A NIGHT OUT ON THE TOWN
By Jay de Leon

Last night, Saturday, I did something I have not done in quite a while.  I went out to town in downtown Los Angeles.

To be exact, we meandered our way around JapanTown or Little Tokyo.  First we had a simple but filling fare at a Los Angeles landmark, the sandwich place of Philippe. As it was dinner time, the place was packed.   I had a pork sandwich and pineapple pie.  Then we browsed around some shops at the JapanTown mall.  Finally, we ended up at the venue for the entertainment of the evening.

The venue was the Japan American Theatre, and the entertainment was the band Hiroshima.  It was their fifth annual “Spirit of the Season” annual concert.

Hiroshima is described as a jazz fusion band with Japanese or Asian influence, based in Los Angeles.   They have been around a while and have enjoyed a loyal following all these years.  They announced that they were working on their 16th CD.  The current members include

June Okida Kuramoto, koto
Dan Kuramoto, saxophone, flute
Danny Yamamoto, drums
KimoCornwell, keyboards
Shoji Kameda, taiko

Guests artists for the evening included StuccoRainbow, Mia Doi Todd, Terry Steele and Roy Firestone.  Yes, that is Roy Firestone the sportscaster and he turned out to be funny (as a comedian) and can really sing.

I enjoyed the show.  I like Hiroshima because their “hardcore” songs have a mild martial arts, Japanese timbre to it reminiscent of a “Black Rain” or “Rising Sun” movie score.  I would have preferred Hiroshima performing their regular songs versus the Christmas numbers they performed but it was understandably a Holiday performance.  The near-capacity crowd was very appreciative and the atmosphere, festive.

All in all, it was a decent show and a fun evening.  With the pulsating thump of taiko drums, the steely twang of the koto and the plaintive notes of the flute still echoing in my ears, we walked out into a slight drizzle.  There is still life in downtown Los Angeles, the City of the Angels.