Friends in High Places

Some of you probably know that "Security Blanket", Ami's great solo song from SPLURGE, was a collaboration between Ami and Ken Yokoyama. Ken is one of Japan's most influential neo-punks, and he's been around since forming his old band Hi-Standard in 1991. I'll probably do a post dedicated just to him at some point in the future - I just don't know his stuff well enough yet to do his music justice.

But you've probably seen this photo of Ami wearing a Hi-Standard t-shirt for the Japanese Nice. album cover:

Yeah, don't believe the cartoon. Ami's the punk side of Puffy.

Hi-Standard broke up in 2000, but Ken kept playing on his own. His band was originally just called "Ken Band." Ami remained a fan throughout:

Yeah, that image is from the defunct Puffy AmiYumi Rocks JP web site - gone but not forgotten, guys! I know a couple of you are reading this. I'm just trying to keep your spirit alive here.

Anyway, Pizza of Death is Ken's record label, which was also Hi-Standard's record label. You can also see Ami wearing lots of Pizza of Death apparel, like the wristband here on the Tour! Puffy! Tour! 10 Final DVD:

Now, I am not the kind of guy who starts wearing stuff just because bands I like wear the same stuff. But it is pretty cool when somebody just sends you a big package out of nowhere. Some really cool and really nice people read this blog, and you just never know who some of them actually are. The other day I received a package containing the following items and more (some of it I can't show or mention):

The yellow shirt was a gift for my wife; the white ChanKen one is mine. I've been told it's quite rare so I'm not sure if I'll even open it. (I don't plan to sell it; I just like to keep collector's items as they are.) But I might, and I might wear it; I'm indecisive on such matters.

Here's Ken his own bad self wearing the same shirt, which is a parody on the famous portrait of Che Guevara:


You may have also read my lament a while back about losing the little red Cadillac from my Puffy cell phone strap, leaving only the cloth strap itself... well, this came in the same box as the shirts:

Someone out there's got a heart! Thank you!

What might be the coolest part of all this for you guys, though, is going to have to be a surprise later. It is worth waiting for. (Can you say "rare video footage"?)

I've already profusely thanked the person responsible for this. No, it's not anybody directly associated with Puffy - but that's honestly about all I know. Probably best to keep it anonymous anyway.

Just wanted to share, but you'll be seeing the benefits here (all that video) for months.