So as i mentionned, it was a pretty crazy weekend. But it sure didn`t start out that way. This weekend is big in Japan as the Harvest Moon full moon weekend. Monday is a national holiday (though unrelated to the moon) and there were lots of things going on. But Ulala and i spent Friday night sitting around the house watching old sitcoms and reading bafore going to bed at a very normal hour. Then the fun started on Saturday when we went down to Osaka Castle to help set up a small rave that would be there that night. there was a chance that i was going to get to DJ but it didn`t pan out. Ah well, maybe next time. I`m playing at Zerro again this Tuesday, so there`s still lots to look forward to.
Before the party started we had the chance to check out another small concert that was happening in the park. A group of Japanese musicians and singers were performing what i can only describe as Native American Fusion. It was pretty surreal (and pretty hippie-ish) but it was beautiful music and the clouds parted to reveal the full Harvest Moon mid way through one of the songs. Aside from everone trying to take pictures of the moon with their cell-phone cameras, it was a rather spiritual experience. Then we got some food and went back over to the rave.
The rave was in memory of a friend of the organizer, who passed away a year ago, so it was very small and intimate (though still outside in front of the castle). And apparently they were playing music that she used to enjoy, like Rotterdam, and Hardcore, and UK Hardcore. For those of you who don`t know (or who havce maybe blocked the memories from your mind) Hardcore in rave lingo means 180 BPM and heart burtsing frenzied dancing. It was a shocking reminder of my age when i had to stop after a few minutes, panting and wheezing and try to remember how i danced to this stuff all night. I guess that was at least 5 or 6 years ago. Wow. But we had a lot of fun and went home around 2am.
I woke up pretty early the next day and made a nice big breakfast. Sunday was going to be busy. We started out with the Midosuji Parade at 2pm. After a slow start the parade really picked up and there were lots of good international floats and many many marching bands. There was even a float from teh Dry Cleaners Union of Japan. This country can be pretty random sometimes...
After the Parade we headed over to the Umeda Sky Building for the International Beer Festival. Things get a little blurry from there but i added lots of cool beer labels to my collection. And with the labels i couldn`t peel off i just put the empty bottle in my bag to steam off at home later. Brilliant. Now you have me in giant pants (which i haven`t worn in months - but i`ll save that for the next post), a beer in each hand (the lines at the booths were kind of long) walking around making glass clinking noises with every step. And it`s a little windy and cool in the October evening so i start hopping to keep warm, which makes the clinking noises. And who should i run into but someone from my first year university!! Sara looked me up and down and i could just see the "Nothing much has changed hunh?" forming in her mind. Good times. Good times. But she seemed well and she`s living in Nara teaching apparently, so hopefully i`ll see her again sometime soon.
After the beer fest we went back over to Osaka Castle Park where tehre was another DJ event happening at teh same place we were the night before, This time it was an advertised event and the were a LOT more people. So we stayed and danced for a bit and had some tequila and i ran into the owner of Zerro and i had a chance to thank him for letting me play at his club. I also saw Owen and his friend who run a dive-shop together so we made tentative plans to go diving again sometime soon. I`m excited to go diving in Japan. Apparently there isn`t a lot to see but it`s still really good diving (?).
Then we got i cab and headed back down to Namba to go to Traingle and see one of the current world leaders in Drum and Bass music, DJ Marky. But i`ve already posted about that...
Now my legs hurt from all the dancing and walking, but i feel mighty satisfied. =)
craaaaaaaaaazy weekend.
