march. I am a fast walker, and I was going as fast as the crowd would allow me, and they kept yelling at us to keep moving. We were moving, dammit.
It was clear -- and I love you guys and thank you all for the hard work putting the show together and all the time you spent that week -- but it was *clear* that no one on staff knew who they were dealing with. No one even bothered to come up with a hypothetical for the outcome of the show. A sane group would have thought, "you know, this group is known for having some real fanatics; what do we do if they refuse to leave the venue?" Did they think that we would file out quietly and just accept that the show was over? The decision which the AX staff decided to go with is this: act confused, tell everyone to leave immediately, and be staunch about it. Tell everyone to keep moving.
Mr. Tsunku, was an appropriate encore for your first actual American show just a repeat of *one* song? Did you hear the frenzy that was 8,000 people calling for an encore? Just wondering.
Oh well, I've seen Morning Musume in concert. And not just any concert, but the first (and until they get so popular over here that we can't get rid of them, the *only*) concert on the US mainland. I was sweating like crazy while it was going on, I've never pumped my arm so many times in my life. I lost my voice for about a week yelling along with the songs and as well, in responding to the MC parts, where they asked us questions like, 'Minna-san genki desu ka?' (Reina got that honor) As I and others have mentioned, the appropriate American response to that question is "I'M FUCKIN' GENKI!'
They did the song I had expected them to do, "Ame no Furanai, etc...." with the Chinese solo lines, and when those occured, even in the seventh row, you could not hear them singing. I know at least one other fellow blogger was perturbed by that; I decided the opposite, and every time I hear that song, I'm reminded of how much support we gave to JunJun and LinLin. Sure, I may crack a few jokes about how I won't accept Chinese Musume, I mean, I really think it goes against the whole point of the group, but whatever... the American crowd clearly has their backs. And all that disrupting of the song was intended to be support on their behalf. Yeah, we ruined the best part of the song, but it's seriously one of the best moments in audio-recording history, and we just had to say something to show our love.
In conclusion, I don't think I can ever go to an American concert again that doesn't include choreographed yelling, glowstick waving, and fist pumping. Aside from seeing Slayer in a tiny little Iowa venue, for me it was Best. Concert. Ever. Minus the glowstick waving, the Slayer show was pretty similar, although I was further back in the crowd for that.
Well then, next episode (maybe there'll be pretty pictures for that)... Part 5, including Hello!Party and the Tsunku Q & A session, et al. Bai bai!
Fucking awesome.
ReplyDeleteMy experience at the concert was pretty close to yours, for the most part (although I was 5th row back a bit to the right of the stage, pretty much the same distance from the girls really, just a different trajectory XD). I could actually hear JunJun and LinLin just fine in Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou, but I was closer to the speakers than you so that's probably why.
Also, completely agree with you about going to other concerts...nothing beats the feeling you get seeing Momusu live, that's for sure. I doubt I'll be capable of enjoying a non-H!P concert for a while. :P
- cfb
(btw, I was the curly-haired glasses-wearing college-age guy with Paul on Saturday night when you decided to chill in the room while we made our way to the bar)
just fact checking here. I indeed came armed with TWO glowsticks: Green for Risa and Orange for Eri. I remember that dude giving you a pink one.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mage hipping us to C-Zone, who at that point, looking at their picture on a flyer, I regarded with a blase "whatever...ok, cool, maybe, ummmm... Aya's my favourite" (in the idol game you gotta pick a favorite, even if you know nothing of the group or it's music). It just seemed so inconsequential in light of seeing Momusu in a few moments.
The Show rocked and we were "fucking genki" to be sure. I'm glad we shared that experience. I am also ruined for other concerts.
Although...on Saturday and Sunday after meeting the girls and asking Tsunku a question (definate highlights of my life), C-Zone stepped in and helped aleviate post-Momusu depression. They did such a good job of it that I am now a C-Zone fan. Their CD single is awesome and I play it all the time. Their little performances which you can see on youtube were the opposite of the big corporate machine that Momusu had behind them and I remember someone saying they saw them at the Convention food court being handed money by their manager to buy some pizza. Love me some C-Zone!
Oh, and my Idol Instinct was dead on. Aya's my favorite!
ReplyDelete@CFB, the reason I probably couldn't hear the Chinese gals during that part of the song was because *I* was screaming at them with what little voice I had left.
