THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18th AND 19th — NASHVILLE TO KUMAMOTO, JAPAN :
No sleep last night due to having to be up and ready to go to the airport at 4 am. Flying to Kumamoto, Japan for the 30th Anniversary of Country Gold. Daily and Vincent, Sunny Sweeney, Stephen Pride and Pacific Trends (the US Air Force Band of the Pacific) will perform with Charlie Nagatani and the Cannonballs this year. So hard to believe it has been 30 years since Charlie and I started this event together.
Jamie and Darrin arrived Tokyo yesterday to “relax” for a couple of days prior to our arrival. Jamie got detained by Immigration for 20 minutes. We figured out it was because his work Visa shows arrival on Friday. Just strange that Darrin wasn’t pulled aside as well.
I have D&V musicians plus one of Sunny’ s musicians flying with me out of Nashville. Sunny and her group are out of Austin. Stephen Pride is out of DFW and D&V sound tech is out of NC. Heard from everyone that all is good except for Stephen who hasn’t responded. Praying I see him when we land MSP!
We are on a tiny jet from Nashville and I have to take my backpack apart for it to fit in the overhead. Some rude guy got on after me and tried to cram a huge, heavy bag on top of my bag with my laptop in it. I told him NOT to put anything on top of my bag. The flight attendant had to come rearrange all the bags for everything to fit. He had an alcoholic drink before takeoff at 6 am and is now snoring like a freight train.
For those of you who know and love Charlie Nagatani, this had been a very stressful few months for him. His wife Toshiko had to go into a “care” facility because of Alzheimer’s. Less than a month ago his son Seiya was rushed to the hospital with an Aortic rupture. He is only 46 years old but was a heavy smoker. The doctors did not think they could save him. But after a 9 hour surgery, he pulled through and is home now but has therapy twice a day. It is truly a miracle that he survived and I am so very thankful he did. Neither Toshiko nor Seiya can work at Charlie’s nightclub and for the first time ever, cannot attend and work at Country Gold. So very sorry Charlie and his family are facing these challenges but know God will see them through this difficult time. Please keep them in your prayers.
We landed on time in Minneapolis to find that all the monitors showing departure gates. My apps showed G-4 and I was able to confirm that with the gate attendant. It was quite a hike from where we landed and the tram only went to A-F gates. Everyone split up once we arrived in the G gate area to find something to eat. I went into the Lounge to work. By the time I finally got settled in the business center area, Stephen and Sunny’s group had landed. I worked for another hour and then went out to meet them. Jake had already gotten approval for everyone carrying an instrument to board the flight first so they would be able to find overhead space. Boarding was definitely chaotic as the gate agents didn’t announce which groups were boarding. It is a completely full flight. I watched a pretty funny movie but the choices were limited and exactly the same movies that were available on my flights to and from Seattle a few days ago. Had dinner while I was eating then was able to access Wi-Fi and work for a few hours. I thought I would be dead tired after not sleeping last night but I could not fall asleep. So, here I am, awake and working again. Going to be a brutal “night” tonight before we arrive at the hotel.
This is a 12 ½ hour flight, then a 3 hour layover in Tokyo Haneda where we have to go through Immigration, pick up all our checked bags, clear Customs, go to the ANA check-in counter and re-check our bags, take a shuttle bus to the Domestic Terminal, clear security, and go to the gate for the flight to Kumamoto. It will probably take most of our 3 hour layover just to do that. Shoji is meeting us at the Haneda Airport and will fly with us to Kumamoto. Pacific Trends Air Force Band and Darrin and Jamie will also meet us in Haneda for the flight to Kumamoto. It will be almost a 2 hour flight from Haneda to Kumamoto and then about an hour drive to the hotel. Hoping to arrive at the hotel by 9 pm. Seiya says it will be fine for him to come to the hotel and see me while we are there and I plan to go see Toshiko tomorrow night after sound check.
We have to decide tonight as to whether or not we want to get up and be ready to depart at 8 am to the volcano. The “condition” of the volcano is never announced until early morning. If we get up and it is not accessible, then we won’t depart the hotel until 9:30 am instead of 8:00 am. I guess the only way to do it would be for me to get up and find out what the condition is and then if we can go, give everyone a “wake up” call in time for them to be ready to go at 8 am. Have to discuss this on the bus ride to the hotel tonight.
