Our Anniversary

This is two days late, because Cayce has been ill.

Thank you for your sympathy and concern...as we're not yet fully recovered, we're still accepting hot toddies.

Anyhow, self-congratulatory though it may be...

Monday, January 27th was the 8th anniversary of the public opening of This is NOT Greatest Site.

If This is NOT Greatest Site were a human child, it would be in third grade by now.

It has been brought to my attention that some of my readers are still not yet 14 years old. Which means that when This is NOT Greatest Site opened, you, my young readers, were only seven.  Which is to say, younger than NGS is today.

Life in those days was quaint.

YouTube existed back then, but we didn't use it very much, because it had barely just been founded.  Mostly, we downloaded our videos off peer-to-peer networks like soulseek. We were incredibly snotty and banned people for such small sins as liking the wrong bands. We still talked to each other via AIM.

MP3 rotation blogs were also quite popular, though they rarely lasted more than a few seasons.

People still cared what other people posted on livejournal.

There was no such thing as an "iPhone."

Dir en grey had never performed in North America.

Buck-Tick had never performed in North America either (they still haven't).

We got our j-rock news from these curious antiquated things called "magazines."

There were still bridge kids in Harajuku.

Buck-Tick's most recent release was 13kai wa Gekkou.

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How many of you were Buck-Tick fans back then?

How many of you read NGS from its inception?

Please leave a comment and tell us how long you've been a B-T fan and how long you've been reading NGS.  All readers are welcome, including our younger readers.

Many thanks to you, younger readers.  You are the future. You play an important role in keeping us feeling a healthy sense of premature old age.  Make sure we don't develop an inflated sense of our own temporal relevance.  We owe you one.

Buck-Tick: The Movie DVD

When we opened our copy of the limited edition DVD for Buck-Tick: The Movie, we found this inside:

Yes, it's legitimately autographed by all the band members.  Not a print-out, a real autograph.  According to the Buck-Tick website, there were only 100 of them, randomly inserted into people's orders.  Lucky us.  Unfortunately this photograph continues to make it look like Mr. Sakurai is lovingly caressing Mr. Higuchi's hand.

More Love & Steppers

Because we just couldn't get enough of the Love Parade, we went to Tower Records Shinjuku and photographed this giant display in their new releases section.  We had to wait for our chance to photograph because there was a Buck-Tick fanboy in a big orange parka standing there listening to the sample tracks for at least five whole minutes. Lyrics translations for "Love Parade" and "Steppers -Parade-" are now up over at Not Greatest Site.

Love & Steppers

New single display in Tower Records Shibuya.  The display was really big this time (that's what she said.)

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The Latest From Acchan-chan's blog

Happy Caturday.

"This is my house." -Acchan-chan

DIQ 2013 Live Report

It's posted, over at Not Greatest Site.

They put on a great show this year.

Leave your comments on this post.

Buck-Tick Book Bonanza

The following delicious Buck-Tick books are now available for purchase via This is NOT Greatest Shopping service!  Since posting too many sample photos on Not Greatest Site slows down page loading time too much, we're posting sample photos here instead.

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SOLD

Aku no Hana Tour Pamphlet

Hardcover, LP sized tour pamphlet from the Aku no Hana era contains 35 pages of big glossy photos of the band members. Includes both full-color live photography and black and white art shots. Perfect condition, rare and out of print. If you love Mr. Sakurai with long hair, this one is for you. Sample photos below. 2000 yen.

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Sexy Stream Liner Tour Pamphlet

Softcover, LP sized tour pamphlet from the Sexy Stream Liner era contains 38 pages of glossy full-color photos of the band members. Great condition, rare and out of print. 2000 yen.

Front Cover

Inside Cover

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SOLD

Rock & Read #42 

Volume 42 of Rock & Read magazine, with a 32-page cover feature on Sakurai Atsushi, including a long interview and 13 pages of full-color photos. Also includes a bonus postcard. Other artists featured include Inoran of Luna Sea, Gara of Merry, Asagi of D, Akihide of Breakerz, Bansaku of Baroque, and others. This was one of the best selling issues of Rock & Read magazine and is very difficult to find for sale compared to the other issues. Perfect condition, out of print. 1700 yen.

Front Cover

Back Cover

Bonus Postcard

Mr. Sakurai posing with photos of giant butts.

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SOLD

'SACRIFICE'

Sakurai Atsushi Solo Photobook

This gorgeous, giant hardcover photobook was released as part of Sakurai Atsushi's solo project.  Contains 158 pages of sexy, arty photographs of dear Mr. Sakurai. Most of the photos are black and white, but a few are in color, including that one that all the fangirls love to make into livejournal icons. This is a must have for any fangirl, though you'll have to take care not to stain the lovely glossy pages with your fangirl juices. Rare and out of print. The cover is slightly warped but aside from that, the condition is perfect. 7500 yen. Special shipping rates apply (this thing is so heavy you could use it as a weapon.)

Front Cover

Look at the suggestive way he touches the ice in that whiskey glass. Like, the glass is like a metaphor for...get it???

Kids, smoking is bad for you.

Ooh ooh, here's that photo all the fangirls make into livejournal icons!  The actual size of this photo is literally bigger than your head.  It's larger than life smexy Acchan-chan!  Must buy.

