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Upcoming
Pacific Northwest performances:
Western
Washington University on Friday May 16th
CD Release
Party at Kobo at Higo's on Tuesday May 20th
Triple
Door on Thursday May 22nd
5.14.08
Meet Blaise Underwood, 11 months old and On Ensemble's newest member! He's got great time and plays the heater, floor and cat.
Finished up rehearsals at Somei Yoshino's studio yesterday and ended with a great meal together. Made our way up to Portland today and will drive into Bellingham tomorrow for our performance Friday at Western Washington University. Check us out if you are in the area!
peace,
5.11.08
First stop Berkeley to rehearse with Kelvin. We arerehearsing at Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble's amazing space in Oakland. I know I've mentioned this in a previous post but it bears repeating; their space is AWESOME! It's a dream space for artists. Someday we too hope to have a converted warehouse fit for rehearsals, performances and recording. Till then it's LA apartment life for us... but we're not complaining at least we've moved the drums out of the apartments...
peace,
5.9.08
Elsie Awards for 2007Cerritos Center for the Arts reviewer Glen Creason gave On Ensemble the "New Star" Award on his CerritosInk blog. Here's what he said:
New stars: On Ensemble- these young men had ideas and musical vision that really opened the ears and eyes of audiences at the Center in March. Riffing off the Taiko tradition the men appropriately took “Turns” (a marvelous composition) to another level altogether while keeping the intense taiko drumming at the foundation of their show. The ON Ensemble is a group I hope to see again at the Center.
Quite flattering really. He's also in luck since we'll be back at the Cerritos Center with Kenny Endo in Spring of 2009!
peace,
5.9.08
Zuh Zuh Zuh
Maz flew back from Japan yesterday, got off the plane and went straight to our gig at the opening of the Shinjo Ito exhibit at the Westwood Art Forum. Crazy. It was a fun gig.
My latest musical obsession has been this track Zuh Zuh Zuh from Moe Pope and Headnodic. My brother-in-law turned me on to a group called the Crown City Rockers and it looks like these guys are Crown City Rocker alums. Anyways, this track is just sick. It kind of reminds me of the Latch Brother's Bangra remix of the Masters of Illusion track "The Bay-Bronx Bridge". Anyways... listen and be enlightened.
peace,
5.6.08
The Northwest Tour is coming upWe're adding more dates as we get closer. We'll be having a CD release party at KOBO at Higo's on Tuesday May 20th from 6-7pm. We'll also be doing some residency activities at Western Washington University and Washington University as well as workshops with the Seattle Taiko community and Portland Taiko. Then we end it all in the Bay Area at the Collegiate Taiko Invitational, should be a lot of fun.
We also have a performance tomorrow evening for the opening of the Shinjo Ito exhibit at the Westwood Art Forum. More later!
peace,
5.5.08
Noodles , like music need to be taken seriouslySeriously. I don't usually like to spend these post complaining, life it too short but this really has to be addressed: Why isn't there a decent ramen place in Sawtelle? There are an abundance of shops and even some that make an attempt an artful bowl of ramen but I'm telling you none of them, I mean none of them approach ramen greatness. It's a serious art peoples! First of all you can't have more than three items on your menu and be taken seriously. Why have 18 choices if they all suck? Just do one thing and do it well...
There is one bright spot for ramen lovers in LA, Orochon at Weller Court in Little Tokyo. Three choices, all well done. Good and solid, 5 stars for LA, 2.5 stars if it were in Tokyo actual. Okay... enough complaining. Seriously though if anybody has a decent ramen place to recommend on the west side I'm all ears, but if it sucks I won't be your friend.
peace,
5.1.08
Birthday, new album and Pacific Northwest tour...First of all it's my birthday! Yeah. 32 and counting. I freaked out about turning 30 on my 29th birthday (always like to be ahead of the curve) so now the thirties are starting to feel more like home. It's been quite a year full of all of the highs and lows life can through at you. Definitely a year of emotional growth. When I turned 30 I think I posted how I'm still waiting for that day when I wake up and feel like an adult. For better or worse I'm definitely having more of those days although as I write this I notice I'm wearing my Decepticon t-shirt and old school Nintendo belt. Oh well...
Our new studio album "Ume in the Middle" is almost finished. I had a mastering session with Leslie Chew the day before yesterday and the album is sounding really great. Miles Endo is working on the cover design and then it'll be done! We're planning on releasing it late 2008 or early 2009 more details soon...
This month we are headed up to the Pacific Northwest for a performance at Western Washington University and another performance at the Triple Door in Seattle. We're also planning on connecting with the Taiko community with workshops in Portland and Seattle. If you are in the area come check us out!
Kris and I have started work on redesigning the website. It's going to be a major improvement it terms of look and functionality. We're moving to a Wordpress powered site and are very excited about OnEnsemble.org 2.0. We're hoping to expand the scope and the interactive abilities of the site. Should be a lot of fun...
peace,
