My last blog entry was about our invitation to perform at the Yokosuka Navy Base. I really wanted to accept this invitation, however, our main members, Matsumoto-san, Okamoto-san, and Inoue-san were all unavailable on that date. Our last invitation from Yokosuka was over two years ago, and because we were unavailable, I had to turn that offer down, and they never called us back! So this time, I wanted to make it happen, but how with so many main members out? First I asked our good friends drummer Mayumi Takeda & her bass playing partner Sakuma-san, and shockingly they said “YES we will go!” Great, so now Mori-san & I could handle the vocals and guitars and make a show, but still 4 hours of music is a lot to cover without Matsumoto’s great lead guitar and vocals. I was entertaining so many alternate candidates who could play great guitar and sing a bit, but nobody was available. Fortunately, I met Chris Kikuchi at the Studio Clove Blues Session in Mobara, Chiba, and was impressed with his playing & singing, so I asked him if he would join us? Chris was up for the challenge and in fact hosted us for the next four weeks at his home studio to prepare for the Yokosuka show. In fact, with Chris & Mayumi’s vocals joining in, The Boso Boys were hearing some wonderful vocal harmonies on many songs, including a bunch of new Eagles songs Chris was singing. At the actual show on 28 MARCH, I noticed the audience getting quieter and paying more attention when we were doing lovely four part harmonies on some of our songs. And Mayumi also added lead vocals on a couple of songs that everyone liked! People liked it so much we were invited back for many more shows at Yokosuka, and on 11 APRIL Chris Kikuchi, Mayumi & Sakuma will join us again. Thanks to having such great music friends helping each other out and enjoying LIVE MUSIC! 友達の力は：私の最後のブログのエントリは、横須賀海軍基地で実行するには、私たちの招待状についてでした。私は本当にこの招待を受け入れたいと思った、しかし、私たちの主なメンバーは、松本さん、岡本さん、井上さんは、すべてその日に利用できなかった。横須賀から私たちの最後の招待状は2年以上前だったし、我々は利用できなかったので、私はその申し出を断る必要があった、と彼らは私たちをバックと呼ばれることはありません！このとき、私はそれを実現するために思ったが、どのように非常に多くの主要なメンバーとのうち？最初に私たちの良い友人が真由美武田＆彼女のベースプレイパートナー佐久間さんがドラマーと驚くほど、彼らは「そうだ、我々が行く！ "偉大な、だから今森さん＆Iは、ボーカルやギターを処理し、ショーを作ることができると言いましたが、尋ね音楽のさらに4時間は松本の偉大なリードギターとボーカルなしでカバーすることがたくさんある。私は偉大なギターを演奏し、ビットを歌うことができ非常に多くの代替候補者を楽しませましたが、体が利用できませんでした。幸いなことに、私は茂原、千葉Studioのクローブブルースセッションでクリス•菊池と出会い、彼の演奏＆歌に感動したので、彼は私たちに参加希望の場合、私は彼に尋ねた？クリスは挑戦のためにアップした、実際に横須賀のショーの準備をするために彼の自宅のスタジオで、次の4週間は、私たちを開催しました。実際には、クリス•真由美のボーカルはにおける接合で、房総ボーイズクリスが歌っていた新たなイーグルスの曲の束を含め、多くの曲にいくつかの素晴らしいハーモニーを聞いた。 3月28日に実際のショーで、私たちは私たちの歌のいくつかに美しい4パートのハーモニーをしていたとき、観客は静か取得し、より多くの注意を払って気づいた。人々はそんなに我々はYokoskuaで、より多くのショーのために戻って招待されたそれを好きで、 4月11日クリス•菊池に、真由美＆佐久間は再び私たちに参加します。お互いを助け、このような素晴らしい音楽の友人を持つ、ライブ音楽を楽しむに感謝！
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After many years of campaigning, The Boso Boys were finally invited to perform at Yokosuka Navy Base for their Chief Petty Officer’s 120th Anniversary Birthday. From just the first songs during our sound-check, our wonderful MWR liaison and the CPO Club Managers liked our sound right off the bat. After a 4 hours show, we were invited back for several upcoming shows in APR and MAY, and I hope soon at the Officer’s Club as well. We received wonderful feedback from the audience, along with numerous requests to play some Creedance Clearwater Revival, so we promise to deliver at least one CCR song on out next visit. I dedicated that CPO Birthday event to my former band-mate and guitarist extraordinaire, retired Navy Chief Ron Driscoll! Thanks again Navy Chiefs!