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SOLD

'YASOU'

Sakurai Atsushi Solo Poem Book

This poem book was released in 2004 as a part of Sakurai Atsushi's solo project.  It contains the text of the lyrics for 52 songs, including most of Sakurai's solo works and many Buck-Tick songs from Kurutta Taiyou, Darker Than Darkness, Six/Nine, Cosmos, Sexy Stream Liner, One Life One Death, and singles. Full list of songs available on request. The book includes numerous photos of Mr. Sakurai, as well as polaroids of his cats which he snapped himself. In addition, there are photocopies of his notebooks, and the text of an additional poem, "Subarashii Ashita," which has been published nowhere else besides this book. The book comes with a bonus DVD with scenes of Mr. Sakurai reciting his own poetry in various artsy settings. This book is very rare, by which I mean, extremely fucking rare! The copy I am selling is in perfect condition and the DVD has never been opened.  13000 yen.

Cover Detail

Lyrics notes.

A lie-down on the dark damp goth grass.

A serious eyeball doodle.

Polaroids of Mr. Sakurai's two favorite things: his cat and his feet.

Can you figure out what this is a picture of?

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All inquires should be sent to themadaristocrat at gmail.

В Россию с любовью! (To Russia With Love!)

Одним из усилий нашей постоянной работы по распространению любви к Buck-Tick за пределы Дальнего Востока, стало радостное событие – запуск “This is NOT Greatest Shopping Service”  на русском языке! Мы, конечно же, уже заметили, что существует огромный фронт поклонников Buck-Tick среди стран СНГ и русскоговорящей диаспоры по всему миру ... да, Кейси знает, что вы здесь, и теперь это ваш шанс! Мы знаем, кто вы и где вы живете, и всё, что Вы подсмотрели и выудили о Кейси, о ее  именитых друзьях из высших кругов, о ее романтических поползновениях, о  ее полностью правдивых и серьезных, нисколечко не пародийных и шедевральных слэшфиков, и  конечно же о секрете Кейси -  страстной любви к высококлассному армянскому коньяку.

Во всяком случае, мы знаем, что всех российских фанатов Buck-Tick впереди ожидает долгая, холодная зима, и чтобы согреть ваши маленькие сердца ничем иным как любовью Buck-Tick, мы объединились с русскоговорящим переводчиком, чтобы помочь донести любовь Buck-Tick еще ближе к вам. Русская версия страницы Shopping Service (сервис «Покупки в Японии») в основном представляет собой точную копию английской страницы, за исключением нескольких штрихов в редакции, для удобства чтения. Весь текст был написан настоящим живым человеком, а не электронной программой-переводчиком, поэтому мы надеемся, что здесь чертовски больше смысла, чем в слове «салат», переведенном через Google Translate. Поскольку нашей целью является создание страницы сервиса «Покупки в Японии»  для русскоговорящих фанатов, которые практически не владеют английским языком, теперь у нас будут приниматься электронные письма на русском языке точно также как и на английском. Однако, так как Кейси по-прежнему мало говорит по-русски, все письма, полученные на русском будут направлены нашему переводчику. А поэтому, если вы отправляете нам письмо на русском языке, может потребоваться чуть больше времени на ответ, чем на письмо, написанное на английском языке. Но даже, несмотря на это мы сделаем все возможное, чтобы ответить на все ваши просьбы, настолько быстро, насколько это возможно. А теперь, посмотрите страничку сервиса «Покупки в Японии» на Русском здесь.

Как всегда с Кейси можно связаться по адресу themadaristocrat собака gmail.

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As part of our continuing efforts to spread the Buck-Tick love beyond the Far East, This is NOT Greatest Site is pleased to announce that we are launching This is NOT Greatest Shopping Service in Russian!  We’ve been aware for some time that there is a strong contingency of Buck-Tick fans among the CIS countries and Russian diaspora around the world…yes, Cayce knew you were there!  We know who you are and where you live and all the things you’ve scooped and snooped about Cayce, Cayce’s friends in high places, Cayce’s romantic proclivities, Cayce’s entirely serious and truthful and not-at-all-parodic slashfic masterpieces, and Cayce’s secret, passionate love of top-shelf Armenian brandy.

Anyhow, we know all y’all Russian Buck-Tick fans have a long, cold winter ahead of you, with naught to warm your little hearts but the love of Buck-Tick, so we teamed up with a Russian translator to help bring the Buck-Tick love a little closer to your door.  The Russian version of the Shopping Service page is basically an exact copy of the English page, barring a few tweaks in wording to facilitate readability.  All the text was written by a real live human being, NOT by translation software, so we hope it makes a damn sight more sense than the word salad generated by Google Translate.  Since our goal is to make the Shopping Service page usable by Russian fans who have little to no fluency in English, we will now be accepting emails in Russian as well as in English.  However, since Cayce still does not speak Russian, all emails received in Russian will be forwarded to our Russian translator.  Therefore, if you send us an email in Russian, it may take a little longer to receive a response than an email sent in English.  Even so, we will do our best to answer your requests in as timely a fashion as possible.

As always, Cayce can be contacted at themadaristocrat at gmail.  

P.S. The graphic was made by our Russian translator, in the nostalgic spirit of the first NGS layout.

Ice Cream

Just two men, eating ice cream cones together.
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Buck-Tick New Year's Greetings, Part 2

Received from a fan at the Budoukan on Sunday.

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This is very cute, but I respectfully submit that it ought to be Imai sleeping on the floor, while Yutaka feeds Mr. Sakurai mikan slices and Toll imbibes box wine.  Ain't no time for box wine like the New Year.  But she got Yutaka's drunk face spot on.

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Buck-Tick New Year's Greeting Cards

It's a tradition in Japan to send New Year's greeting cards.  As with all traditions, some people go overboard with the DIY.  Most especially this B-T fan from Twitter.  I encourage you to take particular note of the illustration of Mr. Sakurai slipping on a banana peel, then crawling out of a cardboard box with a banana peel on his head.  I wish I had thought of this idea first.