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Rockstar Diplomat

Music • Travel • Cultural Diplomacy
  • Start Here
  • Blog
  • Videos
    • Rockstar Diplomat Sessions
      • Jam Sessions
      • Interviews
    • Open Mic Night
    • Music While Traveling
  • Photos
    • Burma: Mandalay & Mingun
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    • Northern Vietnam
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    • Cape Horn to Iguazu Falls
    • Belgium Beer & Bike Tour
    • Biking Brussels to Budapest
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Okonomiyaki and Jazz

I finally got a chance to taste one of the most popular eats in New York right now: Okonomiyaki. Originating from Okinawa, Japan, it’s a flour pancake with meat/seafood, scallions, veg and sometimes cheese, topped with shredded bonito fish that dances around on the hot plate when it is served. The pancake was bursting with flavor (the extra sauces were a bit much!) and I wished I’d had an ice-cold beer to wash it down. We sat at the bar at Izakaya Nomad and watched the chefs prepping tataki over a grill that they occasionally seasoned with a big slab of fat. Of special mention were the purple sweet potato fries that were in a lighter-than-tempura batter and came with a mentaiko aioli that had been blended with marinated cod roe, really unique.

Afterward, we rode our bikes a mile South to Small’s Jazz Club in the Village where we arrived just in time for the 7:30 set. Fukushi Tanaika, one of the most well-known contemporary Japanese jazz artists, was on the skins with his quartet. Joining him were his countryman Hide Tanaka on bass, Texan Marc Devine on piano and Seattlelite Chris Johansen on tenor sax. Their set was an impromptu tribute  to Hank Mobley, a tenor sax composer well known for hard bop and soul jazz.

The venue is a basement with a small bar and a couple mirrors allowing you to see behind the musicians. The intimate setting was perfect for the quartet, who got everybody in the joint jumpin’ to the beat. It was incredible to have Fukushi gush about how big of an influence Hank Mobley was for himself and Hide while they were growing up in Japan. The existence of the Fukushi Tanaika quartet had to certainly be influenced by some of the U.S. Jazz Diplomacy and VOA Radio that disseminated the uniquely American music around the world during the Cold War years.

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AOC Years

The Roxy, West LA '08
The Roxy, West LA '08
Promo Card
Promo Card
@ The Roxy on MTV2 '07
@ The Roxy on MTV2 '07
Coors Ampitheater, San Diego
Coors Ampitheater, San Diego
Crowd @ Coors Ampitheater, San Diego
Crowd @ Coors Ampitheater, San Diego
House of Blues, Sunset, '08
House of Blues, Sunset, '08
@ Forbidden Radio Show
@ Forbidden Radio Show
The Troubadour, '08
The Troubadour, '08
Winner, Best Hard Rock Band '08
Winner, Best Hard Rock Band '08
Chain Reaction, Anaheim
Chain Reaction, Anaheim
Chain Reaction, Anaheim '07
Chain Reaction, Anaheim '07
@ LA Music Awards
@ LA Music Awards
New Years Eve, '06
New Years Eve, '06
promo shoot
promo shoot
w/ Gerard from My Chemical Romance
w/ Gerard from My Chemical Romance
feeling the love
feeling the love
The Roxy, '07
The Roxy, '07
promo shoot
promo shoot
promo shoot
promo shoot
Backstage w/ Linkin Park
Backstage w/ Linkin Park
merch table
merch table
putting in work in Dallas
putting in work in Dallas
merch table
merch table
First album
First album
Superfan Stacy
Superfan Stacy
Merch Table Projekt Rev
Merch Table Projekt Rev
Chain Reaction, Anaheim
Chain Reaction, Anaheim
Promo Shoot
Promo Shoot
Crowd @ Shoreline Ampitheater '07
Crowd @ Shoreline Ampitheater '07
The Troubadour, 2008
The Troubadour, 2008
Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, '07
Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, '07
Chain Reaction, Anaheim '08
Chain Reaction, Anaheim '08
Chain Reaction, Anaheim
Chain Reaction, Anaheim
Chain Reaction, Anaheim
Chain Reaction, Anaheim
The Viper Room, LA
The Viper Room, LA
Merch Table, Projekt Revolution
Merch Table, Projekt Revolution
San Antonio, '07
San Antonio, '07
@ Projekt Revolution
@ Projekt Revolution
The BLACK Party, 2009
The BLACK Party, 2009
W/ Mindless Self Indulgence
W/ Mindless Self Indulgence
W/ Saosin, 2007
W/ Saosin, 2007
Cricket Ampitheater, Houston, TX
Cricket Ampitheater, Houston, TX
Chain Reaction, '08
Chain Reaction, '08
Superfan Sam
Superfan Sam
The Roxy, West Hollywood
The Roxy, West Hollywood
The Troubadour, '07
The Troubadour, '07
Projekt Revolution '07
Projekt Revolution '07

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