ReplyDeleteA self-quote (about "Ame no Furanai...") from my Plat9 recap: "Though it may never top Aya's 'THE LAST NIGHT' or Berryz' 'BE' (good luck with *that*), it's enjoyable, and has a nice buildup. One of those songs that starts nice and quiet and before you know it you're going deaf, but all that does is make you turn it up all the more. I really like the addition of some Chinese words, so thanks, Chinese chicks, for taking it to the next level."
Yeah, I'll go back on that. That song has just grown on me like a cancer, and is perhaps the pinnacle of all H!P to this point.
@ Moze, thanks for clarifying; it's good to have multiple witnesses sometimes. Luckily I goofed on a small point like glowsticks and won't be facing you in a libel lawsuit in the near future (one can only hope). You *did* have two glowsticks, and the guy on your right presented my glowstick-less self with what was presumed to be a pink one, but it ended up being orange. OH NO! What did I do to deserve *that*, lol...
I'm getting to C-Zone, and if anyone has pics of their performance/fan session, I'd like to post a couple. Saturday/Sunday was the least of my picture-taking activities. For some reason I thought the opportunities had dwindled. They didn't, but in almost every case I was reassured by the fact that anyone else who *could* had taken a picture. I know they're out there somewhere...
P.S. Moze, you're wrong, totally... As far as C-Zone is concerned. It's Yume or nothing, it really is...
ReplyDeleteGotta ROTFL at this point, though; I mean, you know how it goes. Pick a favorite, knowing nothing about a certain group, and reinforce that with repeated viewings of the group, which includes your favorite, and regardless, your favorite continues to be your favorite, unless something monumental (either good or bad) occurs.
It's the modern equivalent to "I like what I like..." You picked Aya, you continued to pick Aya, so I'm not surprised that she is your favorite, still. Ah, pay me no mind, I can't change your opinion. Just doing what the English would call "taking the piss", eh?
@jyoru
ReplyDeleteSo you're one of the many who ruined all the slow songs (see: I WISH and Ame no whatever-the-hell) by screaming the whole time? :P
No hard feelings, though...the AX concert was really too epic of an event for anyone to be able to contain themselves XD
@CFB, 'I Wish' had some timing issues as it got going, if I remember correctly, and I was listening intently (there isn't much to yell until the "YEAH" and it gets started).
ReplyDeleteBut the 'Ame no Furanai...' incident, well, I dreamed of everything, and even though my premonitions had not foreseen the venue, the timing, and everything else as it occurred, "Ame no Furanai", the song 'I swore they were gonna do', happened. And when it happened, and the Chinese chicks started in, the reaction was, "LET'S YELL ABOUT IT!" because of two reasons:
1.) We had the wherewithal to give them an immediate response.
2.) Seriously, no one else within the group can replicate those lines, i.e., they don't speak or sing Chinese (which could be from several languages and dialects; I don't keep up with these things but know that they are possible.) The 'true' Japanese Musume can't do these lines without looking like complete fools.
Finally, CFB, you can "wish people would have kept quiet during this one" but since you "could actually hear JunJun and LinLin just fine" in "Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou", what's your complaint?
I mean, we're BFF but you can't simultaneously wish that people would have kept quiet *and at the same time* heard the whole thing clearly. It's one or the other...
"Shut up everyone... I mean, I can hear it perfectly." WTF?
@jyoru
ReplyDeleteWell, the first bit about you being one of those who 'ruined' the slow songs was more a joke than anything.
My (quite mild) annoyance came from a difference in approach to concert-going. I'm the type who would prefer to bawl my eyes out at how beautiful and unique JunLin's Chinese lines are than to cheer my lungs out for them. Call me a sap or a pussy or what have you, but that's how the slower stuff makes me feel. :P (plus, I like to save my energy - and my voice - for the energetic songs) That said...for someone like me, it was slightly less enjoyable being there for the performance of a song like "Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou' when most of the audience was screaming with the kind of energy that I think should be saved for...well, pretty much any other song Momusu performed at AX.
Even so, I can totally understand why the other attendees did what they did...it was Morning Musume's first US concert, that's CRAZY. How the fuck did we get so lucky!? And these were the only lines the Pandas get to sing in their own language! It was simply epic, beyond words even. Were I the type to express my feelings more outwardly, I may have just screamed my head off the whole time as well. For that reason, I have no hard feelings toward the people who couldn't contain their excitement. It was a small blemish on an otherwise amazing experience, and it's definitely not worth getting into an argument over.
