SushiMasters 2009

This past Sunday, Bryan, Liz, Kevin, Jenny and I performed at the 2009 SushiMasters Competition in Little Tokyo! Bryan was really excited about getting to see/meet Brian Malarkey from Top Chef Season 3.

We started off the competition in the JAT...and I managed to not fall off the stage! yay! Once the competition was done, we continued our performance out at the JACCC Plaza as the attendees milled about enjoying the endless samples of sushi and sake...mmm yum! :) After we packed up and took everything back to Higashi, we followed our tummies back to the sushi and got to sample some ourselves...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it :-P

O, almost forgot to mention it, but this performance marked the debut of our newest piece dubbed Island Groove and is our first marimba song! See the picture at the top? Yup, that's the one! It's a nice mellow piece amidst our usual high energy taiko pieces.

Short blog, but my computer is not a happy camper at the moment, so I will leave you with the quote of the day :)

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." -Charles M. Schulz <-- I totally agree :-D 'Til the next blog!

Keiro Performance!

On the evening of Friday, September 18th, TAIKOPROJECT performed for the wonderful people at Keiro. Despite it being a bit hot, I really enjoyed myself, and I think the audience members enjoyed themselves as well.

The best part had to be during Shishimai, when Byron got really creative with the crowd. The little ladies in the front row looked a bit frightened at first by the big lion approaching them, but they were soon laughing and exchanging squeals with one another. It was really really cute and very entertaining. After the performance, we had the opportunity to talk to a lot of the attendees. Another great perk was the yummy yummy bento box we each received after the show. :)

Overall, it was a great learning experience and one that I'll always remember.

We started moving in!

We started moving some of our things into the new space today! I can't believe we're actually doing this! The owner is getting ready to do some major renovations (which will take a few weeks), then we have to do some of our own... and then we officially move in! AAaahh! :)

Here's Bryan pulling the trailer in...

... and here I am with Emily posing in front of our wall!

So, should we keep the flames or paint over it? So far, on Twitter, people are saying we should keep the flames!

If we paint over it, what should we put there instead? We're taking requests!! Let us know!!

:)

Ah, yes, the big news!

So, if you've been following us on Twitter or have visited our official website , then you already know the news, but here it is!!

We just signed a lease for a warehouse! That means, we're going to have a studio!

It'll be the only studio dedicated to taiko in southern California.

We're really excited to start brainstorming new programs and other things we can do in the studio. We're hoping to grow more as an organization through this big move.

Where is this new studio going to be? It'll be in Long Beach! Personally, my commute just got shortened to 2 minutes.

We're still waiting on renovations to complete, but I'm so excited to move in!

We hope to keep you updated throughout this exciting process, so stay tuned!!!

If you have any thoughts or ideas about what we can do with our new space, don't hesitate to leave a comment!

Big news!! Big news!!

I can't believe it actually happened!! Stay tuned for the big news and the official announcement!!!

:)