5 posts from August 2009

Mari is everything she’s cracked up to be, and more. Take it from Erilaz, who got a little more than he bargained for during TsuShiMiMaRe’s explosive hurricane-force show in San Francisco over the weekend.

 

It wasn’t enough TSMMR got crazy and Erilaz practically ate Mari’s microphone during the day mini-concert at Peace Plaza in the middle of Japantown, which jumped with more intensity than ever with the grand opening of New People, a swank Tokyo-style art and fashion shop that attracted every Akihabara wannabe this side of the Mississippi – and beyond.

 

So, then Erilaz recovers from this first wave of heaven only to be confronted with one hell of a galactic paradox – up close and personal with the aforementioned Mari who wore net another flowered dress en route to be most astonishing acrobatic lede-singer show in the history of pop.

 

Check it out: Erilaz and Rad♂, up close and personal:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3WP_F3VvY8

 

CK♂ also showed up and had his well-planned dinner interrupted by the snarled pit in front of the stage that simply would not be denied. Yes, Erilaz and, yes, even Rad♂ himself got the first in-your-face shoves by Mari as she spent more time in (and on top of ) the crowd than on the postage-stamp-sized stage. Especially enjoyable were the day and night renditions of "Hyper Sweet Power" from TV's "Powder Puff Girls."

 

Bass player Yayoi went ballerina-nuts as always, high-kicking it in both day and night sessions while blistering that bass guitar with a machine-gun precision only known on other planets.

 

The drummers? Damn. Yes, Mizue of TSMMR was at her slugging best, but Red Bacteria Vacuum’s Akeming kept jack-stomping all day and night long and even Noodles’ low-key Ayumi kept pounding it out.

 

It all transpired in the compact but expensive-looking Yoshi’s, a “jazz club” that morphed into a banzai bombshell of a pressure-cooker concert venue, featuring TSMMR as the deserved headliner, but joined equitably by opening-act punkers RedBacVac and the laid-back retro Noodles.

 

Now get something straight right now. Noodles played the best set (at least they sound hellacious on CD) and it was superb retro pop, ‘60s style, but with a low-alto vocal line that just could not be heard through the din. Yoko’s pure but light voice just didn’t really have an honest chance. The tunes remained mellow, though, as Noodles was stuck in between the outrageously impolite RedBacVac and the hell-on-wheels TSMMR.

 

 

Fans got crazy day and night, and even the Akihabara wannabes got with it. Sheesh, New People’s handlers and even MTV Iggy (whose clueless staffers didn’t know the difference between Morning Musume and Elvis Presley) sponsored a Lolita makeover for five lucky American girls who blankly stared through the entire process until seeing their transmutation and glorifying in it.

 

That and some finishing touches by the lethal 6%DokiDoki and techno-wizard and Phantom-of-the-Opera lookalike Omodaka made the occasion complete.

 

Hail Japan. Hail Mari! And hail the entire music world, stood on its end for one precious moment.

 

This is Rad♂ signing off – for now.

Holy moly, Tokyo Benten finally got smart and just brought the girls along this year in a twisted version of Japan Nite 2009 that will explode this weekend at Japantown in San Francisco.

 

That’s when “New People,” a new Japan pop-culture center, stages its grand opening. What better way than to have sassy and spicy all-girl bands ripping the roof off Yoshi’s on Sunday starting at 8 p.m. – but giving everyone a bonus min-concert during the day Saturday, starting around noon, right in the middle of the grand opening. What spoilsports. The old fogies won't like this one bit!

 

TsuShiMaMiRe: This threesome will be handing out many musical treats.

Details are here:

 

http://www.newpeopleworld.com/upcoming-events/japan-nite-special-girls-rock-explosion-at-yoshi%e2%80%99s-sf/

 

Now, just who are these crazy bands? Well, Red Bacteria Vacuum has a screaming flavor all its own:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ceY03zuawI

 

Noodles: They look as hard-core as they sound, but are balladeers, too.

Next, try and understand who the hell TsuShiMaMiRe is:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YTP9sBslqg&feature=related

 

Then, there’s Noodles, by any measure an excellent group. This song, “Skin,” rocks:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfaZUeAHlgk&feature=related

 

6%DokiDoki: Just what in the hell is this? Akihabara in the Bay Area?

Finally, in what looks like a twisted version of a Morning Musume concert, there’s 6%DokiDoki:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBR5FXuEhaA

 

Techno-pop at its tacky best.

 

Two days of craziness ahead in Japantown.Be there or be square.

 

This is Rad signing off – for now.

Tsunku♂ needs a graduation to keep Yokohama Arena a paying venue for January 2010. Just like when Yossie graduated from Morning Musume in May 2007 at gigantic Saitama Super Arena – and Miki left soon thereafter – the Japanese supergroup faces another pivotal point in its illustrious and colorful history.

 

No doubt Aichan and Risa are on a graduation track, judging from what at least one blogger has extrapolated and translated recently from Tsunku♂’s own blog. Further, Eri Kamei’s days might be numbered; it looks as if she will likely opt out of Morning Musume just as Umeda did from °C-ute recently.