Reply
YOKOTA O-CLUB Review: Friday, 14 June was our first performance at the Yokota Officer’s Club. Thanks to the efforts of Club Manager, Mark Sullivan, we were invited to play for the US Military community in the beautiful big O-Club Lounge. It was a rare opportunity for The Boso Boys to play full electric and we really got the energy level up with smoking guitar playing from Mori & Matsumoto. Although a lot of folks did not expect a Live Band, and departed early, those who stuck around really enjoyed the music. We had romantic couples slow dancing and even some cool swing dancers going on the upbeat numbers. We did our best to honor some song requests, and now have added those to our repertoire. We are definitely looking forward to visiting the O-Club again in the Fall and filling up that dance floor!
Reply
ATSUGI Trilogy Club Review: Saturday, 29 June was our first performance at Atsugi NAF (Although I have been there before years ago with Far East Texas) Thanks to the incredible efforts and support on behalf of Paul Perry, Jeff Polangin, & Barry Smith (MWR, E-Club & O-Club managers) we were able to turn a canceled show date into an introduction to the Atsugi community. Although the crowd was lite, the folks who stayed were truly enjoying the music and we even played almost an extra hour just because everyone was having so much fun! It was a big ballroom, so we invited everyone to move their tables right up next to the stage where we could see the folks moving to the music in their chairs. (That’s called ‘Seat-Dancing” in England and is illegal without a special dance license!) We are definitely looking forward to coming back and getting everyone out of their seats on the dance floor!
Reply
People keep asking me "What kind of music do you play?" I tell them "Americana" and usually get a blank look, especially from Japanese who have never heard of the term. I researched and came up with this definition: "Americana is a blend of roots music that reflects the origins of rock in rockabilly and Rhythm & Blues with elements of the blues, folk, and country music. It is music performed i
n simpler arrangements than those found in over-produced studio recordings."
"The Americana Music Association defines the genre as "American roots music based on the traditions of country. While the musical model can be traced back to the Elvis Presley marriage of 'hillbilly music' and R&B that birthed rock 'n roll."
And "roots-rock" was defined as "rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music."
Mostly I just say "We play good music that makes you feel happy and want to dance!"
Reply
There was a "Magic Moment" at Flying Sumo Surf Co. tonight...all the audience were talking and enjoying their friends after our 2nd set. But, when we stood up on the stage to begin our 3rd set, everyone became completely silent!
I realized that everyone was enjoying the music so much that they stopped their converstations and were quietly waiting for more music. That was such a compliment! I deeply appreciate all the wonderful people who came to listen and gave us their full attention. I am deeply touched tonight! This makes all the hard work worthwhile to enjoy music together. Thank you from all of the Boso Boys!
Reply
I walked in to this bar and thought “What a dive!” My band-mates walked in and said “Cool! An authentic American Bar!” It’s all relative… Musically, the show went great, one of our best, with Masa & Shinjiro delivering extraordinarily good guitar and singing, and more backup vocals and harmonies than ever before. It was great to have Inoue-san along with his friend Tomi on the mini-drum kit adding rhythm energy. The audience (Thank you to all our friends who came out in the rain!) enjoyed the energy and excitement. The Hit Parade food was very good! But, I just wish the owner had advertised or got some customers to come out and enjoy the music. How do you stay in business if you don’t advertise or promote?
Reply
We ended up 2011 with a rockin' New Year's Eve party at Studio Clove in Mobara. Our musician friends were saying it was our best performance ever, which is contributable to our newest rhytmn section members Okamoto on drums and Yuji-kun on bass. And Mori & Matsumoto seem to be reading each other's minds lately - just knowning when to play and when to support the other lead guitarist by laying back. I was even hearing more harmony guitar parts catching me by surprise.
We are aiming to create some new performance venue relationships this year, especially at the U.S. Military Bases in Kanagawa. Already we have been invited to do a Country Dance Night at Camp Zama sometime in the spring. A live concert recording by one of our fans proved to be so fun, we are even going to use a few tracks for a Demo CD. Look for more new songs and new places we hope to play this year! Thanks to Foreign Correspondent's Club and Flying Sumo, as well as, Studio Clove for being such great supporters.
