Goths in (somewhat) hot weather! The Adventure Team traipsed around the Hollywood Hills in pretty Carmina t-shirts. I’m wearing a Portrait tee — which features my very round and fluffy Scottish Fold. (Click on the links under the Gallery photos to buy.)

With Lemon and Ementhy. The shirts come in men’s and women’s sizes (XS-XXL), in V and U-necks.

Follow the White Rabbit…

K. is modelling the Wonderland design. Which t-shirt/hoodie print (and which boy!) is your favorite?

Gackt pose!

Lemon with… oranges?

Speaking of Visual Kei boys… Maru Music and Sword Records have teamed up to release albums and official merchandise from D’espairsRay, Vidoll, DuelJewel and more! Check out the J-rock label’s website for further info.

The Carmina t-shirts are limited edition releases, so get yours before they’re gone! Available for purchase online here. Prices are affordable, we have a large range of male and female sizes, and ship internationally. If you have any questions at all about purchasing, feel free to comment or drop me a line. Wholesalers, please email me for line sheets and prices.

I am thrilled that you like my new fashion collaboration with Akumu Ink! Thanks to everyone who already ordered a cute/spooky shirt or hoodie (featuring me and Basil Farrow). Send me photos of yourself wearing the clothes, and I’ll put them on my blog!

The Japanese TV shoot is over, and I’m wrapping up the NYC nightlife escapades. You can look forward to David Bowie club kids, an all-girl spooky band shoot, and Gothic Lolita Punk store pics in the next week. Til then, here is a guest post from Cotton Bale (who you’ll remember from my Death Cookbook cupcake battle!)

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Like La Carmina, I am a huge fan of Italo Disco, particularly HiNRG, so after moving to Tokyo it was only a matter of time until I discovered its Japanese counterpart, Eurobeat. I started off listening to 80s and early 90s covers of Western disco songs, such as Wink’s version of Turn it into Love by Hazell Dean, Miki Asakura’s take on Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler, or BaBe’s Give Me Up by Michael Fortunati. At first the songs seemed too cheesy, but before long they grew on me.

Then one day I was in Shinjuku when suddenly I looked up to see a sign with what looked like J-pop album covers from the 80s on it. I stopped in my tracks and picked up a flyer from the rack near the entrance, which read: 70s and 80s bar, Showa Boogie, playing music from the 70s, 80s and early 90s. I was determined to go.

Soon after, I made it to Showa Boogie with a friend. As we walked down the steps to the basement bar, we were greeted by Japanese idol pop over the loudspeakers and 7” album covers on the walls. The inside was likewise decorated with idols on record sleeves and magazine covers. These were almost as good as the music itself.

There are only 12 seats and when we arrived shortly after 8pm, there were already seven other customers, all men in their 30s or 40s. Four salarymen were loudly debating the merits and demerits of the 80s as a decade. The three people running the bar were the same age and clearly fans of the music.

Two big-screen TVs at either end of the bar continuously played music videos. When you sat down, you got a sheet of paper on which you can write a request. I asked for Genki Don’t Stop by Noriko Sakai, but unfortunately, they didn’t have it.

They played quite a few songs by artists I know including Pink Ladies, Candies, Yoko Nagayama and Minako Honda. Some of the more memorable videos were Romantic ga Tomaranai by CCB and one from the Hikaru Genji tour Roller Panic (performed entirely on roller skates). However, they also played lots of great songs by artists I didn’t know. My Japanese friend recognized a number of them and said that his mother was a big fan of some. Every so often someone would say: “I had such a crush on her when I was a child” or “This really takes me back.”

There was a wide selection of drinks available at reasonable prices, most cocktails costing about 700 yen. Drinks come with snacks such as senbei, and you can order bar food. I had an awesome time at
Showa Boogie, and I will definitely be going back. If you are in Tokyo and love 80s music, I highly
recommend it, although you might want to take someone who speaks a little Japanese with you, as I am not sure if the staff speak any English.

