Tony is the real deal. Last summer I got a message from a stranger saying he had discovered my YouTube channel, and that he owned a record shop in Baltimore, Maryland and that he’s been making frequent record shopping trip to Japan over the last 20 or so years. He said his name was Tony and his record shop was called “Celebrated Summer Records” …(thinks to self, “Where I have I heard that name before, “Celebrated Summer”? Isn’t that a Hüske Dü tune?) Soon enough I was pursuing Tony’s online photos and getting a few glimpses of his Record Shop, […]
Thijs and Victoria
Niekerk, Netherlands, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Miami FLA, Boulder and Denver, Colorado, Tokyo, Japan! These two song birds have a love story that goes around the world. YouTube homie (soundofminder), Thijs and Lovely Victoria are owed a special kind of Tokyo Record Style award for two of the most patiently waiting subjects the project has known. So much time had passed from the time of our initial encounter at Shibuya’s infamous Tower Records and the FIRST time that followed up with them (in hopes they they could help me make sense of my chicken-scratch notes), however if you compare it to […]
David Sternberg
There is a certain quality that some people have, I guess you’d call it literally character, that if you have aspirations of ever writing a novel, you, when meeting these specimens, think to yourself, “Oh, here’s a good one to make a memo of. This guy’s whole being is expressive, I’m gonna base a character on this guy, in fact, I’m gonna cook up a little fictional vignette based on this very meeting, I mean after all, you can’t make up somebody or situations better than this.” David from The Little Record Store in North London was and is one […]
Hisashi (and Setsu)
Hello Hisashi and little Setsu-chan, cute father/daughter combo who I met at Physical Store – Organic Music + Planet Baby in Shimo Igusa. These two were decked in full weekend regalia – I really loved Hisashi’s glasses which had flip-up shades that only covered ¾ of the frame when down which I don’t think I had ever seen before. And he had a killer colorful “Meet Beat” shirt on too with its illustrated music heads all over it. I also caught out of the corner of my eye that was rocking some understated black leather Jack Purcell “Black Tips” maybe, […]
Scooter
“Scooter” (there is something muppety about him, perhaps more Gonzo than Scooter) told me his name but I seemed not to have written it down anywhere. It was probably because when I asked to make his photo for Tokyo Record Style, he said he was in a hurry to get somewhere… and after already having another such interaction (see previous post) suddenly I felt like I needed to get somewhere in a hurry too …perhaps shooting that cool looking girl walking out of Coconuts, right behind Scooter who maybe I would have had the time, and lord knows we need […]