When I was a teen, a local department store was getting rid of their vinyl stock and all of the records were marked down to $1 each. I bought a handful of titles without even knowing what they were, I just wanted more records. One of them was Ryuichi Sakamoto's Left Handed Dream. Thinking about it now, I can't imagine how that album ended up in their inventory. So weird, but I also bought a couple Adrian Belew solo albums (Lone Rhino and Twang Bar King) and a King Crimson album (Discipline). Maybe the buyer had a thing for Belew, because I soon realized that he's on all of those albums. He was in that King Crimson lineup, Sakamoto's album and of course the solo albums.
I knew of Yellow Magic Orchestra through Computer Games (didn't we all?) and it took me a minute to realize the connection, but once it clicked, it was like a lighthouse beacon in my brain. A year or two later, Sakamoto was in the film, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, acting alongside David Bowie. And he did the soundtrack! Was there anything this man couldn't do? I was obsessed. In 2002, I got the chance to see him live when he was touring with the trio, Morelenbaum² / Sakamoto. Their 2001 album, Casa, was a tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim (Sakamoto had played in a bossa nova group when he was a teenager). After the show, Sakamoto was kind enough to sign a CD copy of the album for me. He thanked me for coming to the show and listening to the music. In my head, I was thinking dude why are YOU thanking me? It was unreal just to be standing next to him in that moment after all those years following him, breathing the same air. A true gentleman. Ars longa, vita brevis. Thank you and farewell.
