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Hiro and I just enjoyed watching a fun movie, The Yes Men Fix the World. You can download it for free here!

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!

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.”

Beautiful Evidence, by Edward Tufte
Healing with Whole Foods, by Paul Pitchford
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami

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On Monday I took a trip to the fabulous Bicycle Kitchen for a 12-speed tune-up. The Bicycle Kitchen is a not-for-profit organization that hosts a public bike shop and arranges volunteers to help bike lovers repair their own bikes. You make an appointment, show up with your ride, and the Bicycle Kitchen has helping hands, tools, and spare parts to get you set up. Ken helped me adjust my rear derailleur which has been giving me issues. Thank you Bicycle Kitchen!

Shoji gave a great workshop on Omiyage to members of Fushicho Daiko in Phoenix. They did a fantastic job learning the core of the piece, with its complicated rhythms and movements. Emma even made vegan chocolate cake so we all had a treat after the workout. Thank you Fushicho!

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) was a wonderful treat! We got to see the drums that MIM commissioned from drum-maker and On-Ensemble-friend, Mark Miyoshi. In the image below, Maz is talking with him on the phone.

Mark’s drums are located in the “North America” section of the museum. As I was walking around the museum a staff member approached, recognizing me from that morning’s performance. He said, “Can I ask you a question?.. Sometimes people come up to me and complain that these taiko drums are in the North America section, versus Asia. What do you think of our decision to put them here?” I told him On Ensemble was very pleasantly surprised that the Museum had taken the more honest and complicated approach of representing Mark’s instruments as American. I explained how his finger-jointed-stave construction technique is uniquely his own, and how it was a reaction to the challenges of building taiko with the woods available in the US. The staff member said, “I’m so pleased to know how to explain it now… teaching moments!” Go MIM!!!

On June 22, 2009, I started the 10,000 hours of practice project. 365 days into it, here are the stats and some reflections after the break on a year of monitoring my practice.

Hours practiced (June 22, ’09 – June 22, ’10) – 463.59

Average daily hours (June 22, ’09 – June 22, ’10) – 1.27 (1hr 16.2min)

Current total hours (since 1995) – 4681.59

Estimated date of 10000 hours achievement – Sunday, Dec 5, 2021
(Assuming I maintain this year’s average daily hours.)

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Stanford Taiko member Brady Fukumoto joined me for three days of practice and experimentation and we had a great time! We worked on betta and slant form, discussed taiko philosophy, and explored a new composition. Brady is a great oboe player and I’m hoping we can put together a new piece for On Ensemble’s next Works in Progress concert. Thanks, Brady!

You can tell from the t-shirts that we're a good pair