Music

Paul Kelly @ Starlite

Posted on May 15, 2013 in Music Others | 0 comments

May 4th

We went to see Paul Kelly @ Starlight, who is known as Australia’s Bob Dylan. We were surprised that the tickets weren’t sold out by the morning of the performance.

Paul Kelly\'s liveWhen we were driving around Australia back in 2005, David was playing Paul Kelly’s Songs from the South, he told me. So that’s why I kind of remember some of his songs.
I couldn’t really follow the lyrics at that time, but when David told me the stories of his songs, they are so significant. The songs vary from pop, country to jazz. He is 58 years old! David shouted and asked how old he was between songs, and he answered. ^^ He also has grand children.

The tickets were only $20. The venue was a small bar & restaurant (downstairs from the Starlite).

We got there so early and were able to sit at a table close to the stage. Lucky!
I was wondering if there was any other singer or a band as an opener, and yes there was. Paul’s nephew, supporting guitarist and singer, Dan Kelly. He sang 6 songs.

Dan Kelly\'s playlist

David took a photo of Dan’s playlist that was on the floor. ^^

It’s a bar & restaurant, and they only had pop as a non-alcohol drink for me… I don’t usually drink soft drinks, but it would be about 3 hours sitting and enjoying the concert… So I got a coke. 2 cokes in total. I consumed my coke for a year.

The performance has started.
The first one was “Pregnant Conversation.” Are you singing about us (me)? Seemed so timely for me.

And then the next one was “Baby Bonus.” In Australia, if you deliver a baby, you get $7,000, Dan said. Wow! That’s so nice. We should move there for the 2nd child! ^^
He must have become a father lately. Heart-warming.

Dan Kelly

After his performance, Paul Kelly made his appearance.

Paul Kelly

He sang a whole bunch from his new album, and then he sang his older songs wonderfully.
I don’t know if they can’t help but is it because it’s a bar, some in the audience were chatting pretty loudly for the first half as they were maybe not so interested in his new songs. It’s quite rude and annoying not only for the artist, but also other fans who want to listen. But all of the audience loved his older hit songs and they got quiet later.

Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly

David explained a lot about the songs he sang and it was good for me understand more. Depends on the songs, he sounded like Bob Dylan.

With Paul Kelly

After the performance, he was socializing with fans, signing autographs or shaking hands. So we joined the line up too. David got his autograph on the souvenir we bought here. David told him that I was really moved and almost crying over “Deeper Water.” Yes, I’m an easy weeper and even more when being pregnant, I guess.

I think I like “Deeper Water” the best so far. It really tells a nice story and the melody is also nice and catchy. One of his greatest songs:

It was a nice evening. Thank you, David!

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Jamaica 5 – Treasure Beach 1

Posted on Apr 6, 2013 in Jamaica, Music Others, Restaurants | 0 comments

From Montego Bay to Treasure Beach Dec 22 (Sat, 2012)

Bye bye, Montego Bay!Bye bye Montego Bay!
Now we are moving from Montego Bay to Treasure Beach.
We paid for a pick-up from the next hotel. One way takes about 2 and a half hours.
We were imagining that a Jamaican driver would come to pick us up, but the hotel owner, Roger (a Brit), came for us.
We chatted a lot and he told us interesting stories, tips and info. That was great.
The road condition got worse. The roads are asphalt, but they have a lot of holes. You have to be paying attention all the time, otherwise it could lead us to have some accidents or punctured tires. The government takes a lot of tax from people but no improvements on daily infrastructure.
Roger asked us if we wanted to go and visit Peter Tosh‘s grave and his home. My husband wanted to very much, so he got really excited! Roger said he’s never seen a guest who got that excited. That was lucky for David!

David has been playing Peter Tosh’s music on the car often around that time, so I was getting familiar with his music also. He was in the band, The Wailers with Bob Marley and other members. If Bob is a figure like Paul McCartney, Peter is a figure like John Lennon. Roger and David agree with the idea and that definition gives me a good idea about them! Peter used to be called Stepping Razor. He was short tempered but had direct political messages in his songs.

Peter Tosh: Equal Rights:

This page has the song’s lyrics and its Japanese translation with notes. It’s great!

I don’t want no peace.

That sounds a bit shocking, but when it’s explained, it’s really understandable. If you don’t fight for equal rights and justice, there is no peace to begin with.

From Montego Bay to Treasure Beach, if you go via a town called Savanna la Mar, you’ll find his grave and home where his 96-year-old mum still lives. It’s there along the seashore. We were able to see her and took some photos with her.
There is no fixed rate, but a donation would be required.

Tosh Memorial Garden in Belmont

Peter Tosh\'s grave

Peter Tosh\'s grave

Peter Tosh\'s mum

The house he was raised in

 

Getting there, but the roads are getting worse as well.
The name of the guest house is Nuestra Casa (Spanish “Our House”). People call it Roger’s place.