Reply
Another full house at Flying Sumo Surf Co. in Onjuku! Started off the O'Bon holiday with the Boso Boys back at our favorite Summer venue. We were joined by special guests, The Amino Makoto Band with our favorite percussionst & bassist, Mayumi & Sakuma. And later in the eveing, our freind Kentaro performed the set his group had done earlier in the day at the Onjuku Jazz Festival. So the audience got a great mix of Americana and Japanese music. Upcoming will be our last summer show on August 20th. We like Flying Sumo Surf Co. so much, we may try some outdoor shows in the Autumn, but now need to find an equivelently supportive venue for winter shows in the area.
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Roger & the Boso Boys broke new ground performing on an outdoor deck at the Flying Sumo Surf Co. in Onjuku for the official opening of the Beach season on July 16th. Joined by special guest J.J. Vicars on bass, the Boys played to a full house along with numerous passersby on the street. We enjoyed a cool breeze from the beach as well as lots of lovely young ladies in bikinis and great Flying Sumo pizza!
We were having such a good time; we wound up playing from 5:30 to 9:30pm! The owners and customers were amazed since most Japanese bands only have about 45 minutes of material. That's the legacy from my U.S. bar-band days, as well as Mori & J.J.’s extensive repertoires. Everyone enjoyed the show and we will be back again on August 14th for Obon.
By special invitation, we performed the next day at the Ohara Lantren Festival. We opened the show for four other bands, whose members were overhead saying, “How can we go on after these guys!” That’s the kind of feedback that warms my heart.
We continue to drive on with my project to learn all new songs for the Fall with some great new material from John Hiatt, Chris Isaak, Ryan Adams, Dwight Yoakum, and a few treasured Buddy Holly favorites. Look for a whole new sound and look this coming year! Meanwhile we are still searching for a bass player and drummer to round out our ensemble.
Reply
Roger Sherrin & The Boso Boys / Blog
THE POWER OF FRIENDS!
My last blog entry was about our invitation to perform at the Yokosuka Navy Base. I really wanted to accept this invitation, however, our main members, Matsumoto-san, Okamoto-san, and Inoue-san were all unavailable on that date. Our last invitation from Yokosuka was over two years ago, and because we were unavailable, I had to turn that offer down, and they never called us back! So this time, I wanted to make it happen, but how with so many main members out? First I asked our good friends drummer Mayumi Takeda & her bass playing partner Sakuma-san, and shockingly they said “YES we will go!” Great, so now Mori-san & I could handle the vocals and guitars and make a show, but still 4 hours of music is a lot to cover without Matsumoto’s great lead guitar and vocals. I was entertaining so many alternate candidates who could play great guitar and sing a bit, but nobody was available. Fortunately, I met Chris Kikuchi at the Studio Clove Blues Session in Mobara, Chiba, and was impressed with his playing & singing, so I asked him if he would join us? Chris was up for the challenge and in fact hosted us for the next four weeks at his home studio to prepare for the Yokosuka show. In fact, with Chris & Mayumi’s vocals joining in, The Boso Boys were hearing some wonderful vocal harmonies on many songs, including a bunch of new Eagles songs Chris was singing. At the actual show on 28 MARCH, I noticed the audience getting quieter and paying more attention when we were doing lovely four part harmonies on some of our songs. And Mayumi also added lead vocals on a couple of songs that everyone liked! People liked it so much we were invited back for many more shows at Yokosuka, and on 11 APRIL Chris Kikuchi, Mayumi & Sakuma will join us again. Thanks to having such great music friends helping each other out and enjoying LIVE MUSIC! 友達の力は：私の最後のブログのエントリは、横須賀海軍基地で実行するには、私たちの招待状についてでした。私は本当にこの招待を受け入れたいと思った、しかし、私たちの主なメンバーは、松本さん、岡本さん、井上さんは、すべてその日に利用できなかった。