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Kris and Maz will be heading up to Mt. Shasta for the 6th Annual Shastayama festival this weekend! For those of you that don’t know yet Shastayama is one of the coolest taiko festivals ever. Of course I’m a little biased because Maz’s parents and my first taiko teachers Russel Baba and Jeanne Mercer organize the festival so don’t take my word for it go check it out for yourself! This year’s specials guest include: Taikoproject, Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble, Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe.

On July 20th Me, Blues guitarist and songwriter Chic Streetman and South African guitarist extraordinaire Mongezi Ntaka collaborated for a Green Show. The Green Show is a concert series held here in Ashland, Oregon on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival campus during the summer and is free to the public. It was Chic’s gig and it was my pleasure to perform with him outside of our usual performance setting. You see, Chic is the guitarist for the play “Ruined” in which I’m also cast. Mongezi is Chic’s understudy. Mongezi will be here for another week subbing while Chic completes a short tour of performances and workshops throughout the US.
Mongezi Ntaka is an amazing man and guitarist. He plays every style of African guitar, Reggae, R&B, and Jazz, and is the guitarist for other musical artists such as Kuku and Vusi Mahlasela. Vusi Mahlasela is gaining more and more popularity and has collaborated with artists such as Dave Matthews and Taj Mahal.
On Ensemble has a Green Show here in Ashland, Oregon on August 28th, 2010. If you’re in town come check us out.

I’ve just received my MacBookPro computer and I’m really excited!!! Yesterday I installed Logic software and I also bought a mic stand and mic cable. I still need a little more gear, but I’m on my way to getting set up to record some music! Me and the other guys in On Ensemble have been talking for a couple of years about how we all could record our musical ideas, share them with each other on line and make progress with our creativity even though I’m many miles away. I’m looking forward to many long, late nights of wrapping my head around the Logic program and exploring a new realm of music making. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

We’re excited to be returning to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Kelvin’s home turf to perform in the free, outdoor Green Show series, Aug 28, 2010 at 7:15pm. We’ll be performing in the beautiful surroundings of the Festival Courtyard Stage. You can see the whole schedule of free concerts here. The Green Show was one of our favorite performances last year. If you’re in the Ashland area, join us Aug 28!

Come see Kris and Maz perform this weekend as part of TAIKOPROJECT in Rhythmic Relations 2010! The concert will be on July 10th and 11th at the Ford Amphitheater in North Hollywood.

Click here for information and tickets.

We will be debuting SIX new songs! I am also proud to announce that we will be releasing the new album at the concert which I produced called “Surrounding Suns”. I’m so excited for this moment!

The previous leader of my shamisen school, Kineya Katsusaburo 7th, passed away on June 27, 2010 at the age of 82. My teacher, Katsuyukie, studied under him for more than 50 years, and considered Katsusaburo one of the greatest players and teachers of all time. He is the Iemoto who granted my natori, and I had the pleasure of spending time with him on a few occasions in Japan (Maz met him too!). He was always supportive and generous, and interested in getting the latest news on things in the United States, having travelled the world extensively.

When I spoke with my teacher on the phone, she said that although she’s sad about his passing, “It’s a rare treasure to complete such a dramatically successful and fulfilling life.”