Open House a Success!

Today TP hosted an Open House to show our new studio off to the general public and thank you to everyone who came out to see it! Actually, last week, our donors got to come check it out first, but today, we opened up to the public!

The studio is still under construction, as the owner has been delayed by city processes and permits, but lots has been done. When we first moved in, it was just a concrete box (with flames on the walls). Since then, we've installed theatrical drapes around the perimeter of the space to absorb some of our noise and improve acoustics, we've hung up some of our show banners from past Rhythmic Relations shows, we've built and started storing our equipment on industrial shelving in the space, we've installed a sound dampening wall on our shared wall and installed a 32' x 6' wall of mirrors, and a 32' x 32' raised, insulated stage. In the next couple of weeks, we'll have two new bathrooms and drywall will be installed in the space, which should insulate our sound pretty well. After that,we'll just have a few other projects that will complete our renovation and we'll be ready to go!

Thank you to all the Long Beach and South Bay folks who came out (as well as my Aunty from Huntington Beach)--and all the taiko groups that came out--folks from Togen Daiko, Kishin Daiko, Kodama Taiko, Touzan Taiko (the new collegiate group from Pomona), UCI Jodaiko, Shin3, TCLA, Kinnara Taiko, and Kitsune Taiko! Stay tuned for more photos and updates about our new studio!

Kris' first performance with TP

Last weekend was my first performance with TaikoProject since beginning rehearsals with the group a few months ago. We performed at the beautiful Aquarium of the Pacific. I'm still learning the pieces so it was a bit nerve-wracking for me, but thanks to Liz, Yuri, Bryan, and Maz, I survived and had a great time. Looking forward to more!

We took a quick photo after the gig... Liz was off changing, as you can see... :)

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, 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

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:

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!

:)

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!