Tomoyasu Hotei

So I'm taking a trip this year, and I'm leaving town the day before Tomoyasu Hotei comes around to play a gig.

Dammit!

I first discovered Hotei thanks to Kill Bill, v1, which is also where I first heard the 5,6,7,8's as well, who are seen wiggling and rocking (but not yet heard) in this clip:



Here he is playing the same tune live:


I liked what I heard, and I kept an eye out for his stuff. While taking a slow train trip across Japan, I stopped at a used CD shop in the train station at Shimonoseki and found three of his CDs for like 350 yen a pop. I bought all three.

Later, I saw him in Samurai Fiction. It was a good movie, and I liked Hotei's music in it. Plus, like me, he's 背が高い.

When I visted the states, I loaned those CDs to a friend of mine . . . same guy who told me about Hotei coming to town. I think I made him watch Samurai Fiction with me, too. I'll have to give Tomoyasu Hotei a miss this time but I'll make it out to a show eventually.