Back Home in the USA!!!
米国の背部家!!!
After eight shows, 30-plus hours in the air, 20,000 miles, countless train, subway, bullet train and taxi rides, we are back from the Unstoppable Tour of Japan.
As I attempt to get my balance back from the jet lag, I am still vibrating from the wonderful Japanese audiences we played for. You truly know how to have fun!
There were so many great Japanese bands we met and shared the bill with at different venues (Bright Act,Mother’s Milk, The Stratos, Since 1969, Re:ing, Orange Stones, GEAR, Storm Rider, Orchid Void, The Super Black Market, Sonic Lemonade Message, Idio-Gram and Spark). The music scene in Japan is on fire with great new talent just waiting for an audience. I hope to help several of these bands get some attention here in America.
I just want to again say thanks to Donnie Morgan and Jim LaBerge for all their efforts making my music sizzle and spark. Special thanks go to the multi-talented Duane Levi at Shalestone Music for handling everything from the bookings and sound to "the handle" on my road case! I hope to work with Duane again soon on the next tour of Japan.
Now the work starts on reviewing the audio mixes from every show and the over 15 hours of video we shot for the upcoming Live in Japan CD and DVD!
Then there’s the next Sounding Rick album set to begin production as soon as my buddy Kasim Sulton comes up for air from the new Meat Loaf "Bat Out of Hell III" and New Cars "Road Rage" tours.
It’s going to be a busy end to 2006!
Much Love,
Rick
空気の時間30と8つのショー、20,000マイル、無数の列車、地下鉄、超特急およびタクシーの乗車が日本の止められない旅行から、私達もどって来た後。 私が時差ぼけから私のバランスを取り戻すように試みると同時に私はまだ私達がのために遊んだすばらしい日本の聴衆から振動している。 偽りなく楽しい時を過す方法を知っている! 従って私達が異なった開催地(明るい行為、母のミルク、Stratos、1969年以来、に関してでと手形に会い、共有した多くの大きい日本バンドあった: ing、オレンジ石、ギヤ、嵐のライダー、極度のやみ市場無効、蘭音波のレモネードメッセージ、Idioグラムおよび火花)。 日本の音楽場面はちょうど聴衆を待っている大きく新しい才能の火にある。 私はアメリカの関心をここに引くためにこれらのバンドの複数を助けることを望む。 私はちょうど再度Donnieモーガンへの感謝および私の音楽じゅーじゅーいう音を作るすべての努力のためのジムLaBergeを言い、スパークしたいと思う。 特別な感謝は予約からのすべておよび私の道の箱の「ハンドル」に音を扱うためのShalestone音楽で多才なDuaneリーバイズに行く! 私はすぐに日本の次の旅行のDuaneと再度働くことを望む。 今仕事はあらゆるショーからの可聴周波組合せの検討で始まり、私達が日本CDおよびDVDに次のために住んでいる撃ったビデオの15時間に! 私の相棒Kasim Sultonが地獄IIIからの新しい肉塊「バット」からの空気のために上がり、新しい車「道激怒」の旅行するとすぐそれから生産を始める次の音響のリックのアルバムセットがある。 それは2006年へ使用中の端であることを行っている! 多くの愛、 リック

Goodbye Japan!!! See you soon! Arigato!!!

Is this Elm Street or Maple Street?

Osaka was very picturesque and Donnie couldn't resist...LOL! Be sure to pick up the DVD when it comes out in a few months as there are a whole series of these funny shots.

East meets west! Bassist Jim LaBerge missing a good American steak!

Shalestone Music guru, translator, engineer, train, plane and taxi coordinator, Duane Levi. Did I say nice guy too?

This night was just golden...LOL!!!

Japanese Radio Interview
日本の無線インタビュー

Last week in Osaka we were interviewd by a Japanese radio station. You can listen to the entire interviw by clicking on this link:

先週大阪に私達は日本の無線局によってinterviewd行った。 全体のinterviwをこのリンクでかちりと鳴ることによって聞くことができる
http://www.geocities.jp/kwrn_webradio/page007.html

Final Show of Japan Tour

Played a solo show at Tin's Hall in Osaka last night to a appreciative crowd. Instead of attempting to perform with backing tracks from my iPod I opted to do it the old fashioned way, guitar-vocals. It was very refreshing.

Again I met many nice fans and enjoyed the brief meet and greet after the show before heading back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Tomorrow it's time to fly back home to the US. and 14 hours in the air aghhhh!!!

鑑賞的な群集に大阪の錫のホールで単独ショーを昨晩した。 私のiPodからの裏付けトラックと行うように試みるかわりに私は旧式の方法、ギターvocalsそれをすることを選択した。 それは非常に新たになっていた。 再度私は多くの素晴らしいファンに会い、短い大会を楽しみ、そしてショーの後で大いに必要な睡眠に向かう前にホテルに戻って挨拶する。 明日それは米国に起点に飛ぶ時間である。 そして空気aghhhhの14時間!!!

I Hear The Train a Comin'...

Hello from beautiful Nagoya! Just played the first solo show tonight to a good audience. It was different playing without the energy of the band but solo shows allow for more intimacy with the audience. This was my first gig using the iPod for backing tracks (kind of like karaoke for Apple scruffs). As you can imagine it created some tense moments.
Like every other show I have done in Japan, there were tremendous local bands on the some bill opening for me.
One killer band from Tokyo called "Idio-Gram" rocked the venue with a very original sound. Another cool band was Spark. More new friendships were made tonight.
Yesterday was awesome to say the least! Once my drummer and bass player were on their way to the airport I took the two-hour, 180 mph bullet train to Mt Fuji! It was rainy when we arrived so we hired a cab to take us to see some other local points of interest. We stopped at an ancient temple/shrine in the center of a city nearby before heading into the mountains and most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen.
This morning we were blessed to see Mt Fuji in all her glory...WOW!!!
Then we headed to the train station to meet my manager Duane in Nagoya. Unfortunately, some poor soul decided to jump in front of the train ahead of us stopping the entire rail line for over two hours!
That's all for now gotta hit the hay for tomorrow is my last show before flying home to America
Much Love
Rick

Two Great Nights!

