Cool & Strange Music Vol. 5 - The Peanuts and More!

It's time for another episode of Cool & Strange Music. Last night I had the pleasure of playing on my FM radio show a very cool band from the USA named "The Wooly Bandits" and their version entitled "Cambodia Girl" and, while playing it, it dawned on all of us that we've heard the song before! We had! It was a cover of the 1968 smash hit by Pinky & the Killers called "Koi no Kisetsu" (The Season of Love).... Well, at least I think it is!

Wikipedia says about Pinky & the Killers:

Pinky and the Killers (Latin transcription: Pinky & Killers) is a Bossa Nova band fronted by singer  Yoko Kon and was active in Japan from 1968 to 1972. Later Yoko Kon became a solo artist. Pinky means "little finger" so, with the back band's name, "Killers" the nickname of the band was "Pinkira."

Pinky & the Killers also won the Best New Band of 1968 award that year.

Pinky & the Killers were a Japanese Bossa Nova band?! What? Yeah. Of course western music had a great influence on Japanese pop music. This next artist was a huge Japanese girls pop duo in the early 1960s. Their name was The Peanuts.

Get this, probably one the Peanuts' biggest hits was influence by Beethoven's Fur Elise. Check the Beethoven song out for a few seconds first, then listen to the Peanuts song:

Now, here's The Peanuts with "Jyonetsu no Hana" (Flower of Passion):

Here's another smash hit by The Peanuts. It's called "Koi no Fugue" (The Fugue of Love).

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the Peanuts:

The Peanuts (ザ・ピーナッツ Za Pīnattsu) is a Japanese vocal group consisting of twin sisters Emi Itō (伊藤エミ, Itō Emi) and Yumi Itō (伊藤ユミ, Itō Yumi). They were born in Tokoname Aichi, (Japan) on April 1, 1941, soon after their birth, the family moved to Nagoya.

In the first years they sang Japanese covers of standards, foreign hits, and Japanese folk songs, then they began singing originals, written by their producer, Hiroshi Miyagawa, and such songwriters as Koichi Sugiyama and Rei Nakanishi. Later they embarked on a brief acting career, notably in the 1961 film Mothra. The pair retired from performance in 1975.

They are remembered most for their versions of European songs and for a handful of Japanese pop songs, such as "Furimukanaide" ("Don't Turn Around"). Their performing style played heavily on their being nearly identical twins with voices only slightly apart in pitch (making a duet sound like a solo artist using reverb.

Emi Itō died on June 15, 2012, at the age of 71.

What? The Peanuts were those two scary girls in Mothra? I think that was the very first Japanese monster movie I ever watched in m life. I watched it with my mom and when those girls came out to sing to bring out Mothra, that scared the pants off of me (heck,  think I was only 5 or 6!)

The Peanuts "Song of Mothra"

Of course, many western artists really influenced the Japanese and, sometimes, it was quite mind blowing. America had "The World's Greatest Entertainer," Al Jolson, who, the the seminal film played "The Jazz singer" with his face made up like he was black, but that was in 1927. In Japan, they still had guys doing that sort of thing as late as 1984... When I first came to Japan and saw these Japanese guys with black makeup on their faces, I thought, "That's so racist!" But, I don't think these guys meant it that way at all. They meant it as a tribute to the great Doo Wop groups of the 50s (OK, if their sensibilities are a bit off kilter for a western audience).

Here's the Chanels with their smash hit "Runaway":

You Andrew Warhol fans might enjoy what Wikipedia says about the Chanels:

In 1975, Masayuki Suzuki, who likes doo-wop, Masashi Tashiro and Nobuyoshi Kuwano, joined together to form a band called Chanels. The band debuted in 1980 with their first single "Runaway" selling over a million copies and becoming a huge hit. In 1983, the band changed its name to Rats & Star due to complaints from the French fashion giant Chanel. Andy Warhol created the album cover for "Soul Vacation" and the name change seemed to make no difference in sales, as their first single as Rats & Star, "Me-Gumi no Hito," sold over 800,000 copies. Five of the members were married at Tokyo's Hie Shrine at the same time during 1985, generating a lot of publicity for the group. Rats & Star released a duet with Masayuki's older sister Kiyomi Suzuki called "Lonely Chaplain" in 1986, which also became a huge hit. Although leader Masayuki Suzuki launched a solo career and Rats & Star's activity thus essentially stopped. Afterward, Tashiro and Kuwano played an active part and were so popular not as musical artists, as TV performers. they formed Rats & Star again in the limitation of half a year and released the single "Yume de Aetara" in 1996, which was popular enough to encourage the group to go on a final nationwide tour. The same year, they made their first appearance on Kōhaku Uta Gassen to perform that song.

The group's name is a palindrome, reading the same both backwards and forwards. The name's true meaning, however, is that "rats" raised in the less affluent parts of town could, by singing doo-wop music, reverse their fortunes and collectively become a "star".

In 2006, Suzuki, Kuwano and Sato formed "Gosperats" with Japanese a cappella singing group Gospellers' member Tetsuya Murakami and Yuji Sakai.

Unique Andy Warhol screen prints of the album cover "Soul Vacation" have sold for upwards of $25,000 each.

Well, that's all for today. But before I go, let me leave you with a song that, while not Cool and Strange is definitely cool! I think this is one of the best pop songs I've heard this year.

And speaking of art! The next group's name is the Frankfurt Schoolgirls and the song is called "What Women Want."

