Koni chi wa! I am in Tokyo right now, and it is absolutely amazing. The words huge, sprawling, metropolis don't even begin to describe the size of this place! Think of all the tall buildings and close proximity of Manhattan, over the surface area of Los Angeles! We are staying at a very nice hotel in Shibuya, which I am told is one of the best places to be! great food, shopping and atmosphere.Everyone here is so kind, smiley, and eager to assist. Everywhere I go, I am met with toothy grins and high pitched greetings. If only americans were this gentle.
The reason for our stay here in Tokyo was the Live Earth concert, on the 7th. We performed a 50 minute set (which can be viewed on MSN.com). Linkin park and Exhibit were also performers at the Tokyo Live Earth concert.
We had one other show last night, and now I have the rest of the week off! I went shopping today in Harajuku, which is kind of the Beverly Hills of Tokyo. So by "I went shopping" I mean "I looked at a lot of things that I can't afford." I found this crazy toy store though, and bought tons of useless but oh so adorable japanese toys and trinkets. As for the remaining 4 days off that I have here in Tokyo, I plan to go to a few temples in Asakusa, experience Tokyo Disney, and Climb Mt. Fuji. Wish me luck! In the meantime, I'm taking lots of pictures (like a good Asian) and eating tons of individually wrapped candies. Arigato Gozai mas!
I am now sitting in a loverly rehearsal studio in "Burbank, California" (anchorman? anyone?) where we are rehearsing 3 new songs to add to the set. I'm not feeling well, and my throat is hurting so I'm sipping a cup of too-hot tea in hopes it will help me sing. Chicago was awesome, we got back monday morning. One of our friends is the drummer for Seal, and he was in Chicago for a special benefit concert at the lyric opera house. Oprah was there (although I didn't see her, and she's lucky I didn't because I would have ambushed her), and Jessie Jackson it was quite the gala. We got to go, and let me just tell you, it was SO much fun. I didn't realize how many Seal songs I actually knew and liked. He's a great performer too! The following night we had a show at the toyota center just outside the city. It was another one of those wango-tango-ish shows with a bunch of other artists on the bill... my favorite was Gym Class Heroes. They performed with us in Long Island at Z100 also, and I really like their music. Anyone who's on myspace needs to listen to their song, "New Friend Request" - very clever lyrics, and a great beat. anyway, I am needed at rehearsal, I will put some more pictures up here soon!
When I heard we would be traveling to Chicago, I was very excited because I have never been here before, and those that have say it is one of the best cities in the world. My excitment was cut short, however, upon finding out that this year, of all years is the 17th year in the life of the cicada. What the heck is that, you ask? well, cicadas are like large locusts that swarm about the eastern united states every 17 years. We're talking millions of bugs. Swarming. Millions. Lucky for me, last week was the last one they were out, and now they are back underground to cook for another 17 years.
I am now enjoying a breakfast of oatmeal and grapefruit in the hotel restaurant, looking out at what looks like an ocean (and is actually lake michigan). I have the day off today, and plan to explore on my own a bit. Later tonight, I've set my heart on finding a jazz or blues (or both) club to go to! becuase how can I be in Chicago, and not hear the real blues guys do the real blues thang?
The past few days we spent back in New York City, for a special performance at Gotham Hall for Entertainment Weekly's 25th anniversary. I was able to procure a sweet gift bag, which held a 5 disc set of the discovery channel's Shark Week (yay!) and shampoo. Kevin (Rihanna's keyboard player) is friends with some people who were at the party, and they took us out dancing at this place called Stereo. The DJ was AMAZING and we danced like crazy! ("crazy" being the operative word!) I don't know how new yorkers do the 4am thing all the time though. I pretty much was a wreck yesterday because we had to get up early and get on a plane to come here. I slept my way into Chicago.
Hope everyone is well, I will be back home on monday or tuesday! :)
I really did just get here this morning - at 6am to be exact. If anyone can name that tune, by the way, you get a cookie.
I haven't written in a little while so let me just play catch-up for a second... June 3rd - the MTV Movie Awards: SO awesome! from my vantage point on stage, I could see EVERYONE in the audience, samuel L Jackson, Paris Hilton, Will Ferrel, Jessica Alba, Josh Duhamel, Fergie, etc. It was a lot of fun, and hello, I got to be on stage with JAY-Z. June 5th - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: This was really cool because my family got to come to the taping. I think my mom was more excited about the fact that George Clooney was also on the show than she was to see me sing with Rihanna. There were monitors in the dressing rooms that showed the taping, and when "georgie-pie" walked out, I distinctly heard her voice screaming for him.
Wednesday night, june 6th, we took a delayed red eye flight to NY. Thursday we had a performance on 106th & Park on BET, which was cool. Friday morning, we woke up (after about 3 hours sleep) at 4am to go to the today show. we arrived at 5:15am, and there were already a bunch of people lined up on the sidewalk to see the show! nuts. After the show, I decided to have a new york kind of day and walked around a bunch, navigated the subway, went to lunch and then went to the Museum of Modern Art (which was AWESOME!) They had an entire floor dedicated to architecture and design, and I loved it. They have quite the collection of famous pieces too - several monets, van gogh's starry night, etc. One of my favorite pieces was one by salvadore dali, which was 11 panes of glass, each painted with its own strange vignette, and somehow when put together all the pieces fit.
