The Way Back Home

After the Memphis show, we spent a couple days in Texas doing a workshop in Austin. Austin seemed much more familiar to us, especially after visiting cities like Bowling Green, Kentucky and Memphis, Tennessee. Jen said it reminded her of Palm Springs. Maybe it was the desert climate? The people? (Courtney's friend mentioned that the demographics of Austin are similar to California) Definitely not the food. The saying "Everything is bigger in Texas" seemed to apply a lot during our stay. We had these super beefy bbq ribs at the Green Mesquite and a Tex Mex burrito that seemed more like a huge, sloppy piece of lasagna.

The workshops went well, and the turnout was great. For the beginner's workshop we had 30 people show up. One guy, when we told him to try kiaing, he instead went "YEEEEE HAAAAAAA" haha. I got to see Megan who used to play with Stanford Taiko. I remember watching her perform her song, "Come About" at my first Intercollegiate Invitationals, almost 5 years ago. To this day, it remains one of my favorite taiko songs.


After Austin, we headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The 14 hour trip wasn't all that bad. Maybe we've been on the road for too long. How do we fill up the idle hours you ask? I'm not too sure. Most of the time, we end up either sleeping in the back, making fun of each other, or singing along to the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, or Disney songs (okay maybe that's just me and Courtney). We met up with Bryan and helped teach an Omiyage workshop for Smokin' Bachi Taiko. In order to join Smokin' Bachi Taiko you must help make your own, personalized drum. Some are stained blue, red, and orange and others have unique kan. The taiko range in size and shape as well. I thought it was a really cool idea.


The next day we had some problems backing out of Fox's driveway (our homestay) and we totally broke the front wheel of the trailer! It got stuck in the dirt and was crushed under the weight of the equipment. So, in order to get it out we had to Mac-gyver out of the driveway using a skate (that we use for our chu-daiko) and some cardboard to reduce the friction. It seemed to be working and we were all super excited until one of the wheels totally went over my foot. For some reason, however, my foot was fine! I think b/c we were in the dirt and not on pavement or a hard surface it totally absorbed most of the weight?


Unfortunately the trailer incident made us late for our last workshop in Phoenix, Arizona for Kyo Rei Taiko Kai, a youth group. That night we stayed at the Tangs, who housed and fed us. The Tangs were one of our first supporters, and let Taikoproject people stay at their house during their first performance ever in Arizona. It continues to amaze me how taiko can thrive in places seemingly cut off from resources that we take for granted in Los Angeles. I think what it takes are a few dedicated, awesome people that are willing to sacrifice their time and energy in large amounts and, in time, more and more people follow. We had the opportunity to stay with many of these types of people and it was inspiring to hear their stories.