50th Annual Higashi Honganji Obon

Hey! Bruno's first blog!

This past weekend we performed at Higashi Honganji's 50th annual obon. Bombu & Kitsune also performed along with several other groups. It wasn't easy with the hot weather & spacing, but we had a great time performing on our home court and there were minimal injuries (Jenn!) and minimal amount of dropped bachi (Bruno!). Obon season is always one of my favorite times of the year, and performing at Obon is always special. Thanks to everyone who came out to support us and the temple.

Here We Go Now


Expanding


Lava Cool


Shishimai


Be sure to look out for us next at the Kids FunZone at the Orange County Fair this Wednesday to Sunday. If you are in the Northern Northern Cali area, check out my roommate Maz at Shasta Yama!

Rancho Cucamonga World Music in the Victoria Gardens Courtyard

Today was Chensy's first performance, as well as my first performance! Although he had a bit of a fever, he did great, and we both had a blast! We were out in hot hot Rancho Cucamonga at the Victoria Gardens Courtyard. It's a beautiful space perfect for events such as this. Besides performing, I think my favorite part of the event was the basket of apples provided for us in our dressing room. They were so delicious! Thanks to all who came out to watch, thanks to the event organizers, and thanks to the team for all of your support today. Great job everyone! :)

Photo Shoot!

Yesterday, we had a photo shoot at the Japan America Theater to take new PR photos.
Steven Nguyen was our photographer and Scott, our lighting director, also came to help out!

Here's a behind-the-scenes shot!


















Can't wait to see the images!

Busy!!!

Busy week coming up for us!
Tomorrow, we have a big photo shoot.
Wednesday, we have a performance in Rancho Cucamonga at 6pm. It's free for everyone!!
Thursday, we practice for...
Higashi Obon this weekend!! TAIKOPROJECT performs on Saturday and Bombu Taiko and Kitsune Taiko perform on Saturday and Sunday!

For more info about the above performances, check out our timeline page on our website!


Make sure to come back for updates!

100th Day Celebration for Little Tokyo Market Center

Hi Everyone!

This past weekend, Bryan, Maz, Yuri, Yumi, Kevin, and I had the opportunity to perform at the 100th Day Celebration for the Little Tokyo Market Center. The performance went well but it was HOT! We played five songs total, half on stage and half on concrete since the stage was fairly small.
Now it's really starting to feel like summer! Playing taiko in the hot sun, and getting our TP-costume tan line at the same time. Thank you to Kevin for having sunscreen that day! It totally helped! Anyways, it was a hot day but a fun performance!
If you would like to see more of TAIKOPROJECT, we will be performing in Rancho Cucamanga next Wednesday, as well as the Higashi Obon (Sat. only) along with Bombu Taiko and Kitsune Taiko.

Happy Summer! :]

Asia Society's Annual Dinner

Last Tuesday, we performed at Asia Society's Annual Dinner, where they were honoring Tim Leiweke and Kobe Bryant. Yes, THE Kobe Bryant!!



We arrived at the Beverly Hills Hilton around 4pm, did some sound checks, and then were escorted to our green room area. We had a few hours, so I suggested to Tomomi and Bryan that we should do some Ab Ripper X from the P90X program. As we were doing some major ab work, the Laker girls came through our room! We exchanged "hello"s a few times since the dinner station was set up in our room.

We played "Here We Go Now" at the top of the program to get people to their dinner seats.

This is the award that Kobe received!


Unfortunately, we didn't get to talk to him, meet him... or see him. :-/
But it was cool to perform at an event that he was at! :)

Next up, free performance in Little Tokyo TOMORROW!

Kitsune Taiko Performs!

Last Sunday, our youth group, Kitsune Taiko, performed for JACCC's Annual Gala Dinner. They were honoring those who have made significant contributions to JACCC and the JA community. One of the people getting honored at the event was Tanaka Sensei (San Francisco Taiko Dojo).

They performed in the Japan America Theater at the end of the program before the actual dinner.

Here they are... playing "Seiko"! Great job!!! :)

Day of Service Festival

Last week, we performed for Mayor Villaraigosa's Day of Service Festival.


We played "Here We Go Now" and "Expanding" before he arrived and "Many Sides" as he was leaving.

He shook hands with all of us as he was heading onto the stage!


The Terminix mascot was there, too....



It was a fun performance... and somehow I was the only one that got sunburned! My poor shoulders are two totally different colors. Well, summer's here and I'm sure I'll have lots of opportunity to get a more even tan!