I finally fell asleep – for two whole hours. ☹ Had breakfast although I was not hungry so only ate a few bites of yogurt and some fruit. Going to be a long time before the next meal! I had left my laptop on because I didn’t want to lose my Wi-Fi connection and have to use another one of my passes. I guess the outlet quit working and the battery ran out. Now I’m trying to get it charged up before we land but doesn’t look like there is enough time left.
We landed on time and as I suspected, it took almost our entire 3 hours to get through the “process”. Shoji was there waiting for us and as always, he was a great help although we have to communicate with “sign language” most of the time. When we re-checked our bags, the Japanese airlines absolutely refused to allow any instruments to be carried on board – even though their overhead space is about 3 times the size of U.S. planes. I mean, not even a little fiddle can be carried on. But, they do provide nice padded boxes that they pack each instrument in. Only problem is, they only had a couple of boxes at the “satellite” check-in counter where we were so we had to take all the carry on instruments on the shuttle bus with us to the Domestic Terminal and re-check those there.
We arrived at our gate and found Jamie, Darrin and the Air Force Band waiting for us. We had to take a “bus” to another terminal to board our flight – which was a “first” for me out of Haneda. The flight was delayed due to mechanical problems but we finally boarded about 20 minutes late. I immediately passed out.
All our luggage and equipment arrived Kumamoto with us and our “Welcoming Party” was there – first time in the History of Country Gold that Charlie and Seiya were not there to greet us. I am already feeling the “loss” of having Seiya constantly at my side to help me. One of our escorts had 4 large rolls of tape – all different colors – on his arm and was speaking to me in Japanese and smiling. I didn’t have a clue what he was saying so I just gave him a thumbs up sign. I realized when we walked out to the bus that they wanted to put a different color tape on each group’s luggage and equipment and write their names on the tape. After traveling for over 30 hours, I didn’t think that would go over very well with some of the folks so I had to nix that idea. As I suspected, there was nothing on the bus to drink on the 45 minute ride. Seiya always took care of making sure there was water, sodas and beer stocked in the bus cooler.
Yuji met us at the hotel and began working problems with me that needed to be addressed in the absence of Seiya. There is a big cooler in the lobby that is constantly filled with water, soda and beer for our group. This time there was only water and beer but at least they had the Big Mac and chicken sandwiches there from McDonald’s. Everyone grabbed a sandwich and headed for their rooms.
I found out Seiya was at the nightclub and was furious that he was working. Less than a month ago he could easily have died. He and Charlie came by the hotel and I “scolded” him but he assured me that he was only there for a few minutes to “train” some of his friends how to do his job. He looks terrific – as evidenced by the photo on Facebook of us tonight. As I mentioned, Charlie lost his voice but one of our artists had a steroid pack and gave it to Charlie. Hopefully that will work it’s magic before Sunday.
I made the decision that we will depart the hotel at 8 am and head to the volcano. We won’t know until after 8:30 am if it is accessible. But if it’s not, hopefully the gift shops will be open and everyone can do some souvenir shopping!
Going to try to get at least 4 hours sleep then get up before the offices in Nashville close for the weekend.
Jude
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20TH – SOUND CHECK AT VENUE:
So, we have one less day here this year and one of the musicians was wanting to “sleep in” today instead of going to the volcano. I assured him he would be wide awake by 5 or 5:30 am and not be able to go back to sleep. When I went down for breakfast at 7 am, he was already down there and said he woke up at 4:30 am.
No matter how many years I have worked here, “something” always changes. This year each hotel room has a complimentary “Handy” phone in each room. It is an iPhone that the guest can use to make free international calls, test messages, emails, etc. It’s even possible to download all your “contacts” in it. You have to put in your date of departure for it to work and the day you check out, all your information is erased. No charge at all to the guest. We’re wondering how the hotel can afford to do that?
So, we left for the Volcano at 8 am and took the scenic route. There are big mirrors up along the route so that it’s possible to see on-coming traffic. The roads are only wide enough for one car but have to be used as a two lane road. I always get a little nauseous because it’s so curvy. We kept checking the status of the volcano hoping we would be able to go to the crater. The weather was beautiful but because the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, we were unable to go up. We did smell the sulfur as we got close to the volcano.
