Alright, guys -- my first piece of Japanese vinyl, along with some other awesome swag I got at the Melt-Banana show in Nashville. "Bambi's Dilemma" signed by every member (including their roadie "Blacky" at the merch stand, just to make my copy extra-special), the night's set list written in katakana, and a t-shirt that will unfortunately never fit me in a million years. Yasuko, Agata, and Rika-san are unbelievably nice and happily took pictures with everyone who asked -- Yasuko gave hugs to me and all my friends. They really seemed to take a liking to me for using a few nice terms in Japanese and pronouncing their names properly.
I invited so many of my friends to this show that I retroactively decided to turn it into a belated birthday party, and I couldn't be anymore satisfied. One of the best times of my life -- and Melt-Banana has delivered this for me twice now...
My good friends in the band
Spelling Bee opened for them in St. Louis a few weeks ago and implored me to go, offering up room in their house. Since Melt-Banana had yet to add Nashville to their stops on this tour at that point, I decided the road trip was worth it. And man, was it ever! Spelling Bee +
Yowie +
Melt-Banana was the best damn lineup I ever could have asked for.
When I stage-dived that night, someone's watch hit me on the eyebrow and gave me a pretty nice little gash. I was so pumped on adrenaline that I didn't even notice that blood was running all the way down to my jaw-line. Some people stopped me during the song and asked if I was alright, but I was on top of the world, so I would just smile and keep acting like a maniac. After the song was over, Yasuko gave me a thumbs-up and said, "Burrud is best apprause!" I would've loved to have gotten a picture of the mess, but there was a thunderstorm that night and it all got washed off once I stepped outside.
There were a ton of pictures taken tonight, so I'll throw some up as they materialize!
