Behind the Scenes with Cheryl Itamura

[ring, ring]

I take a deep breath, then answer the phone. The anxious voice on the other end begins with typical pleasantries, a Japanese accent, and sounds more than a bit rushed. Beneath the attempted calm facade of the caller I detect a note of panic.

“Where are you?”, I ask.

“In the studio.”, comes the reply.

“What is the problem?”

“The synthesizer is broken.”

[silence]

I feel adrenaline beginning to rush through my body, knowing I’ll need to spring into action, but for the moment I remain seated, calm, but even as I listen and carefully take notes, I look at the clock and start to formulate a plan and calculate what is possible in the time remaining. After the caller is done, I assure him I will do all I can to help and will call him back as soon as I make the arrangements.

I grab my backpack, my phone, my keys and begin the sixty mile drive west. Through the valley and over the hills I drive until I reach the studio. I rush into the studio and realize I need help. I can’t do this alone. I go to find a young strapping fellow that looks fit enough to help me carry out my task. Once found, the two of us head back into the studio together to locate the two keyboards that must make it to Los Angeles by morning. We load the equipment into my car. I thank him, then take off for the nearest FedEx location.

At the FedEx location I am standing in a long line of people each with little white boxes donning a cheery purple and orange logo. I notice some of the packages are letter sized flats, some of the packages are shirt box sized, and some are narrow and long as if they contain blueprints or posters or yoga mats. I also notice that I am the only person in line with two huge naked keyboards by my side. The fact that the keyboards I’m with aren’t even in a white box with a cherry purple and orange logo makes me a bit of an outcast, and I see that I have become the object of curiosity to many of my fellow FedEx patrons who are staring at me. Always with an eye on the clock I ignore the stares and casually inch myself and each of the keyboards a few inches up in line every time the opportunity presents itself. Finally I make my way to the coveted spot of being the first in line.

“Next.” says the FedEx employee behind the counter.

I inch the keyboards up to the counter and explain that I need to have the keyboards boxed up and sent to Los Angeles for a studio session where they are needed tomorrow morning.

“I’m sorry.” says the FedEx employees with the white shirt with a cheery purple and orange logo.

[silence]

Apparently I’ve missed the deadline to get a package to L.A. by the morning, but I am assured that if I drive 45 miles south to another FedEx location and arrive there within the next two hours, I’ll get there before their deadline for overnight shipping.

“45 minutes in two hours? No problem.”, I say to myself as I inch the keyboards out of the store and down the street and back into my car and head south.

I arrive at my second FedEx location for the day. Again, I unload the keyboards, inch them into the FedEx store and stand in line. Again, I work my way up to the counter with my cargo and finally reach the counter to discover that I arrived with a whole 15 minutes to spare before their deadline to ship to L.A. by morning.

“Sorry,” the cherry white shirted FedEx employee says to me, “we don’t have any packing material large enough to package your keyboards. They are too big. You might want to try UPS down the street.”

[silence]

So, I scoot the keyboards back to my car, again and head down the street to UPS. There I find a jolly fellow with a plain brown shirt who is pleased to inform me that he has packing materials large enough to pack up the keyboards and can have them ready in about 30 minutes — I am relieved – but, he says he cannot get them to L.A. by tomorrow.

“You might want to try FedEx.” he suggests.

[silence]

I tell him to pack them up — I’ll be next door having a sandwich and will be back in 30 minutes. While having my sandwich and cookie, I realize that I never even combed my hair before heading out on this adventure, then I contemplate taking the boxes to San Francisco International Airport and hopping the next flight to L.A. to deliver the packages in person. I finish my late lunch and walk back to the UPS store where I find two beautifully packaged keyboards waiting for me. As I pay and thank the UPS guy, he suggests one final thing.

“The regional FedEx terminal is just a few miles down the road, you might want to check with them before you head to the airport.”

I thank him for the recommendation and load up the car with my two giant boxes and arrive at the regional FedEx terminal a few minutes later. At FedEx I am greeted by yet another cheery fellow in a white shirt with a purple and orange logo who helps me unload the packages and carry them into the building.

“Yes,” he answers to my question about getting packages to L.A. “yes, we can get your packages to L.A. by tomorrow morning.”

I smile, pleased that all will be well in the recording world tomorrow morning. All will be well.

The next morning I receive a call from Kitaro.

“Thank you. Thank you. Everything just arrived. Thank you. Thank you”, says the happy man.

“You are welcome, Kitaro. You are welcome.”, I reply.

I’m Cheryl Itamura, E.M.T. at your service.

Kitaro’s new album, ‘Sacred Journey of Ku-kai 3′, will be released September 25th in the U.S. To coincide with the release Kitaro will embark on his Peace and Love World Tour in the fall of this year. This will be a tour that will take Kitaro to the four corners of the globe, shining the spotlight of his musical message on audiences as he inspires fans from around the globe to unite as one.