Hello Everyone,
Thank you for the amazing year! We celebrated our first anniversary on Thursday, October 15th with the help of our friends Nirf, Stephanie Yanez, and Maganda, and all of our friends...thank you for supporting Tune in Tokyo, and making it the destination for J-Pop and J-Rock in Los Angeles! Before we look forward, I wanted to take some time to thank the people who made our events a success. It takes a lot of talent and hard work to pull this off!
I'd first like to recognize our DJs and staff. It goes without saying, I suppose, but Tune in Tokyo is built on the musical foundation that our DJs provide. This starts with my business partner, DJ Del Martin.
Tune in Tokyo actually began with International Pop Conspiracy, founded by DJ Del in 2007. Del has been working as a DJ and Promoter in Los Angeles for about 10 years, and put together the IPC DJs to bring a global sound to the LA indie club scene.
DJ Tora is an original member of the IPC team, and along with DJ Del, DJ's Noir, Sophia, Roland Saint-Laurent, Noel, (and I) developed the IPC sound--which would ultimately lead to Tune in Tokyo. We certainly weren't the first global pop club night--the seminal Par Avion lead the way in the early 00s. We injected a healthy dose of J-Pop + J-Rock into the mix, and some K-Pop along the way (courtesy of DJ Tora). She was instrumental in putting Tune in Tokyo together, and is our authority on Japanese electro and K-Pop.
DJ Ally also helped us to get Tune in Tokyo off the ground. Ally usually has the opening set, which in many ways is the hardest part of the evening--people are streaming in and just getting settled, we're checking the sound--its a little chaotic. Ally always delivers, and makes sure that we start the evening right with a great mix of J-Pop, J-Rock, and anime music! What you may not know is that DJ Ally is also a talented actress and performer, with a lot of interesting credits. You may never know when she may turn up in your favorite TV show!
DJ Yuki joined us in our second month, and helped to round out our team of five DJs. Yuki-Chan, as he's also known, delivers driving dance beats often focusing on Japanese electro, Eurobeat, and Para Para. But he's also known to drop some surprises, and is a big fan of K-Pop and dance music from across Asia. DJ Yuki has a busy life outside of Tune in Tokyo, and works just as hard promoting our events as he does behind the decks.
Charleett Romero and Ceese Amo started working with us in our first couple of months, and have served as door girls, hostesses, event planners, creative assistants, and helped to put out the occasional fire along the way. Charleett has the distinction of being our first "official" regular, but quickly transitioned to supporting and helping us at all levels of operations. Ceese is not only an integral part of our team, but also happens to be LA's only Lolita Lawyer, having worked in a legal capacity for many J-Subculture related groups and companies. She's also our resident expert on Wa-Lolita fashion.
Megan Amo played a huge role in shaping the look and style of our events (for those in the Lolita community, she's known as "Megwa"). She recently relocated to New York for school, but her influence on Tune in Tokyo continues to this day.
Patrick and Jake joined the Tune in Tokyo crew over the summer. You may have first gotten to know them as the guys who kept the lines under control at our Cure Mini Live event. They also did a bang up job as guest DJs for the Suguri Release Party in July.
Gavin Hignight handles our door security. I should mention that he also happens to be my brother! An accomplished writer, performer, and marketing specialist, Gavin also offers his services every month at the door, which is by no means easy. Its his responsibility to make sure everyone is checked in properly, and he also has to keep the troublemakers and hooligans at bay. We appreciate his contribution in keeping the peace, and keeping everyone safe at our events.
Betty and Haley Ruszecki are known to many as the mother-daughter Lolita duo, but to us, they are our biggest supporters. Working with the Ruszeckis has opened up a lot of doors for us, and we will always be grateful the opportunities that resulted. Haley has also helped to shape the look of our events, providing a sense of style and direction for our monthly themes.
Our resident artists have played a huge role in the success of Tune in Tokyo. Through their art and design, we have been able to establish a brand all our own. Jettila Lewis has illustrated most of our flyers and posters. Her distinct style, that hits somewhere between Japanese and American sensibilities, was just what we needed to get people's attention. Jettila has a great eye for detail, and captures not only the fashions well, but also creates female characters that seem subtle and real, avoiding the trappings usually associated with anime and manga inspired art. Jettila's work includes the "Motor City" graphic novel, and the soon-to-be-released web comic "The Concrete World."
Jose Macasocol, Jr. has also illustrated flyers for us, including the awesome "heart" girl used in our Valentine campaign. Joe has an extensive body of work, having provided art and design services to numerous manga publishers. He is also a talented conceptual artist. Joe will be working on some new material for us in the coming months. We can't wait to share it with you!
Debbie Cruz (a.k.a. Buro-Kunha-To) has designed flyers for us, including the new playbill style poster featuring the Tune in Tokyo DJ crew! Her unique and edgy style has afforded us variety in our promotional campaigns, and given us our best looking posters! We are grateful for her contribution to the look of Tune in Tokyo.
We've had the privilege of our events being documented by great photographers. Our gratitude goes out to staff photographers Steve Lee, Terence "Mr. Postman" Cole, and William Seppuku (who shot our fantastic group photos used in recent campaigns). We also want to thank Shannon Cottrell of the LA Weekly for shooting the awesome galleries of our events.
A special thanks also goes out to Liz Ohanesian of the LA Weekly. We know that she has a busy schedule covering events all over LA, many bigger and more important than ours...we are humbled to have been a subject of her postings on the indie scene in Los Angeles.
You can read Liz's report, and view Shannon Cottrell's slideshow on our
First Anniversary Party here.I would like to also thank our clients, and everyone who supported us throughout the last year. This includes Tetsu Shiota and Anime Jungle, Cure Magazine, Scot Reyes and the Valley of the Dolls shop, DJ Tony
Okungbowa, Jason C. Miller, Flopi, Enrique Galvez and Rockin Android games, Jody Mahler and Alternate Visions, Tomomi Fukuda of Camden Lock, the Vamps Tour and Ai Aota, Royal/T Cafe, Camille Vergara, Mandy Ma, Rob Gray and Vamp Star, Polo and Nirf, Adrian, Stephanie Yanez, Mistress Prime, Maganda and Tommy, Elffys, Hikari, Tai Nguyen, Molly, everyone at Jrock Revolution, Roger and everyone at Tainted Reality, Paul Funatani, Naoyo Azuma, Ejen of Cosplay in America, Michael Wolf, La Carmina, J-Pop Express, Nora, Shelly, Jeanelle, Ian, Carol, Grace, Krista, Rebekah, Ace, Deb, Kevin, Steve Weese, Momo, Gloom, Eric Dead and Job from Wolfpack MRX, Eden, Obake at Jrockaphile, Ebisu Restaurant, Spencer Cross, DJ Ichi, Melissa, Kristen, Daniel Blak, DJ Larry of Underground
, all the guys in Lucine, and most importantly, the Matsumoto family and 2nd Street Jazz.
Then, on Friday, November 27th, we'll be at Club Good Hurt with our friends Vamp Star! They'll be joined by The Faded, Nirf, and Maganda for an awesome night of live music, and DJ sets provided by the Tune in Tokyo crew!
Closing out the year, join us at 2nd Street Jazz for LA's first J-Rock New Year's Eve! More details to come!
On behalf of co-founder Del Martin, and myself, we want to thank everyone for the successful year, and look forward to more great times in the future at Tune in Tokyo--the destination for Japanese music and Fashion!
Greg Hignight
DJ and Founder, Tune in Tokyo