Me and Takako, proud makers of the “Takoyagi,” “Kichiguy/gal,” and “Purple Penguin” T-shirts of yore, are proud to present you with our latest brainchild, the “The Lizard Man is French” T-shirt. Takako supplied the art, and I the direction and ideas. the description of the T-shirt reads:  

 Be the first of your friends to assume the world famous Lizard Man’s nationality in this stylish and timeless T-Shirt.         

 Who will be first among you to order one and send us a pic of you wearing it proudly?  To order and/or view said T-shirts visit The UtauInu Store through Zazzle.com. Hopefully, this is the first of many more tees to come. 

Here’s a pre-finalized version of the Lizard Man and his Baguette.

Bump of Chicken - Amedama no Uta (Candy Song)

Another work in progress. I understand the lyrics more than I was able to translate them. In particular the lyrics to the part where he talks about 1mm versus millions of light years seems to be more about the grand contrast than a literal translation of the distance measurements. Like compared to the light years it takes for matter to travel the galaxy, the distance between people is but a single millimeter. Or later in the song he compares billions of years to one second. Same idea in my opinion.

it’s because of my faith in you
that i know you won’t betray me
because i wouldn’t know it if you did
please don’t change who you are

because I have faith in you.

Translated by: Brian Stewart & Takako Sakuma

The new Yochien Ronin song “In Search of the Search Party,” our emo-est title yet, is now available for download on The Official (and Unofficial) Yochien Ronin MySpace Page. Also, by popular demand we’ve upped the “in studio” version of “Taisetsu na Mono 「たいせつなもの。」” which we performed earlier this year on the Jrock Choice Awards show. The romaji and translated lyrics to the two new songs and “Santa~” are now available for your reading pleasure under the “lyrics” tab on the MySpace player under the song title. Spread the love, tell your friends, lovers and dealers that YoroYoro is in town and we have pointy swords.

I can’t be the only one who thinks this is about death, can I?

Angelo - Chaotic Bell

if I keep my eyes closed,
I could just fall into a warm eternal slumber
I place a hand to my wounded heart,
and wave goodbye to the passing scenery.

see how the rapturous melody heads for that horizon
tearing apart the inifinite spiral,
it makes an arc and joins the wind

the bell rings out, and I’m surrounded by the light
in my fading consciousness, I smile faintly
On this blessed morning, the sigh dissipates,
all I feel now are those lips gently kissing me goodbye.

the tears streak down my cheek,
the emotions building up,
at last start carving blurry fissures
in the darkness of a memory discarded

the bell rings out, and turns my thoughts back to you
in my fading consciousness, I whisper my love
on this morning of departure, the sigh dissipates
all i feel now are those lips gently kissing me goodbye.

Translated By: Brian Stewart & Takako Sakuma

I know a lot of you went out to see LM.C in LA. Aiji and Maya are both cool cats. I heard they were a little quiet during their Q&A panel. So I thought I’d share a pdf we made of the interview I had with them last Spring for purple sky magazine in which I couldn’t get them to shut up if I tried. The issue is now sold out, so I felt everyone should be able to enjoy this.

LM.C from purple SKY magazine (right-click and save to your desktop)

But BEARS~!

Takako and I went to the Skylands Botanical Garden on a whim and happened upon a beautiful pair of black bears crossing our path by the Manor House.  Oddly enough I felt very comfortable around them. Albeit, with thirty feet between us.

Locals said that Black Bears are something of a rarity in those areas because the botanical gardens aren’t a good source of food. We got lucky!  BEARS!

Wow. Did any one notice pigs flying cause.. Inuyasha finally ended its insanely stretched out tale of shard gatherin’. SPOILERS! I would say on the lameness scale it’s only about 5.5 out of 10 but, to be honest, I skipped to the part where Naraku eats it, and skimmed until the good stuff. At least the end was definitive. I have to say though, that I was expecting a more interesting wrinkle. Instead the end just proves that Takahashi-sensei couldn’t see her notes under the large piles of money. The series definitely had its great moments though.  

Inbetween my job and my marriage there is only room for diversion. However, gather enough diversion with minimal distraction and every so often you get something called Product. I’m excited to be able to share with the inu faithful some concrete details about my current projects. Scratch that, I’ve been dying to tell you about this shit. I can hold it in no longer. Splurge.

1) The new Yochien Ronin song is called “In Search of the Search Party” and will likely be updated on the MySpace player in August alongside the acoustic version of “Taisetsu na Mono” we played for the Jrock Choice Awards. “Search Party~” is my favorite thing we’ve done so far. I’m tempted to describe it as celestial pop punk. People who liked “Santa~” may be surprised by the levity.

I had Steph, cook me up some bad ass art to use for general promotion purposes. Jamie is working on the MySpace reboot and when that comes together we’ll have more stuff for you.

2) I’m collaborating on a number of short original episodes for an internet TV show likely to be released to a MySpace or Youtube channel (near you).  We’re currently moving into the production stages, and I hope to have more news (including the title of the show and some teasers) on this front soon, soon-ish.

3) I’ve recently dug up a project called YANBARUKUINA! I was working on when I was writing “Let’s Speak Jrock!” for purple SKY magazine. It’s a semi-autobiographical manga, which would take episodes from my own personal experience living in Japan and translate them to the world of comics. I’d like to test the waters by collaborating on three 3-6 page standalone episodes (most likely for the web through the inu) that could act as a prequel should people respond favorably. What I need is artists. So if you are or know anyone who is interested in working on something real. Lemme know.

High and Mighty Color frontwoman, Maki (21), whose name is now and shall henceforth be devoid of mirth-making elongated syllables, has married Nakamura of Dreams Come True. While this comes as a surprise to most people who thought that Nakamura, thirty years Maki’s senior, was dead or something, it is right in line with the dreaded purple sky curse. Our track record thus far?

• Psycho Le Cemu (pre- purple sky but is it a boo related curse perhaps?)
• PIERROT (immediately following my interview with Kirito)
• Phantasmagoria (immediately following my interview with Kisaki)
• High and Mighty Color (will they stick together and redeem me?)

While I guess some artists have bucked the trend (MUCC, The Back Horn), it certainly does seem like LM.C should be watching for the creeping shadows threatening to tear them apart.

Maki will finish out the year and then graduate come the new year. I’m guessing the band is done for.

I just want to point out that during my interview with her she chose “sweets over boys” I guess Nakamura’s got the sweets, eh?

Congrats to the happy couple? Dreams really do come true?

It’s Olivia’s world we just float in it.

I love Olivia Lufkin. I love that there’s a free spirit like her out there fighting the good fight against expectation. Just look at the critter hat she made! Adorable! Wearable? Why not!?

I was pleased as punch (has punch ever been pleased? Look into it) to find out O has a regularly updated BLOG.
It has not disappointed. For a girl with as many hangups and insecurities as O, she just throws it all out there. Weird shake recipes, underground art shows, you name it. She’s like the eccentric art teacher I never had except she’s cute and not covered in hair and failure.