Showa Boogie is located across from Closet Child, near exit D5 of Shinjuku Nishiguchi or a few minutes walk from the West Exit of JR Shinjuku Station.
Address: B1F Zenkou Bldg, 7-1-4 Nishi Shinjuku.
Phone: 03-5348-2383
Open from 7:30pm to 3am from Monday to Saturday, except on public holidays.

Male flamboyance: a centuries-old tradition that has evolved but never gone out of fashion. Today’s ruffled riff-raff — think Japan’s Goth Aristocrats and New York’s Dances of Vice (above) — are but the modern incarnation of the European dandy. So let’s raise our bowler hats to our foppish forefathers who paved the road to Visual Kei and Harajuku boys.

The male peacock bared his tail-feathers in 18th and 19th century Europe. “Laconically witty clothes-horse” Beau Brummell and “Dandy King” Joachim Murat set the stage for the slightly eccentric but always stylish gentleman. Let’s not forget the infamous Oscar Wilde and Lord Byron. (Come on, fellow contemporary writers — live up to the decadence of your predecessors!)

In mid-18th century Britain and America, the ornate man “stuck a feather in his hat and called it maccaroni.” These caricatures capture the maccaroni’s outlandish tailed jackets and towering powdered wigs.

After suffering through the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, the bourgeoisie just wanted to have fun. The Incroyables and their female counterparts, the Merveilleuses, ornamented themselves in floppy collars and bows. Long hair on men has always been a mark of bad boy hedonism, hasn’t it?

Frilly shirts and powdered visages came back to life in the 1980s New Romantics. The Blitz Kids’ club fashion influenced some of my favorite 80s synth-poppers: Visage, Adam and the Ants, Ultravox, Duran Duran, Human League, Spandau Ballet.

Today, the male dandy lives on in Japanese Gothic Aristocrats, Visual Kei J-rockers, Steampunks and other Neo-Victorian/Goth sartorialists. As for their female counterparts: no matter what era you’re living in, there’s a place for long gloves and ostrich feathers. And ding-a-linging your young boytoy… well, that never gets old!

PS: DJ SiSEN in Malaysia? Nope, it’s a Harajuku Look-Alike contest!
You may also enjoy Funny money in Asia: my new gallery on CNNGo. Which one is the most Monopoly-like?

Song of the Day #279: 12012 – Heart (J-rock dandies carry the flame forward.)

If you want to pick up a cute Visual Kei boy or two in Los Angeles, where do you go? Jungle Cure, a one-stop shop for Harajuku fashion, anime, manga, J-rock, robots and more.

The Little Tokyo shop has shelves of manga for your perusal. J-pop hats and t-shirts make a great gift.

Jungle Cure specializes in collector’s items and special editions, such as this Ponyo book (artwork from the Miyazaki movie).

All your favorite Sanrio and anime plush toys are available, including Pika-pika-pikachu. There’s a selection of non-brand Japanese and Gothic/Lolita clothing near the entrance.

My money would go to the Visual Kei CDs, DVDs, and magazines (such as Cure and band booklets). If you’re in Los Angeles, I recommend taking a trip to Little Tokyo in the downtown area. Visit Jungle Cure, do the Dance of Despair in Weller Court, stop for a bite of sushi at Oomasa, and top it up with fresh fruit bubble tea from I Heart Boba. Ooh, and don’t forget to stop by Kinokuniya to pick up a copy of my books (now out)…

WASHINGTON DC spooks: there is a Harajuku Japanese Street Chic Demonstration and Fashion Show this Sunday, Jan 10th at the Textile Museum. Go!

PS: The Selby’s photos of Tokyo homes are a must-see. Vivienne Sato (artist and drag queen) and Yoshiko Kajitani (designer of Yoshiko Creation Paris jewelry) are my favorites.

PPS: Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood are getting married??

Song of the Day #278: E’m – Eternal Melody (Heavy metal harpsichord!)

Long live Jasmine You, ethereal bassist of Visual Kei band Versailles, who flew away from this world far too young. On January 4th, the group held a memorial concert with Kaya and Matenrou Opera. And Yukiro Dravarious was there, squat in the center of the front row. Here is his story.

I got back to Japan just in time to go to my favourite band’s event. I had won the lottery pre-booking (a weird Japanese system). I got ticket number 9, meaning I was the ninth person to enter the arena.

