ケンゾーミナミのインスタグラム(kenzominami) - 3月16日 00時21分

Meanwhile, an another piece of puzzle which brought me where I am had passed away. This is border-line guilty pleasure / slightly embarrassing to admit the origin of this, but here goes. Because this comes back around to the very personal place.

When I was a little kid in Japan in the 80s, when the nation was booming with its so-called bubble economy (which was going to burst in early 90s as I leave for the U.S.), there was this cigarette commercial. When you watch it now, it’s kinda insane, but the music producer of the series of these commercial was this respected producer who started appointing all the A.O.R. Music artists (as in this case Adult Oriented Rock as Japanese called it, as opposed to Album Oriented Rock) including Bobby Caldwell. This triggered the explosion of popularity of these type of music in Japan, and this also made this producer a legend.

For an unsophisticated kid in small town in Japan, this (hyper real and kinda embarrassing version in retrospect) New York looked magical. There are many seeds and reasons why I end up being here, but the one of the earlier seed was planted here, I think.

Many years later, long story short, my brother ended up becoming a right hand man of this legendary producer. This producer who was indirectly responsible for me to move to New York has been my brother’s boss for years now.

The one time I was in Japan, my brother told me that his boss wanted to meet me, so three of us had lunch. And I got to tell him this story. It felt like coming full circle.

Also recently, I was randomly making the playlist called “Caldwell Sampler” which is the collection of many hip hop songs which sample his music.

Rest In Peace Bobby Caldwell. Thank you for making New York looking romantic for little me, and ultimately bringing me here.

P.S. As I admit and came to realize below, I think I am often too shy to admit that there are some moments when a part of me still sees New York this way.

P.S.S. - As it turned out, my brother also had worked with Caldwell, and even though he couldn’t be at the recording because it was in NJ, He had given my brother a hoodie as a gift and he still wears it.

#bobbycaldwell #ボビーコールドウェル

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