LYS in JAPAN anyone?!

Does anyone know any great LYS in Tokyo?????????????

Yep. Our old promoters have opened the lines of communication to bring Bubble back to Japan for our fourth tour over there! I am sooooo excited!!!! It's been close to two years since our last time there and I could hardly sleep last night due to the news.

We also have someone working on the possibility of an English tour. We'll see.

Right now,.............all of it is just talk.

In other news.........went to my knit night as usual. It was awesome.

I've got semi-cool stuff happening in the knit world that has gone all hush hush. I hate keeping secrets but alas, ........I must.

TIMING
It's funny. I was soooo bummed out on Monday. I had called Amoeba records to see if they'd received our cd and to talk to the appropriate person about doing an instore appearance etc. Man oh man. Was I ever humbled! Holy cow. Their response was like.........we'll get to your cd in weeks. Yes, it takes us weeks and weeks. NO you're not special cuz you won that JOHN LENNON song of the year thing. Nor cuz you've toured the planet on your own and are gonna be on VH1. We're Amoeba and you're nothing.

I hung up that phone feeling like a loser.
Capital L.

There were a few other calls that day that were pretty much exactly the same.

I swear, I'm so not cut out for the promo side. I just take it all too personally. Plus, we HAVE been around and we HAVE toured and we HAVE played big stages right along with many little stages. So we ain't no green kids with a new cd we just made in our mom's house with daddy's credit card.

But how do you explain that in a 2 minute phone call?
Or a 10 second voicemail?
You don't.

So.........we sit here in our quiet anonymity.
Fuck 'em.

we'll go play Japan and England.
I tell ya.
We can't get arrested in the states.

But there I go again being negative when there is so much to be positive about............
Bam called a friend of ours to see if he would play guitar for our Japanese tour. He didn't even hesitate. Yes. No pay required. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Let it be said........this dude is a wanted commodity in the music world and basically is a genius songwriter in his own right.
So that kind of stuff.........well, dammit.
It's just encouraging.
At least my knitter pals and our fellow rockers believe in us.

That's what I'm talkin' about.
Belief.
I swear mine gets shattered at the littlest bump.

Well, it's back together again thanks to my knit night and the mere thought of a tour.
yes.
I love that word.
Yes YES YES YES YES!

OLD WIP!
I'm nearly finito with the first sleeve on the LULU sweater.
Geez. It's only been what.........8 months? 9 months?
Ah well. At least it will be cold enough for her to wear it when it's done! ha ha!

The jury is out on this whole continental thing. I'm getting the knit part pretty good but man oh man. The purling is sucking bigtime! I will practice it quite a bit more before I actually surrender to the british. But for now.........I don't know........

a note to my commenters........
Jenna, thank you! yes, pink does rock and I love your blog too!!!!!!

To Nathania and everyone else for your good wishes.................I can't wait to get my laptop! thank you!

THE PERSONALITY OF TRANSMISSIONS
Well, I totally forgot the other big news in my life.
Our van.
Our oh so beloved van. (said in a cruel sneering sort of way)

Here's the deal.
If I have some sort of curse on me regarding vehicles, could it please be removed now?
We took our 96 Chevy Astro hard working band van in for a new tranny.
Got one.
It slipped on the freeway and Bam was almost crushed by an oncoming semi.
We brought it back and after ARGUING, got the dude to put in a new one. (like duh right?)

Then, it still clunks and does really weird things.
So a friend of ours is hooked up (we found this out too late) with a big Association of Transmission...blah blah blah where you have to be super certified to replace someone's tranny.
So he sent us to a shop for a free diagnostic.
Guess what the dude said????????

He said our tranny was fine.
It just has a BAD PERSONALITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what the f***?

Is that the most hilarious thing anyone's ever heard??????????
He reckons our tranny was probably originally in a Corvette and now it's in our van and it just doesn't like it. Or something like that.

But there's more bizarro news in Bam n Share world.

Pounding to the left,
Drilling to the right,
Here I am ........
Stuck in the middle with Bam.

I"ve been moaning for weeks about our neighbor building the extension on their house.
pound pound pound.
Well, now the neighbor on the OTHER side is tearing down a building!!!!!!!!! (a shack really.)
So now we have pounding on BOTH SIDES of us!!!!!!!!!!

Can you spell S T R E S S?????????????????????????????????
Good god.

