TAIKOPROJECT performs with Blush!

At the end of September and beginning of October, Jen, Liz, Courtney, Candice, and I had the pleasure of performing at a few gigs with Blush! Blush is a new pan-Asian girl band sensation, with members from China, Korea, Japan, India, and the Philippines. Victoria, JiHae, Natsuko, Alisha, and Angeli are all incredibly talented performers with amazing singing and dancing skills. The girls joined us at a couple of our TAIKOPROJECT rehearsals to get ready for the gigs, and it was so much fun having them with us! They told us that they had learned some taiko while they were in Hong Kong, so when we taught them a few lines to play for the gigs, they picked it up in no time.

Our first performance was at San Gabriel High School, and we performed right in the middle of the quad area. It was so hot! We played a minute or two of Here We Go Now to introduce Blush, and by the time we were finished we were all sweating! I felt so bad for Blush since they had to sing AND dance in the hot sun for another 20 minutes. The students really seemed to enjoy their performance, despite having to bear the heat.

The next day we performed at Redondo Union High School and thankfully it was in a shaded area, so it was much cooler. We tried something different this time and opened with a small segment of Expanding. Blush came on and did their thing, then we helped pass out posters, CDs, and bracelets. That night Jen, Courtney, and I met Blush at the Queen Mary to sound check for our performance the following day. While we were there, we got to bond a bit more with the girls and get used to the venue. My friend Dan Matthews from Afterschoolspecial was busily running around making sure the sound and lighting setup was running smoothly. Thanks, Dan, for all your help!!

The day after was the big performance. We all met up at the Queen Mary in Long Beach for the International Secret Agents, which is a huge concert that showcases the many talents of the upcoming generation. It's a touring concert that starts in Seattle, then works its way down to San Francisco, and makes its final stop in Long Beach. In previous years, ISA was strictly a 3-4 hour long, sit-down-only concert. This year however, they wanted to try turning ISA into an art festival. After we did our second sound check, we had some time to walk around and check out the different vendors and food trucks. We stopped by the Designs by Steppie booth and purchased some cute shirts and accessories.

At 2:40, Blush was the first group to perform and we opened with Expanding. Since we had so chances to rehearse with them, the performance was great! The crowd seemed to really like our intro and Blush's set. After we performed, Jen and I stayed to enjoy the festival and watch the other performances. Afterschoolspecial, New Heights, Clara C, B.O.B., Dumbfounded, AJ Rafael, Wong Fu Productions, and Far East Movement were some of my favorites. Sean Kingston closed the show, but Jen and I were exhausted from such a long weekend, so we decided to leave before his set.

Thank you to Derek Nakamoto for the awesome photos!

Working with Blush was such an incredible experience. They're all such amazing people and we wish them the best of luck with their careers! We hope to see them again soon!

Jen, Courtney, Liz, Candice, and I all got bracelets from each of the girls!

Adventures in Idaho Falls!

What was Idaho Falls like? Well, let's rewind about a month and a half and let's go see :)

It was actually a very relaxing place :) Here's a few highlights from our visit:

- Jen, Liz and I took a nice morning run by Snake River.

- Candlewood Suites was awesome! It was an extended stay hotel so it had a full kitchen with pots, pans, plates, utensils, etc.

- Late night excursion to see the meteor shower

- Beers after the show with Snake River Taiko

- Redvines!..ok, this has nothing to do with Idaho Falls, but we went through a large pack like it was nothing

There was a lot more, but i'll let the pictures explain the rest...

Jen, David and Maz sitting by the river.

Jen and David looking to see how deep the water is...? Or debating whether or not to jump in! :D

There was an area of the park where they had hula hoops and trashbin-hubcap-canoe-different-items drum setup thing for the kids...so naturally we played with all the stuff too :-P

Where's Liz go?

Oh, there she is!

Hawaiian shaved ice, yum!!! :D

Random, but they had a bunch of these fun benches around the town. Here are a few of them..

Some of the other ones that we saw were a big skateboard bench, bicycle bench, and a bench shaped like the handle of a violin! I looked it up when I got home and found out that they are a part of the 2010 Greenbelt Art Bench Project. It would be so cool to see something like that down here in Irvine!

Snake River at night, so awesome! This was right outside of our hotel room too! I think I took this on the night that we went to go look at the meteor shower until the AMs.

And now...getting ready for the show!

Showtime~!

Thank you Snake River Taiko for your hospitality!

Thought I'd end it with a cast photo...actually, this is a picture from the Wyoming show, but that's ok, right? ^_^

Hope you enjoyed!

Taiko Conference wrap-up

You wouldn't think it would take me a whole month to recover, but I've finally caught up post-Taiko Conference. Whew! TaikoProject members participated in many aspects of Taiko Conference; Maz and I performed in Taiko Ten and Bryan taught a workshop called Hip-Hop Taiko along with TP assistants. The event was a grand success... looking forward to 2013!

Lobsterfest 2011!

Last night, we performed at the Port of Los Angeles Lobster Festival!

We unloaded all of our equipment and air-bachi'd through our set behind the stage. Since we had some time before we went on, we decided to walk around the festival. There was SO MUCH food! There was, of course, lobster, but also many food trucks and other food vendors. The line to get the lobster dinner was extremely long. I was getting hungry just walking around, but we all decided to wait to eat until after the show (well, almost all of us...).

Then, it was our turn to perform on the main stage. The crowd was amazing! I love performing and I especially love performing to an awesome audience! We even saw a few familiar faces. :)

We quickly loaded the drums back into the van and headed towards the food once again to get our complimentary lobster dinner. I was dreading the line, but there wasn't one! Yay! It was fun eating lobster with everyone. Some of us demolished our lobsters! Candice used up ALL of her butter!! Okay, just kidding... but it looked like she did so I was telling everyone she did. hah. :p

Here we are!

On the left is Darren, Jen, Brian, and Candice (I sat between Brian and Candi).

On the right is Kevin, Jenny, Emily, Courtney, and Maz.

Liz and David were out looking for a non-lobster dinner and joined us a little bit later. Oh yes, Lobsterfest also gave us free drinks! :D

Thanks Lobsterfest for inviting us to perform and for the dinner!! We had a lot of fun!!!!

Rhythmic Relations 2011!!!

Greetings to all of the TAIKOPROJECT blog followers!! We are having quite the busy summer, full of performances, tours and a lot of travelling. But lets rewind things back to the end of June for a recap of our Rhythmic Relations 2011 show at the JACCC Plaza.

Stage setup at the JACCC Plaza

This past Rhythmic Relations was my first Rhythmic Relations concert and it was very stressful and tiring weekend, but in the long run it was a truly amazing experience to be a part of such a big show. The first act featured Bombu Taiko, Kitsune Taiko, Loma Pacific Taiko and the Chibi’s, all of the groups that we help teach throughout the year. Since I don’t get to see all of groups on a regular basis, it was really special to play the stroll with all of them at the top of the show. Everyone’s positive energy and excitement has always inspired me to play from the heart and it was truly so much fun! Being one of the newer members to the TAIKOPROJECT family, I was awestruck by all the songs performed by each group. Everyone had such big smiles on their faces and it was very evident that each person was giving their very best and enjoying every minute of it. You guys did an amazing job!!

Ryutaro Kaneko

For the second act, TAIKOPROJECT took the stage with Ryutaro Kaneko who was a member of Kodo, the taiko drumming ensemble on Sado Island in Japan. For many months before the concert, Bryan, Maz and Kris worked with Ryutaro to remix songs both from Kodo’s repertoire and TAIKOPROJECT’s repertoire. One of the songs we remixed was Kodo’s Bird Island, which is a very fast piece and we even got the chance to choreograph a paranku part which is common in Eisa, Okinawan taiko drumming. Thanks to Yumi, her choreography gave our performance a little more depth beyond stationary drumming that we are normally used to. Ryutaro was also given the opportunity to remix one of our songs and the song he showed a lot of interest in was Seiza, our piece that features the koto. Creating a new middle section to the piece featuring a four-drum taiko set solo and several new accompany parts, Ryutaro expanded the normally six-person song to a sixteen-person song. That is almost the entire TAIKOPROJECT cast!

This concert took a lot of work, but with everyone’s combined effort we pulled off a very fun and exciting show. Thanks to the JACCC for providing us with such a nice stage setup and countless hours of help. A special thank you to all of our donors, without your generous support we would not have the chance to share our passion of taiko with the community. A huge thank you to all the friends, family, and fans of TAIKOPROJECT for coming out to the performance. We would also like to show the upmost gratitude to Ryutaro, for taking time out of his schedule to teach and participate in our Rhythmic Relations 2011 show. Thanks for reading TAIKOPROJECT blog followers and see you next time!! :]

TAIKOPROJECT, Bombu Taiko, Kitsune Taiko, Loma Pacific Taiko, Chibis

Our Happy Taiko Family!!! :D

Continuum show in Casper, Wyoming

August was a busy flying month for me. After the fun adventures in Coeur d'Alene, I flew back to LAX only to take another flight to Mammoth Lakes the same day for a family vacation. This was a good chance for me to relax and do some fishing, hiking, and even try to take photos of the Perseid meteor shower. But don't you worry, after my vacation ended I got right back on a plane with my bachi in order to meet up with the rest of the cast in Wyoming.

Our Casper, WY show was on Sunday, August 14. I flew into Denver on Saturday and met up with Scott. From there we rented a car and had a bit of a drive to Casper. There were very few cities (or anything besides flat land) along our route. The occasional tree or cow was enough to get Scott and me excited! When we finally made it to Casper about 5 hours later, we joined Maz, David, Liz, Jen, and Yumi for dinner at On the Border. I ordered something called the Big Bordurrito because it sounded big. It was :).

Sunday was the day of our Continuum show. After breakfast, we drove to Natrona County High School. Our show was in the auditorium, which looked to be built quite a long time ago. The building had a lot of nice details inside and out, which I took immediate notice of because I thought it was quite nifty. Once we finished unloading with the help of their crew, we prepped everything for our tech and run through.

Originally, Bryan was cast for this show, but he couldn't do it anymore once TP was confirmed for the VH1 Do Something Awards on the same weekend. I took his place and was excited to do the show, but was a little apprehensive as well. I had to learn and perform several new parts that I had never done before, including odaiko for BTO. So not only did I have to fill Bryan's shoes, but his fundoshi as well... Luckily for me, I'm not being literal! I had my own fundoshi to wear for the occasion. The auditorium actually had no air conditioning, so fundoshi was probably the most comfy thing to wear. During our tech, we were all hot and sweaty, so I suggested we all perform in fundoshi, but that motion didn't pass!

We had a few hours of time to rest and eat before the show. Thank you to our presenter who had prepared a delicious dinner for us! When it was finally showtime, we went out with a lot of energy and had a great show. We had the chance to meet and talk with people in the lobby afterwards, which is always fun.

We wanted to celebrate and wind down the night, but almost everywhere was closed. Much to David's delight, the only place we found open was a Wendy's. We all ended up eating Frostys and sea salt fries, yum!

The next morning, Jen, Yumi, Liz, Scott and I said our good byes to David and Maz as they continued on their romantic journey together. The five of us got comfortable in our Corolla and headed back to Denver with a few hours of time to spare before our flight. We decided to walk around downtown Denver for a bit. We ate some pizza at the Mellow Mushroom and took a nice stroll by the river. This was a quick and tiring trip for me, but I thought everything went really well and we all had a good time!

On stage for tech

Looking tired at hotel breakfast, my skillet!

Watching people tubing on Platte River in Denver.

Pizza at Mellow Mushroom, delish!

Yumi and Jen sit at a bench made for giants before heading to airport.

be inspired... Do something!

As if the Grammy’s and traveling to the UK weren’t enough, this year TP received yet another amazing opportunity to be part of the relatively new VH1 Do Something Awards Show hosted by Jane Lynch! There were twelve of us in total that were scheduled to perform throughout the show.

A little about this awards show, “Do Something” is a wonderful organization that aims to recognize everyday individuals under 25 years who strive to make a difference in the world. This year... there were some amazing finalists whose focus ranged from promoting healthy habits and eating, to reaching out to military widows/widowers , to providing high school teenagers with physical and mental disabilities with an opportunity to be included. It was our great pleasure to be able to play as they strolled down the aisle to be recognized for their accomplishments. =D This was a star-studded event which left some of us in awe that this show was not more well-known. From the moment we arrived, I zoomed in to the area reserved for celebrities with their picture reserving their seats from Mario Lopez, to Tyra Banks, to Will Ferrell. The tech day/rehearsal day as well as the day of were long hours spent getting private shows with performances from One Republic, Demi Lovato, and Foster the People among others. And the icing on the cake, was that our “waiting area” happened to be the place where the celebrity winners would just so happen to walk down to get their picture taken. EEK!

The hardest part of the gig?

Restraining myself from not sneaking a close up picture of....

david beckham! This picture was LITERALLY taken with me right next to the photographer as Kevin and I were trying to get onto the stage.... They were blocking the staircase... *swoon*

The okedo players making the entrance for the 5 finalists...

The chu players on stage. =D

In all seriousness, this truly was a wonderful experience, with the reminder of the value of doing good for others. The winner of the show was Sarah Cronk who initiated a series of all-inclusive cheerleading troupes in high schools around the world . Inspired by her older brother who has a diagnosis of Autism, but has shown her that the sky is the limit, Sarah acknowledges the potential hardships of high school and “fitting in” and has worked to raise awareness of schools everywhere that the world is big enough to accept people of all shapes, sizes, AND abilities. But all these finalists should be commended for their great work and efforts. No matter how big or small the venture, these individuals have touched lives and consequently will inspire others to make a difference in the world.

Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California Adventure!

Day 1, August 4
David and I left Los Angeles for my home town, Mt. Shasta, CA! I actually just came back from there on Monday after my parents' big taiko festival, ShastaYama. The past couple of days have been crazy trying to pack and get ready for the road. David's aunt Karen made us a yummy lunch of musubi, chicken, and sandwiches, but what I was really impressed by was the awesome ginger chocolate cookies she made for us. Thank you Aunt Karen! I want that recipe. We had a nice salmon and chicken sausage dinner from the bbq with my parents.

Day 2, August 5
Loooong 12 hour drive to Coeur d'Alene, ID. We were pumped up about the first of many Indian curry lunches from Trader Joe's that Kris always makes on our tours. The first lunch was frickin' spicy!!! I think cumin was coming out of our pores. During the morning it looked like it was snowing, but to our disgust, it was actually a cloud of bugs which went on for a good 5 minutes. Our windshield was caked with nasty bug juice. Sorry bugs! Arrived in Coeur d'Alene in time for a nice Applebee's dinner. David enjoyed a quesadilla burger. We went to the stage, loaded in, started a soundcheck and everyone else arrived. Then we went back to Applebee's for a beer while everyone else was starved for dinner, but we forgot Liz at the venue! Sorry Liz! That was a first. Bad communication. We went back to get her. She was fine. Applebee's was fun. You can read her in-depth blog about the adventure below.

Day 3, August 6
Got to sleep in a bit. Headed over to the venue to practice a couple of pieces. Walked around the "Art on the Green Festival". It was huge! Hundreds of vendors and the location was nice right on the Lake Coeur d'Alene. Performance went well. The first of many to come.

Day 4, August 7
Bryan, Yuri, Brian, and Scott leave the hotel at like 3:30am. I said goodbye, then went back to sleep. David, Liz, and I drive to Ontario, OR on a small two way highway through Hell's Canyon. It was beautiful. Today we drove through the smallest population we've ever seen: 10 people! We arrived at the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple and had dinner with Reverend Fujimoto and Michelle.

Day 5, August 8
Went running with Liz and made omelets afterwards. Good to feel healthy. We had our first workshops on Many Sides and Stage Presence with Sangha Taiko. It was fun and the group was very enthusiastic.

Day 6, August 9
Went running and ate omelets again! Yay! David loves candy and sweets, so we put together his breakfast in a cardboard box with candy and coke and wrote "David's breakfast" on it. He had a good laugh. Had our second workshop with another group in the are with mainly kids. They did well.

Day 7, August 10
Running and omelets! We ate 9 eggs each in the 3 mornings we were here! Thank you so much to the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple, Reverend Fujimoto, Michelle, and Sharmon for putting us up. We had the best time ever! David, Liz, and I picked up Jen and Yumi at the Boise Airport en route to Idaho Falls. We stopped at the Minidoka Internment Camp. My mom was born there. It was very surreal. I can't believe my family was forced to live out here in the middle of nowhere. Drove the rest of the way to Idaho Falls and checked in to our awesome hotel on the river! We went to the supermarket to stock up on breakfast foods and candy for David.

Day 8, August 11
Met up with Fireman Bob from Snake River Taiko. He let us use his practice taiko for the workshop we taught to kids for the Snake River Festival which the presenter set up. Went to the theater and did our tech rehearsal and relaxed until the show started which went well. I always love doing lecture/demonstrations for kids. We went back to the hotel and watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" which is one of the funniest movies ever.

Day 9, August 12
More of the same today. After the show we stayed up really late to see the meteor shower. David saw 14, Yumi and Jen saw about 8, and I only saw like 5. I blame it on my age. Went to sleep at like 4am.

Day 10, August 13
The drive started off beautiful. Eastern Idaho and western Wyoming are very picturesque. We drove just south of Yellowstone and through Grand Teton. However, we went down a very steep 10% grade and the van brakes were burning and shaking very violently. I was in second gear and it was still bad. Fortunately, we made it down to Jackson Hole, WY and found a Big O Tires and replaced the brakes... thank god for gps and smart phones and civilization. We were very lucky to be able to make it to a town with a garage that was open on a Saturday! Drove carefully the rest of the way to Casper and met up with Scott and Brian for dinner. Ran over the set for the concert the next day.

Day 11, August 14
Breakfast! Headed to the theater for our tech rehearsal. It went really fast. We actually had three hours to relax before the performance. A rarity! The concert was fun, but we all felt the altitude at the end. It was hard to get through Here We Go Now!! It was over 5,000 feet in Casper. We tried to go get a beer after the concert, but EVERYTHING closes at 10pm on Sunday. Bummer. We ended up getting frosties and fries at Wendy's which David was excited about of course.

Day 12, August 15
Jen, Yumi, Brian, Liz, and Scott depart in the morning for the Denver airport. It's back to only David and I again! We met up with the presenter, Carolyn, for a yummy Mexican lunch then headed back to the theater to teach a couple of public workshops. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. Nice to have some Asian food on the road.

Day 13, August 16
Drove to Salt Lake City and met up with Bo and Kenshin Taiko for dinner, then taught them an Omiyage workshop. Thanks Bo and Kenshin Taiko for having us! We had fun!

Day 14, August 17
Long drive to Reno. Stopped at Starbucks to do a little work and randomly bumped into Rieko, our contact for the Reno Taiko workshop. They were a fun bunch of people. Seemed like they all knew each other very well. Good job Reno Taiko! Thank you Leslie for housing us!

Day 15, August 18
Drove to Stanford for the Taiko Conference. Taiko Conference is always crazy, but we had fun and it was good to see all those familiar faces and new faces.

Day 18, August 21
Drove back to LA! Courtney and Jen joined us on the drive down with little sleep over the crazy weekend in order to make it back for the Nisei Week performance. Otsukaresama everyone!

Fun facts about the trip:
-Miles driven: close to 4,000!
-States passed through: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.
-Workshops taught: Eight. Ten including conference.
-Smallest town population that we passed through: 10 somewhere in Wyoming.
-Trader Joe's curry lunches consumed: 18! We had four people at once eating curry.
-This was the first time in TP history where we left someone behind. Sorry Liz!
-Maz and David spent about 61 hours in the van.

Drive from Coeur d'Alene to Ontario, OR

Farmer's market in Ontario, OR! Melon heads.

Workshop with Sangha Taiko

Maz's breakfast on the left, David's on the right

Remnants of the Minidoka Internment Camp

Overlooking Jackson Holy, WY right before our scary brake malfunction

Viewing shooting stars taken from Jen's camera. Looks like the day doesn't it?

Higashi Obon 2011

Wow, I can't believe Summer is almost over! We have been pretty busy over the last few months with a variety of gigs. On July 30, we performed at the Higashi Honganji Obon. I really look forward to this gig every year not only because it is held at our home temple, but because almost all of the TP members usually attend the event and perform. Since our group now consists of 19 members, it is really hard to have a gig where everyone can attend. I feel that Higashi Obon is one of those rare performances where almost all of the members get to perform together and to me, these kind of performances are the best.

Here are some pictures from Higashi Obon!

https://picasaweb.google.com/114821564668148213567/HigashiObonFestival03

Nishi Obon

On July 10, we had a joint performance with Kitsune and the Chibis at the Nishi Hongwanji Obon. We met early at Higashi to run through some of the songs together before we headed over to Nishi. The Kitsune and Chibi parents were a huge help in transporting drums and people over to Nishi, so Thank You Kitsune and Chibi parents for all of your help!

Once we arrived at Nishi, we unloaded all of the equipment and got ready for the performance. Like most Obons, it was REALLY hot, but luckily the stage we performed on was covered so we were in the shade. There was also a nice covered seating area for people to sit and watch performances throughout the day.

The performance went well! That was the first time I performed with Kitsune and the Chibis outside of Rhythmic Relations so it was a lot of fun performing with them. They all did a really great job. We had a few slight mishaps with setting drums, which included some of the drums being set too close causing Sean and Kyle from Kitsune to almost hit each other and Jenny playing Expanding with her set backwards, but it all worked out ok. I don't think the audience could tell. Overall, it was a fun and successful performance. Thanks to Nishi for having us!

Adventures in Coeur d'Alene

The first stop on our glorious tour through the American Pacific Northwest was beautiful and green Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. This is where I had the rare chance to really get to know some wonderful ladies during the black of night in a new children’s recreation center. I realize this sounds like an odd experience. So, allow me to explain further…

Bryan, Brian, Yuri and I arrived at North Idaho College, after an afternoon of air and compact car travel, at about 9:30pm on August 5th. We pulled up to the outdoor stage just as David and Maz were sound-checking the last piece in preparation for the show that was to take place the following day. It looked like they were wrapping up, so we left everything in the car and went out to help. At the end of the sound check, we worked together to put all of the equipment into the recreation center, directly behind the stage, for the evening.

Hunger set in midway through clean-up, and we decided to get some dinner as soon as we were through. I remember mentioning during that discussion, probably because I was delirious and not using my brain filter, that I had had the urge to use the ladies room all afternoon, but with no success. Travel woes… Finally, as the last few pieces of equipment were being tucked away into our storage hallway, I thought I felt success coming on.

“David,” I said jokingly as I ran into the ladies room, “I’m going to use the restroom. Don’t leave without me!” As you probably guessed, I had no success. But that’s not all.

As I exited and re-entered the empty storage hallway, I thought I heard voices at the back of the center. I walked back into the dark area only to find the voices of the ladies who would later be my heroes. “They must already be outside,” I thought as walked to the door.

When I got there, the car and Taiko Project van were gone! I thought I saw the taillights of the van exiting the parking lot, but I couldn’t be sure. Of course, my phone was in the car. I ran to the tech guy nearest me and asked if he had Maz or Bryan’s cell phone number. He did not.

This is normally when the adrenaline would build up and one’s fight or flight instincts might kick in. If this happened to me, I didn’t feel it. I felt like a sleepy zombie as I wandered back into the recreation center to escape the bugs and plan my escape. I thought hard, and finally remembered that there was a gig sheet, with the necessary phone numbers, in the merchandise box in the hallway. Unluckily for me, the merchandise box was at the bottom of the equipment pile. “Oh well,” I thought as I began to dig it out.

As I was digging, the ladies I heard before came over and offered their assistance. I said I was fine, and that I was just looking for a document. I didn’t want to tell them I was in a bit of a pickle. I remembered, however, that once I had the phone numbers, I’d need to find a phone. And, they started to ask why I was the only one left. So I gave in and explained what I was doing. All three of them immediately offered their cell phones for me to use, and kept me company with great conversation while I dug. It was then that I felt it appropriate to laugh with them at this rare situation.

I will never forget the surprise and disbelief in the “WHAT!” I heard in Maz’s voice as I told him what had happened. He immediately turned around and was back, along with David and Yuri, within 10 minutes. I also will never forget the hug and apology (it was as if I had almost died!) from David as he jumped out of the van with a scared look on his face.

This was actually not a bad experience, but one that I thought I needed to share. After all, almost immediately after this most interesting part of the trip, a tweet to the world announced the story for all to read. I figured I better explain a bit further. I feel lucky to have met and chatted with these three wonderful ladies and two unique tech guys as I waited for my teammates to return. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to experience the North Idaho College green at night. And, I feel extra lucky to have great teammates who came back for me! They could have very well ignored the call. ☺ Overall, it was a great evening. I suggest everyone try it sometime.

TAIKOPROJECT Ventures Out to the U.K.!

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone out there is doing well! And for those who had a chance to go out to the North American Taiko Conference, I hope you enjoyed your time there as well! This summer has been pretty busy for TP with Rhythmic Relations, taiko conference, obons, AND our tour out to the United Kingdom!

This summer we had the opportunity to go out and tour in Europe. Bryan, Maz, Jen, Courtney and myself headed out to the U.K. in July shortly after Rhythmic Relations. The tour consisted of LOTS of travel time on the plane and buses, as well as watching other taiko groups perform in the Taiko Festival. Once we landed in Heathrow, we drove to Exeter to meet members of Kagemusha Taiko. We finally met Jonathan Kirby, the founder of Kagemusha Taiko. We also had the opportunity to share the stage with Kagemusha Taiko during our performance which was also part of the Taiko Festival in Exeter.
Although our trip in Exeter was short, we had many great adventures that included trying out all types of beers, enjoying the famous "cream tea," leading two workshops, and meeting people from different sides of the country! Thank you Jonathan, Oliver and the Kagemusha family for making TP feel so welcomed! We hope to see you all again soon!

Nisei Week Closing Ceremonies!

On August 21, we performed for the first time at the Nisei Week Closing Ceremonies in the middle of 1st Street in Little Tokyo. We had a little bit of fun rearranging some of our pieces to perform "in the round" with audience members around us 360 degrees. We did The Stroll circling around our Ohiradaiko, and then a first-time ever arrangement of Expanding dubbed "Circular Expanding" with everyone arranged in a circle facing outwards!

As usual, there were a ton of photographers there. Here are a few photos that were posted recently on Flickr--courtesy of Grant Palmer and Albert Lien:

Weddings Weddings Weddings

It is definitely a summer of love as TAIKOPROJECT has worked to make a few people's special day perfect with our unique energy. TP has recently had the pleasure of performing at two weddings this past month in Garden Grove and most recently, Redondo Beach. It's always interesting to see how each bride and groom envisions taiko as a part of their wedding day, whether it is a performance for the guests at the reception or more recently, as live music during the processional and recessional. Glad we could be a part of such wonderful memories for the newlyweds and their guests - CONGRATULATIONS!

Stand Bags!

We just received a new custom set of stand bags from Toni Yagami for our Miyoshi Odaiko stand. I designed it with Toni so that we can pack it up and load it up for gigs quick and fast, and hopefully keep damage on it to a minimum!

Here is our Miyoshi Odaiko stand put together.



As some of you who have Miyoshi Odaiko stands (made by the inimitable Mark Miyoshi of Mt. Shasta, CA) know, his Odaiko stands break down into two main parts. Like so...



So, obviously, two custom bags were needed. Here's the first one, a small bag for the "cradle" or "heart" piece of the stand



The second bag is for the four legs. Toni and I went back and forth on how to design this one--looking at bags for "EZ Ups" and trying to figure out how to best make it work. Here the legs slide in and fit together snugly.



The issue was the casters. As you can see they swing around in a circle, and stick out a few inches, so the opening to the bag needed to widen out a bit in order to make sure that the bag could still close with the casters.



But the bags work great! Everything fits and now we can transport our Miyoshi Odaiko stand with ease and grace.



Thanks Toni! I still have to post photos of the shime stand bags and okedo stand bags...I'll do that soon, but seriously, I think all stands and taiko drums should come with a Toni-made bag when you first get it!

-Bryan