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The other weekend I had a fun day out with my four clone brothers skating on a rink near my home.

In 1978 my father passed away unexpectedly at the age of 58. My family had moved from Hannover/Germany to Lugano in Switzerland some years earlier, however, I had remained in Germany to complete military service and studies. My father’s premature passing cut a huge gap into my life as I had to return to Switzerland to support my mother and my younger siblings.

Lugano is beautiful and a vibrant tourist magnet of southern Switzerland but I saw it with different eyes then. I couldn’t speak Italian, the official language, and our house in a relatively remote tiny mountain village made it difficult to forge social bonds or make friends. My blond hair and generally northern European looks didn’t help much either as the locals generally kept to themselves and didn’t like to mingle with tourists.

As I was an aspiring guitar player at the time my sister suggested joining a local band to get settled. I auditioned successfully and became one of the founding members of a young rock group consisting initially of Giorgio on bass and Stefano on the drums.

Stefano’s mother was German so he could speak a bit of the language. He became my Italian language teacher, my mentor in all questions of Ticino lifestyle, my point of reference and my best friend. Since we both didn’t have a “real” job, we spent our days dreaming of becoming famous musicians, building our rehearsal studio and hanging out. It was a marvelous moment of my life.

Even though the group was quite successful, life went on, we grew up, and eventually the band split and we all went our separate ways. I decided to look for opportunities in Asia, Giorgio and Paola, our singer, opened their own business in Northern Italy and Stefano went to southern France to start an agritourism enterprise. Nonetheless, we remained good friends and stayed in touch for a long time.

Today I received news that Stefano has passed away due to complications related to a lung tumor. It saddens me deeply that my dear buddy of better days has vanished so prematurely. Rest In Peace my friend! You will not be forgotten!

Here’s the best performing song from my SOUNDCLICK site. I recorded this latin-infused piece some years ago using GARAGE BAND and my BLADE JM4 guitar. Enjoy.

Blade Guitars:  http://www.bladeguitars.com/

Just follow the link and (hopefully) enjoy:

https://www.soundclick.com/antarez

This T-shirt is from Singapore. I got it in 2004 on the occasion of the Steve Vai Tour of Asia. My good friend Yasu Oshitani and I had got VIP tickets to the concert and an after-show meet and greet at a downtown bar. I absolutely wanted to get some autographs so before the concert I went into a sports shop and got the shirt as well as a silver permanent marker.

It goes without saying that the show was phenomenal. Steve Vai is one of my all-time guitar heroes and his band was like a layer cake of prime ingredients with Billy Sheehan (Bass), Tony MacAlpine (Keys and Guitar), Dave Weiner (Guitar) and Jeremy Colson (Drums).

During the after-show meet&greet I indeed managed to get autographs from Jeremy (top left), Tony (middle) and Billy (top right). Steve was unfortunately surrounded by bodyguards and girls so I had no chance. Dave was unavailable as well but I’m thrilled I could get that shirt signed.

On popular request Steve later went up on stage and jammed with the local house band. An unforgettable evening!  Rock on!

Steve Vai: https://www.vai.com/

Billy Sheehan: http://www.billysheehan.com/

Tony MacAlpine: https://www.tonymacalpine.com/

Dave Weiner: https://www.facebook.com/daveweinermusic

Jeremy Colson: https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.colson.315

Bar NONE, Singapore: http://www.focussingapore.com/singapore-entertainment/fine-dining/romantic-dining/orchard-road/bar-none.html

 

 

 

 

Just published a new story titled: MONSOON You’ll find it in the menu or under TOM’S TRAVEL TALES below.

I also published the same story as part of INDIA NORTH TO SOUTH on: https://www.wattpad.com/user/TomBrockmann

 

 

 

From 2002 to 2008 I lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During that time, I had a little band going with myself on Guitar (and occasional vocals), Mosh on Bass and Yasu on drums. We were a truly international outfit with me coming from Germany, Mosh from Malaysian Borneo and Yasu from Japan. Our preferred rehearsal place was the Guitar Store in Desa Sri Hartamas, a suburban entertainment district of KL. We spent entire weekends there playing music and hanging out with the staff.

 

I fondly remember Fadily, a formidable blues player and a great guitar tech who expertly upgraded my Yamaha Pacifica guitar with Seymour Duncan pickups and new electronics. It is still my preferred guitar to this day. Thanks, Fadily!

…and I will never forget my good friend Mosh. He was a gifted bass player and a great buddy. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and despite a swift intervention he never recovered and passed away in 2010 at the age of 32.

RIP my dearest friend!

 

 

https://m.facebook.com/theguitarstoredesasrihartamas/

On Christmas 1991 I went to Chichijima in the Ogasawara Island Group. The islands are governed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government but located about 1000 km south of the Japanese capital. There is no airport so the journey by the weekly supply ship takes about 28 hours from Tokyo, one-way! Most likely, for this reason, I was at that time the only tourist on the island.

As there were no hotels, I had arranged my stay with a family in Omura, the only small town on the island. Exploring the small community I made the acquaintance of Eiji Tanaka.

He told me that he used to be a broker at the Yokohama Commodity Exchange, however, one day he decided to change his life and consequently moved to Chichijima. Initially, he lived in a self-constructed treehouse in the jungle near the village but the townspeople were not at all thrilled about his living arrangement and gave him a small plot of land. He described how he used wooden packing crates to build the little house he lived in and from where he sold his self-produced souvenirs to the odd tourist. I bought some bars of lemongrass scented soap and the red T-shirt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichijima

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonin_Islands