Talk about a bubbly character, 16-year-old Cynthia had an effervescence that the world needs more of. I couldn’t tell if her Andy Warhol shirt, her blue hair, her chucks, and her recent record score, were all complimenting her contagious cheery smiley, or if they were competing for its charm. It didn’t help that she was in cahoots with equally hip her homegirl mom (who was probably also younger than me), a Jesery girl no doubt (I can say that, cuz I’ve known a few), but by way of Guangzhou, and with whom Cynthia communicates in Chinese. Here they both were strolling the streets of Shibuya with a recently-scored limited pink vinyl version of Takako’s buttery AOR (Adult-Oriented Rock, which always cracks me up), City-Pop masterpiece, “Love Trip”.
I admit I was transfixed by the whole thing. Everything about meeting and chatting up Cynthia and her mom was like a little vignette in a movie, so many encounters are like this. It could maybe make a great TV show. There’s an idea, a show about a photographer who walks around and makes photos of people with their records and comes home and writes about them, or maybe he’s a DJ by night and knows what records to play at his set cuz he gets all the material from just the observations and antics he gets into on the streets with the city’s other music-loving denizens. No delusions of grandeur but, sounds very Seinfeld, no? …with each little episode contained in itself, with the occasional repeat character, some comic relief from the next-door neighbor, who’s maybe crazy for Enka music, which the protagonist hates, and whenever he hears it, he curses “ENKA!” like Jerry would say “NEWMAN!” …but I digress, …but yeah, if I ever were to make a longer narrative someday, I would have a mile-long list of potential cast members to choose from, and I would definitely be considering Cynthia and her mom for roles.
Cynthia is delightfully not on Instagram, but she IS on Discogs, and I got to become her first friend on the platform. COOL! Thanks, Cynthing and Mom for sharing your time and smiles 🙂 Enjoy Tokyo!
More TRS on the way!
Takako Mamiya – Love Trip
Label: Kitty Records – PROT7246, Universal Music – PROT7246
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Pink Vinyl
Country: Japan
Released: Aug 5, 2023
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul, Pop
Style: City Pop, Funk, Jazz-Funk, Soul
https://www.discogs.com/release/27832554-Takako-Mamiya-Love-Trip
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