deep kyoto

Charles Roche says,

On Sunday, May 27th ” The Flame”, an evening of true, personal, experience stories told by suspect individuals will debut at Papa Jon’s Eatery. Stories (all in English) begin at 7:00PM. No translations provided.

Inspired by the famous New York storytelling NPO, The Moth, Kyoto’s The Flame has the potential to be an exciting new regular get-together for our community. With some familiar names listed for the opening night, there will also be an open mic session. The first story theme is, “On and off the Road, traveler’s tales of the UNEXPECTED.” For further details, left click on the flyer below and then click again.

Date and time: Sunday May 27th, 7:00 – 9:30 pm.
Entry: 500 yen.
Location: Papa John’s Eatery is on the 3rd floor of the Shimpukan Building, just south of Oike, on the east side of Karasuma.

Velvet Moon organizer Ryotaro, & performer Christopher Fryman

Velvet Moon is an ongoing music, dance and performance event that our friend Ryotaro Sudo began to organize 20 years ago. Originally held at Club Metro before finding a brief home at Cafe Independants, it is now held regularly at Urbanguild. Ryotaro describes this event as an opportunity for artists who might not be able to fill a full show by themselves to flex their creative muscles and freely experiment. Says Ryotaro, “Sometimes the results are not so good. Sometimes they are bad, or very bad. But sometimes… miracles happen.”

Last Thursday I attended Velvet Moon Vol. 53. Altogether I saw four different acts encompassing a range of experimental music, dance, performance, live painting, body art and partial nudity. That’s not a bad deal for 2000 yen! It would be worth it just to see Mr. Fryman’s trumpet playing alone! And I should also mention that the entry fee includes the cost of a complimentary drink.

Here are some images from last Thursday followed by details of the next Velvet Moon event on the 16th.

First up were Urbanguild regulars Christopher Fryman on trumpet, and the dancer Misuzu, accompanied by drummer Komaki:

Then came the acts I was unfamiliar with…

The band Liquid Architeuthis…

月身 – Combining the talents of MINA （dance) x HIBIKI （sound) x GAKU （body art):

And finally KALIYAQEN whose key members are the artist Liqen from Galicia and Japanese musician Kayaka:

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Velvet Moon Vol. 54 will be held on Wednesday May 16th and features music, dance and performance from:

Nils Berg Cinemascope

MOO-TALA’S + Chimaki

木村文彦（打楽器）

BRDG (山口惠子、今村達紀、その他)

龍泪”LONGLEI” aka Yuske

Opens: 18:30
Starts: 19:00
Tickets in advance (or if you sign up on the facebook event page): 2000 yen (includes 1 drink)
Tickets on the door: 2300 yen (includes 1 drink)

Location: UrBANGUILD. From Sanjo Dori go down Kiyamachi Dori. This is the narrow street running alongside Takase stream. Urbanguild is on the east side (left hand side as you walk down from Sanjo). Walk approximately 150 metres. Its on the 3rd floor of the New Kyoto Building – access by elevator or stairs. Here is a map.

This picture by Sheila Campbell

Though we didn’t quite get the crowds we had hoped for last weekend, we still managed to make a fair bit of money to help IDRO Japan continue its good work in northern Japan. Our combined takings for two days was 156,561 yen but we had a lot of stuff left over, some of which we took to a used clothing store and some to Bookoff. After Bookoff’s contribution our current total stands at 163,121 yen. However, we are still waiting to hear how much the used clothing store will give us, so the final grand total could be a wee bit higher yet.

The event itself was tiring but a lot of fun. It was as much a gathering as it was sale with lots of old friends popping in for a chat as well as a mooch around our shop. Also on Saturday from 3.30 onwards we had pretty much non-stop music. First Felicity Greenland held a jolly folk sing-along on the balcony (the weather was gorgeous):

Next up, Jen Teeter sang along to Hiroyuki Tokuda’s guitar and regaled us with some fine old rock and pop classics:

Then three magical tunes from my friends Choro Canário:

Max Dodds followed up with a selection of Canadian classics that had me and Mewby dancing and was accompanied by a rather dramatic light show of lightning strikes in the skies behind him as well as occasional harmonica riffs from Lawrence Barrow.

As the day darkened into evening our final musician, Ai (of Jet Pepper Tower and Chi to Bara) serenaded the ladies under a Super Moon with songs of dark romance:

As always our key team organizers Sheila Campbell, Carolyn Wright, and my right-hand-girl Mewby proved to be invaluable, but thanks are due also to a heck of a lot of people who helped us out. I just hope I don’t miss anyone off the list! Please remind me if I do!