Arrived at the guest house, Nuestra Casa AKA Roger\'s

Dogs are so cute. A father and a daughter.
Arrived at the guest house

The house was designed by Roger. Wow! He and his mother also live here. It catches the nice breeze from the ocean and it’s really nice.
He, himself, was teaching drama before. Now he is managing this guest house. After Lonely Planet listed this place as a recommended one, it seems to be keeping him very busy.
We hadn’t had lunch yet, so we asked for it, and had an easy afternoon this day.

The beach in front looks like this:

Treasure beach

Treasure beach

Treasure beach Treasure beach

We walked and spent some time here and then went to an early dinner @ Jerk.
Jerk is the best restaurant around here, Roger said. You can have 5-star meals with the 2-star prices. The chef here usually is usually cooking in Cape Cod in the US (that’s where we were 5 months before and had great seafood there!) comes back to his hometown and cooks here.
We were there a bit too early, I guess, and he wasn’t cooking at this moment. A staff cooked for us. The dish was tasty, but the fish was a little too hard. I know this swordfish is quite hard, but it wasn’t too great.
* I didn’t know this, but after we came back from this trip, my doctor said I should avoid eating this fish as it contains a high-level of mercury. I also checked on the web later and the Japanese gov also warns not to eat more than twice a week. If pregnant, we should avoid it as much as we can…. Oh no! I had this fish twice in 3 days…

Swordfish @ Jerk

Back in the guesthouse, David asked for coffee and I asked for Christmas cake & ice cream. I think I haven’t had ice cream for a year or more. I can not remember the last time when I ate it. Even in the hot New York City last summer, I don’t think I ate it even once! I didn’t realize that. Wow. I don’t hate it, but we just don’t eat it at home. I don’t eat parfaits and sundaes any more since I don’t know when.. I guess I have no more interest in them. I’m getting old and tastes are changing, I guess. I still love cakes and sweets though.
The cake is home-made and Jamaican style. At a glance, it looks like a chocolate cake, but it is a fruit cake. It was yummy!

Coffee at relaxing night time Jamaican Christmas cake with icecream

 

“L&R” Made the Press Shut Up

Posted on Mar 24, 2013 in Chage & Aska | 0 comments

L&R is one of my favourite songs by ASKA.

Each line of words are so meaningful, sincere and deep. I want to jot down everything here, but maybe it’s better and easier just to listen to the song.

When Chage & Aska broke up as a unit, it became big news in Japan. The press were wondering if they were fighting or if there were any problems between them. But after they listened to this song, no more questions. They have calmed down. This song explains Aska’s feelings perfectly.

The words are not too straight but are kind of playing with laughter, and there is his expression of love towards Chage. That’s the beginning of the song.

Chage & Aska are just like the sky and the ocean: they are both blue but never mix together. “We are a left fielder and a right fielder”. That’s one metaphor Aska makes as a baseball lover. I don’t know anything about baseball though. Being these fielders, they catch everything side by side.

“When we get together someday…” give us fans hope and he is expressing the feeling and love that he doesn’t feel too bad about being with Chage. It’s very nice.

The moon appears in the song. In his songs, the moon often means a woman. But in this song, the moon could mean the bigger crowd like fans or the media, I’m guessing.

Also this song makes us think about passing the time.
Time doesn’t just pass by. Time disappears. Yes, that’s true. We can never bring the past back again. This makes me feel that each day is very important, and we should try to make the most out of it.

This song was one of two for “Anata ga nakukotohanai”. And this time, it was re-mixed and included on the album “SCRAMBLE”. The re-mix was different from the original. He was using a more dynamic tone (strong and weak) with his voice and I really liked it.

A dream of “When we get together someday…” came true earlier than I thought. They are getting together again in this summer. Wow!

Aska has almost finished his current tour, ROCKET. Only one is left. I wish we were there. The concert will come out as a blue-ray (why not a DVD!?). Hmmm.

The music from the concert also came out on iTunes to sell. But it’s only inside Japan.

Not too friendly for overseas fans…

Nano for My Workout

Posted on Feb 10, 2013 in Gym / Sports, Mac, Music | 0 comments

It was in Sep last  year.

I think I used this iPod nano for 5 years. The capacity was only 912.5MB. I didn’t peel away the original protecting sticker (normally you do?) and I put a cover on top of it. So the look was still so shiny and brand-new!
But! I put it on the floor at the gym (That was wrong! My hubby said later) and a dumb dumbbell fell from a shelf and rolled onto my nano. It shouldn’t hurt too much, I thought. But the screen got broken! Yes, it is a delicate gadget. Of course!
As it has a small capacity and therefore not too many albums in it, I didn’t have too much trouble listening to my favorite music without the navigation on the screen. I continued using it.

But gradually we bought a new one.

The current nano got smaller and thinner. The capacity didn’t grow just twice or three times. That was much more. More than 16 times! It was 16GB. So big!! The iPod from 5 years ago was 16 GB? Probably.

The nano also has a function of step counter. Just put it in a pocket and it counted well. Good!
I’ve never used a step counter before. But sounds like a person should walk 6,000 steps a day at least. Today, I used the function to go and back between home and the gym, and it was 3700 steps. It wasn’t too bad. As it’s very close, I thought it would be about 1,000 steps.