Tuesday 6 December 2011

Ribera Steak, Jackets and Karaoke


One summer French got a chance to go to Japan to wrestle.  He had a great amateur background, but was just getting into pro-wrestling.  He had met a promoter in the winter, and he'd liked French's style.  He had called French a real shooter.  French thought that it was total bullshit until he got a plane ticket to Japan in the mail. 

When he got to Japan he wrestled two matches and then the promotion got shut-down.  He went to the dojo on the third morning and there was a chain around the door.  French barely any money, and no way back home.

He went next door to a tiny karaoke bar.  French was wearing a Ribera Steak House jacket.  The shady promoter had taken him there on the first night.  French made the promoter buy him the iconic jacket.  With the satin jacket he looked like a big time wrestler.  One of the locals bought him a drink.  This lasted all day.  French eventually started singing karaoke.

He knew all the songs, and was a pretty good singer; and with a few drinks he became a performer.  People started asking for requests.  French said: "nothing says request like 20 bucks".  For a minimum 200 yen he'd sing any song.  French ended up staying on from April until September.

A lot of people I know go to Japan to teach English.  French went there to wrestle, but ended up being a karaoke sensation. 

French must have been good.  He paid that years university tuition up front.  Every now and then I'll see him out with his blue satin jacket.

8 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

What a great story! I'm picturing (I must admit, unrelated scenes, but that's the way my mind works) from the movie, "Babel". Have you seen it?

I loved this line: "nothing says request like 20 bucks".

Is this true?

Kat Mortensen said...

Ollie - I left on a comment on the post with The Hip pic. Check it out, please.

Kenia Santos said...

He surely had a nice voice and great luck. it's curious the way we suddenly find ourselves doing things we never thought we could, or never really thought about as important.

I'd like to teach English abroad, not Japan, somewhere in Middle East of Asia! I've got lots to learn before that happens. <3

xo

Brandee Shafer said...

I love that he made the best out of a bad situation. Life is what happens, I reckon.

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