Hiroko Kawano was present throughout the sale selling goods, and also helped us A LOT previous to the sale translating and distributing publicity materials. Thank you Hiroko!

Thanks of course, are due to all who came and donated and bought goods but special thanks go to Russell Trott of Crossfit Kyoto and Ela Lua of bodhielements for the vouchers they gave us. Thanks to Kris Kondo for her accessories. And thanks (and apologies) to John Gorman who won the booby prize in the lucky dip!

A lot of people were very generous in paying more than we asked them for and telling us to keep the change (especially Felicity). A big thanks also to the gentleman who donated 20,000 yen when I was out at lunch. I think I know who that was but suspect he prefers it to be an anonymous gesture so will  keep his secret for him…

Also many thanks to  the cooks! Cookies and bacon proved to be the hottest items at our sale! Many thanks indeed, to Mewby for her banana coffee cookies, to Kelton Boyer for the big box of assorted cookies he sent all the way from Nagano (these disappeared real quick!), to Liz Maly for her fantastic chocolate brownies, to Kevin and Takako Ramsden for their lovely cookies and fruit loaf, and to Tadg McLoughlin for his super popular smoked bacon!

Most of all though thanks to all the volunteers who came along and helped us out!

Thanks to Alexander Draude, Masae Tsunoda, “Three shifts” Zsuzsi Szabo, Gudrun Graewe, Barbara Stein, Liz Maly, Reggie Pawle, Sasumi Pawle, Shaheed Rupani, Mika Fukumitsu, Sayaka Iwagaki, and Tomoko-san (sorry Tomoko I don’t have your last name listed!).

Also a big thanks to Dan Douglas for helping us get all the stuff in on Saturday morning, and again to Barbara Stein and Shaheed Rupani for taking the clothes to the used clothing store on Sunday evening! That was a big help!

Thanks also to the staff of the 左京西部いきいき市民活動センター (Sakyou Nishibu Iki-iki Shimin Katsudou Center). They were very helpful and friendly and at 100 yen an hour for such a good location it’s an excellent event space!

Finally, thanks again to Sheila, Carolyn and Mewby for being there throughout and making it all possible but especially to Sheila who has been storing a big pile of donated goods for so long! A very big otsukaresama your way!

Once I have the final monies collected I shall meet up with Rob Mangold to hand over the cash and report back to you all on how he plans to invest it in Tohoku’s future! In the meantime if you haven’t already, please check out the following posts and familiarize yourselves with IDRO’s ongoing work up north:

Ten Days in Tohoku – a simple sketch of the things I saw, the projects I took part in and the people I met with IDRO Japan this March.

An Interview with Rob Mangold, the Founder of IDRO JAPAN

Important news: WE ARE NOT TAKING ANY MORE DONATED GOODS

We received a lot of goods yesterday and it has become obvious we are not going to be able to sell it all by the end of today. This is our final sale, so unfortunately any goods brought to us today will be respectfully (and apologetically) declined.

Today we are open from 10 ~ 3.

Today all clothes, shoes, bags, knick-knacks & cookies are going for 100 yen.

Books are 100 yen for two!

Ceramics, electrical goods and household items will be sold for a donation of your choice.

Yesterday we took over 113,000 yen. Thank you to all the volunteers and musicians who helped to make it such a memorable day. Read the rest of this entry »

Some people are still under the impression that our sale this weekend is in the same location as last year. Let me make this clear…

IT’S NOT THE SAME PLACE!!

Here again are the directions in case you didn’t catch them in earlier postings: Read the rest of this entry »

As regular readers will remember, in early March I spent ten days up in Miyagi prefecture volunteering with IDRO JAPAN. As the charity sale for IDRO approaches, I think it’s time I finally sat down and wrote about the work I took part in up there, and put down some thoughts about my experiences. So here goes…

The Importance of Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

First off, I’m a very unlikely volunteer. Having failed to go up last year with the excuse of a bad back (actually true), I had pretty much settled into that excuse as a way of avoiding getting out of my comfort zone. If you are familiar with the first chapter of The Hobbit – pre-adventure Bilbo Baggins is pretty much me (minus the hairy feet); I’m lazy, I like my routine, I like my own space and I don’t even like traveling all that much. Too much hassle. I told myself I could probably be more effective raising awareness through my online activities than actually heading north and doing some hard work. However, as the months went by, an incipient feeling of guilt crept up on me, and finally pounced when I was interviewing IDRO founder Rob Mangold for a prospective Kyoto Journal interview. Fellow KJ member Jen Teeter, also present, said to me, “You should go up there” and Rob followed up with “You wouldn’t even have to do any volunteer work! Just go up there and meet those people and talk to them! Somebody needs to record all this!”