Later that night we had the most disastrous airport/traveling experience. We were supposed to fly out at 9pm that night to denver...something happened with a main FAA computer, and NO planes in the entire country were allowed to take off. we ended up boarding the plane three hours later, at midnight, and then sitting on the runway for an hour and a half. we were in Denver for a grand total of about 15 hours, just to do a show, and then hopped on the red eye back to NY, which brings me to now, and the reason I got here at 6am this morning! It sounds like I am needed at rehearsal, so I've gotta go, but I shall write again soon-ly!
we were on two German Mtv shows - TRL, and VIVA. Both use the same studio, the same stage, and are filmed one right after the other on the same day. The only difference is what the performers wear, and a little sign they bring in that says "viva" on it. oh golly, the magic of television. It was really fun though, and everyone involved with them is SO nice! Our dressing room was actually this large yacht that was docked right on the river outside the studio. so neato! below is a video of our performance on VIVA.
I am home in LA now - The rest of the band is in Prague shooting two music videos. we reconvein on the 31st for the rehearsals for the Mtv Movie Awards! yay!
"Blue Peter" is the name of the London based BBC TV show that I was on with Rihanna yesterday. (things that make you say, "im sorry, what?") It is the longest running kids show in the UK...they gave us all these little blue pins to wear during our set. I hear that these pins sell for high prices on EBAY because the only way to get one otherwise is to have been on the show. Our performance wasn't live. Well actually the vocals were live, but the band just mimed to a track. Now, I am sitting at a desk in my hotel room looking out at the Berlin skyline. (we flew here early this morning)... Today I walked around the city and took a canal tour (I know, such the cheesy tourist thing to do). The boat tour was funny, because the commentary was half in english, half in deutsch, and I'm not sure the lady giving it actually knew what she was saying. All the english stuff was like, " to your left you have a swimming, just for the children." It is 11:22am at home which means it is 8:22pm here! It is so weird to think that I have already lived through today, and you haven't! Berlin gives me a little bit of a uneasy feeling because of the history that is here...most of the city is new - during WWII pretty much the entire thing was in ruin. I went to buy postcards today and there were a lot of them depicting half standing buldings. I decided on a bright blue postcard with white writing in German; I have no idea what the words mean though, I just thought they looked funny. I'll ask the lady at the front desk later. The Wilco show, by the way, was amazing. I had never really gotten into their music before, but this show made me a fan! it was at the Empire Theatre, in London, and the place was absolutely PACKED. They have a six piece band, and pretty much everyone plays more than one instrument. (the drummer had vibes and all kinds of shakers along with a full drum kit, the bass player also played piano, the other bass player also played a bunch of different percussion instruments and some keys...etc.) they played one encore that was about 25 minutes long, and another encore that was about 10 minutes long. London loves Wilco, it seems! Afterwards I hung out in the lobby with them again, and met a few quirky older englishmen who had been at the show and were quite enthralled. Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to tell you about Tate Modern, in London....Absolutely amazing. I only wish I had more time to walk around...the place is huge! We spent the most time in the surrealism: sleep and dreams exhibit. My favorite pieces that I saw were a series of 3 Francis Bacon paintings and a series of 4 paintings from a lesser known artist named Cy Twombly.
Tomorrow we are going to MTV Europe for a few different performances, including one on their TRL. danke, und guten nicht.
to bring you quickly up to date: friday night: Z100's (the Top 40 radio station in NY) Zootopia show, other acts including Maroon 5, fergie, gym class heroes, hillary duff, and Daughtry.
Saturday: travel ALLLLL day, finally ending up in Manchester, England at 2am. sunday: travel to Preston, England, for the BBC's One Big Sunday event. other acts included: stereophonics, kaisercheifs, M.I.A., Mika, you know, brit pop/rock. last night, after we got back to the hotel, Kevin (the keyboard player), Adam, (the guitar player) and I went for a walk around to check out the neighborhood, and find something to eat. the only thing going on we noticed, was a sold out Wilco show down the street. We gave up trying to find an open restaurant and came back to eat at the hotel bar. Turns out, Wilco is currently staying at the same hotel we are right now, and they were downstairs at the bar hanging out when we got back there. Kevin actually knew their old tour manager, so we ended up talking (and dancing) with them. They have another show at the same venue tonight, and since we have the night off, they are putting us on the list. Earlier this morning, at the last minute, the TV show Rihanna is scheduled to be on today decided that the stage is way too small to accomodate background singers, so Erica and I had to go into a studio and record vocals for the two songs she is performing today. Now, the rest of the band is over taping the show, interestingly entitled 'Loose Women,' and Erica and I have the rest of the day off. I think I am going to go to Tate Modern, arguably one of the best modern art museums in the world. I will let you know which side I'm on afterwards. :) alright, I miss you guys, talk to you again soon!
