Saturday 14th November.
First time out for Jack in Shibuya, I had no idea what the reaction would be. At first when I arrived at the famous Shibuya crossing I dont think anyone knew what to make of me, everyone that saw just dropped they`re jaws followed by a sharp intake of breath "Johnny Depp!!!" "Jack Sparrow!!" They knew who it was heh heh, as soon as the first person took a photograph, that was it, I had stopped counting after the 5th one. Not wanting to stay in the one place too long it was time for a walkabout, everywhere there where people wanting pictures (if only I could get a way to charge). I was meeting up with a mate Yoki at the train station then we went to Gaspanic, a small hipity hopity bar just near the crossing and we stayed for an hour or so before going on another walkabout.
Time was getting on a bit & Yoki had to go home as he was working the next day but I decided to stay in town as it was getting busier the later it got & once Jack is out, he stays (by 12am I thought it was going to be late by the time I got back to me host`s & didn`t want to wake them. Looking for a store for cigs I "bumped" into a crowd from Melbourne, a couple from Hong Kong & a British guy who stays here & we all stood in the street drinking a few beers when someone had the idea of going to a club called Womb, why ever not, when in Rome & all. Straight away the manager came down, gave me his card & bought me a rum which, I thought was the least he could do eh? We were all very well looked after & a good time was had by all, after some breakfast in McDonalds we went our separate ways, this was around 7am. I had not walked 10 feet when I saw two policemen running (& I mean running) towards me, bugga I thought they`ve seen me gun & sword & are about to arrest me, I could`nt be farther. They both rushed up & took my hands & began to vigorously shake them "Jack Sparrow, we are big fans" well, what could I do? I was still taken aback a bit when another two guys came over & the policemen started bowing to them, weird I thought, "no, no it`s alright" said the taller to the police, "he`s professional", he had thought the same as myself, that they were after me weaponry, turns out this guy & his PA is the CEO of a lot of the department stores & buildings in Shibuya, everyone going past were bowing at him, so he took me by the arm & we went a little walk & he was explaining all this to me, gave me his card, I did likewise & told me to call him. Very surreal moment indeedy, we shall see next week when I call him for some contacts heh. Twelve hours solid, I was knackered! All night there was photos & people generally going nuts to meet me, I need to turn this around to make some notes. Photos will be coming!!! I am spending way too much time trying to find places to stay rather than finding the work which is a real pain in the posterior, but I am pushing on.

Talking about it for ages is one thing, now I`m in Annie`s car headed for Glasgow airport for 10am, it be foggy & I`m thinking `what are you doing?` (a slight hint of trepidation) Bugga!! We park the car (in the right place this time) walk in & there`s Val just making sure I go。I check in early just in case I get the usual hold-up for me weaponry but it all goes smoothly for a change (this, does not bode well). Something to eat, coffee & a smoke (at the same time keeping an eye on Annie & Val in case they get any ideas of stealing the dreads from the rasta guy with the guitar who turned out to be on the same flight to Dubai, (his name was Richmond) said me farewells & walked through to departures to take off the multitude of rings, necklaces, bangles, belts & boots, and, holding up me jeans just to put them all back on again, through duty free to the bookshop to find a copy of lonely planet or similar when the fire alarm goes off (nothing to do with me I hasten), the airport is evacuated! Time for another smoke methinks. Called up Annie & Val & they meet me outside, half an hour later I`m holding up me jeans again.
1`O clock (ish) & I was up in the turbulent air heading towards the land of white dressy folks & palmtree shaped lands. The flight itself was pretty uneventful which, I suppose is a good thing really. Landed in Dubai around midnight & my connection wasn`t till 3.30am, needed a smoke so I went in search of the smoking area, ooooh, it be mighty smelly/smokey in there it felt as though I`d smoked a whole pack before I`d even lit me first, this will not do, there must be a better place but as I couldn`t go outside there wasn`t much choice in the matter until, that is I happened to walk past an Irish pub deliberating whether or not to go on in & purchase a wee drinky to say happy birthday to meself when I noticed someone smoking at the bar, `That`l do donkey, that`l do!!!` heh heh, happy birthday indeedy!!! I planked meself on a stool & ordered a Guinness & spent the next hour & a half worrying about me case & contents..
The Osaka flight wasn`t as comfortable as the Dubai one, this was due to the fact I had two empty seats next to me on the latter, it was a bit more interesting though only as much as the elderly couple next to me who were Japanese were celebrating the husband`s birthday which I found out only by chance as I had opened a card from Val (who secreted it into me bag) saying `otanjoubiomedetougozaimasu` which is Japanese for happy birthday which the old geeza saw & went aaaa & pointed out a birthday card from his daughter. Funny `ol world ay? It was also a bit more scary as the cabin crew gave out the Customs & Immigration forms to fill.I didn`t have a pen & waited till we were nearly there mainly because I didn`t want to disturb the elderly couple as they were asleep most of the way & I had to climb over them to go to the loo. I stared blankly at the forms especially at the part asking if I was bringing any prohibited items into Japan, namely swords & pistols! My heart sank, all the way I was thinking they were going to confiscate the lot, another bugga. Leaving the boxes blank I decided the best course of action was to act dumb, I could hear myself trying to explain to Customs that the boxes were too small & anyway, they were on the back of the form & therefore I couldn`t see them as there was too much on the front, yeah, that could work. I ignored the pistol & sword bit.
Landed in Osaka, went to collect me case which was already on the conveyor, cool, not waiting then, when I lifted the case I had noticed that it wasn`t as bulgy at the front (I had packed in such a way that said weaponry was at the top expecting to have to show them at Glasgow before boarding). Buggas, they`ve taken them out already!!! My heart sank even further resigning meself to having lost them. I had to go to the Customs desk anyways & the officer asked me to open the case & to my surprise, all was there!!! Ok, think quick now An

