UPCOMING! MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 5, Valentine's Day Rumble!

Coming up at next month, Mystery Mondays will be held on Valentine's Day! Get prepare to be shot in the ass with Cupid's arrow when you see this line-up! Young women beware... a couple lonely boys from The Fadeaways are making killer '77 sounds in the NERVOUS HEARTS! They kick off the night and open up for Mystery Girls Part 2 featuring those sassy lasses in THE HARPY's, bubble gum-chewing girls in the garage THE PAPPYS and those wild leather-toting she-devils the KANNANA SPEEDCATS!

Lovey dovey jukebox sounds provided by our love love mode DJs, WAYNE MANOR, SACHI B of GoHoneyGo fame and schmoozy sleave-artist extraordinaire Mr. DEATH!

It will be a devilishly romantic nite with lots of close dancing and melty chocolate hearts. Also, feel free to bring Valentine's cards for your favorite band! Or you'll be able to make one at the venue and put it in their Valentine's "mailbox!"

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 5
"Valentine's Day Rumble"
Lonely Boys... and Mystery Girls Part 2
HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK 2.14
OPEN: 19:30
START: 20:00
TICKET: 1500 (+1D)

feat.
KANNANA SPEEDCATS
THE PAPPYS
THE HARPY's
NERVOUS HEARTS

DJs
Mr. DEATH (YUKKUM YUKKUM)
SACHI B (GO HONEY GO)
WAYNE MANOR (SWAMP FICTION)

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol. 2, Rockin' Xmas Party in Tokyo

Tis' a tale of the season last that I shall tell so that we remember to keep our hearts warm with warm booze in our bellies... A season when sugar plum fairies with plump sugar plums go-go dance in our heads. When we give two fingers to that old man Scrooge and that bastard Grinch, too... And say Merry Christmas to all the Whos down in Hipsville and whoever we choose!



This past Christmas Eve at a quaint little tavern in the heart of Tokyo called Heavy Sick, a humble host gathered for a holiday dose of wine, wonder and rock 'n' roll music. The halls were decked with sweaty gym socks and fake feather boas... and our imitation Christmas tree would have kicked Charlie Brown's ass! And all the boys and girls there had not a clue that the real Santa Claus would be flying in from Detroit before the night was through!

Before the crowd appeared, three bad little girls and one bearded ape were drinking much beer. They shivered in their short red dresses, yet their elfin red caps brought them much cheer. When they grabbed their guitars and started to scream, I couldn't tell who was more popular... Jesus, John Lennon or THE FEMININE!?!



Then two naughty brats crept out from backstage with messy little faces, THEEE BAT had been snacking on cakes left for Santa this Christmas Eve! To rub it in St. Nick's face even more, they played a rendition of The Sonics' classic named after him, how awful indeed!



Then as if expected on cue, the man himself arrived, Father Christmas or St. Nick... or an impostor named Detroit Dick!? He wore a red jacket too small ("Santa Love Doll" on the back it was writ) and pants too tight for his prick! Soon he was joined by a merry December cherry named MIWAROCK. On came "Santa Baby," the beloved Earth Kitt's Christmas hit, and she began to strip! Elfin in size with milky white skin, the watchers were enraptured by this bundle of sin. Detroit Rock Santa got it up once, but we all wondered if he would be able to complete his Christmas trip!



T'was a true nightmare before Christmas because BOBBY's BAR brought their lust for Halloween! Voodoo dolls, Tiki art and other psychobilly treats are what you'll find under these wicked kids' Christmas tree! Much to the delight of those gathered there, they even played an instrumental version of Bill Haley's "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree!"



Now it was time for all the good little girls and good little boys to get gifts! Too bad we could not find any, and had to settle on the bad ones and those who'd been naughty! The Stately Wayne Manor introduced once again, the man from Detroit who was in truth theee real SANTA CLAUS in Japan! He had two large bags, a green one for boys and a red one for girls, I called on those who had tickets for presents and MIWAROCK helped DETROIT SANTA distribute them. Some kids got wild ones, noisy ones, yummy ones or nothing at all and others were poor, nonetheless fun was had by all. Such is the way when you introduce Secret Santa gift exchanges to a culture where Christmas is more like Valentine's Day than a party for all!



Wrapping up the evening was the real rock 'n' roll of the STOMPIN' RIFF RAFFS, which left Rudolph and his reindeer fraternity in high spirits. Their music bid farewell to Santa who had to be on his way, yet Miku-chan was happy with her remote control toy which all night long she just had to play!



