Mac Bar Annual New Year`s Live

Friday the 13th, January 2006
Mac Bar - Nagarekawa, Hiroshima, Japan

The gig was a live show and party that Mac hosts annually at his downtown rock`n`roll bar. In total, probably over 7 or 8 hours of music. All the performers were friends of Mac who came by invitation. Some I know, others I don`t. But all in all, it was a kick ass party.

Mac - the host, enjoying life.

Mark Harrison opened the show (his reward for being the only one to arrive on time for sound check). Mark, Ramsey and I were the only foreigners who played. Always enjoy Mark`s set.



This is Ramsey in action on the Chapman Stick. He`s from Indiana.

The Chapman Stick, which I`ve seen and heard a few times now, is quite a crazy instrument. It`s like a bass in one hand and a guitar in the other - no plucking. It was invented in California. There aren`t many people in the world who can play one but I heard the most famous would be the bass player for King Crimson. I forget his name. Ramsey can make the thing smoke.

Not sure of this one`s name, but I`ll never forget the song. She sang "Happy New Year - War is Over". It got a bit wild at the end with her writhing on the floor and screaming.

This guy backed her up on the guitar.

Our Soundman, with everything under control.

This guy played some Dylan tunes, and nailed them right on.

That`s me - either singing something or trying to remember the words, not sure.

I went on around 11pm. I played 3 songs - plus 1 encore. My set was "after midnight" (JJ Cale) / "so far away" (dire straits) / "I`m the man who loves you" (wilco) / and finished with one of my own called "portena". No broken strings! Mac called me the "rocker" of the evening - which i though was hilarious.

This was Iwamoto. Here he`s playing the Udo. He also played some jazz guitar.
His fingers move faster than I don`t know what. like a Japanese Al di Miola.

He was joined on bass by Kajiyama. I`ve seen Kajiyama play a few times in Hiroshima now. Always something different, always something really cool.


The cultured part of the evening was well taken care of by Osan. He played traditional music from Okinawa on the Sanshin, joined by two percussionists.

The Sanshin, as you can see, is made of snakeskin. It`s sometimes confused with the Japanese Shamisen. (The Shamisen is a bit larger and made of cat skin. There is also a third variation - the Tsugaru Shamisen, which is even larger and made of dogskin.)


The closer / headliner was Kobayasi, who played some smoking ukeleli tunes. He had Kajiyama on bass and a percussionist. Fantastic !

Our soundman, our bartender - Bokujan, and Ramsey. Missing, or hiding, is Yuri - the one who holds it all together.