I arrived at the venue Shibuya-O-East at 16:05 (Carmina and I saw Versailles at O-West in 2008) — and there were already over a hundred people queuing. I was very surprised and happy at the same time, that so many people came to celebrate one of history’s greatest bassists, Jasmine You. I went to eat some nice kaiten-sushi because I didn’t want to stay outside in the bitter cold for an hour. I was dressed in mournful black colours and wore my new contacts.

When the time finally came, we get to stand in pairs in line, so I got to stand next to the guy with ticket number 10. Then we had to wait a bit longer and finally we got to enter the venue. I didn’t care to look for a coin locker to put my jacket in or check out the merchandise because I was destined to get a good place on the first row. For some reason I got to stand in the middle. I felt sorry for all the short people behind me for a while, but I changed my mind when I got 5000000 arm-knot punches in my back.

It went really crowded and the stage was reasonably big. I did notice that there were a lot of guys here tonight; before, the audience used to be packed mainly with girls. When I looked back a second time the area was over-crowded and people where even standing in the doorway. The music in the background was classical opera: tonight was to be a night at the opera indeed.

After waiting for an hour or longer, they drew back the curtains covering the stage to reveal a BIG portrait of Jasmine You hanging in the center-back, covered by flowers. Then the happy guys from 摩天楼オペラ matenrou opera appeared. (A funny note: Matenrou is the Japanese word for “Skyscraper”.) I have seen the guys before and they haven’t really impressed me. But the singer said some beautiful words to Jasmine, played a ballad AND I caught Anzi’s pick. I like the synthetic sound in their tracks; I have to admit that they are a good band.

After the band finished playing, there was another pause, which never seemed to end. But when it did, KAYA-sama were already standing on the stage with his back facing us. The music started and he began to sing as the lights hit him and he slowly turned around. He was wearing a nice wedding-dress-like dress all in black, except a red rose attached to the center of his chest. In the next song you could spot that he also had a red rose ring. He had piercing blue eyes, a bride-like hair garment and a circlet built of black roses: altogether a very Gothic, stylish appearance. Kaya also danced like a prima-donna! From doing half-turn spins, one after the other, to dropping dramatically dead to the floor, he had by far the best stage moves tonight. Not to mention his very good stage presence: he replied to almost every audience scream and had some amusing small-talks in between the songs. For example, he stared at the portrait of Jasmine You and said the bassist was more 目立つ“medatsu” (eye-catching) than him and that it was a bitムカつく “mukatsuku” (sickening/disgusting). This was of course a joke! His performance was over rather quickly, but I really liked it and want to see him soon again.

Now the time had come for tonight’s main act: Versailles. I was getting more and more excited and the space in which I was standing became smaller and smaller due to all the pressure from my surroundings. I couldn’t even bend down to get my black and purple fan from my bag on the floor.

The music finally started and as always, they entered the stage and bowed in the middle one by one to the Versailles “Introduction” track. They started with their newest single “Ascendead Master”, which made the audience go wild. Versailles played two new songs from their new album “Jubilee” that’ll be released (or “be born” as they put it) on January 20th. Only the track “Serenade” got a proper presentation from Kamijo (the singer). He talked about Jasmine You for a while and said this new song “Serenade” was in his memory. It was a ballad and the lyrics were really beautiful, and he bowed several times at Jasmine’s picture during the song. The other new song started with Kamijo saying stuff in Latin so I’m quite sure that it was the “God Palace” song. (You can preview all their new songs on their official homepage.)

Versailles was dressed similarly to the V-Rock Festival live with small adjustments, like Kamijo had a new necklace with a ruby gem in the middle. (Read Yukiro’s V-Rock report here.) I got to shake his hand and touch him plenty *drools*. Teru (guitarist) never came into my reach and Yuki was locked behind his drums but I got to shake his hand too when the music finished. When Hizaki (the Marie Antoinette-like guitarist) got close by, the atmosphere was filled with his perfume and I did touch him also *indescribable happiness*.

