Robby's Lobby #106

BlogOctober, 2014Inrock.co.jp

Hey Hey In Rockers and Welcome once again to the pages of Robby's Lobby, my weekly attempt to fill you in on what's happened in the past few weeks of my life with the hope I'll amuse you, or maybe just make you smile once or twice in the process!

With the Goo Goo Dolls Magnetic Tour drawing to a close we finished with some great shows including a stop in our hometown of Buffalo, NY and a huge show for all of our hometown fans! From the stage I recognized my dentist, my high school music teacher, the man that sells hot dogs in a cart by my house and some guy I remembered borrowed 5 dollars from me about 25 years ago. These things always happen when you do a show in front of 10,000 of your closest friends in the place where you grew up! The Magnetic tour was a great experience for us, and I wish we would have made it to Japan for some shows on the main part of the tour, but we are working on an Asian leg in the near future, we'll keep you informed here!

The 12th Annual Music is Art Festival was last weekend here in Buffalo as well. I started this festival many years ago with a few of my friends here in the Buffalo music and arts community. The MIA Festival began as a small gathering of creative people involved in the Western New York art and music scene and has grown to an event featuring 13 stages of dancers, musicians and DJs performing amongst tents full of displaying artists and live artists creating pieces at the event. We had a little bit of rain in the morning, but the festival grew to a crowd of thousands by mid day!

The festival had about 100 local acts performing throughout the day featuring performances by Buffalo, NY natives Green Jelly who brought their Punk Rock Puppet Show to the stage, the popular emo rockers Cute is What We Aim For (also Buffalo natives) also performed a set as well as honorary Buffalonians from Osaka Japan the legendary pop punk all girl trio Shonen Knife!

If you follow my column you know of my relationship with the mighty Shonen Knife through my label Good Charamel Records and work I've done in my in my recording studio with the band. But this was a special night sharing a band I love and believe in with the rest of Buffalo, NY. For the first time since their recording of the Live from Mohawk Place DVD recorded in 2009 in the legendary Mohawk Place Tavern in downtown Buffalo. Thousands gathered around the stage as Shonen Knife thrashed about the stage and ripped into a short set of favorites including Antonio Baka Guy and Twist Barbie among other favorites! The band finished their set and signed merchandise for an eager crowd before returning to their van and continuing their North American Overdrive tour throughout the months of September and October!

My wife Miyoko is currently traveling with Shonen Knife's tour and for the next few months (aside from a few scattered GGD shows) and since returning from 19 straight months of touring, and I will for the next few months be a full time Iku Man taking care of my daughter Hana solo! I'm sure this new experience will not be without it's exciting moments and I'll remember to share some papa stories with you in next month's In Rock column !

Ok, I will be going now, as I literally have a 2 year old climbing on my head right now (I'm not kidding)! I hope all's well and I look forward to my upcoming trip to Japan in November ! I have a special engagement in Japan during my next rip and I can't wait to share the details with you !

All the best, and peace

Robby

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