feel.write.read by Mamiko Taira

あと２２日だ。
何を数えているかは教えない：）

久しぶりに元ニューヨーク在住、現フロリダ在住のポリーさんから連絡があった。
彼女は、テレビ、映像業界を渡り歩いてきた人で、
音楽の仕事はしたことがない方なんだが、
音楽をこよなく愛している方。
まだ、仕事は現役で、色々なことをやっているようだ。
好奇心旺盛で、とても素敵なおばさまなのだ。

ワタシが彼女と出会ったのは、２００２年の春だろうか？
ワタシがジャムセッションの梯子をしていた頃の
ある日曜日の午後のクレオで会った。
思うに、ニューヨークで、お世辞抜きに本気でワタシの歌を好いてくれた、
一番最初のアメリカ人かもしれない。

彼女がフロリダに引っ越すといったときは、
寂しかったものだ。
でも、付かず離れずで連絡を取り合ってきた。
そんな彼女が最近、また連絡してきて
最近の麻美子のデモた聞きたいというので、
デュオの２００７年に録音した音源を送って上げた。
気に入ってくれたようだ。

今のデモはもう、outgrownしちゃっている感じがして、
ちょっと気恥ずかしい部分も否めず、
個人的には、デモと用途を限定せず、
スタジオに入りたい気分は徐々に盛り上がりつつあり、
モノづくり意欲みたいのがムクムクっとしてる感じなんだが、
未だ、アイディアも固まっていないので、
当面デモに関しては、この２００７年録音で仕事を取るって感じなんだろうなー。
ふむ。

ま、色々あらーね。ふふふ。

Independence Day Weekend明けの7/6の月曜日は
どどさんと、NB Loungeですので、皆さま是非！
詳細は改めてお知らせいたしますけれども…

Evening at Langan’s…

It became a fun evening on last Saturday, the 27th, with Reggie Q at Langan’s. People were nice and it was very relaxed feeling. (thank you, Reggie.) As Satoshi told me, it was Irish place – bar was filled with beer drinkers… Hahahah.

One small non-musical thing that made me go “AH!” was when I saw Edward Burns pix on the wall behind where I stand. (Edward Burns is the actor-film maker-writer from/of New York City. He creates interesting movies, and I really like his stuff.) It was no way for me to figure out the relation to Langan’s and Ed Burns, but it must be something to do with the city’s Irish network(!). Anyway, it was nice to sing in front of Ed Burns’s autographed pictures… Yes, just pictures, nothing more than that.

MJ. Yep, that topic. Everyone talks about it.

The death of Michael Jackson stormed and swept away our somewhat “ordinary” week in June, then made it into something no way near to be called “ordinary.” The impact of MJ’s passing was the overload on the top of Farrah Fawcett’s passing. The funny thing is that I personally don’t have much of a strong connection to MJ’s music in terms of what I do in daily (singing jazz). However, it was shocking enough to talk about it, moan about it, and reminisce about it. I wonder why, but perhaps I don’t need to know why.

On that day, I was at Loehmann’s on Upper West browsing through Final Sale racks of “purple tagged” items (an additional 40% taken off at the register!) My phone rang although I was at the basement. It was from Marianne. She asked me what I was planning to do that night, and added “BTW,” then told me that MJ died – with teary voice. I reacted with a quite loud voice that people around me can clearly hear in 10 feet radius, “WHAAAAAT? Michael Jackson Died?” The old lady who looked like about 60 years+ jumped right in to our conversation saying “I know, I know. A friend of mine was talking about it, and I didn’t believe it. So, did he really die?” 3-way calling (… ah, sort of) continued about a minute without feeling any awkwardness to it. It was almost mandatory to share the news with the stranger right next to you who is hunting dresses from the final sale racks…. I guess this is the power of iconic figure like MJ over ordinary people like us, me and the lady at Loehmann’s.

OK. Announcement…

Next gig is on Monday, July 6 with Toru Dodo at NB Lounge. Toru is back! I hope you all can join us :)

Monday, July 6
7:30 PM to 11PM
at NB Lounge
111 E 56th Street (bet. Park and Lexington)

Mamiko Taira (vocal)
Toru Dodo (piano)

No Cover, No Minimum