(You should read the previoius update first, it’ll make more sense.
-Ed.)

I know it’s a little perverse to complain about flying to Asia for some Kanye West shows, but after 15 shows in 2 weeks I would have loved to stay home for just a few days. No such luck. I had to go to Japan and Kuala Lumpur for 10 days.

So I got on that plane, NyQuil in tow, and slept as much as humanly possible. DiCaprio’s Blood Diamonds could wait, all I cared about my first meal and I was gone. And I have to admit, I’m usually a pretty good trooper but when I got there I was kinda sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I wanted to chill! And it was my birthday, with all that. But I eventually got me some rest and after a few days I was back on my feet. 3 days after mine it was Joi’s birthday (our backup singer) so we celebrated both birthdays at once. The celebrations were rather strange, I must say. We had dinner in Nagoya with the whole group at this high-class Benihana-esque restaurant, where they literally cooked for 4 hours in front of us. They threw some live shrimp on the grill and I swear the shrimp started jumping, flipping and convulsing right there, 2 minutes before being served on our plates. I have video! Then Kanye treated each of us to a massage, courtesy of a surprisingly strong old lady whose knowledge of English can be narrowed down to: “45 minutes”, “too strong?” and “change sides”. And finally the next day, they surprised us with some chocolate cake, which was inexplicably accompanied by sushi and peppered chicken wings! So that was Japan.

Kuala Lumpur was also pretty interesting. First of all, in my case, it turns out that my old friend Willo was sojourning through that part of the world and we stumbled upon each other in that far-away land. It was great catching up with a friend of 10 years, especially after some birthday-induced homesickness. The city itself is really unique, in the sense that it looks like a 60′s sci-fi movie mixed with traditional South-East Asian flavor and a glorified monorail. My pictures might give you a better idea of what I mean. That show was one of my favorite Kanye shows in a long time, so at least the tour ended on a high note, and I was ready as ever to fly home after that.

Since I came back I’ve been able to finish a few tracks that I’m really excited about. I’m doing a bunch of remixes this year and so far, in the middle of all the adventures detailed above, I’ve handed 3 in: Architecture In Helsinki’s “Heart It Races”, Bumblebeez’ “Dr Love” and Scanners’ “Bombs”. The Helsinki one is already up on my myspace page and all of them will be in stores very soon, on the corresponding singles and EP’s.