Tokyo Nights
Life In Tokyo - Neil Stalnaker
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Just Walked Out......
Well, I did it. I finally went to this little club near my house. I've been avoiding it for a couple of years. I kind of had that "gut feeling" about the place. But, a lot of people I know in the neighborhood had been trying to get me to set-up a gig there. I went in the other night to talk with the "master" (that's what we call club owners in Japan). We met and had a little "small talk" and then started to get into the business. It was obvious from the beginning that he didn't really want to talk with me (for whatever reason). Anyway, he did this thing where (without ever hearing me play or any of my recordings) he tried to trap me into describing my music and then whatever my answer was, turn it around and say that it wasn't right for his club. It was total b.s. Finally, I just walked out in mid-sentence.

It's amazing to me that I can do 14 concerts on the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, tour Russia, play 200 concerts a year in the USA, do weekly concert series' for 4-5 years at the Smithsonian Museums in D.C. with guest artists like Joe Pass and Bob Minzter and still have a few clubs here in Tokyo (around Roppongi, Aoyama, and Ikebukuro) that I just absolutely can't do a gig. Why? Well.....I'd like to say it's a mystery to me but.....I have a few ideas.