Robby's Lobby #137

BlogApril, 2018InRock.co.jp

Heyheyhey and Welcome to The Lobby, Springtime is in the air here in Buffalo, NY .... well, little bursts of Springtime and then more snow and cold. Buffalo is a lot like Hokkaido, we're very proud of our ability to deal with harsh weather, but right around the end of February we've all had just about enough! Luckily, my travels with Goo Goo Dolls get me to some warmer climates to thaw out a bit, and this month offered me a few great opportunities for some personal "climate change" and made things a little nicer in the last few weeks of another harsh Buffalo Winter.

The first gig we played was a private party in Minneapolis Minnesota, that certainly did not help with the cold (maybe made us a little colder), but it was a lot of fun and it's always fascinating to be in a city when a humongous event like the SuperBowl is taking place. GGDS were also invited to play an amazing event in Miami, Florida through the NFL Football team The Miami Dolphins as they hosted a Running / Biking Marathon with thousands of attendees making their way through the streets of Miami to benefit Breast Cancer Research. The show was at Joe Robbie Stadium after the run where the Dolphins play and we were lucky enough to have the band Big Head Todd and The Monsters as openers for the day. 85 degrees Fahrenheit and Sunny in Miami .... thaw completed.

There's an old saying in the US when you want someone to know you've experienced something before, it goes like this ..... "This aint my first rodeo you know ....", well let me fill you in. A Rodeo for the uninformed is (for lack of a better explanation) a "Cowboy" show, livestock show, horse riding expo, roping competition accompanying a whole bunch of pageantry surrounding a week long series of events for the attendees including concerts! GGDS made our way down to San Antonio, Texas to perform at this event for a second time, as I mentioned, this was not our first rodeo! We played 9 years ago at the same event, in the round on a spinning stage in a basketball arena usually full of well dressed sports fans. That week it was full of cows, bulls, horses and some pretty brave Cowboys atop thousands and thousands of pounds of dirt brought in to cover the floor for this annual event. In no time at all once the Rodeo ended they wheeled out a huge circular stage and the show began, it really was a great time and after we got over the motion sickness of a spinning stage the night was amazing .... and it was still warm .... I was still thawed.

In other news, I've been practicing my Japanese Shamisen as I'm about to perform 2 shows with Tokyo's DJ Sashimi at The Sakura Matsuri Festival in Brooklyn in April as well as the Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival in May. It will be my first time playing Shamisen anywhere (aside from my living room and the safety of my recording studio), so I'm excited to be asked to be part of the event. Tokyo Rockers and Good Charamel labelmates The Molice will be returning to The US as well to play both of these festivals too as well as The Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival in Philadelphia to begin their 2018 US tour which begins in mid April. Both acts will have new music out soon, check our goodcharamel.com to hear them and some of the other great Japanese bands on the Good Charamel Records label!

Tonight I head out to do a DJ set at a club in Buffalo, NY I used to work at as a DJ sporadically all through the 90s, The bar is called The Pink Flamingo, just a simple, dirty little place to have a sandwich and a drink and listen to some great music. I'll be joining the alumni DJs from the decades of personalities that shared music with the clientele over the years. But tonight, 20 years later I'll be playing sonic jewels like The MC5, Flaming Groovies, Shonen Knife and The Bad Brains on a computer instead of turntables .... time moves forward and so must we !

Ok, That's it for me this month, I'll be in the studio most of March and also headed to Jakarta for our first appearance in Indonesia with Goo Goo Dolls for a headine slot at The Jakarta Jazz Fest and more.... busy, busy, busy and loving it ......stop by next month and I'll fill you in on the rest !

All the best

Robby

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