[quote="Ciidric"]If someone came and told me two years ago that two years later I would hop on a plane and ly out of Canada and into New York to see my favorite band in some random 21+ bar for 5 bucks I wouldn't believe them...[/quote]

$5 to get in the door?

I can ONLY interpret that as them wanting to play for their fans for the sake of the connection. They sure aren't in it for just the money.

That's why I love these guys. They're REAL.

When they played Caribbean Lights, I paid more for their bottled water before their set than I did to get in the door. And Yamanaka spent more taking fans to dinner the night before than he probably made playing that night.

^ truth. that's one of the best things about them, like you said, they're in it for the music, not the money. it's what they love.

Jeez...I can't look at your avatar without being embarrassed for Manabe-san. I hope he never sees it. He'd turn bright red, I think....

...you should just blow it up to life-size and stash it away someplace. And then maybe think about retiring the av.

(I'm not ragging on you- but a look like that should be fleeting and not frozen in time. This is why "primitive" people think cameras steal their souls...)

I'm really afraid it would make him self-conscious if he saw it. But maybe that's just me.

OK. Co-dependant mode: OFF

i actually think it's one of his better pictures.

manabe always makes that face. its his trademark

[quote="kudos anyone?"]manabe always makes that face. its his trademark[/quote]

Yeah, but he never has to look at it...

it's not really any different from mellie's old av where yamanaka's singing. not much. but yeah, i could just go back to me hawt 90ml manabe avatar.

Eh. It really doesn't matter much now.

It's just a rare pose that's unusually revealing, and I guess that's life in the big city.

you can see the emotion. i think it's cool, because it shows how manabe really loves the music.

[quote="Marekenshin"]you can see the emotion. i think it's cool, because it shows how manabe really loves the music.[/quote]

Yeah. When I watch the concert DVDs I single-frame his soloes because it's just so beautiful to watch. I've never seen anything like it.

To me, Manabe-san is really the heart of the Pillows. I don't want to diss Sawao or Shin, but when you hear those guitar soloes in songs like Strange Chameleon or Backseat Dog or Crazy Sunshine, the sound I think of that is going to continue on if the band were ever to split up would go with him, not the others.

But again- that's just me.

YMMV.

I think Jun is the heart.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/yakasmitsen/sleepyjun.jpg[/img]

but that's just obvious truth.

Heart is There

[quote="Jomei"]I think Jun is the heart.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/yakasmitsen/sleepyjun.jpg[/img][/quote]


Heh....how silly of me. Of [i]course[/i] he is....

...what was I [i]thinking[/i]?

(Jun emailed me after SXSW. He really like the chocolate I gave them. I get the impression he and Yoko and Ayumi ate most of it; there was enough weapons-grade chocolate truffle there to bring down the Diet, no pun intended...)

[quote="terra"]are you going to tell [i]your[/i] story? [/quote]

So Terra and were at one of the 78 bars we hit during SXSW waiting for the Pillows' set. After my 2nd Heineken, I decided to relieve myself. I'm standing at the urinal doing my business when this little dude with scruffy black hair starts using the urinal to my left. I glance left. Then I glance again ... oh hey, it's Sawao! So there I am, standing there, urinating in unison with Sawao Yamanaka.

Now how many people can say that!

Of course, nothing will beat the reaction from Terra when Sawao walked up behind her with his video camera as she was taking pictures of Noodles' performance. Her jaw hit the floor .. well the grass. :!: