Monday, October 26, 2009

Building New Taiko!

Bombu Taiko is one of the groups that TAIKOPROJECT has taught since the group started at Higashi. They've been building new drums for the past few weeks and have been working really hard. I think there's about a dozen barrels that they're working on, which will really add to what is already there. I helped with some sanding about 2 weeks ago and it's a lot of work! Still, I found the sanding to have sort of a ... meditative feeling. I kind of zoned out. It really is a lot of work, with so many different steps. The part that I helped out with was just a tiny part of the process for one drum. I'll be going back to help out some more!

I'm really excited to see and hear the new drums. There's lots of Bombu love going into them! :)


- Quick remider: our open house for the brand new studio is coming up!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Sunday, 10/11 - Encino Folk Music Festival

Encino Folk Music Festival - Encino Park, Encino, CA

Today we ventured into "the Valley" (as Californians call it) for a performance at Encino's Folk Music Festival! Bryan, Maz, Yuri, Liz, Andrew, and myself were attendance and with high spirits as we were prepared to play a somewhat longer set than we had lately been playing.

We arrived amidst the hustle and bustle of a booming festival, complete with jester-like entertainers and line-dancing. There was even a standing taiko that anyone was free to jam on!

After dropping off our fearless navigator, Maz, to find the unloading entrance for performers, we finally circled around the block and found the correct entrance. Unloading was a breeze, as the cheery staff was eager to help. As we got to the stage and started to lay out our equipment, the Polynesian Paradise group of Tahitian dancers were getting ready to perform. We were really feeling their groovy beats, and we could tell by the hip-shaking shuffle of some of the audience members, that they were too. After the Tahitian dancers cleared off, it was our time.

We set up on what was a surprisingly small stage, and crossed our fingers that we would not hit the awning directly over our heads, or each other. The set went pretty well and based on the positive feedback we received afterward, we could tell many of the Long Beach patrons in attendance were intrigued by the announcement that we were moving to Long Beach soon (if you haven't already checked out the promo video below, be sure to do so!). Like I said earlier, we played a longer set than usual - about 7(?) songs - so we were thoroughly juiced by the end of it.

The entire volunteer staff at the festival was very welcoming, encouraging, and extremely helpful! They made the unloading and loading process very easy, which was good since we were all pretty tired!

As we finished packing up our gear, we knew that while our stay at the gathering was over for the day, the festival would go on......for about another 2 hours.

And with that, I leave you with some pictures from the festival in 2003 (b/c we didn't bring a camera)











Yay Encino Folk Music Festival!

-Kevin

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Support the Cause!

Hi everyone! We're launching an end-of-the-year fundraising campaign to help renovate our new warehouse into SoCal's only dedicated taiko studio. Check out our website for all the info you need. Also check out this video that Bryan and I put together at the warehouse:

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

We have doors!!!

This is Jen about two weeks ago next to our yellow wall outside by the parking lot. No doors, no windows, no way to get inside from this wall. It's actually the other side of the wall with flames.


Last weekend, as I was driving home late at night, I stopped by the warehouse and we had new doors installed! Two to be exact! Here's one of them!

Please excuse the bright light at the bottom... that was my car. :p

Bryan recently went inside to take a look at the renovations. He said there's a lot going on in there! Can't wait to see it in a few weeks!

:)