And so, this Christmas passed with much fun and celebration, and I must now add a special thanks the the DJs scooter-riding mod adventurer HARRY the HEMPSTEAD HEATH, and the legendary garage rock wildman HIROSHI SEKIGUCHI from SWANK fame! As for mys-elf, The Stately DJ Wayne Manor, I played a special brew of Christmas classics from the early punk, garage and rock 'n' roll eras as well as some modern garage punk Christmas 45s. Everyone got a heavy whiff of that eggnog and passed out on the train on the way home on Christmas morn, I'm sure!


(All Photos by John Kessler, Special Thanks!)

UPCOMING! HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol. 2, Rockin' Christmas Eve Party

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol. 2

Rockin' Frat House on Christmas Eve!

Featuring bands:

STOMPIN' RIFF RAFFS

THE FEMININE

THEEE BAT

BOBBY's BAR

WoWZeRZ! Detroit rock SANTA CLAUS will be there! And he'll get a lap dance from upcoming burlesque starlet MIWAROCK!

Also merry holiday tunes by:

DJ HIROSHI SEKIGUCHI (SWANK)

DJ HARRY the HEMPSTEAD HEATH (HHH-PRO)

The Stately DJ WAYNE MANOR (SWAMP FICTION)

& more surprise guests!

And that's not all folks! We will be doing a Secret Santa gift exchange! Bring a gift and R&R Santa will be there to give you secret gift when we have Secret Santa Tine at 2:30am! Details below:

Secret Santa participation is not obligatory, but if you choose to bring a gift, you will get one in return. When you arrive, please check your present at the door and get a "Secret Santa Ticket" which you can exchange for a gift later in the evening. Be sure to tell the door staff if your present is for a boy, girl or good for both. "Secret Santa Time" will be strictly at 2:00AM, so be ready with your ticket!

WARNING! Your gift should be a NEW item with a retail value of about ¥1000!

サンタからクリスマスプレゼントをもらおう！

イベント当日にクリスマスプレゼントを用意して
来場された方には、『Secret Santa Time』に参加できます！

1,000円ぐらいのプレゼントを当日用意してください。
用意したプレゼントを受付でスタッフに渡してください。
その時にプレゼントが“男の子用”“女の子用”“

男女どちらでも”か伝えてください。
そして、スタッフから『Secret Santa ticket』を受け取ってください。

『Secret Santa Time』はAM2:30開催予定！

【注意】※新品／USED問いません。ただし、“プレゼント”という趣旨に反するようなものは控えてください。誰かに喜んでもらえるもの。それが今回のプレゼントのテーマです。

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol 4., "No Nov Ember"

Well, seeing as I didn't get any pics from this one, you're gonna have to take my word for it. This party was a fractured celebration of noise, poetry, rock, dissonance and harmony. I started off the night DJing some more classic NY sounds including Patti Smith and James Chance as well as mixing in some Richard Hell and William S. Burroughs spoken word into contemporary post-punk from the east coast US, namely i, fanblades from Delaware, MD and Armedalite Rifles from Pine Bush, NY. Too band a crowd didn't start filling in until a bit later begging the question put to us by the age old Zen koan, "do records make music if no one is in the club?" Too bad, cause Burrough's "Dead Souls" sounded even more apocalyptic against the dub reggae groove of Armedalite Rifle's "Tomorrow Never Comes." Nonetheless, I was very to happy to have a nice crowd file in after I tapped guest DJ Luca Tieri who was manning a merch table with his art at the moment and in town from Italy for the week. He spun a rare blend of vintage Italian punk & power pop and Japanese new wave exotica.

The first band to play was ROCKET JACK VADERS, a Japanese underground group that started out doing surf and garage and is noted for joining the NYC Japunks entourage nearly 10 years ago. More recently they've adopted a no-wave influenced sound with extra percussion and some alto horn sounds while keeping their surfy roots. If this sounds good to you, you can pick up their CD Vector at Pacifiction Records. I don't have any pics of them at Mystery Monday, so here's a video of their song "$ ¥" complete with samples from Blue velvet!



