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We’ve been having a good Wyoming tour thus far. On Wednesday we left Los Angeles early to make it to Salt Lake City for a workshop. Then on Thursday we drove from Salt Lake City into Pinedale Wyoming. Luckily for us the weather was beautiful. On Friday we started the day with a educational performance for the students of Pinedale Middle School. Later that evening we had a great concert performance at the Pinedale Auditorium. A huge thank you goes out to Patrick, Tim, Lars and Dana for bringing us out to Pinedale and for all their work in making our performances a success.

During our time in Pinedale we ended up eating at the Wind River Brewery three times in two days and even made friends with some of the regulars (shout out to Kenny!). Yesterday we drove from Pinedale to Gillette through terrible weather. It was slow going but we arrived in one piece. Tomorrow we’ll be going out to a local elementary school for a couple of lecture demos. Today we finish our tech early and are settling down to watch the Niners!

Yuta was in town this week and asked me to teach a series of intensive workshops on all-things-slant-drum. As part of that series I prepared the following video to explore basic form and strike.

For the last few months, friends and I have been working on the lighted-batchi technique with the hopes it will enable more detailed comparison of one’s right and left-hand strikes, as well as comparisons of different players’ movements.

The video below is excerpts of right vs left hand comparisons and Yuta vs Kris comparisons in both betta and slant-drum position. We tried a two-camera shot, as well as more complicated moves at the end. If nothing else, they’re pretty to look at!

With practice, I hope lighted batchi will be a useful tool in our taiko exploration toolbox!

Here are my favorite videos from 2011!
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Well, it’s a bit late, but here are the 19 vidoes I most enjoyed 2010. (click “Read the rest…” for videos)

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Last Christmas I cobbled together a Useless Machine for my sister. The wood was from the old overhead fan blades in On Ensemble’s previous studio and the electronics and motor were from salvaged electronic devices.

(Hopefully I’ll post a video of this year’s gift to my mom — a praxinoscope made from an old record player! — sometime before next Christmas.)

Hiro and I have just returned from a two-day trip on our new bike. Oh… my… goodness…

We love this bike!

This was perhaps the most fun overnight trip I’ve ever had! We rode up to South Pasadena to have lunch at Charm Vegan , then over to South El Monte for dinner at Thien Tam Vegetarian Restaurant, and a night’s rest in Rosemead. We then took the beautiful Rio Hondo bike path home. The food was great, but it was basically an excuse to ride, and the riding was delightful. Not only is the recumbent comfortable, but the bike inspires amazing responses from onlookers. The weird-looking bike elicits shouts of support wherever we went. It’s hard not to be happy while a guy in a Compton low-rider gives you the thumbs up while a family on the sidewalk applauds and an old guy on the corner yells, “Pump that shit! Pump that shit!” Riding this bike is like being transported to a country where everyone is friendly and the pace of life is just right. The basics of getting around, eating, and talking become a joy.

Meet Alphonse! With a frame made by Greenspeed in Australia, and parts assembled by Bent Up Cycles in Hollywood, this is our dream bike! It’s 10.5′ long, fast, and really fun!

I had long planned to build a recumbent tandem. The bikes are surprisingly expensive, so I figured I could buy the welding tools and pay myself to do it and still save money. But just before the holiday break I happened to learn of a used Greenspeed GTT recumbent tandem going on sale. Suddenly, Hiro and I were excited about the possibility of having a tandem now, rather than five years from now, so we jumped in and bought it.

I’m surprised how fun it is to be recumbent. It feels sort of like flying, and cars generously share the roads with us. It’s easy to chat with your partner and it’s nice to feel the push of another set of legs. We are recent converts to clip-in pedals, which are even better on a recumbent trike where you can’t fall over.

The long-term dream is to be able to do taiko tours on bike. I’m not sure how feasible it really is, but I’d very much like to find a way that future career success doesn’t mean environmental failure.

We’re heading out on a two-day, 65-mile trip right now. More tomorrow on how it went!

Last weekend was a blast working with the Dancing People Company here in Ashland, Oregon. We had four performances at the historic Armory performance hall for DPC’s annual winter solstice celebration concert “Call Back the Sun”. This time I didn’t collaborate with them using taiko; instead, I used berimbau, cajon and dumbek. It was a slight challenge writing the music for their dance piece “Grassfire” and I’ve realized my potential for alternative percussion set ups. I hope to post some footage of the performance soon.

What else? I currently have 5 taiko students that are showing lots of progress. One in particular, Megan Janssen, is amazing me with how quickly she learns. This is very, very inspiring. I’m planning next year’s Meidoko Green shows which will this time incorporate more students. If all goes well these shows will definitely be something for you all to see.