 

And now that two more of the top Eggs are leaving the company, Nocchi and Yuri, the talent drain is simply accelerating.

The only issue is the order by which this would occur – and how the holes will be filled

 

One option would be to have Eri go out first, which would justify a Yokohama Arena date in January (or even Saitama for that matter) as graduations tend to draw much more fan interest.

 

But if Risa goes down, Aichan will almost have to go with her – a double graduation along the same lines as Konno and Mako did in summer 2006, only this one would be far more emotional as Risa and Aichan are the record-holders in Morning Musume member longetivity.

 

This would be appropriate since Aichan and Risa are what remain of the fifth generation, as Mako and Konno were also fifth gen.

 

Without the Elders, my guess is that Tsunku♂ needs graduations to sell out the big arenas in both winter and summer 2010. Note that this year’s Hello! Project summer tour had no large anchor arena – but, then again, here were no graduations.

 

So, if Eri is out in January, then Risa and Aichan will almost certainly retire in the summer. That leaves three big sets of dancing shoes to fill.

 

Enter °C-ute, decimated with more than one-fourth of its members out of action as of the fall – Kanna is already gone with a bad toe and possibly other entanglements, while Umeda has stepped aside as of late October with a formal graduation.

 

So, there's trouble everywhere. Let’s assume Eri, Aichan and Risa are all out as of fall 2010. With the current talent shortage what it is, here’s a possible solution:

 

Disband °C-ute. Suzuki is already a star in Buono! Put Maimi in Morning Musume. Move Risako from Berryz Kobo into Morning Musume. Both Maimi and Risako looked really good in “Mikan” when they joined Morning Musume for that one shuffle number in the January Wonderful Hearts tour.

 

But what about Berryz, the lone stable unit in the company? Move Saki-N, Chisato and Hagiwara over to Berryz. This also allows Momoko and Miyabi to leave Berryz and focus on Buono!, keeping Berryz at seven. With Maimi and Risako in Morning Musume, that makes eight there.

 

While °C-ute's Suzuki, center, 2007, is safe in Buono!, Hagiwara, left, and Chisato are not.

For good measure, go ahead and bump up super-Egg Saki Ogawa into the flagship, Morning Musume – making it nine strong again. She’s 12 now, and will turn 13 this fall; remember, Aibon and Nono were 12 when they first joined Morning Musume in 1999.

 

That gives the company two very strong units – three if Buono! Is counted – and with Tsunku♂ adding shuffle groups all the time, the company should stabilize.

 

Saki-O, with Manoeri, January 2009: Is the super-Egg headed for °C-ute or Momusu?

The only other option is to move Saki-O into °C-ute, keep that group stable at six, and hold serve on Berryz and Morning Musume for at least the next year.

 

But that would mean no graduations and no $9 million super-concert at Yokohama Arena in January, where three sellouts can gross $3 million per show. Not enough material with the Elders gone. And nothing for summer 2010, either. Saitama Super Arena or Yoyogi Hippodrome will remain empty for at least another year.

 

Bottom line is that Tsunku♂ is running out of bodies, and the existing Eggs just aren’t strong enough to move into the three primary groups, save for Saki-O. Outside recruiting has slowed. Time to send in more shock troops.

 

Something has to give.

 

This is Rad♂ signing off – for now.

Why is Umeda graduating from °C-ute so soon (in October) after Kanna's recent retirement? Enough already. What in hell is going on, and why is all this happening all at once?

 

The only thing I can imagine is that Tsunku♂ has a master plan afoot on which he has already briefed °C-ute’s remaining five members, and that the rest of us just have to ride this one out. In my view, only the immediate insertion of Egg superstar Saki Ogawa will stop the bleeding. Saki-O could full the shoes of both Kanna and Umeda at the same time, if given the chance, and finally give Maimi, Suzuki, Saki-N and Chisato something to shoot for.

 

Notice I left out Hagiwara’s name in this mix. I just don’t know about Mai Mai. I love this kid, but at the ripe old age of 13 she will now have to shoulder much more of the load without Kanna or Umeda as the normally reliable bookends to what had been, albeit briefly and until recently, one of the greatest young dance ensembles of all time.

 

Only in the fall of 2006 when Megumi went down has °C-ute been in such horrific shape. But Kanna had been added earlier that year, and the seven-member ensemble appeared balanced for an indefinite period.

 

Then came 2007, the first few singles, the Japan Music Award for Best New Artist, the astonishing tours, shows and climactic Wonderful Hearts and large-arena appearances that launched °C-ute into low-earth orbit – eclipsing even Berryz Kobo and the flagship, Morning Musume, in both intensity and energy.

 

Umeda was a big part of "Jump!," which exploded in February 2007 and put °C-ute on the map:

 

http://www.bloggerparty.com/c_ute_s_jump_greatest_pop_song_ever

 

Tsunku♂ had high praise for °C-ute when he was in Los Angeles with Morning Musume in early July, describing that ensemble as the most athletic of all the Hello! Project units. And, indeed, they showed it, and apparently tore it up once again during their most recent tour despite being down to six from Kanna’s retirement.