I just finished the last date with the band and will now get a break for two days before the tour picks back up again with a solo show on Wednesday in Nagoya. It is hard to keep coming up with words that convey the wonderful experience Japan has been. Last night we played in Nara at Never Land (no Michael Jackson here). We were told by another band that the venue is family owned and that they treat musicians with great respect and even feed you. Guess what, when we walked in the dressing room, they had delicious rice balls and grilled chicken on a stick for us. The bands that opened for us where again very tight and original. One that stood out was Paper Cup (see picture). Another band with a killer female drummer! Tonight we played in the beautiful city Kobe (home of Kobe beef) at Urban Square to a fired-up crowd and again had great bands on the bill!
I want to say thanks to my main brother Donnie for providing his trademark beat-smoke! The crowds went crazy for his drum solos and his vocals were spot on! And what can I say about Jim Laberge on bass? This guy was a godsend being so good and available at the same time (not everyone can take off to Japan with 30 days notice).
I also want to take a moment to thank my manager/agent here in Japan Duane Levi with Shalestone Music, for putting this all together. Not only is he a great sound engineer and fluent interpreter, he is also a musician and a first class gentleman to boot! The guy knows how to mix FOH and even put a new recessed handle in my flight case!!!
We have every show filmed and the mix recorded (thanks to Jim Laforest, Presonus and Sweetwater) as well as tons of great footage in the can. The "Sounding Rick Live in Japan" DVD is gonna rock!
That's it for now as I need to catch the bullet train to Hiroshima early in the morning!
Love Rick

Tour News

Last night was another cool venue. Four bands opened for us and all of them were really great. The Japanese musicians we are seeing are all very good. The venues have all had excellent sound and staff. Two groups we performed with last night that stood out are Orange Stones and Re:ing. Orange Stones is a three piece band with a girl drummer who is just killer. Watch out for them as they plan on coming to the US in the near future as I have agreed to produce their next record. Another cool group was Re:ing, a three piece band with a really good frontman (nice voice). Donnie, Jim and I have been having a blast with the audiences and musicians.
Gotta go do a radio interview and catch the train to Nara for tonight's show.
See ya!
Love Rick

Going Great in Japan

Yesterday was a whirlwind day here on the Unstoppable Tour of Japan. We played the famous Sun Hall in Osaka last night to one of the most appreciative and joyful audiences I have ever had the pleasure and the honor to perform for. From the very first note to the last encore, these wonderful fans sang every chorus, reached out to touch us and applauded with great fanfare. We played on the bill with several other Japanese acts, some of the names escape me, but one of the names was Mother’s Milk. Not only are the fans absolutely wonderful in their constant praise, but all of the musicians are as well. During our show, I spotted several of the other members of the bands standing right in the front row yelling the loudest.
We sold all of our CD’s at last night’s show, so any of you who were lucky enough to get one, please enjoy it with my greatest humble thanks.
As some of you may know, our tour started at nu things on Wednesday night. Where we had another great audience as well as an awesome opening act from Japan called Bright Act
As I’m writing this, it’s starting to look like an Alfred Hitchcock script, in that I am jumping around from day to day not necessarily in order, so I will keep up the confusion and tell you about another audience we played for last night. Deep in the heart of the American Umeda section of Osaka, is an American owned soul food / blues venue, called Savannah. As some of you may know, I recently finished producing my new jazz record called Musical Chairs with my alter ego, Lucky Henry. We managed to go play a short set for a very appreciative audience hungry for American music.
That’s all for now, as I’ve got to go change strings on both guitars I brought, back up the live recordings we’ve done at each show and get some much needed sleep. Enjoy the pictures.
Love, Rick

Hello from Osaka
The flight was LONG! The weather is warm and humid. The beer tastes good "Asaki Beer". Tonight we play the first show at nu-things here in Osaka. Just got word that we are doing a radio show here on Saturday as well.

And now a poem from DeMo our illustriuos drumer...

"Rocka' from Osaka!"

Im a rocka from Osaka
and it aint no shoka
that we are gonna rock this succa

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More Airplay in Japan /Countdown Begins

With the tour kicking off in one week our friends at Yellow Beat Radio in Shonan Beach, Japan are continuing their support.

On October 13th Yellow Beat Radio will be airplaying/webcasting "Turn You On" at approximately 8:57pm (Japan Standard Time). You can listen by going to www.yellowbeat.com !

Another Show Added in Japan

Rick will be sitting in with Lucky Henry at Savannah in Osaka on Sunday October 22nd. This is a special brunch show. As you may know Lucky Henry is a killer jazz/rock fusion group who's debut album "Musical Chairs " is already getting a buzz!

More Airplay on Japanese Radio This Week!
サウンディング・リックアメリカのフロリダ州

"B-Side" a song from last year's release "Evidence" will be played on Yellow Beat Radio this Friday at approximately 9:57pm (Japan Standard Time). You can listen anywhere in the world by going to www.yellowbeat.com !

Also the fabulous webcast show Gone Fishing for Blue Skies will air two other songs the week of October 8th and October 14th. You ca listen and download the shows by going to http://www.gonefishingforblueskies.com/ .

If you are in Japan please come to one of our shows.

Thanks for tuning in!

Love Rick