Tribfest 2008 East Yorkshire Part 1

This one’s gonna sound more like a Gonzo weekend methinks, so, just to warn you, this is probably not in any way specific in the way things happened. Things got muddled & some are still fuzzy, so apologies none given as this is how it was…..

Thursday 14th August
Yet again, we had stayed up for most of the night, Will & The Mighty Alpine had came up the night before & we had a night of debauchery including a lot of playing on the Wii (am not allowed to mention that when Will had picked up ‘The Mighty One’, he had to wait an hour for the bugga, then after 20mins on the road said Mighty One confessed to leaving his camping gear & had to turn back).
With the arrival of Martin, we all squashed into Becca’s sports coupe. Now four adults, well five if you split up the mighty one, all that camping stuff & supplies in a sports coupe for four whole hours is a tad squished, but nevertheless we made it as comfortable as possible. We stopped at a service station to see if we all where attached to our legs & not just each others, a quick coffee & to steal an ashtray! (We shortly realised there were no ashtrays in the back of the car & the rear windows didn’t go down & we couldn‘t be doing without a smoke) I can still see the look on that girls face when she saw Johnny Depp lean over a fence, drag a table over, empty an ashtray into an empty cup & pocket the ashtray before tipping his hat to her.

Friday 15th August
We arrived on site shortly before 12.30am & it was wet. Introductions were made & Ed, the festival organiser & lead singer of The Beautiful Couch suggested that put our tents up in the morning & we should sleep in the VIP building & gave us airbeds & sleeping bags, cheese & ham toasties (Alpine had loads) & a case of cold beer (Alpine had loads), and of course when everyone left, we had an ashtray to fill (Alpine had loads). I had been speaking to Ed about what they had in mind for the weekend & it came to pass that I was to open the festival with dancers & POTC soundtrack on the main stage & then I had carte blanche to do whatever I liked with the bands & the rest of the festival area, that was all I needed & headed orf to tell the guys!!!

First thing we did, after sorting the tents was to check out the changing room backstage & to hide there until 6pm as it was a secret that I was to be there (check out : http://www.tribfest.co.uk/newsite/st... so The Mighty One & I sat outside the main warehouse type building that was backstage as they hadn’t built up the changing rooms yet on plastic picnic chairs in the sun. It was quite a while till 6pm so we got bored pretty quick & so it was deemed a jolly good idea to throw stones at a plastic cup balanced on a bit of scaffold. Alpine was in the lead by 1 hit, when a raggy dressed English roadie type guy with a beard & long red hair, blazing, red, tired & popping eyes, steaming ears & wearing combats came around the corner & turned full throttle at us! We looked at each other & sniggered only just so slightly so as not to annoy the poor chap any further. ‘You’ve been asked politely to stop throwing ‘em stones!!!!! I don’t care who you are….blah blah blah!!!’ When he was finished we had ascertained that someone had pointed out to us earlier that their car was right behind us (& behind the line of fire, may I add), to which we said, ‘oh yeah, nice car’ not thinking they were asking us to stop, we carried on without a care, but we didn’t realise the stones were making a hell of a racket inside the corrugated building, oops. We apologised & Paul, who turned out to be the backstage manager, was our best mate throughout the weekend & we had some great laughs.

At around 2pm I had gotten a text from Ed to go for the BBC Look North interview, this was as Johnny Depp & had to be done covertly as the secret was still just that. Around 4.30pm, the changing rooms had been built & it was time to start