There was one gift shop still open as the others were destroyed in the earthquake 3 years ago. It had the greatest gifts but when everyone was ready to check out, we were told they would not accept credit cards – Cash (Yen) only!. Such a disappointment. Evidently they are closing down that shop in the very near future and building an entirely new shopping area around the base of the volcano.
So, we arrived at the venue about 30 minutes early and everyone was able to eat lunch before rehearsing the finale. We got the merch counted in while everyone was doing their sound checks. With the exception of incorrect patches for Dailey and Vincent, sound check went smoothly. Hiromi and Yuji have been a tremendous help to me. Don’t know what I would have done without them since Seiya isn’t here.
Sound checked ended pretty much on time and we were back at the hotel by around 7 pm. Everyone split up to do some shopping before the shops closed at 9 pm and then they were going to eat and go to Charlie’s club. I rushed upstairs and dropped my bags and headed back downstairs to walk to Charlie’s club and meet Kayo who was going to take me to see Toshiko. Had a surprise when I found Seiya in the lobby waiting for me and to introduce me to his girlfriend. She’s really pretty and seems so sweet. Very happy he has found someone special.
I walked over to the club and met Kayo and we took a taxi to the care facility to see Toshiko. Only there were several buildings by the same name and we went to the wrong one first. We eventually found our way to the correct building and went to the 4th floor. We walked in and there didn’t seem to be anyone around except a couple of people watching TV. Even though her hair is completely white, I recognized her immediately. She looked stunned for a minute when she saw me and Kayo and then she started smiling and reached out her arms. I hugged her extra tight and told her how much I love her. I would have been heart-broken if she had not recognized me.
I took her photos of Zac, Zoe and Lindsey and we talked about them and “old times” at Country Gold. I have known Toshiko for 30 years now. She doesn’t speak a lot of English but Kayo did a great job interpreting. We stayed until almost closing time which was 9 pm. I ran in Charlie’s club for about 2 minutes to tell him we saw her and how good she was doing tonight. I had taken her some Goo-Goo Clusters – her favorite candy – and she ate one immediately.
All the restaurants were closed by the time I started walking back to the hotel so I went into a 7-11 and bought a cup of Udon Noodles. Then I had to use my phone to “google translate” how to “cook” them. But they were really good.
Finishing up some last minute work then going to shower and get in bed. I tried to sleep on the bus ride back to the hotel tonight and again, no luck!
Jude
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21ST – COUNTRY GOLD 30TH ANNIVERSARY:
Set my alarm for 6:30 am but woke up at 5 am and got up and started working. Had breakfast with a lot of the other “early risers” and headed for the venue. It is a beautiful day and I’m hoping we have a huge crowd of fans.
It took us an hour and a half to reach the venue and it has been NON-STOP all day long. We got all the set lists distributed and set up for the press conference. There were actually more people at the press conference wanting interviews than we anticipated…which is a good thing! But, we had to limit the time for interviews and keep things moving.
Thanks to Hiromi and Stewart, the press conference ran smoothly. Dailey and Vincent had to immediately go out to sign autographs. Vanessa with the Fukuoka Consulate has been such tremendous help all year long. She attended today with Carolyn Grassman (Minister Counselor for Public Affairs – U.S. Embassy) who was representing Ambassador Hagerty and Joy Sakurai (Principal Officer, U. S Consulate Fukuoka). Their speeches were first and then the Air Force Band kicked off the festival and just killed it. Dicky Kitano followed and next it was Charlie’s turn. Thankfully his voice has returned — probably due to the steroids.
The Governor and Miss Montana Rodeo also attended. All the artists presented the Governor with gifts and had their photos taken with him. Then plaques were presented to all the sponsors. At the end of that presentation, we presented plaques to Charlie from CMA, ACM, Grand Ole Opry, State of Tennessee, House of Representatives from Tennessee and the Air Force Band. Charlie was overwhelmed.
Stephen performed next and the audience loved him. Sunny’s band backed him and did a great job. Then Sunny performed a terrific set. The last U.S. act was Dailey and Vincent and true to my prediction, the crowd went wild for Bluegrass!!!!
