Spring has sprung in the land of stoic dullards, bad drivers and nothing to see, a rare display in t

Spring has finally sprung in Olde Nagoyaland...about 10 days later than usual, but it's 20C and holding, the cherry blossoms are finally coming into their own, and grudges are for the dog days of winter...so (for now, at least) all is forgiven. Though unusually cold and hellish, March was lubricated by some fine entertainment on this here Island of Gilligans. March 2nd saw The Damned open their extensive 40th Anniversary trek at Umeda's Akaso, in Osaka, and the band turned in a stellar set - the best I'd seen them of the 5 times I've taken in their shows over the years. Captain Sensible was in fine form, and Mr. Dave Vanian, well dressed and in good voice (as ever), was sporting a pointy Devil's beard that made him look part mad scientist, and part prospective candidate for the next Dr. Who. Their career spanning set ran just under two hours, and leaned heavily on the band's legacy albums, Machine Gun Etiquette and Strawberries - so there were no complaints from me. The sold out audience seemed well enthused, to the point that my lovely wife and I ended up covered in someone' s (either spit out or hurled) flying beer toward the end of the show (thankfully sans bottle). It was the kind of show that restores one's faith in live shows of this type. Brilliant from start to finish, and an absolute must see if you have the opportunity to catch them this time around.

On the drive back the next day, we hooked over through Kyoto, and visited the famous Sanjusangendo Temple, which happened to be free to enter that particular Friday (which was also Japanese Hina-Matsuri, or 'girls festival'). It was my third time through, but the main hall and its 1001 statues of Kannon still takes my breath away. I don't seem to recall it being that jam packed with touristas the last couple of times I was through there - the first time being 28 years ago. The recently mounted and travel minded Chinese seem to be everywhere you turn these days...chattering way, pushing and shoving, and cutting into lines. Whether it's Kyoto, scenic Takeyama, Tokyo Disneyland or Okinawa...they're out in full force, and have a tendency to leave copious piles garbage strewn about in their wake. I guess it's good for the local businesses. They also seem to bleed money out wherever they go, buying everything they can get their hands on.

For whatever reason, they don't seem to have latched on to Olde Nagoyaland, yet. Quite possibly because there's not much of anything worth making the detour over here for. Nothing much happens in the industrial armpit of central Japan. The city was pretty much flattened and burned to the ground in the closing months of WW2, so there isn't anything (original) of any historical significance. A few re-creations and re-constructions here and there. In fact, among Japanese, Nagoya is noted for its 'wide roads'...a product of the American-led post war zoning and reconstruction effort. We're talking a kingly three or four lanes of traffic on each side of the city's main streets - which is actually something of an anomaly on Planet Japan. In fact, you can generally tell when you enter an area of town that was spared the flattening rain of bombs, because the streets are narrow and all willy-nilly, like in Kyoto, or smaller towns. Oh - and dullards. Olde Nagoyaland is also characterized by it's population, of which a clear majority are stoic, unsociable, poker faced dullards, with a nationwide reputation for stinginess and exceptionally bad driving. All good reasons to make your nesting area as agreeable as possible, hunker down, and avoid the scene - because there generally isn't anything worth venturing out for, anyways. If you can cook, or have the ability to learn, that also comes in handy - because there is basically fuck all in the fine dining area, as well.

So, when something worthwhile does roll into this cultural hinterland, it's basically not an option to miss out on. The Specials, England's seminal punk-era two-tone ska band rolled into town on Wednesday March 22nd, for the second engagement of a four city tour of Japan. While one would generally expect spring to be rearing it's head by this time, nary a cherry blossom was to be seen, and it seemed like late February, temperature-wise. Alas, I laced up my relatively new cherry red Dr. Martens (a birthday gift a couple of years back from my lovely wife), skulled a few beers, and off we went. Nagoya-Zepp is a mid-sized venue, generally booking in pretty well-known headline acts - the ones that can't quite fill a proper arena, but are a bit too big for a bar or club hall. I'd been there a few times, once for The Pixies, and another time for Bad Religion, about 10 years ago. We seemed to be a bit early, and I wasn't aware that there was an opening act booked...which didn't really thrill me, as I'm an impatient bastard. Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra hit the stage shortly after 7pm and played an energetic and surprisingly good 40 minute set. They seemed to have a large following at the show, and everyone was really into them. This band has been around for years, and are pretty well known. A former student of mine had loaned me some cd's years ago, so I was familiar with them. There was a pretty big ska boom over here in the 80's and early 90's, and I actually seem to recall going to a really outrageous indy ska show in Kyoto back in '89 0r '90, when I was a fresh faced 23 year old newbie on these shores. Anyways, 'Tokyo Ska-Pa' (as the locals call them) won me over easily, and seemed to have the audience eating out of their hand for the duration. The Specials hit the stage shortly after 8pm, with their classic single 'Ghosttown'. The band were in fine form, with Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter being the sole remnants of the classic 1977 line-up. Needless to say, main songwriter and keyboardist Jerry Dammers has thus far declined to participate in any of the 2008 reformed group's studio or touring activities - but that didn't prevent the ringers from nailing it down, and the band from putting on a rousing performance. They hit everything in the catalogue that one would expect, with no startling omissions, winding through their singles and tracks off of their second album, and, of course, a hyper-active run through of their classic first record. I particularly enjoyed their bass heavy take on The Man From C and A, from their sophomore effort...a record that I actually like a lot more today, than I did way back when. Terry Hall was in particularly good voice (the passage of so much time considered), but was looking a bit reminiscent of a haggard, later-era Shane MacGowan. Maybe the previous night's show in Osaka was a wild one...or the jet lag was taking it's toll. My wife said that he looked like 'Rain Man', which gave me a laugh. It seemed to take the crowd a bit to get going after the opening act - which seemed to be a tough one to follow - but as they eased into the bulk of their debut album material, the punter's energy level seemed to come back. I had the distinct impression that a lot of the crowd were less familiar with The Specials, or their back catalogue, than the opening act, which I'm guessing was the main reason that they were there. There also seemed to be a distinct lack of gaijin present...but this was also the case with The Damned, earlier in the month. Anyways, after about 90 minutes it was done, and a good time had by all, it was back into the brisk cold night for the 20 minute train ride back. I don't expect Olde Nagoyaland will see the likes of an event like this one again soon. An excellent display. I can tell that my wife really liked it...she's been playing the first two Specials albums in a loop on her car audio for the last two weeks.

Next up is a jaunt to Tokyo at the end of the month to pad out Old Man McCartney's wallet one more time, and take in his geriatric Beatles tribute at Tokyo Dome, where he has sold out three nights (plus an extra show at Budokan - for $1000 a pop, which we WON'T be attending). This will be his third raft of shows over here in 4 years. It seems that Paul has a thing for Planet Japan in his dotage...or maybe it's just the stacks and stacks of money he can harvest from the local J-natives. He does put on a staggering three hour, 40 song display, though. Quite the feat for an old geezer of 73. The Rolling Stones barely managed 18 tunes in two hours. Next, it will be the Golden (Shower) Week Holiday...usually the most pleasant weather of the year, in the run-up to rainy season and the invariably sweltering heat and humidity of Japanese summer.

That's all for now...I'm off to entertain the J-natives for significantly less ¥¥¥ than Old Man McCartney will pull...but such is life in the big city for this aging gaijin holdout.

Until then, just remember, "No matter where you go...there you are".