I ❤ Music!! (私は❤音楽!)

This Friday marked the beginning of the Obon (and in many cases summer holiday) period in Japan. 
I am reallly lucky because I don't have to go back to work until next Monday (10 days off!!!)

Although I was a little bit frustrated at the beginning, (mostly because of my feet), it has turned into a wonderful weekend to begin the holiday!

I started off my holiday by going to the beach Friday and Saturday morning/afternoons (although, I imagine that's not really surprising to anyone...). 

Friday evening, I went to Pinot, and spent an hour or two talking with Tatsu-san.  Since there wasn't anyone else there, I got to talk and laugh a lot (and practice my Japanese!) That talk also helped me feel much less frustrated, so thanks for that!!!

Saturday afternoon, I went into Osaka because I wanted to listen to Tyotti and contEEgo calm's music.  There was a nice breeze blowing and lots of people around, and it was a really nice atmosphere!!  They were also performing together with another musician who only plays guitar. (I've seen him before a time or two, but haven't actually talked with him...he seems shy).  I was really happy and enjoying the music!!

contEEgo calm, Umamichi Masataka, Tyotti
*Photo from Facebook*

This group of people!

If the video doesn't work, click here.

At one point, when Tyotti was singing on his own, Elly and Kubota Atsushi (contEEgo calm) came over to where I was and told me that when I saw them a couple weeks ago in Kobe, they had looked for me afterwards but couldn't find me....probably because I left quickly after they finished...so many things I wanted to do that day....They are a really happy, energetic and calm couple!  I met Atsushi-san maybe 2 years ago at one of Yoshida-san's lives, and although I'd heard about Elly (or seen her name around anyway), I only met her for the first time earlier this year.  Anyway, as I was talking to them, Elly suddenly mentioned that Yoshida-san was also supposed to be performing at Grand Front with FASE that evening as well.  Then she even went as far as going to check the schedule so she could tell me exactly when and where he would be performing (even though I didn't ask or say anything at all).  She is so kind!!  It turned out that their performances overlapped by an hour or so though.  But because I don't see them so often, even though Yoshida-san had started, I stayed to watch them for a little longer..

Also, I don't think I've put up any of contEEgo calm's music on my blog yet, so here's one sample of them:

If the video isn't working, click here to watch directly.

And that's where it got more interesting.  One of the older women who is also a fan of both Yoshida-san and FASE, (well, and other musicians too, but that's where I met her) came over to me, and she also let me know that Yoshida-san had arrived and would be performing soon with FASE.  Everyone has gotten to know me well, but it kind of felt like they were pushing me in that direction (just a little). 笑  I talked with her for a while.

Eventually, I went over to where Yoshida-san and FASE were. 

These boys.
*Photo from Facebook*

Actually, this day, Yoshida-san didn't sing so much because he had caught a cold and his voice wasn't doing so well.  But I was able to enjoy FASE's music (and it's been a while since I've seen him too).  During this time, the other group finished up and Elly and Atsushi-san came over and sat next to me to listen and talk a little!  When FASE finished up I went and talked more with Sakie (the older woman from before), and she ended up introducing me to a couple other women who were both FASE's fans.  We also talked for a bit.  It turned out one of them had spent some time in Calgary, and that gave us more to talk about!  After that I talked with FASE for a minute, and then got spotted by Kiyo-san (another older woman who I know from various lives), so I ended up talking with her as well. In the middle of all of this talking, Elly came over to me one more time to specifically say goodbye to me. So nice!!! Anyway, I also talked together with Kiyo, Sakie, and Kanami (one of the women I just met) for a while, until they asked me if I wasn't going to talk to Yoshida-san today.  For some reason, I was feeling kind of shy about that on that particular day, but they kind of pushed me to do it, and even forced me to do it by making me introduce Kanami to Yoshida-san. He was really surprised though.  At first he asked if she was my friend, and when she said we'd just met that day and was FASE's fan, he was more surprised, and asked if we had become friends just after talking today. haha... The other thing that was kind of funny was that pretty much everyone I knew there greeted me by commenting on my tan.  Yep.  I've been at the beach.  One more amusing comment though, was when Kiyo reassured Kanami that I was usually much more white in color.  Ah, Japanese values.  I happen to like this summer color.  hahaha....

I really love the atmosphere at Grand Front!!
*Photos taken from Twitter*

It really was a really nice day!! I was so happy!! Maybe excessively so....I may have had a comment or two about how they'd never seen me quite so genki before. hehehe...

Then today (Sunday), Yoshida-san had a live in Kobe (and a rare type --- it was in the afternoon).  He had invited me to this live a couple weeks ago.  Unfortunately, he still wasn't feeling 100%.  It was still a good afternoon though.  Including him, there were 4 different groups that performed, and they were all really energetic!  The last one (初芝崇史 (Hatsushiba Takashi)), was practically bouncing off the walls though.  But I enjoyed it.  Even if it went on for MUCH, MUCH longer than I expected.  (It was 4 hours!!) Usually with that number of people it would be 2-2.5 hours....  Good times though!

So much music in the past couple days!!  I'm probably going to be sad there's not so much for the rest of the week though.... But I do have many other plans for the rest of the week, so look forward to hearing about that!!  (Next up will be a visit to Himeji with my partner teacher---it's her hometown, and she's going to show me around a little bit!!)