So...sorry if I came off a little harsher than I intended to. No offense was meant.
CFB, I try to take it in stride, believe me. I have more reason to think that *I'm* being a dick, over everyone else. No offense taken, none meant, none taken, none meant, etc...
ReplyDeleteI almost pulled my own comment before anyone got a chance to read it, because with text it's hard to get someone's tone, but overall, my comments weren't meant to put you down -- I'm just trying to be funny, ya have to understand. More than anything else, I'm apologizing for my response(s) because I was just deconstructing your language for the outcome of a laugh. Again, dude, we're BFF. You and I are on the same page, despite everything else.
Perhaps it's a deep-seated psychological resentment for the blogs who get more comments than I do, after asking a mundane question, like "Who's your favorite H!P member?", and then they get over 100 comments just based on that alone...
Or the fact that IW has overlooked me in 3, (count 'em, three) posts about AX re-caps, as if I'm not doing my job, here...
Overall I'm just trying to beat my previous comment record (which stands at 10) with a few nonsensical comments of my own.
I mean, once I've had a few (drinks) and done some research, my mind goes crazy. Do you know what I do for a living? I adjust tax returns, and then write a letter to the taxpayer about *why* their tax return is messed up, albeit in a firm-yet-not-accusatory tone.
Let's not have any further apologizing here. The one thing that separates *my* site from all the others is that *I* run this site, so if I trash-talk, unless it's direct (F*** Y**, motherf***er!) (j/k), assume I'm just conversing and trying to be funny. I got nothin' against you, but if I'm wrong, say it!
The *last* thing this site needs is an unchecked jyoru...
@jyoru
ReplyDeleteBFFs for life, bro.
Honestly, I kind of thought that comment may have just been the way you roll, but I felt the need to adequately explain exactly what bothered me about the situation, haha. S'all good, really...I'll just remember that if you sound like a dick in your comments...you're not a dick, you're just a funny guy. Or something.
btw, you wouldn't happen to have MSN or AIM or anything would you?
- cfb
yeah, I got MSN, but as to not broadcast my handle on this site, please email me at jyoru1211@gmail.com and we can exchange info. I haven't been on MSN alot lately, but I should be around one way or ther other.
ReplyDeleteYeah, new record, 11 comments. Holla!
Oh, no, make no mistake C5B, Jyouru is indeed a dick. Just a very very funny one.
ReplyDeleteMoze, you've gone too far; I won't have that language here. Or maybe I will, I haven't decided just yet. You're on "the list" now.
ReplyDeletePart 5 will be up soon, and those who know my definition of the word "soon" can expect it within a couple of months or so. Until then, enjoy my 'argument about nothing' above.
CFB and I have since made up over our differences, to all concerned (Hi, Moze!).
C-Zone!!!
YAY!!! I made "the list"! Woo-hoo! I just knew you guys would make up. I just knew it.
ReplyDeletePart 5! I need Part 5!
hey, I just want to apologize fror my crass comment. it was meant entirely in jest and I hope you know that, Jyoru. You da man. I'm dyin' for Part 5!
ReplyDelete...And the hilarious "sorry for my comment" thread continues.
ReplyDeleteThere's about nothing you could say to faze me, 'cuz I'm totally joking around... that and trust me, I'm quite aware of my own dickery-ness.
1.) There *is* no "list", do I have time for such a thing? Sorry to disappoint you...
2.) Words in themselves are not offensive, so thanks for using some appropriate fuckin' language 'round these parts. I guess I've decided, we'll have plenty of that language here.
3.) Will never be mad at the guy who introduced me to 'Piriri to Yukou (Sad Version)'... What was the official name of that remix?
4.) Part 5 is kickin' around... I've gotten thru the Hello!Party segment and need a bit of time to pick apart Tsunku's Q&A, i.e., Japanese people don't have rhythm? Maybe not historically, but Kago-chan throws down the gauntlet in "Get Up Rapper"... and, people were leaving during the MM concert? Who was that?
Oh, and Moze, what was the name of that New-Wave-ish group you played for me, on line for registration?
ReplyDelete