 

The more I think about it, the more I now honestly believe that Kanna’s main problem was physical. The toe thing was real, and it might have finished her. Fans weren’t too nice, either, continuously pointing out – falsely I might add – that Kanna was the weak link.

 

But Umeda? Damn, this is a painful pill to swallow. Umeda broke in like a Mack truck with ZYX, grew into a tall beauty unmatched by anyone in this company, and quietly meshed into °C-ute to make it the sensational group it was. To think they can carry on as five for any period of time is way over-the-top stupid. Dumb.

 

More on the short-lived but sensational ZYX experiment here:

 

http://www.bloggerparty.com/content/zyx-what-could-have-been-hp

 

There is an answer: Saki-O, and maybe another top Egg – or even parachute one of Tsunku♂’s Korean or Taiwanese starlets in to the mix. Whatever. Get it right and do it fast, before °C-ute dies an early and tortuous death.

 

This is Rad♂ signing off – for now.

Hello! Project’s summer concert season, now under way, has numerous dates and locations, an excellent setlist and the usual array of fine ensembles – Morning Musume, Berryz Kobo, °C-ute, the ever-improving Eggs and up-and-coming soloist Manoeri.

 

But something is missing, unless I've misread the schedule or are otherwise mistaken: A larger, non-theatrical anchor venue such as Yoyogi Hippodrome or Saitama Super Arena is not listed on this tour, as has been the custom in summers past. Neither was a major Saitama or Yokohama Arena show done this spring, to my knowledge; recall that the Berryz vs. °C-ute "Battle Concert" was at Yokohama Arena in April 2008, and Berryz sold out Saitama twice the previous spring, 2007. There is a logical, though sad, explanation for all this. 

 

The company severely downsized when it retired 24 of its 72 singers – the so-called Elder Club – in a concert for the ages Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at the venerable Yokohama Arena, where the normal seating capacity of 17,000 was stretched to almost 20,000 when even the upper-level seats behind the stage were sold.

 

Attending one of these epic events is something to be neither missed nor forgotten:

 

http://www.bloggerparty.com/content/hp-japan-be-careful-what-you-wish

 

With the downsizing this summer, could that January bash have been the final hurrah for Hello! Project at Yokohama Arena?

 

If that is the case, it would mark a sad day in idol-music history. Hints that Yokohama Arena’s now-legendary main stage, three “launch pads,” circular walkway and crossover walkway might be a thing of the past crept into news of the summer lineup.

 

Last year, the summer season included yet another date at Yoyogi Hippodrome, a sizeable arena at Yoyogi Park, near Harajuku and the Shibuya club district of Tokyo. Now Yoyogi, and in some cases the much larger Saitama Super Arena as in 2007, has been to the summer shows what Yokohama Arena is to the winter season – a climactic ending to what is normally a sellout theatrical-venue tour, but in a much larger venue.

 

But last summer, the first major date after the Elder Club purge, which had started with the graduation of V-u-den and was all but official leading up to the January 2009 Elder Club graduation extravaganza,  it was clear that the remaining 46 singers in Hello! Project’s various ensembles rang a little hollow in Yoyogi. Something was missing, and that was the Elder Club.

 

V-u-den, for example, might have been an average trio, anchored by former Morning Musume member Rika, but they were excellent as a lede group for the larger concerts. The same goes for Melon Kinenbi, the Shibata-anchored quartet that injected all kinds of energy into the larger shows. Finally, soloists anchored by Ayaya were vital components to this larger display.

 

Granted, niot every V-u-den, Melon Kinenbi or Ayaya song was spectacular in and of itself, but the sheer number and variety of acts justified Yokohama Arena, Saitama, Yoyogi and the other larger-scale, epic productions.

 

And now, unless I’ve missed something, there is no Saitama and no Yoyogi this summer. Only the usual theaters, seating 2,300 give or take a few hundred and located in far-flung places like Nagoya and Osaka in addition to Tokyo.

 

And, unless I miss my guess on this one, no Yokohama Arena in 2010.

 

I hope I’m wrong.

 

UFA, Hello! Project and Tsunku♂: Please try and keep the famous Yokohama Arena shows going in January-February, even without the Elders. If you need more acts, just bump up some of the Eggs as Tsunku♂ is already doing, creating more units, adding more songs. Give Berryz Kobo and °C-ute three cuts each instead of two, and let those songs run full-length instead of chopping them off after a single verse.

 

As for Buono!, give that trio at least three songs – even a full album, a mini-concert within a concert. Same goes for Manoeri. Cut her loose on that stage, piano, backdancers and all. Make the most of what is left of Hello! Project, while there’s still time.

 

Save Yokohama Arena. The shows have been legendary since that venue was used starting with the 2004 Abe graduation, and it’s only gotten better.

 

Don’t let the Yokohama Arena legend die.

 

This is Rad♂ signing off – for now.