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During Taiko Jam, Shoji thanked all of the taiko groups we stayed with during our crazy tours.  From Seattle to St. Louis to Toronto to Boston (and all in-between), we have stayed in awesome homestays.  We are forever grateful to those who have put us up.  This time when we went to Phoenix, AZ for the WAA conference, Shoji and Kelvin stayed with Eileen and Patrick, and Kris and I stayed with Esther and Ken of Fushicho Daiko.  We had a great time getting to know them.  I’ve known Esther for a long time.  She came up to Mt. Shasta to visit Shasta Taiko and Mark Miyoshi when Shoji and I were wee kids.  Ken is a wonderful artist who has traveled the world playing his music and is a proud father of a wonderful kid who dubs himself Miro, “M-I-R-O”.

While Shoji and Kelvin spent time at WAA, I had a very rare experience which was shoe shopping with Kris Bergstrom!  Everyone knows that Kris is a wonderful person, but has extreme traits like his veganism, chooses to only wear shorts, and he usually only shops for food, so shopping for shoes was a brand new experience for me!

Later on, Kris taught an introduction to his 30 Days to Better Shime program to members of Fushicho Daiko and members of their community groups.  It’s a great program and you can download it for free on the above link.

Thank you Esther, Ken, and Fushicho Daiko for a wonderful time!

Bryan from TAIKOPROJECT has been obsessed with finding a warehouse for TAIKOPROJECT’s new home.  We’re close.  This might be it!

It’s a great space.  It will take a bit of work to fix the place up to our satisfaction, but once it’s finished, this will be a great space to be in.  Practices, rehearsals, small concerts, recordings, retreats… this will be a great resource!  And hopefully On can help pitch in to use it too…  =)

A taiko group always dreams of having a nice, big, open space.  I hope this works out.

Last weekend Bryan from TAIKOPROJECT and I went to Japan to celebrate Asano’s 400th Year Anniversary.  I can’t believe there has been a company (let alone a taiko company) that has survived for 400 years.  Can you believe that?

The weekend was filled with performances, drum sales, merchandise sales, meeting many taiko people, and a reception.  Congratulations Julia Asano!

Here’s Bryan in front of a huge odaiko.  At the end of the weekend, there was a fun odaiko jam where we got to play this odaiko.  It was probably the biggest taiko I’ve ever hit in my life and in the process, Yoshikazu Fujimoto, lead odaiko player from Kodo, lent me his odaiko bachi and I totally broke one!  I’ve never done that before.  Maybe I should take lessons from him…

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After Tahoe, we had a nice stopover in Placerville.  We had no idea where Placerville was or what to expect.  It turned out to be a pleasant surprise!  It was an old, quaint town with lots of character.  The Cozmic Cafe was a great place.  Good food and good people.  Thanks to Chris for bringing us out and thank you to Jazz and Dan for housing us in your beautiful home!

The next morning, we drove to Stanford University, Kris and Shoji’s alma mater.  Kris taught a timing workshop to Stanford Taiko.  What a great bunch of kids!  They learn so fast.  After the workshop, we had lunch together and Blair, one of the members, asked Kris what his major was.  Kris said he majored in English, but the joke was that all of the Blair’s teachers still talk about how Kris and Shoji’s major was taiko!

We just came back from dinner with the Arts for the Schools presenters (Melanie and Katy) at Rubicon Pizza in Truckee.  Thank you to Ray for a wonderful meal!

We had four school shows in the past two days at North Tahoe High School and Truckee High School where they bused in elementary students from around the area.  The kids have been great!  Tomorrow, we have our concert at North Tahoe High School.  Please come check it out!

Yesterday, I took a walk around Kings Beach where we’re staying and had some fun taking pictures with my shadow on the beach.  A bit of trivia:  Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and it is the second deepest at 1,645 feet!  Crater Lake in Oregon is the deepest at 1,945 feet deep.

After our workshop in Ashland, Kris stayed and hung out with his family.  Shoji and I drove back to Mt. Shasta to have Mother’s Day dinner together.  What a treat!  This was the first time in a long time that I can remember being back for Mother’s Day.  Although Shoji and I didn’t cook since we drove in, it was a treat for our moms just to have us there.  We were fortunate to be with Mark Miyoshi and his wife, Luisa and our old friend Michelle Fujii and her husband Toru.  Here’s to moms!  We love you.

The next day Kris’ family drove down and we all had dinner together again!  Kris’ family wanted to take us out.  It was a lovely dinner at the resort with a nice view of Mount Shasta.  Touring, rehearsing, practicing, and doing business together really puts a toll on our relationships with all of our differences, but this was a special evening and made me appreciate Shoji and Kris and our families for all that we’ve been through.  The conversation revolved around “what if”.  “What if” this happened or didn’t happen?  It’s all by chance or fate.  We wouldn’t be here doing what we love.  Thanks Shoji, Kris, and Kelvin for this time right here, right now.

And now we’re back on the road in Tahoe.  Terry Yagura who used to be the director for Arts for the Schools and hired us when we first starting out, had us over for dinner.  She and her husband Ken cooked us a great meal at their wonderful home.  Nothing like home cooked food on the road!!!  Thank you so much Terry and Ken!

Here are some pics from our stay in Ashland.  Ashland is a great little town just 1.5 hours north of Mt. Shasta.  It’s home of the Shakespeare festival and now the home of Kelvin.  I think this was a great move for Kelvin.  Many opportunities have surfaced for him including the play, “Death and the King’s Horseman” that Kris, Shoji, and I had the privelge of attending.

Kelvin at “Death and the King’s Horseman”

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I’m surviving the TAIKOPROJECT tour!  Currently we’re in Stamford, CT.  So far we’ve had a school show in North Haven, CT, two school shows in Manhattan, a workshop and concert in Stony Brook, NY, a series of workshops and a concert in Philadelphia, PA, and a concert and workshop here in Stamford.  I’m exhausted, but I’m amongst good company.  The TP cast has been in good spirits even during rough stretches of the tour.  Gotta keep your spirits up on tour… otherwise you will be miserable!  We have to take care of each other.

We got to have some fun days too.  We went to Joe’s Shanghai Restaurant in Manhattan two times already.  They have the best soup dumplings ever.  So good!  Here’s a pic of us (Courtney’s taking the picture) on the southern tip of Manhattan.  The Statue of Liberty was too tiny for a camera to pick up in the distance.  It was really cold that day, but got to eat good ramen at Ippudo (Jason’s suggestion) which warmed us up.  We also got to see Bryan’s brother (Wynn) perform with his awesome group, happyfunsmile.  Good times…

Tomorrow is a relaxing day.  We’re gonna do some shopping, maybe see a movie, and then cook for our hosts, Sandra and Dave.  Then on to Pomona, NJ for our first (re)generation show of the tour.  Byron, Darren, John, and Scott fly join us for the 2nd leg of the tour.