JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

Here it is the beginning of a new year. If all goes according to the information we have been fed, construction on the new Music Town facility will begin within a few weeks. The construction actually starts with the destruction of a large area of buildings in the Gate 2 Street and hostess bar (Nakanomachi) sector. Gate 2 Street will be losing one of its historic facilities that in the ’70s housed Condition Green, one of the three bands classified as Okinawan Rock that made some headway on the Japanese market. The building is now the site of Hideaway, home of the mosh pit. (Also, on the agenda for destruction are Club Red, Shooters, Take One, Good Times, etc.) I don’t know if Hideaway owner, James, has plans to replace the mosh pit with a new one at one of his other facilities. The Heavy Metal regulars still have a couple of facilities available, such as nearby 7th Heaven and Fujiyama’s, in which to enjoy that particular genre of rock music. As far as the construction time frame, we’ve been told it will take approximately two years. So this year will mark the end of a part of Gate 2 Street that I have known since 1973. This event, in its own way, seems to epitomize that familiar saying “out with the old, in with the new.”