Mike on Billie, Hong Kong. Photo by Chris Dugan, greenday.com

Green Day’s Japanese tour leg began early this morning, Eastern Standard time, and the fan community is hella happy with an acoustic version of “Redundant” that was played at the second encore. There is a video, but I’m going to wait to see if a better one shows up. Tony Anastazi, who I met in London, traveled from London to Osaka to see the tour. He showed up without a ticket after not being able to find a way to purchase them from England. Luckily, he met a Japanese fan on the Green Day Community who is also going to the four shows in Japan who offered to help with the translations and tickets and such. Yay for the Green Day Community, helping each other out all over the world! Party on! Tony has promised to share his memories of the concert at the GDC when he gets a chance.

Green Day wrapped up their visits to Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong with a bang and praise… as well as a bit of a scandal on Korean News regarding a “Deep Kiss” that a girl planted on Billie after she sang Longview. It’s very similar to the ‘kiss-storm’ that happened after MSG1 so long ago, back in July. Except that it didn’t make the news! LOL. Oops. Suffice it to say, the boys certainly made an impression, to say the least, in the Far East. Here are articles from the show in Hong Kong (in Chinese) and Singapore from greenday.com. One of the funniest things I read about the shows (I forget where), was Bangkok fans who gleefully noted that Billie’s propensity of audience mooning during songs would “never go over in Malaysia.” Sorry Malayasian fans! You are shit out of luck, methinks!

In the title news, we have two shows coming up that feature Green Day. The first one coming is “World Stages: Green Day Live from Munich,” which Europe saw a couple of months ago. It premieres in North America on VH1, this Friday, January 22 at 11:00 PM in a 1/2 version and then again on the HD channel, “Palladia,’ in an hour version on January 23rd at 9:00 PM. I have no idea what Palladia is, but they seem to have a link to iTunes, so maybe this Munich concert will one day be available for sale there. I don’t have an HD television, so I don’t speak the HD language, but I am a bit sad that the version I can watch is only a half hour. Bummer.

VH1’s Friday Night Alright
MTV World Stage: Green Day (Live from Munich, Germany)
On 1/22 (tomorrow night) at 11pm EST/PST on VH1 (30 minute version)

On 1/23 (Saturday night) at 9pm EST/PST on Palladia (60 minute version)

Rudy's Can't Fail on Food Network

Rudy’s Can’t Fail, Mike’s fabulous diner in Emeryville, CA, will be featured on the Food Network this weekend! Airing this Monday, January 25th, at 10 PM EST, Guy Fieri, who regularly explores different “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” is making a stop at Rudy’s and will probably try one of the “Shakin’ Jesses,” though I could never quite figure out what it was. LOL. Seriously, I had a great meal and a great time meeting folks at Rudy’s when I went out to the East Bay last September to see “American Idiot.” Highly recommended on a Punk Tour of the East Bay.

Speaking of Mike, Chris Dugan took some great pictures of the Hong Kong show (as usual, his work nicely highlights the band), with some especially great ones of Mike. Go to Greenday.com for more photos.

News via Greenday.com, Green Day Authority and GDC message boards.