Monday, August 01, 2005
outdoors PAs in Shinjuku/ghetto wisdom
Nice afternoon of mayhem making in Shinjuku for our second attempt to play outdoors with the portable PAs. First we played a few minutes in a semi empty metro on the Chuo line, but nobody really responded in any way (some girl kept staring at us with her headphones on, kind of missing the point). Then we tried a rather crowded row just near the east side of Shinjuku station and were asked to stop by a shoe shop owner, just as we had forecast ("we're just ramblin' boys, ramblin' around and making noise", as Mister Guthrie would have put it). Eventually, we reached Shinjuku Dôri, which was appropriately closed to traffic, and walked along with the PAs blasting for full effects, dwelling among passers-by and amateur bands and fucking 'round with their own leakings of sound. We ended playing with some cool dancers, their manager kind of forcing us into it, but it was really fun, and got no hostile responses, apart from one seemingly frustrated juggler who threatened me to call the police if we didn't stop and kept poking me in the arm for no decent reason (I'm a very flexible guy, I said to him). Very appropriate apéritif with Yo-Yo chan too, on the top of the Isetan building, to end the session.
nb: the setting really works better when we are either walking in queue, or all in line, as a kind of marching band, and really not working when we are closing up onto ourselves, as an excluding, nerdy cicle. we really ought to work on that. scenography can really be a crucial thing out there in the streets.
# posted by Olivier Lamm @ 9:28 AM 
