Oh Johnny!!

Johnny Ohkura... The greatest Japanese rockstar of them all. My host parents gave me tickets to his concert, they weren't really sure who he was, they knew he used to be famous in the 70s, he was coming to Nagoya and that he's a rock and roll man. They gave me some tickets and a small poster that showed an intense older man with large sideburns sporting a purple velvet suit with a giant white collar towering out and sash tied around his neck. His guitar was a big purple one and boy did he look cool.

I had no idea what to expect (I say that, but I really did have a pretty good idea of what to expect just from the poster...) It was incredible. I went with Lisa and Bob, my two friends here. We entered the club, put our belongings into a little coin locker and watched this older gent rock out to a half empty club. Even though he's older, kinda washed up, and a lot of his songs sound the same, the man could really rock. His band was so together and on top of things. They rocked out, people were dancing, everyone was extremely drunk (except for us as it was a thursday night and our last week of classes and we all had big tests the next day.) We were also the youngest people in the club by about 20 years. The audience consisted of older business men and women, small superfan groups who all had greasy pompadours and leather jackets that said "JOHNNY!" On the back, then there was 3 exchange students.

For two or three songs we just kinda bobbed to the music and watched as some of the most drunk people we've seen in Japan moved to the music. Eventually Lisa was flagged down by a man and some women, she wen tover and boy oh boy did she cut the rug up. Soon enough Bob and I were all dancing...well... the lady wasn't really dancing...more like...moving...to the music. Lisa put it best when she said "You had NO idea where she was going next." He body was just thrown around randomly until she got a little dizzy and had to stop...yikes...She was awesome, her strange behavior included frequently holding my hands and spinning herself, sticking her finger into bobs ear, and sucking on lisa's cheek.

Johnny himself was quite a strange inspiration. He's famous, but he's not superstar...but he acts like it, he was a huge diva. He absolutely has fans and he has fun music, but it's not liek he's selling out arenas or anything (for now at least...) He could have easily been your average burned out ex-rockstar and acted like a jerk and played a half-ass set to the half empty club. But he didn't. He acted like he was the kind of the fucking world. He walks out in his sparkle vest and giant collared shirt and just owned the place. There weren't many people and he absolutely knew, but he didn't care at all he gave it 163.7%...his all. At times he'd leave the stage while the band played an instrumental selection, when he returned he'd have a large towel hanging around his neck...but then he'd grab both sides of it and break it apart with a powerful face only to reveal it was TWO towels that said "ALIVE THE LIVE! JOHNNY OHKURA!" and he'd spin them in the air and finally throw them into the audience for his super-fans to wrestle each other to the floor to get their very own "ALIVE THE LIVE!" Towel. Amazing... Following his towel trick, his stange hand would come and put on his guitar while he stood and just glared into the audience. Then another stage hand would come out and fix his collar and sash. He was a total diva. I loved it. He knows he's isn't the biggest star int he world, but he doesn't care, he makes everyone think he is just for his concert and as I said before, it's oddly inspiring. I don't think having a big ego is a good thing by any means, but for him, when he's on stage is the best thing in the world because it gets everyone excited and a little bit jealous. His songs were kind of a mix of Chuck Berry, late Elvis, Early Rollingstones, and other various Rockabilly/Rock and Roll bands.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Johnny Ohkura!