jakerosenberg.com

Well the last few days in Tokyo have been a blast, and we're about to hop the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. I've uploaded a bunch of Tokyo photos, so check those out.

Yesterday, it started raining, and we took a bus tour of the city, including Tokyo Tower, the Diet building and Imperial Palace, and the Asakusa Kannon Temple in Ueno. Trevor's on my ass to get moving now, so I gotta run. Enjoy the pics.

Posted by jake at 05:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I've uploaded a few of the pictures I took while doing touristy stuff yesterday. You can see all the japan pictures by going to my Flickr photostream and choosing the tag japan. Hope you enjoy; we're having a blast so far.

Posted by jake at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Hey all, writing this from Mikey's laptop in his and Brock's apartment in Tokyo. It's noonish, and we just got back from walking the city a bit and grabbing some food at Denny's, which is absolutely nothing like Denny's in the US. Last night I got in about 5:45 local time (12:45 by my clock) and it took a few hours to get through immigration and customs and ride the train into downtown to meet Trevor. We dropped our stuff off at the apartment and headed out to a couple nomihodais (all-you-can-drink bars); somehow I managed to last the night and after getting a few good hours sleep on a hard-as-hell tatami floor, we're ready to go all touristy. I'll update later with some pics. Bottom line, I'm alive and well, and Japan is my oyster...

Posted by jake at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm off to Japan tommorrow morning. Keep checking back as I'll be updating from the road and uploading pictures.

Oh, and here is the result of my studio sessions this week. I think they came out pretty good. Let me know what you think.

Next stop, Tokyo!

Posted by jake at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

It seems my switching to Flickr for my photo hosting was timely; this weekend we bought them. I'm very pumped about this, their service is fantastic. If you haven't played with it, check it out at flickr.com or just click on one of the photos in the left column there.

In other news, I've basically been gearing up for the big Japan trip. I plan on blogging as much as possible during the trip, so if you're interested in following our travels, this is the place to be. I also plan on uploading as many pictures as possible as I take them.

I'm not going to New York, and while slightly heartbroken, I can only hope the Pillows return to tour again. As it is, I guess could still go to see them at the Chicago anime convention <shudder>, but that would be truly painful: I'd hate to reduce a band that's been playing for 15 years to the few songs they contributed to an anime soundtrack. Plus, I went to one of those conventions once; all I can say is, I don't ever want to do that again.

Lastly, while digging through some old cassette tapes, I discovered a copy of the recording of my grandmother testifying before the House Un-american Activities Committe (HUAC) in 1954. I'd heard it before, but every few years I rediscover it, and am always blown away. Hearing a short, female, jewish, communist attorney brow-beat congressmen (in the fifties, no less) is really quite an experience. She quotes extensively from Walter Lippman's Indespendable Opposition during the hearing; after reading that document, I found it to be as relevant today as it was then. I'll leave you with one quote my grandmother used in the hearing:

We take, it seems to me, a naïvely self-righteous view when we argue as if the right of our opponents to speak were something that we protect because we are magnanimous, noble, and unselfish. The compelling reason why, if liberty of opinion did not exist, we should have to invent it, why it will eventually have to be restored in all civilized countries where it is now suppressed, is that we must protect the right of our opponents to speak because we must hear what they have to say. ... For there is a point, the point at which things really matter, where the freedom of others is no longer a question of their right but of our own need.

Posted by jake at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

this is the first ever guest blogation on jrosenberg.com. here's lawrence:

Michelle Yamashita, Jake Rosenberg, and Ari Gass are so fucking fabulous. Well, more so, Yama and Jake; Gass is just so-so. As you can tell in the picture, this is a fucking great party. The dance floor is just so packed. Just to the left of the photo, there's some serious grinding action. And to the right, Daniel D is making out with some strange dude, having given up on his masculinity after being rejected on two dates. It's cool, though, he bought women's jeans. A-OK. Anyway, I'm a goddamn amateur (lj wong), here's Christopher Wu, blogger for Backfield in Motion on www.meshsf.com:

if you notice in the picture that these three are all fashioning black chuck taylors. every picture has two or more sides to a story. this picture is hardcore evidence that chuck taylor discrimination is a very real problem in the hipster community. why do i bring this up? because the chucks on these oppressed feet are white. reverse bigots. -christopher s. wu

Ed. note: we are all drunk.

Posted by jake at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey all... This is a test of my new mobile blogging setup using flickr.com. More on this tommorrow, but the short version is that I'm blogging from my phone. Pretty sweetner. Hopefully this will let me capture craziness as it goes down live. Cheers!

Posted by jake at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ari Fleischer is a douchebag. More on this story as it develops...

Posted by jake at 02:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Finally got a copy of the new Spoon record Gimme Fiction. Kicks serious ass at first listen; we'll see how it holds up. I practically came all over myself when the drums kicked in at the start of I Summon You.

Still trying to find a cheap flight to NYC. Just you wait, Sawao Yamanaka, just you wait...

Posted by jake at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The pressure to blog, that is. Trevor has been giving me shit because his recent blogging record is so much better than mine. Well, excuse me if I ran out of inane crap to spout. Oh wait, here's some:

Vegas was a blast. Highlights include the VIP section at Light, Daniel D in women's jeans, McSherry inventing a move on the dance floor I have dubbed the "dry 69" (let your imagination run wild), Dailey "tain't misbehavin'", and as for me, well lets just say I spent a good half an hour in the Drais bathroom grinning at myself in the mirror like an idiot. Thanks, Shawna (you rock, by the way). On the down side, we got delayed a total of 6 hours on the flights to and from, and afterwards I got sick and missed the Mission of Burma show (more on that later).

In a horrific twist of fate that proves once and for all there is NO GOD, Tokyo's own Pillows are FINALLY doing a small U.S. tour and playing in San Francisco -- two days after I leave for Tokyo!! I am seriously considering flying to New York a couple days before I head to Japan just to see them at the Knitting Factory; I fear that since most of the shows are 21 and over, most of their kiddie fans won't show and they'll never come back to the US. I tell you what, the universe sure has a sick sense of humor. Just for reference, here's Trevor's report of his Pillows experience.

Speaking of Japan, the planning of the trip is coming along nicely. Trevor and I have made reservations at a ryokan in Kyoto for the few days we're there and we're in the process of obtaining permission from the Imperial Household Agency to visit the Katsura Imperial Villa. We are also gonna try to get to Nagoya for a day to visit the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi. I mean, who doesn't like Robots (other than Will Smith)? I am beyond excited for this trip; it is going to rule all.

In Y! news, we recently launched YSDN for all you developers out there. Maybe now the Slashdotters will ease up on us a little.

Current playlist:

• Black Mountain - S/T LP
• Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
• Bonnie Prince Billy and Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
• Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
• Coachwhips - Peanut Butter and Jelly Live at the Gringer Minge
• Colin Meloy - Colin Meloy does Morrissey
• LCD Soundsystem - S/T LP
• Mission of Burma - Snapshot
• Mountain Goats - Nine Black Poppies
• The Kills - No Wow

Noisepop was kind of a bust because of my aforementioned sickness... I missed Ted Leo and Mission of Burma. But I did get to see Joanna Newsom at the Swedish American and Rogue Wave at Slim's. Both were a good time.

Work is coming along on my forthcoming solo EP, which involves me and my guitar doing covers. I have recorded a few demos (more to come), and am going into the studio to record it for real on March 19.

Oh, and I'm like 25 now. That's about it for the world of Jakedom. Jaa, mata...

Posted by jake at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)