Friends, Romans, Gooberheadians,
This is your ole Redemption Posse Shogun of Fun
reporting on the
Reggae S(l)umfest fesitival
that happened over in Chiba during the summer.
August 18, 1995. Sorry to be late,
but reggae just seems to put me into
a kickback and eat peanuts mood.
About 10 reggae bands from Jamaica played
at the LaLa Port drive-in theatre over
in Chiba on Saturday. "LaLa"?
What's that? Glad Chiba has a drive-in
theatre, but bummed that the one in
my hometown of Glasgow, KY is
now a farm implement dealer.
An interesting area. Right next to the
giant indoor ski area (Zaos). Rhymes with Taos??
Wonder if any of the Jamaicans headed over
for some skiing after the festival.
I was tempted because it was as hot
as can be.
Also, it's next to Lala Port which
is supposed to be the biggest American
style shopping mall in Asia,
and next to it is a huge wild-bird
tidal wetlands kinda place with
all these ducks and crane type birds
right in the middle of this ex-con-urban
superhighway koosoku area.
Maybe that's why William "Neuromancer, Cyberpunk"
Gibson always uses Chiba as a Blade-runner type setting for
his cyber dystopia avant-pop SF novels.
Chiba is really starting to overcome
its reputation as an unfashionable
prefecture next to Tokyo.
But don't worry, Saitama is still
as unfashionable as before, and
is still called DaSaitama.
"Dasai" means unfashionable.
Chiba has always been a kinda
hangout for slacker surf bums,
but has had Disneyland for 10
years, and now big convention
centers, hotels, and finally
the ultimate, a Reggae Festival.
People watching was great.
Amazing how Japanese with
a dark tan can look exactly
like someone from Jamaica,
with same hairstyle, clothes,
etc. Loved watching
Japanese rasta-men, rapping
wich Japanese rasta-women.
Can't think of two countries
more different that Japan and
Jamaica (though both start with a J).
But it was just amazing how Japanese
could look Jamaican down to
very small details.
And every Jamaican band said
"Aishiteru" (I love you)
about a jillion times.
And the "re re re no odekakemasuka oyaji"
for NTT cellular was there,
and yours truly got a great picture with
him, and even got to hold his broom.
Keep thinking about those Bob Marley words,
"One love, one heart, let's all get
together and feel allright."
What a good idea for a religion.
I thought my only choice was
to go to heaven or hell. :-)
Rolexes and redemption.
Deep fried and sanctified.
Huggs "Stand up, Get up" McShane
Paul Huggsie, Good day.