Sunny days are becoming more frequent.
The weather has been below zero again, but in return lots of sunny days too. Three more months and it is full summer.
What else? I cancelled my Mubi subscription after two years, as I’m not expecting to watch as many movies on it as the days get longer and summer finally comes. Plus, Finland’s national broadcasting company’s own streaming service has a good selection of movies to choose from as well. So, one less “I should be using it since I’m paying for it” itch gone from my thoughts!
Enjoying a rock gig after a long break
I can’t remember when was the last time I went to a gig held in a music club. After the pandemic, I’ve been to a music festival, a jazz concert in a theatre and a classical music concert. In fact, I even had two tickets bought in advance to two gigs (Guitar Wolf and Pharaoh Overlord), but I couldn’t get myself dragged to the venue. This time I finally could.
The band I went to see was Shonen Knife, a cult rock-pop band from Osaka, Japan. I saw them the first time around ten years ago and it was a memorable gig. The lead singer Naoko was back then over fifty years old, now over sixty and the band is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The gig this time around was less heavy, but enjoyable none the less. I was surprised it was their 11th gig in a row in 11 days in four countries, so that might have toned down the set list to more poppier tunes. A good indicator am I enjoying the gig is how often does my mind drift away to other thoughts. That didn’t happen now. Okay, I admit was a bit concerned might I finally catch covid in the sold-out tiny venue, but I didn’t bother with that once the gig started.
“Let’s rock!”. Shonen Knife having that rare charisma of rocking in a happy way.
After the gig there was the usual thing especially with Japanese bands of them selling merchandise. I ended up buying a t-shirt, their latest album, a sticker and a badge. I guess I like the band what it stands for: singing about enjoying life and tasty consumables. Also, I really need to find a way to drag myself to Japan again.
New t-shirt on the left, the one on the right was bought from their previous gig I saw (the black stains are actually autographs faded away after many washes, I don’t what I was thinking when I asked for them).
Another record store bites the dust
In the sadder news, I read about the Digelius music record store in Helsinki closing its doors for good after being in the business for over 50 years. While it focused on jazz and world music (not my strongest of interests), it had a small selection of Japanese music as well. Back in the 90s I bought CDs from Keiji Haino, Yapoos (ヤプーズ) and Shizuka (静香). Interestingly enough, the CD by Shizuka is the most valuable recording I have according to Discogs. Not really a good record if you ask me, though.
Yes, those were the final days when one had to rely heavily on record store offerings. Such is not the case anymore and not even a vinyl revival could help the fact people buy their records online these days mostly. Or just stream it (sometimes for free).