It was a serene and holy experience to be that close to them again; almost supernatural. The empty space left by Jasmine You lasted throughout the concert and they didn’t have a replacement this time. When they all spun simultaneously, you could really notice the emptiness and the “all together spin” didn’t have the same effect as it used to. At some point, when Kamijo got close enough I could see that he had a thin black stream of make-up running down from his eyes to his cheek. I was bowled over by the sight. He said in the beginning of one of his speeches that it was okay to cry tonight but we should give Jasmine You a great live also. My eye was tearing several times during the concert because it was such an emotional performance.

There were a lot of para-para moves, furious head-banging and metal hand gestures, like always. The musicians went away from the stage and the audience started to scream “We are Versailles”. After about 15 minutes, they came out again and played another three songs. They finished the live with their first single, “The Revenant Choir.” (They didn’t announce their upcoming tour, but the info is written on their homepage; only Japanese dates are decided yet, although there are rumors of a world tour.)

When the music finished everyone stayed on stage and the audience screamed their lungs out. They did some thank you gestures one by one and then… the most unexpected thing happened. Hizaki took one step towards the barrier blocking us from storming the stage. Then he stepped back… and ran into a stage-dive!!! YES I’m not lying! He was quickly drowned in the over-excited ocean of crazy fans and some stage person had to save the poor soul. Sadly enough I wasn’t anywhere near his stage-dive but I could see it pretty well. Hizaki seemed to be rather unharmed when he got back on stage and did a final wave to us.

Jasmine You will always be missed as an essential part of Versailles. His gorgeousness and talent was/is as close to divinity. His more then ten years in the Visual Kei scene means a lot to thousands of people and in many ways influenced the new generation of VK artists. Jasmine You’s memory will live on through us and I have no doubt that his spirit was watching over the show that night.

Thank you to Yukiro for the heartfelt report. I invite you to leave your thoughts and reminiscences about Jasmine in the comments.

Merry Dix-mas! Happy Nightmare Before XXXmas! The Adventure Team made an impromptu pit stop at one of my favorite music stores in the world: Amoeba Records on Sunset Boulevard in LA. The indie music mecca has a vast used selection, $1 vinyls and cassettes, and a hilarious “Death Metal” section in the back left (those bands have some of the most ai-yah names on the planet!). Ementhy picked up a certain gem known as Twisted Sister’s Twisted Christmas, which is exactly what you’d expect. An R-rated headbanger’s twist on your favorite Yuletide carols. The best track is Heavy Metal Christmas — come scream along with us!

On my heavy metal Christmas my true love gave to me,
Twelve silver crosses
Eleven black mascaras
Ten pairs of platforms
Nine tattered t-shirts
Eight pentagrams
Seven leather jackets
Six cans of hairspray
Five skull earrings
Four quarts of Jack
Three studded belts
Two pairs of spandex pants
And a tattoo of Ozzy!

And a bonus gift for you: three Lemons piping on a Hohner melodica! Preferrably wrapped up all snug in my bed, while visions of… ermmm… dance in our heads.

Another bonus: Basil Farrow, his grandma (Mia Farrow) and mommy (La Carmina) are featured in Mediabistro’s publishing industry blog Galleycat.

MERRY HEAVY METAL NIGHTMARE BEFORE DIX-MAS, DARKLINGS!!

While most of the world is snoring, fops and dandies are out doing what they do best — being 24 hour party people! Here’s a round-up of recent nigthcrawls, with help from La Carmina’s roving reporters in Tokyo, LA and New York.

Last Saturday, Tokyo’s Artism Festa raged from two in the afternoon… to five in the morning. As you can see from Yukiro’s photos, the spooks remain on top of their fashion game. Do you recognize the fantastical horned bride on the right? Yup, it’s your beloved DJ SiSEN! Yukiro says: “SiSEN was once again clarified as my god with the best outfit ever <3. His horns were to die for!”

Yukiro reports: “The performances at Artism Festa were very good. Aural Vampire played only their best songs. I didn’t arrive until 9pm and just missed SaTaN, which I really wanted to see (I’ve adored their style for a long time). Takuya Angel was there DJ-ing, and he and Chihiro had a DJ duel at the end. Selia was the guest singer in one of GPKISM’s songs; really nice harmonies when Ken’s bass voice went down and Selia’s up. Seileen (Selia and SiSEN’s duo) debuted some new songs and wore all white clothes.”

