Monday night was pretty crazy. Azami took me to another show, but this one was very different from the night before. It was a jazz festival in Matsuyama, held in about 8 different bars scattered around the Okaido area. Every hour, the bands would switch out, so there was opportunity to hear a ton of different music. We stayed in the same bar, called Yah Man 33, for three hours. The first band was a bass, guitar, and drums combo that played some really groovy contemporary jazz. Haven't heard music like that in a while. Second band was called Taja, seven members strong. No drummer, but instead a metro 20-something who beat boxed the whole time. Kinda sounded like Christian music, but I couldn't tell because it was all in Japanese. Good stuff though, the main singer could really belt it out. The last band had played the night before, the main singer and guitar player goes by the name Ya-kun (think raccoon). The night before, when I was introduced to him, he said he played like Santana. Wasn't kidding. This guy could shred on the guitar! After that, Azami and I wandered over to another bar to catch our friend named Pon-chan's band. They're called the Brick Brothers. It's hard to tell from the picture I took, but they're actually a Blues Brothers cover band. Nothing funnier than seeing a fat Japanese guy in a suit dancing like a maniac while singing "Play that funky music, white boy." Crazy good, and crazy fun. We rounded off the night by going back to the first bar and doing tequila shots with Ya-kun and the whole Taja band. Really good stuff. Now that I know my way around, I'm definitely going to hit up these bars more to catch some fantastic music.
Side note: this last picture is of me with a cute bartender named Ar (pronounced Aru). Managed to get her number, only to call her today and realize that she speaks about as much English as I do Japanese! Makes trying to get a date somewhat difficult. I've really got to work harder at learning the language. Time to hit the books!
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