Smoke Signals

I had originally forgotten to write this up, but my film shoot today got pushed back a few hours so I have a few hours to kill before I head into the studio.

As Masaki and I were walking around trying to find a temple at which to make our first respects of the year, he was making various calls to people. We had originally invited the Meekster but she was being a good family girl. Hizaki picked up, they spoke for awhile, then he asked if I was there and if he could talk to me. He then invited me to the Sherow Artist Society New Year live party thing at O-East.

Going through the guest line, their manager greeted me and they had us sign our names with a calligraphy pen in a nice big guest book. I wrote 慈弥, and then noticed that right next to my name was "Leda".

I go upstairs too, spot a stool overlooking the balcony and plop myself down, relieved to have a seat. I was scanning the crowd below when one of MO's sweet makeup girls, whose name I forget at the moment, came and said hello to me and the fellow sitting next to me. It was obvious we didn't know each other, so she introduced us. "Jimi, Leda; Leda, Jimi." That was pretty much the extent of our interaction.


The show started out with a side-stage set up with a kotatsu and Kamijo and Teru in kimono, just sitting and talking. It was pretty entertaining, because although Kamijo may be verbose at times he is far more interesting to listen to than many other MC's. Teru went to the main stage to sing a T-Bolan song, accompanied on keyboard by one of the guys from Shinjuku's Heavy Metal Disc Wave. Teru's got a surprisingly deep voice and he's not a great singer but he was having fun.

Then he threw on a guitar and he, You, Yuu, Anzi, and some guy named Kage did Sic by Slipknot and a song by Arch Enemy.

Jasmine You came out in some ridiculous gold thing and did an incredibly camp "Natsu no Yuuutsu" by L'arc.

Sono, Hizaki, Yuu, Anzi, and You (I think, I could be wrong on all these little sessions) did Luna Sea's "Wish" and X's X. Both were just killer. I adore Wish, and Sono was spot-on for X. He is really fantastic.

Kamijo made Yuki drink, then he went out and sang surprisingly well. It was a song I'd heard before but whose singer I could not remember. He was actually quite good.

Yuki, Jasmine You, Ayame, Hizaki, and Kamijo then performed Malice Mizer's "au revoir" and Lareine's "Fleur". As a long-time Malice fan it was a nice treat to hear that, especially considering what I missed out on at Dis Inferno this year. I don't have the heart to admit to Kamijo that I am almost completely ignorant about Lareine, but still, it was quite obvious that this was a special performance for long-time fans.

And finally the real show started; MO played a coupla songs, then as Versailles ran on they ran off and Versailles did a coupla songs; it went back and forth like this for awhile totally seamlessly. MO are disgustingly good musicians. For the encore, everyone came out and did an MO song then a Versailles song. I'm bad with song titles and I'm not on my own computer at the moment and don't want to snoop for other reports from this. :-P

Afterward I went back to say my otsukaresamas and chat with everyone. Teru seemed playfully disappointed that I wasn't familiar with his song but was with Yuki's. Hizaki and I talked a little bit more business, but that's kinda far off, and Kamijo also lightly threw an idea or two at me. And then, as I was about to leave, he admitted that although he knows I'm Hizaki's friend and who I am and what I do, he can't remember my name. D: And then Yuki goofily called out "See you later, Billy!" >_<

Whenever they invite me out with them, the shindigs always end at like 3:30 or 4 in the morning, and their manager gets them all cars home, but those of us who aren't Versailles or MO are kinda stuck. Most of the others live in the area and can get home a little more easily than I can, so usually I just head to a McDonald's (pretty much the only other thing open than a manga cafe and much easier to locate) and read until first train. I had other plans and work and stuff later on so I abstained from the uchiage this time. Luckily though I ran into Inertia & Co., had a quick curry dinner with them, then headed home.

Go wrote a pretty cool article going over the past year, with great succinct yet vibrant punchy descriptions that only he is capable of, and I am mentioned an awful lot! It's a very strange feeling. I don't usually feel important or anything other than small, and while I'm typically content with that, it's humbling to realize that some people are excited for me. Now that's inspiring. :)