While in LA, the Adventure Team saw several J-rock bands play at Matsumoto’s 2nd Street Jazz. We had a grand time rocking out to Rusika’s set. Lemon says: “I enjoyed how well they connected with the audience. They didn’t take themselves too seriously and were very personable.” Ementhy concurs: “I really liked how much much they seemed to enjoy performing. Musically, it was everything you would expect to find in such a small venue, but quite surprising how well they sounded even with that small of space.” The hour-long set included “Cage” by Dir en Grey and a couple L’arc~en~Ciel songs (“Stay Away” and “Honey”).

Rusika has several upcoming gigs in LA; be sure to check them out. Isn’t drummer Alfred a J-rock/Visual Kei hairstyle chameleon? I wonder what color he’ll rock next..

Jazzminshroom, Atsuyuki Kono’s band, performed next with a new female singer. (Above is one of their signature melodic rock songs.) The new CD, “Livin’ in’ Caleuphoria” is now out — you can hear more tunes on MySpace.

Bordello Bar in downtown Los Angeles invited me to check out the Sunday burlesque show. My goodness — the space is amazing; the red seating and dramatic decor were made for Goth flappers (if there was ever such a thing!). The bartender tailored a cocktail to my taste (“manly liquor such as gin, rum or whiskey, with a touch of citrus, but not at all sweet.”) It was perfect, cost $10, and got me plenty tipsy!

The Harlow Gold burlesque troupe began with a peekaboo: gartered and high-heeled legs spreading and kicking behind curtains. Then a variety of sexy retro acts: 1920s dancing, hula hoop stripping, crooning into a vintage microphone. The corseted ladies never lost my attention; the show was a classy, well-conceived tip of the hat to old-time burlesque. Bravo! (You can watch Harlow Gold every Sunday night at Bordello.)

My NYC crew nightcrawled at Dances of Vice, “a world-renown monthly series of parties featuring a new fanciful theme every month mixed on top of a constant decadent 1920s theme (live swing band! Burlesque! Awesome hats!).” (Also check out my Halloween report here; photos above by Shichi.) The theme was Trouble in Toyland, “where daily dolls go missing, and the toy soldiers have gone quite deranged…” Once again, a surreal mix of music, fashion and foppery. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love stuffed animals worn as headpieces.

I’ve been churning out work for CNNGo. My latest articles are about Wolverine getting an anime manga makeover and DIY Asian designers: 10 unique handmade gifts you’ll be happy to give. You may also like my Who Mattered Most in Hong Kong 2009 profiles, a primer in Cantonese celebrity scandal and political drama. All of my articles are listed on my CNNGo contributor page, which you can bookmark.

Have you been on any good nightcrawls lately? What are your favorite local parties? (You never know… I might stop by one day!)

Thumbs up… to raiding Carmina’s suitcase and trying on her clothes.

Ementhy immediately threw on my leather jacket and rifled through my pockets (he found a Japanese manga cafe tissue pack). Lemon dropped his jeans and got into my Alice and the Pirates pirate pants with the butt ruff.

All of us could fit into each other’s pants, like in that chick flick. We joked that we’re the Travelling Trannyhood of the Pirate Pants! Like in celebrity magazines, I’ll ask: who wore it best? (Let us know in the comments.)

Everyone recognizes Yukiro’s pink Cheshire Cat wig, which he wore in the Andrew Zimmern Bizarre World episode. It can double as a Visual Kei shoulder ornament.

Can I tell you how happy I was to fit into Ementhy’s tiny ripped-up jeans? The tradeoff spiraled out of control: the pirate pants are mine (worn by Ementhy), the white pants are his (worn by me), the red pants are Lemon’s (worn by Ementhy). To add to the confusion, many of these mens pants are actually for women.

I wanted to steal Lemon’s red pants. We like the color red; how about you?