Rocket Jack Vaders

Etching out a name in the Tokyo arts & poetry underground scene over the past couple decades is Yuichiro Azuma and his no-wave inspired group FLIGHT OF IDEA. I met them several years ago after taking a trip to Taiwan's Spring Scream festival. They were also the first band I helped gig around NYC where Azuma met some local poets including the late Tuli Kupferburg. Their CDs "Talk Hard" and "a Day" are also available from Pacifiction Records. FLIGHT OF IDEA were the second Mystery Monday band performing their mixture of saxaphone bursts and rock structure, call-and-response monologues and poetry that converses rather than talks to the audience. In a joke aimed at me, Azuma started off saying he hates Mondays in an improve piece... they ended their set with another improv song called Mystery Mondays! Here is a video for their latest major song, "Beat Boat."



In between the bands, expat Michael Pacheco, formerly of the Asian American new wave rock band THE SLANTS, played a DJ set under his new moniker LAKESHORE DRIVING, really a project that remixes and mimics 80's electro-pop but with a modern dance party vibe. I finished the party with a set geared more towards UK post-punk, ie. Gang of Four, The Flys, and NYC No Wave, artist like Mars, DNA and Lydia Lunch. definitely a fun party for a Monday and special thanks to all the musiciana, DJs, friends and guests that came out!

Upcoming! MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 4, "No Nov Ember"

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 4
"No Nov Ember"
Hatagaya Heavy Sick

OPEN: 20:00
TICKET: 1800 +1D

4-hour new wave, no wave, post-punk party people!

Featuring bands:

FLIGHT OF IDEA
ROCKET JACK VADERS

Guest DJs:
LAKESHORE DRIVING (ex-THE SLANTS)

Late addition!

DJ LUCA TIERI (Italy)

Host DJ:
The Stately DJ WAYNE MANOR (SWAMP FICTION)

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 3, Halloween Bash

This past October we had a nice Mystery Monday Halloween party to kick of the week leading up to All Hallow's Eve on the following Sunday. Heavy Sick was well decorated with spider webs, bats and jack-o-lanterns and I offered plenty of trick-or-treat candy and goodies like mini-skeletons and spider rings. And of curse plenty of spooky tunes on the turntables and cool live bands.



The first band to play was PLAY FIGHT, a band of mixed nationalities with each member bringing his own influence and style. The end result is a well-crafted and tight mix of indie rock, funk and lounge with songs in both English and Japanese. They've been making noise in the Tokyo expat scene and have a growing following in the city.



The next band was ANDROID BEACH PARTY, a wired mix of surf-instrumentals and sci-fi themed space-jams led by Canadian musician Chris Farr. His CD "Scientific Flying Machine" is now available at Pacifiction Records and the band has recently been active playing more frequently with Japanese garage bands. Chris and DJ Sachi B were dressed in skeleton suits in real Misfits Halloween fashion making the night truly festive.




In between live sets, the DJ station was creating plenty of noise that goes bump in the night with the help of creepy connoisseur DJ Mr. DEATH and the trashy garage and freak show tunes of BILLY TRASH of the notorious ED WOODS. My DJ set as the Stately Wayne manor invoked typical Halloween spirit with music by the Misfits, The Monsters and the Cramps. Sachi B caught some of our more stooge moments of film!




(DJs BILLY TRASH, WAYNE MANOR & Mr. DEATH goofing at the tables)



(THE STATELY DJ WAYNE MANOR & his skull maraca)



(ANDROID BEACH PARTY jamming on stage)



(BILLY TRASH & MR. DEATH do the MISFITS!)

MYSTERY MONDAYS Vol. 2, Mystery Girls Part 1

(THE HARPY's at Mystery Girls Part 1; Photo by SACHI B)

The last Monday of September was our first installment of Mystery Girls, featuring girl bands and rockin' female DJs. It was also the welcome back gig for THE HARPY's fresh off their US tour with myself acting as tour manager wheeling for them around the NYC/tri-state area. Despite it being rainy and having a light crowd, THE HARPY's proved once again they are an untiring force on the Japanese indie punk scene.


(THE DARLINGS at Mystery Girls Part 1; Photo by SACHI B)

The second featured girl band was THE DARLINGS who combine cutesy 60's fashion with upbeat and occasionally raw powerpop making for a pretty unique sound while fitting into the Tokyo garage scene. In between acts, DJ SACHI B, of the Go Honey Go record hop, and DJ KYOKO of punk band THE LEGS provided rockin' psychobilly & garage tunes. Yours truly, The Stately Wayne Manor and DJ Michael of Head Kicked in provided MC action and opening and closing sets. I'm already planning some surprise guests for Mystery Girls Part 2 which should take place at the end of January or February, so keep your panties on!