All the artists spent an hour at the autograph booth today when they were not performing. The stage is 3 stories high and the length of a football field. There were literally hundreds of line dancers in front of the stage. — more than I have ever seen.
I chose the finale this year and had Charlie sing “My Name is Good Time Charlie” — the song of his life. He sang the verses and everyone else sang the chorus. It was terrific.
The concert ended with our usual ” Kampai” in the Green Room. Hard to believe Charlie and I started this event 30 years ago!!!!
It was a quiet trip back to the hotel. I ran upstairs to drop my bag and then Hiromi and I rushed over to Angelo’s for the best Italian food anywhere. We were the only customers in there and he kept the restaurant open just for us.
I am sooooo tired and need to get in bed. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some great parts but I’ll add them in the last report tomorrow on the flight home!
Jude
MONDAY, OCTOBER 22ND – KUMAMOTO TO NASHVILLE:
Grabbed about 3 hours of sleep and met everyone in the lobby for the flight back to Nashville. Only had one “casualty” this morning and he was able to come down pretty quickly. As anticipated, we hit traffic going to the airport but thankfully we had departed 30 minutes earlier than originally planned.
Check in at the airport was the usual nightmare for us. We had to get in one line to get our boarding pass but that would only take us from Kumamoto to Haneda. Had a very hard time getting the airline agents to understand that we wanted to check our bags all the way through. As mentioned, the airline will not allow any instruments to be carried on. So, Hiromi had “notified” them yesterday that we would need 8 boxes for the instruments. But, they only wanted to check the instruments through to Tokyo and pick them up there but the personal bags needed to be checked all the way to Nashville. Then add to that confusion the fact that 4 people were staying in Tokyo, one was going to North Carolina, and two were routing through Los Angeles and you can imagine how long it took us to check in.
Our flight from Kumamoto to Tokyo departed on time and seemed much shorter than the flight over – maybe because we weren’t so tired! We landed at Haneda and everyone went to baggage claim so the people who checked instruments could pick those up. Then we rode the shuttle bus to the International Terminal and still had to go to the Delta check-in counter to pick up boarding passes and reconfirm our checked bags. Once we finally finished that process, everyone split up to shop and eat. I went to the Lounge and worked until the flight boarded.
We departed on time and I watched a bad movie while the meal was being served. Then I was finally able to sleep for about 2 hours – off and on depending on the severity of the turbulence! I woke up about the time the office in Nashville was opening and tried to get online with NO LUCK at all. I could not get the Wi-Fi to connect. It would go to the connection page but would not connect. I was able to connect on my cell phone, which made no sense at all! Tried for several hours and never got online. I have an “ip fixer” that Greg installed for me on my laptop but was scared to use in since it said it would shut down all my Microsoft capabilities. Will have to try that out when he is at my house again.
We landed Minneapolis on time and all our luggage and equipment made it. Those of us going to Nashville only had about an hour layover before having to board for the flight because it took so long to clear Immigration, collect the bags, clear Customs, and go through an incredibly long line for Security. Stephen and Geoffrey who were going to Dallas and Charlotte had much longer layovers.
Once we arrived at the gate, Jake went up to check with the gate agent to make sure they could board first with the group that is given extra time so that they could stow their instruments before the overhead space was filled. They have been allowed to do this on all the other flights this entire trip The gate agent was rude and told him he could not. I gave Jake a copy of the “Bill” that Congress passed stating that musicians have to be allowed to carry on their instruments if there is space available. He was going to show it to him when it was time to board. But, a miracle happened and the gate agent had to take a passenger in a wheel chair to his seat. A lady replaced him at the gate and was very nice. She did not even question allowing the group to board first with their instruments! Just shows no one really knows the rules – it’s all in who you happen to talk too.
Flight left on time and the plane was only about half full. Landed Nashville on time with all our bags again….tired but very happy to have attended the 30th Anniversary of Country Gold. Dailey & Vincent, Sunny Sweeney, Stephen Pride, Pacific Trends, Charlie Nagatani and the Cannonballs and all the musicians and crew were SUPER to work with and all had amazing performances. Special thanks to Yuji, Hiromi, Shoji, Kayo, and all the Japanese staff and volunteers who were so tremendously helpful. And lots of love to Charlie, Seiya and Toshiko – my Kumamoto family!!!