横須賀から私たちの最後の招待状は2年以上前だったし、我々は利用できなかったので、私はその申し出を断る必要があった、と彼らは私たちをバックと呼ばれることはありません！このとき、私はそれを実現するために思ったが、どのように非常に多くの主要なメンバーとのうち？最初に私たちの良い友人が真由美武田＆彼女のベースプレイパートナー佐久間さんがドラマーと驚くほど、彼らは「そうだ、我々が行く！ "偉大な、だから今森さん＆Iは、ボーカルやギターを処理し、ショーを作ることができると言いましたが、尋ね音楽のさらに4時間は松本の偉大なリードギターとボーカルなしでカバーすることがたくさんある。私は偉大なギターを演奏し、ビットを歌うことができ非常に多くの代替候補者を楽しませましたが、体が利用できませんでした。幸いなことに、私は茂原、千葉Studioのクローブブルースセッションでクリス•菊池と出会い、彼の演奏＆歌に感動したので、彼は私たちに参加希望の場合、私は彼に尋ねた？クリスは挑戦のためにアップした、実際に横須賀のショーの準備をするために彼の自宅のスタジオで、次の4週間は、私たちを開催しました。実際には、クリス•真由美のボーカルはにおける接合で、房総ボーイズクリスが歌っていた新たなイーグルスの曲の束を含め、多くの曲にいくつかの素晴らしいハーモニーを聞いた。 3月28日に実際のショーで、私たちは私たちの歌のいくつかに美しい4パートのハーモニーをしていたとき、観客は静か取得し、より多くの注意を払って気づいた。人々はそんなに我々はYokoskuaで、より多くのショーのために戻って招待されたそれを好きで、 4月11日クリス•菊池に、真由美＆佐久間は再び私たちに参加します。お互いを助け、このような素晴らしい音楽の友人を持つ、ライブ音楽を楽しむに感謝！
Reply
YOKOSUKA CPO CLUB 29 MARCH
After many years of campaigning, The Boso Boys were finally invited to perform at Yokosuka Navy Base for their Chief Petty Officer’s 120th Anniversary Birthday. From just the first songs during our sound-check, our wonderful MWR liaison and the CPO Club Managers liked our sound right off the bat. After a 4 hours show, we were invited back for several upcoming shows in APR and MAY, and I hope soon at the Officer’s Club as well. We received wonderful feedback from the audience, along with numerous requests to play some Creedance Clearwater Revival, so we promise to deliver at least one CCR song on out next visit. I dedicated that CPO Birthday event to my former band-mate and guitarist extraordinaire, retired Navy Chief Ron Driscoll! Thanks again Navy Chiefs!
Reply
YOKOTA OFFICER'S CLUB 14 June
YOKOTA O-CLUB Review: Friday, 14 June was our first performance at the Yokota Officer’s Club. Thanks to the efforts of Club Manager, Mark Sullivan, we were invited to play for the US Military community in the beautiful big O-Club Lounge. It was a rare opportunity for The Boso Boys to play full electric and we really got the energy level up with smoking guitar playing from Mori & Matsumoto. Although a lot of folks did not expect a Live Band, and departed early, those who stuck around really enjoyed the music. We had romantic couples slow dancing and even some cool swing dancers going on the upbeat numbers. We did our best to honor some song requests, and now have added those to our repertoire. We are definitely looking forward to visiting the O-Club again in the Fall and filling up that dance floor!
Reply
ATSUGI NAVAL AIR STATION TRILOGY CLUB
ATSUGI Trilogy Club Review: Saturday, 29 June was our first performance at Atsugi NAF (Although I have been there before years ago with Far East Texas) Thanks to the incredible efforts and support on behalf of Paul Perry, Jeff Polangin, & Barry Smith (MWR, E-Club & O-Club managers) we were able to turn a canceled show date into an introduction to the Atsugi community. Although the crowd was lite, the folks who stayed were truly enjoying the music and we even played almost an extra hour just because everyone was having so much fun! It was a big ballroom, so we invited everyone to move their tables right up next to the stage where we could see the folks moving to the music in their chairs. (That’s called ‘Seat-Dancing” in England and is illegal without a special dance license!) We are definitely looking forward to coming back and getting everyone out of their seats on the dance floor!
Reply
What the heck is Americana?
People keep asking me "What kind of music do you play?" I tell them "Americana" and usually get a blank look, especially from Japanese who have never heard of the term. I researched and came up with this definition: "Americana is a blend of roots music that reflects the origins of rock in rockabilly and Rhythm & Blues with elements of the blues, folk, and country music. It is music performed i n simpler arrangements than those found in over-produced studio recordings." "The Americana Music Association defines the genre as "American roots music based on the traditions of country. While the musical model can be traced back to the Elvis Presley marriage of 'hillbilly music' and R&B that birthed rock 'n roll."
