FRANCE JAPAN TRAVEL TV SHOW, FILMING AT DON QUIJOTE, SHINJUKU DISCOUNT DOLLAR STORE. CAT NEKO COSPLAY.
It’s true… travel TV hosting and arranging is the best job in the world. You get to be your silly self, bring in your friends, and showcase alternative culture in (what I hope is) a positive light, to a multitude of viewers.
Merci to everyone who wrote to me after seeing my Canal + France documentary, Toque de Tokyo — I’m glad you were enticed by our spooky world. On the last night of filming, the TV crew met up with me, Comte de Sang, Yukiro Dravarious, and Naomi (First Mate of the Pirate Ship) at Don Quijote, the famous Japanese discount chain store.
Despite weeks of shooting on a tight schedule, Antoine de Caunes was dressed up and ready to rock. He’s a prominent TV presenter and actor in France, perhaps best known for the BBC late-night program Eurotrash.
My makeup is inspired by my Scottish Fold cat, Basil Farrow. I wore feather eyelashes and gold eyeshadow, drew on a brown nose and W-mouth, and added a kitty sticker.
Who says Goths can’t be colorful?
Floral Lolita dress: h.NAOTO Frill, from Closet Child
Leather studded corset: Bed Behavior in Hollywood
White bunny purse: Innocent World
Kitty hair clips: gifted from Komodokat
Naomi sewed the orange ring-collar herself. The original Sebastian and Vincent stopped by to say bonjour to Antoine.
We had made arrangements with “Donki” (the store) — so we used the opportunity to run around and be crazy! My friends and I grabbed giant orange hammers and chased each other through the cramped aisles. The shocked reactions of the customers were priceless.
Wigs and vibrators are recurrent themes in our escapades. Have you seen the drag queen film, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? Our lives are eerily similar (as you know from our YouTube videos)…
Antoine de Caunes is a fantastic sport. He went along with all of our nutty antics.
Someone looks a little too happy to be tortured.
After we ravaged Don Quijote, we took the French TV crew to Tokyo Decadance for the grand finale. Photos and video clips coming right up.
So many exciting projects are happening in December and January! I’ll let you know what’s going on as soon as I can…
Have you visited Don Quijote or a Japanese dollar store? They’re the greatest places on Earth.
Japanese Word of the Day: Shouganai = It can’t be helped
Song of the Day: Rebecca – Vanity Angel (1980s Japan pop power. As Yukiro says, “The dance is so random and amazing.”
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AURAL VAMPIRE, BIRTHDAY MASSACRE, DOMMIN, BLACK VEIL BRIDES CONCERT TOUR 2010. SEATTLE GOTH PUNK & JAPANESE BANDS LIVE.
Aural Vampire takes over America! Rose and I had a genki night with Raveman and Exo-Chika of the electro-Goth band from Japan. Don’t feel bad if you missed out… I captured their concert in this spanking new video. Andy Six of Black Veil Brides also talks about Aural Vampire and the difficulties of communicating. There’s also a shoutout to my friend Mai Sassy Girl, who is Chika’s English teacher!
In October 2008, I wrote a blog post about Aural Vampire’s show at Tokyo Dark Castle, Shinjuku Club Marz. Some drama went down in that post’s comments…
I also interviewed the frontman of Dommin, Kristofer Dommin (yes, that’s his real name. Born to be Goth, right?) I asked him about his songwriting process, finding the right band members and covering Cutting Crew’s “I just died in your arms tonight.”
The video includes clips from Dommin’s show. I enjoyed the dark chimes and choirs, film noir vibe and lyrics of heartbreak. Take a listen to this band; I think you’ll like them too.
The night wrapped up with Birthday Massacre. What a gift they are to the contemporary Goth music scene. The live music at the end of the video speaks for itself. Singer Chibi is the sweetest; unlike the previous act, there were no water bottles being thrown into eyes!
After the show, guitarist Rainbow came up to say hi because he liked our styling. Aren’t we Canadians nice? I’m keen to see Birthday Massacre again. They should play Tokyo, ne?
Ready? Set? Let’s watch the Aural Vampire, Dommin and Birthday Massacre video above and on my YouTube. If you missed it, I interviewed Andy Six of Black Veil Brides in this concert report.
All of my Jrock and Goth concert reviews are found here. Please be a sweetheart and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fun videos. There’s an Evil Queen makeup tutorial and Ice Cream Land nampa-fest coming up!
PS: Sebastiano Serafini and I both have exciting travel plans for New Year’s… hmm, could that be a coincidence? Stay tuned to this blog and my Twitter for the 411.
Japanese Word of the Day: Shichou = Mayor
Song of the Day: Aural Vampire’s Darkwave Surfer brings down the house in Seattle, November 20th 2010.
LA CARMINA
