Ah, the story I didn't manage to get written. My Red Bull story, you see, was only half of my spring break.
The other half consisted of Japan Nite and everything that goes along with it.
Japan Nite is the one night during SXSW every year where they bring in a bunch of Japanese bands that the bands' Japanese managers want to introduce to international ears. But it's more than one show. There's the pre-show the day before, and the after-parties, and all that fun stuff.
At the shows, I got to hear a handful of wacky bands, but three that really shined - Oreska Band, a group of six girls that just graduated high school and can actually play really rockin' ska music; Go! Go! 7188, a hard rock trio led by two small, hot, but talented girls; and HY, a (figuratively) huge band from Okinawa with several #1 hits and headlining tours in Japan.
My friends, who speak better Japanese than I, felt brave, and so they decided to go up and talk to these bands and try to get to know them more than the rest of the fans who got pictures or autographs or whatnot. As a result, the first night's afterparty ended up with us taking a couple members of HY out barhopping on 6th. Once the bars closed, one of the Japanese guys came to the rescue with his loft right above 6th.
We were stoked to have gotten to hang out with these guys. They're so big in Japan that they would have been completely inaccessible, but here it's a different story. They're unknown, and they don't seem to mind escaping fame for a little jaunt around the US. To them, we were just some gracious American hosts who had some good beer. To us, they were just musicians who wanted to be chill and have a good time - or so we acted. In private, we were overwhelmed with the coolness of hanging out with these guys. And just amongst ourselves, we had a great time too - we made new friends from Texas State's JA, so the
yakuza sort of got expanded that week.
But that was merely the first night. My Japanese friends, their bravery rewarded, decided to expand the invitation to the next night - the real afterparty for the real Japan Nite. Kind of a big deal. Much to our surprise, they were down for it. After another seriously good concert, we headed back to the loft with all of HY, and part of Go! Go! 7188, and though I left a bit early (there was another party with a very sexy Japanese girl that needed attending), the experience was so magical that you could feel it in the air. The kind of magic where an acoustic guitar gets passed around amidst the beers and cigarettes and you just know that you're in a place where everyone is genuinely happy, just for that evening.
Much to our chagrin, the night eventually had to end. HY had an American tour to wrap up. People had to get home. Many people spent the next day recovering from the fun. The best Japanese speakers out of my group stopped by HY's hotel to say adios - they wound up getting the band's Japanese phone numbers and an invitation to hang out in Tokyo. I spent the day clinging to the buzz of being surrounded by Japanese life, and as such whiled away the afternoon with the sexy Japanese girl and showing her the joy of BBQ.
That night, my brain had officially had it. I started doing weird things like calling all the wrong people to hang out on a Saturday night. I could feel the magic leaving my body - rather, I could feel myself coming down from the adrenaline high that had been the previous week and I was desperate not to lose it. By 10:30pm I was frantically making phone calls. By 11:30 I was crashed out on my bed.
I slept for 14 hours.
I decided over that break that I enjoy who I am much more when I'm not in school - I wasn't stressed, I slept more comfortably, I was a more adventurous cook, and I was a better friend. Suddenly, graduation doesn't sound quite so bad. Perhaps it's not always going to be a life of partying with Japanese rockstars, but so long as it happens occasionally, I think I'll be all right.