And "roots-rock" was defined as "rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music." Mostly I just say "We play good music that makes you feel happy and want to dance!"
Reply
Flying Sumo Surf Co. "A Magic Moment" SEP 2012
There was a "Magic Moment" at Flying Sumo Surf Co. tonight...all the audience were talking and enjoying their friends after our 2nd set. But, when we stood up on the stage to begin our 3rd set, everyone became completely silent! I realized that everyone was enjoying the music so much that they stopped their converstations and were quietly waiting for more music. That was such a compliment! I deeply appreciate all the wonderful people who came to listen and gave us their full attention. I am deeply touched tonight! This makes all the hard work worthwhile to enjoy music together. Thank you from all of the Boso Boys!
Reply
Yokohama "Hit Parade" Review
I walked in to this bar and thought “What a dive!” My band-mates walked in and said “Cool! An authentic American Bar!” It’s all relative… Musically, the show went great, one of our best, with Masa & Shinjiro delivering extraordinarily good guitar and singing, and more backup vocals and harmonies than ever before. It was great to have Inoue-san along with his friend Tomi on the mini-drum kit adding rhythm energy. The audience (Thank you to all our friends who came out in the rain!) enjoyed the energy and excitement. The Hit Parade food was very good! But, I just wish the owner had advertised or got some customers to come out and enjoy the music. How do you stay in business if you don’t advertise or promote?
Reply
Winter Blues
We ended up 2011 with a rockin' New Year's Eve party at Studio Clove in Mobara. Our musician friends were saying it was our best performance ever, which is contributable to our newest rhytmn section members Okamoto on drums and Yuji-kun on bass. And Mori & Matsumoto seem to be reading each other's minds lately - just knowning when to play and when to support the other lead guitarist by laying back. I was even hearing more harmony guitar parts catching me by surprise. We are aiming to create some new performance venue relationships this year, especially at the U.S. Military Bases in Kanagawa. Already we have been invited to do a Country Dance Night at Camp Zama sometime in the spring. A live concert recording by one of our fans proved to be so fun, we are even going to use a few tracks for a Demo CD. Look for more new songs and new places we hope to play this year! Thanks to Foreign Correspondent's Club and Flying Sumo, as well as, Studio Clove for being such great supporters.
Reply
Sunset Beach Show at Flying Sumo Surf Co. Onjuku
Another full house at Flying Sumo Surf Co. in Onjuku! Started off the O'Bon holiday with the Boso Boys back at our favorite Summer venue. We were joined by special guests, The Amino Makoto Band with our favorite percussionst & bassist, Mayumi & Sakuma. And later in the eveing, our freind Kentaro performed the set his group had done earlier in the day at the Onjuku Jazz Festival. So the audience got a great mix of Americana and Japanese music. Upcoming will be our last summer show on August 20th. We like Flying Sumo Surf Co. so much, we may try some outdoor shows in the Autumn, but now need to find an equivelently supportive venue for winter shows in the area.
Reply
Summer Beach Show at the Flying Sumo Surf Co. in Onjuku
Roger & the Boso Boys broke new ground performing on an outdoor deck at the Flying Sumo Surf Co. in Onjuku for the official opening of the Beach season on July 16th. Joined by special guest J.J. Vicars on bass, the Boys played to a full house along with numerous passersby on the street. We enjoyed a cool breeze from the beach as well as lots of lovely young ladies in bikinis and great Flying Sumo pizza!
We were having such a good time; we wound up playing from 5:30 to 9:30pm! The owners and customers were amazed since most Japanese bands only have about 45 minutes of material. That's the legacy from my U.S. bar-band days, as well as Mori & J.J.’s extensive repertoires. Everyone enjoyed the show and we will be back again on August 14th for Obon.
By special invitation, we performed the next day at the Ohara Lantren Festival. We opened the show for four other bands, whose members were overhead saying, “How can we go on after these guys!” That’s the kind of feedback that warms my heart.
We continue to drive on with my project to learn all new songs for the Fall with some great new material from John Hiatt, Chris Isaak, Ryan Adams, Dwight Yoakum, and a few treasured Buddy Holly favorites. Look for a whole new sound and look this coming year! Meanwhile we are still searching for a bass player and drummer to round out our ensemble.
Reply