Heyhey and Welcome to the Lobby, Hope all's well and that you are all doing your best to stay cool in this crazy Japanese summer heat! I am coming to you today from a little apartment in Shinjuku as I make my way through the high temperatures and humidity to adventure around Japan with my family and friends here in Tokyo! My wife Miyoko came a few weeks earlier with my daughter Hana as I stayed behind to play some shows in the US and Canada w/ Goo Goo Dolls before jetting to Japan, but more on that soon!

I made my way back out to LA from Buffalo to do some writing with Johnny for the new Goo Goo Dolls album after speaking to you in the last column, we are starting to see the new album take form, it's so exciting to see the band entering what will be our 30th year with new, fresh music for studio album #11 to be released some time in 2016! This year also marks the 20th Anniversary of the release of our ''Boy Named Goo'' album, which will be re-released on Vinyl by Warner Brothers in the US. We have been going over some old live performances from that life changing era for us as well, we are told these rare tracks will be packaged in some sort of ''deluxe'' version of the 1995 album also to be released next year in some form stay tuned for more information on that soon!

After a quick trip home I jumped on an airplane and attempted to make my way to St. John's Newfoundland in Canada to do a festival show with Rod Stewart and Canadian rock legends Blue Rodeo. But as happens frequently in Newfoundland we were diverted by bad weather, not once but twice on our journey. We ended up spending a less than glamorous 11 hours in Newark airport and then an even more less than glamorous evening in a Ramada by the airport before attempting another flight at the break of dawn on the day of the show. But the adventure continued into the next day as we were again diverted to a small town in Newfoundland called Stevenville. Not much happens in Stevenville apparently, and as we sat on the runway of a little private freight airport waiting for fog to clear for many hours we were being watched by the locals sitting on their trucks, drinking beer and watching what may have been the most exciting day the little town has seen in many, many years.

Once all of these obstacles were overcome, we made our way to St. John's arriving at the crowded festival site 2 hours before our scheduled start time. Blue Rodeo never made it, but our crew was amazing (and fast) and we the show came off without a hitch. We finally got to share the stage with the legendary Rod Stewart, having a great time making rock with 15,000 of our friends in Canada.

I woke up bright and early the morning after the show and excitedly boarded a plane to Tokyo Narita Airport to meet my family, since St. John's is the northeastern most point in North America it was a long, long flight over the continent and then The Pacific Ocean to Japan, but I was met by my family at the airport and the adventure continued to our little apartment in Shinjuku where I sit typing to my In Rock friends this morning!

I've been here in Japan for a few days now, had many great meals already (including my daily curries), soon we will meet with some of our Good Charamel Records Japanese artists to discuss their upcoming trips to record and perform in America. We will also see some shows and spend some time in Kanazawa which is the sister city of my hometown of Buffalo, NY! I will write of my travels in Japan in next month's installment of The Lobby, but for now, I'm out of space and it's time for us to make our way back out in the heat for some more fun in Japan.

Have a great summer, and we'll talk soon !

Peace, Robby