The end of November brings gray skies and chilly air to Tokyo — and rare performances by two famous New Yorkers.
The inimitable Vincent Gallo, best known for starring in and directing his films including "Buffalo66," will perform with his band RRIICCEE at Blue Note, and ex-Television frontman Tom Verlaine plays with fellow guitar legend Jimmy Rip at Garden. Differences of temperament and artistic background prevail (Gallo tweets and represents himself, while not even Verlaine's label is sure how to reach him; Gallo went from art debutante to actor, Verlaine, besides a youthful stint on the sax, is a guitarist nonpareil). However, both are acutely aware of the intersection of the cinematic and the musical. Gallo scores his own films; Verlaine composed new scores for short films of the 1920s with Rip. And each brings to Tokyo his own understanding of musical collaboration.
If at least part of Gallo's website is factual (and not meant to be taken as a piece of "conceptual art" as is the page where he offers his "personal services" for $50,000), he has been playing music since childhood. His experimental band RRIICCEE rejects what he sees as the "painful" and stilted tradition of writing songs and playing them the same way ad nauseum. The group has performed sporadic tours with one-off lineups since 2007 (including an appearance at Fuji Rock the same year). Woody Jackson, a multi-instrumentalist and fellow gear-head, and Nico Turner of VOICEsVOICEs join Gallo at Blue Note.