Actually, my very favorite Frankfurt Schoolgirls song of all time is "Song Without Love" but for some reason, I can't embed this video. Do yourself a favor and click here to hear this GREAT song!

Frankfurt Schoolgirls - What Women Want (If that link doesn't work, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4g6r_xm1y0&feature=plcp)

Well, that's it for today! You have a Cool and Strange day! See you next time!

The Incredible Power of Two Little Words: Sometimes Listening & Telling Someone "I'm Sorry" is the Best Thing You Can Do!

"Silence is the true friend that never betrays" - Confucius

Sometimes just having someone listen and say, "I'm sorry!" is worth so much to our lives.... How powerful two little words can be is simply amazing.


A dear friend of mine asked me about a past experience in the music business in Japan that happened to me long ago. I can't really explain in much detail what happened because if I do, it will hurt too many people today.

What happened made me very angry and still does, or did, to this very day. The actions of one person damaged the love and the art of artists and the families and children of those artists and so many people associated. It made me so very angry at the time that I saw red. I still do if I dwell upon it.


When my friend asked about it, I did something that I had never done before, I told someone outside my family what had happened. I became furious again as I was explaining what had happened...


My friend read my comments and answered;

"Sometimes it's hard not to fight back but still best to hold your tongue. I made a few enemies in the movie business and the less I said the better but sometimes I'd get sarcastic…. I'm sorry that it hurt you with others. "

It was nice that my friend could relate... But then, at the end of what my friend wrote, "I'm sorry that it hurt you with others." That was like a window opening in a dark room and letting the sun shine and fresh air in. It was the first time that anyone has ever said, "I'm sorry" to me for that incident. Something that happened nearly 20 years ago.


"I'm sorry..." Wow! Thank you. It means so much to me. It makes me want to cry, actually.


Amazingly, that was so soothing and mollifying to me... Suddenly I don't feel mad anymore.... And all because a friend of mine said, "I'm sorry" to me... A friend who had nothing to do with the incident sincerely said "I'm sorry." 


It matters to me that this friend told me that because I know that this friend can relate to the same type of problem...


What a wonderful day!


I don't really have any snappy or funny comments for the end of this post except I think this teaches me a good lesson. First, that everyone needs someone to talk to who will listen to them. People have two ears and one mouth but they seem to want to use their mouths twice as much as their ears. And two, having and showing sincere empathy for people is priceless. It amazes me that after all these years, two little words can make the anger go away so easily.


I'm going to work on being a better listener and saying "I'm sorry" more. I hope you do too!


And to help you work on your listening skills, here's delightful video that I have found from an artist named the Frankfurt Schoolgirls. The song is entitled, "Song Without Love" and I think it is fab. Japan's most famous and top Deejay/VJ George Williams says this is the "...Best love song I've heard in ten years... Better than anything the Bangles ever did." 


I think so too...


THIS IS A FANTASTIC SONG! Enjoy!


Frankfurt Schoolgirls - Song Without Love 2011

Expanding Your Business? Too Many Fail Because They Don't Get the Right Partner!

So many people have a great idea or they run a successful small business that it seems a no-brainer that they should expand and make more money with their service or product.

But when they do expand, they find that it kills their business. Of course there are a myriad of reasons why expansion of business can kill off a good idea or a great business, but I think one of the most common and avoidable errors is that these people who decide to expand choose the wrong partners.


Specifically, they choose someone they like or can get along with over the right person for the job.

Let me give you a good example. I have a friend in Hollywood who is a music producer and he does great work. He tells me that he is always looking to expand and grow his business, but when he does, he fails. He is an artist and has a reputation for being a genius creative mind. He is frustrated at not being able to expand and make more money. He wrote to me for advice and wants to know how he can take what he does and make more money with it. 


Here is how I explained this to him:


You are an artist. You shouldn't be expected to do the business part of this stuff. You need a partner.

The problem? Say a guy runs a family Italian restaurant. He thinks about making it a chain. Who does he hire? A friend who is interested in Italian food.

Bad choice.

He should hire someone who doesn't give a hoot about Italian food, but only cares about running restaurants at a profit. This person doesn't (and shouldn't care) about what kind of food it is. That is the concern of the first partner.

The first partner, the artist or craftsman here, is concerned with taste, aroma and authenticity. Most probably he is a cook.

The cook needs at least a business man to handle the books and figure out ways to take the cash intake and turn it into profits. 

The mistake that almost all people make when they expand their business (and fail) is that they hire their friends or people of a like mindset. For example, the Italian food chef will hire another guy who loves to cook Italian food (you know what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen?)

The first partner hires their friends (who are artists or craftsmen like themselves) who are great for cooking food, but terrible for handling books and financing. And that's where they set themselves up for failure.

When people want to expand and succeed in their business, they need to hire people with a different skill set than themselves; not always "pals" or "yes men" or people of like minds.

Get it?

You need to find that sort of person.

So, in summation, if you are an artist, craftsman, cook, designer, musician, producer or creator, when you want to expand your business, hire a businessman who has a coldly objective view of your work. If you want to take that mom & pop hamburger stand you have and turn it into a chain restaurant, do not hire a craftsman, hire a businessman who knows how to run a restaurant.

There have been very few people in history who could do both the creative side of business and the "business side" of business... Off the top of my head, I can think of Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Steve Jobs...

You need a good partner. Find one. 

Frankfurt Schoolgirls - Celebrity Twist