I'm thinkin.........sell the van, get a sports car, sell all yarn, recording equipment, instruments........head south.
Just don't turn back.
Then nighttime rolls around and it's quiet again.
And I can relax.

I tell ya.
It just a nonstop fun time around here.

Comments

[meexie]

Don't know of any yarn shops, but I recommend trying to find a magazine called "Let's Knit" (the cover will have "Let's Knit Series" printed on it in English). I haven't been able to get my hot little hands on one myself, but I am told they have good clear schematic diagrams. Hopefully charts too. There's a book titled "Girly Knit" that might be fun to flip through too. Or heck, just check out the kids in Harajuku, some of them are bound to be wearing knits of some sort, espesh the deconstructed kind that you love.

Congrats on the tour and don't let the American record shops get you down! You aren't the only band in the US that can't get arrested at home but can pack them in when they go overseas. Judging by some of the swill I hear on the radio, we Americans have bad taste and should not be allowed to own radio stations and music stores. Will you be posting tour dates/locations? I have a friend in Tokyo who would probably love to check out Bubble!

[jessica~]

Hey girl - don't let us American's and our bad taste in music get you down. You know your album rocks and your overseas tours will prove it. I have a friend who is in the same situation (he's on an independant label)- their tours sell out in Germany, etc. but nothing doing here in the US. Gawd - It seems like to make it "big" here you have to sell out and join a big conglomerate affiliated label/promoter/sell your soul company. Sucks. I'd rather listen to you guys on indie radio than some clear channel mass-produced crap anyday! Grrrr... now I'm all riled up.
Oh - and for the promotional stuff... I would have hung up and cried after the first phone call. Your a pretty strong woman to keep calling around.

Can't wait to see pic's of LuLu!!
xx

[Lynn]

I think the writer of Pinku http://pinkurocks.typepad.com/ is in Tokyo. She loves pink too so she's got to be cool, right?

[Nathania]

Oh, babe! The tour news is so exciting! As for the rest of it, remember: "ebb and flow". You just gotta ride out the ebb and wait for the flow. It's not just about belief. Faith. Faith is where it's at. Love to you and Bam.

[Crystal]

That's so awesome. I am so happy for you. I wanted to go to the knit night, but I have my dog with me and apparently it's not ok to bring him even if he's safe and snug in his bag. Not able to get into any trouble. Whatever. I am just so happy for you and your tour and, oh yea, f*ck Amoeba They aren't half as cool you and Bam, right?

Ahhhh, Allen really digs your CD (as do I) and wanted me to tell you that.

[Toni]

Great news about Japan!!! I hope everything works out like it should. Maybe you can find the home of Noro and bring home some sweet Silk Garden that hasn't been released yet.

It's reassuring to hear your guitarist friend is happy to work for free. Just goes to show you do have support from somewhere, even if it's not from Amoeba. That's a bummer! Apart from that, you have a lot to look forward to (o:

[Ellen]

Woo Hoo! Congrats on the tour. Hope you guys have a blast. Wow, England...home of Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Colinette and on and on......
I hear ya about tha noise (there ain't no funk).
The house next door was a concoction of chainsaws, drills, hammers, woodchippers with car alarms thrown in. Top it off with my building manager sawing tiles.
Maybe you and Bam can write a symphony of construction!

[chris]

In Tokyo there are a few that might tickle your fancy!

Ikebukuro Area
Seibu Loft is a huge department store which has a small craft section, containing some yarn and other knitting supplies. It's pretty decent, but small.

Tokyu Hands is a "do-it-yourself" multi-leveled store where you can find sewing, knitting, spinning, or crocheting They've got lots of stuff there, including furniture, cookware, bathroom goods, kitchen goods...oh the list goes on! There is also another Tokyu Hands in the Shibuya area.

Shinjuku Area
Okadaya is also a good store for knitting supplies. This store's got tons of stuff for any crafty gal! You can spend a good amount of time there. The top floor has a good book selection where you can find the latest knitting mags/books there too.

Kichijoji Area
Yuzawaya is one of tokyo's largest (or possibly) THE largest craft store in Tokyo. You would spend HOURS there. Lots of fun things to look at and also yummy yummy yarn.

Hope this info helps you out! Enjoy the good reads on your blog! I've been living in Tokyo since last year, possibly for at least one more....

Keep up the great knitting and congrats with your tour! :D