He had a point. How could I possibly write about the work that IDRO was doing if I didn’t go up and see it for myself? And also Rob had said that the time for unskilled volunteers was coming to a close. This could be my last chance… I resolved to go, follow Rob around a bit, and try not to get in the way to much, and so a couple of weeks later found myself staying at the INJM houses, with over 20 other volunteers, my private space gone, my normal routine fully broken, forced to socialize with all kinds of people at all times, and doing all kinds of work (in all kinds of weather) that I would never have imagined doing before. It was good. I’m glad I did it. It woke this sleepy hobbit up.

The Projects…

Rob Mangold and Jamie El-Banna

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are a couple of jolly videos from Choro Canário’s show at Sons last week followed by news of their upcoming events. There is a possibility that they might also be able to play at our Tohoku fundraiser/sale at Demachiyanagi this weekend. In both the following videos Ryoichi Katoh (on bandolim) and Shinya Setono (on the seven stringed classical guitar) are accompanied by Aki-Chang on the cavaquinho. It always gets jollier when he joins in! Read the rest of this entry »

Here as promised are some video clips from Max Dodd’s show at Tadg’s the other week. Max will of course be performing a solo show as the “Human Jukebox” this coming Saturday at our Tohoku fundraiser up by Demachiyanagi. Other musicians performing are Felicity Greenland, Jen L. Teeter, Hiroyuki Tokuda, Ai (from Jet Pepper Tower and Chi to Bara) and there is a possibility that Choro Canário may also put in a flying guerrilla style performance too!

Now back to the music! Scroll down to the end to see Robert Yellin’s guest spot! Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you to all the good Kyoto people who have helped us promote our charity sale for Tohoku! Hover your cursor over each picture to see who they are…

IDRO Japan’s Golden Week Charity Sale for Tohoku will be held on the 5th & 6th of May near Demachiyanagi Station – check the links below for more information:

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/218940804872318/
More details here: http://www.deepkyoto.com/?p=7328
日本語はこちら：http://www.deepkyoto.com/?p=7392

So, we have a flyer!

Isn’t it gorgeous? Just click on it for a better view. Many thanks to Yutaka for designing this. If anyone should like to help distribute it , in either colour or black & white just send me your email address and I can send you the pdfs. There’s just over a week to go now of course so we need to get the word out quick!

I can also confirm the entertainment schedule for Saturday, May 5th:

Felicity Greenland (vocals and guitar): 3.30 – 4.30
Jen L. Teeter (vocals) &  Hiroyuki Tokuda (guitar):  4.45 – 5.45
Max Dodds (vocal and guitar): 6:00 – 7:00

Entry is of course free, but the idea is that the musicians play as a “human jukebox”, so you toss them a few coins and they play you a song! All monies donated of course going to Tohoku via IDRO Japan.

We have also been promised all kinds of delicious baked goods, not to mention Tadg McLoughlin’s traditional Irish oak smoked bacon which is currently under production and will be vacuum packed and sliced!

Mewby’s cookies will also be making an appearance, having proven so popular last year.

Here’s a quick recap of this events key points:

Event: Massive Bargain Sale / Gathering / Sing-a-long / Cookie Fest

Purpose: To raise lots of cash/awareness for IDRO Japan’s great work in the disaster-struck Tohoku region!

Dates & Times: Saturday May 5th – 11:00 – 21:00 /Sunday May 6th – 10:00 – 15:00

Location: Very close to Demachiyanagi Station at the 左京西部いきいき市民活動センター (Sakyou Nishibu Iki-iki Shimin Katsudou Center). Please note – it’s not the same location as last year!

DIRECTIONS:

Now the map on the flyer makes the location look easy to find but actually it’s a little more complicated than that, so here are some clear directions. From Demachiyanagi Station head east. You will pass Heming Sports Club on your right and on your left, there is a broad area of azalea hedge. Turn left at the hedge! Go straight up until you see a small tobacco shop directly in front of you. Take the road to the left of the shop and go up again. You will pass a temple on your right and then another temple on your left. Just a few steps further on your right is the Iki-iki Shimin Katsudou Center. There is a kindergarten on the ground floor. Go up to the second floor and we are at the far end of the building in Room 3. We are looking forward to seeing you!

You can also check the google map here which has the route marked from Demachiyanagi Exit 5.

For more details of the event, please visit this post, or sign up on our Facebook event page.