Boys, do you buy and wear women’s pants? (Many of my male friends prefer the fit.) Girls, do you enjoy getting into guy’s pants? (Oops, that came out wrong…)

Harajuku is just like my favorite movie, The Ten Commandments: each time you revisit it, you discover something new and amazing! The legendary Tokyo district may not the Fruits fashion heaven that people imagine it to be, but if you ask me, it’s still the best place around to shop and soak up colored-hair, pierced-faced, punk-booted inspiration. (Where else would a cute fetish polar bear make total sense?)

I’ve posted hundreds of Harajuku boutique photos, but neglected to put up pictures of rock star merchandise shops. Usually packed with teenage schoolgirls, these stores are plastered with J-pop and Visual Kei posters, photos, tour souvenirs…

Pop idols take up most of the racks, but you’ll find Hide, X Japan, Gackt, Mana and your other favorites in the mix. Most stores offer gachopon (lottery machines); insert 200 yen in this one and you’ll get a Nightmare trinket.

I leave you with a D’espairs Ray 10th anniversary poster from the music store inside Laforet, the Harajuku shopping complex. You can see more Visual Kei music store photos, as well as every Gothic Lolita Punk brand inside Lafore, on this page.

And here is my new CNNGo article: Asia WIN! A photo gallery of epic epicness. Hope it makes you chuckle. See you in costume at my LA book signings!

Song of the Day #247: Laura Branigan – Self Control (I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: 1984 was a very good year.)

Confession. After seeing legendary Visual Kei bands in Tokyo — Versailles, Moi dix Mois, Gackt — I doubted that an American J-rock concert could send shivers up my spine. But I went to the J-Summit at NYC’s Webster Hall with what they call a “positive attitude,” and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the live. (All photos by Shichi.)

I was expecting a full Visual Kei roster, but the first act was on the completely opposite spectrum. As in an Okinawa folk band in traditional costumes… hey, I still rocked out. The second group, Happy Fun Smile, was equally amusing: the lead singer belted hyper retro J-pop and forced the audience to dance in a circle. All together now: push-push, shovel-shovel!

Then Lilac took over and put on a classic feedback-blitzing rock show. Singer/guitarist Hitoshi lit up the room with his stage presence (and literally, too, with his glowing devil horns). Lilac has been together less than a year, yet the trio has found a tight, hard rock sound that Shichi compares to Vamps.

The head-banging continued with the US debut of Japanese VK group Gurigula. In his review, Shichi writes: “This band had a retro sound with a modern aesthetic. That distinctive early 90s Visual Kei sound was alive and well here. Perhaps evolved, and slightly more tuned to modern tastes but you could definitely hear roots in bands like Luna Sea and Die in Cries.”

We left before Uzuhi, but managed to catch the fashion show. Dorian Hellfire’s male J-rock clothes rocked and her teen models were too cute for words; I wanted to pack them in my bento box! I had a grand time at J-Summit, I truly did — and it seemed everyone around me did too.

I couldn’t agree more with Shichi’s sum-up: “People who don’t go to Japanese-American J-rock shows really are missing out [...] It’s usually cheaper, and these groups really do care about the local scene and spend a great deal of time before and after sets interacting with fans. Some of these bands are really good too; I guarantee you won’t feel you’ve wasted your time and money if you went to say a Lilac or a [geist] or a Uzuhi show. I personally feel they are a lot better then some of the obscure Japanese bands the VK scene likes. If anything, these shows also end up being great social events. Support your scene! Come meet people!”

On that note, I’m always looking for new ways to open discussion and interact on this blog. What do you think of a new feature: daily musings and quotes? Below is the first installment; if it hits a nerve with you, please let me know your thoughts.

(PS: To comment, simply click on the Comments link on the bottom right of each post. You can comment as a Guest if you don’t want to sign up with Disqus. If you’re having trouble, shoot me an email or Tweet me.)

Musing of the Day #1: “Libertine” can be a positive word. Instead of “morally dissolute and depraved,” it can refer to someone who’s not bound by social morals, free to think and act for himself. Part of why I am drawn to the Gothic aesthetic/lifestyle is that it finds beauty in what’s feared: death, darkness. It turns norms on their heads; shows them to be paper tigers.