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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.

Did you see me perform with TAIKOPROJECT at the 81st Academy Awards?  It was amazing!  The past two days, we saw Alicia Keys, Zach Effron, A.R. Rahman, John Legend, Whoppi Goldberg, Queen Latifa, and of course, the host Hugh Jackman!  Before we were waiting to go on to do our piece, Courtney and I were waiting backstage and saw Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Rogen, Christopher Walken, and Kevin Kline!  They had to pass right by us in a small hallway and acknowledged us which made me really, really nervous because it made me realize that whoa… we’re at the Oscars!!!  But I regained my confidence and went out and nailed the song.  All the drummers and dancers did great.  Props to you all!

Cameras were not allowed into the Kodak Theatre, but they let us take it in to the Mann Theatre which served as our dressing room area.  Here’s a picture of Courtney, Taylor, and me with our Academy Awards credentials which are basically passes to get in and out of the Kodak Theatre and through security.

Hello all.  Bryan, Byron, Courtney, and I from TAIKOPROJECT have been chosen to perform in the 81st Annual Academy Awards this Sunday, February 22 at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern.  Watch for us along with eight other “international drummers” and about 50 or so dancers when they present the award for “Best Song”.  We’re playing a 4-5 minute medley of all three songs.  Exciting!!!  I better charge my camera…

We’ve been rehearsing at local studios in Hollywood, but today we’re headed to the Kodak Theater.  Now we get to be in our element.

Who are you rooting for?  I REALLY liked “Slumdog Millionaire”, but I haven’t seen “Milk” yet which my mom and dad said was pretty good.  Oh yeah, and WALL-E was pretty fantastic too.

We’re back in LA!  After Denver, we headed to Moab, UT to conduct some private lessons with Moab Taiko Dan members.  I had some time in the evening, so I went running which was tougher than I thought because first of all, I’m out of shape and have been sitting in a van, and second, because of the elevation.  I think it’s like 4,000 or 5,000 feet there.  It was nice to get some excercise.  Thanks again to Joan and Scott for housing us!

The next morning, Kris had some lessons at 4am!  Then I came at 6am at continued teaching them Omiyage.  We hit the road a little after 7am and drove pretty much straight to LA with a few gas/restroom stops.  Kris helped me finish my rice cakes which I bought somewhere… I can’t remember… Anyways, I thought I would never finish them.  For some reason they seem to last forever.  Like a bottomless bag of rice cakes… yuck…

What’s next for us?  We have some school gigs in the LA area then have our big concert at Cerritos with Kenny Endo!  We’re excited about that.  Find more info here:  TAIKOX2:  On Ensemble and Kenny Endo

Kris and I stopped in Denver to refine Omiyage that Shoji and Kelvin started.  The piece is hard, but Denver Taiko and Mirai Daiko did a great job.  Way to hang in there!  I hope they are able to continue developing this piece.  Shoji’s original vision for this piece was for groups to take it and make it their own, not just to do it the way they were taught.  Good luck Denver Taiko and Mirai Daiko!  Next time we stop through, we hope to see improvement!

On the drive here, we listened to history being made on the radio.  It brought a tear to my eye and I’m full of hope for this new year and new era.  In honor of this historical day, we recorded this fun intro to Omiyage in honor of our new president. SurpriseOmiyage.mp3

With Kyo Daiko and Fruity

Howdy all!  We all left NY on Saturday morning.  Thanks to the Buddhist Church of NY and Wynn for putting us up!  Kelvin and Shoji flew home and Kris and I continued the driving experience to Philadelphia for an Omiyage workshop with Kyo Daiko.  I’m returning in early March with TAIKOPROJECT to continue workshopping with them and for a concert.  After the workshop, Kris and I raced off to get a much needed oil change, then we met up with a few of the members at Yakitori Boy for dinner and karaoke.  Ana is awesome at karaoke!  She sounds like Shakira and Dolores O’Riordan from the Cranberries.  Thanks to Matt and June for organizing the workshop!

With Icho Mame Daiko and Fruity

The next morning we hit the road at 3:30am and drove to Cleveland for a 2pm workshop.  It was snowing and a bit messy, but we made it on time.  We ate at this old-school diner called “Marko’s Family Diner” around the corner from their dojo and it was an interesting experience.  The food was, well… diner food, but the people were awesome.  It was a place where everyone in the neighborhood would go to and everyone knew each other.  They would joke around and were really polite to us.  After eating we met up with Icho Mame Daiko at their dojo and taught them basic stance at strike.  Thanks to Steve for setting up the workshop and thanks to Nozomi and James for housing us.

We drove a good 14-15 hours today to Topeka, Kansas!  Next stop – back to Denver!

Wow… I’m well into my 30s now!  This is unofficially my and Shoji’s 25th year of playing taiko.  Can you believe it?  How special it is to still be playing with each other.  Thanks Shoj for all the great years.

Last year was a pretty good year for me personally.  Although things were tough for loved ones around me, I felt like I did a lot of growing up.  I finally feel comfortable being the person I am.  It’s in my nature to be a follower and I’ve always been told I should make an effort to be a leader, but that’s asking someone to be someone they are not.  I feel like I can be a quiet leader and supporter.  I feel confident with the skills that I have to be strong.  I don’t have to be “over the top” or a “go-getter” to be respected.  I’ve finally found out that I just have to be myself.

Some highlights of being 30:
-Driving across country and back SAFELY with Kris.
-Putting on a successful show at the Ford Amphitheatre with TAIKOPROJECT featuring guest artists San Francisco Taiko Dojo and making Tanaka-sensei proud.
-Going to Japan once to visit Courtney, going back a second time to help Kris receive his “natori”.
-Playing with TAIKOPROJECT in Hawaii.  I MISS Hawaii.  Thank you to Kenny and Chizuko Endo for being a big part of who I am.
-Adopting two abandoned kittens that Byron (my roommate and fellow TAIKOPROJECT member) found.  We nursed them, gave one away to Yuri and kept the other one who Mika named “Tabi”.  She has three grey feet and one white foot.
-Courtney’s return from Japan!!!  A year is long.
-Shasta Yama with On Ensemble.  Always awesome to play for the home crowd.
-Our home concert “Yobu”.  At first it started to feel like, “why do we do this to ourselves?”  But then, when the show started and we saw our family, friends, and fans, it was definitely worth it.  Thank you all for coming!

Here’s to another year.  Hope this one is better.