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I’ve just returned from a delightful three days of Stanford Taiko events! In celebration of the group’s 20th anniversary, Stanford Taiko hosted an alumni weekend to coincide with its annual Spring Concert. We reminisced at a series of receptions, plus a fun rehearsal for our brief cameo in a massive, 40-alumni arrangement of Tatsumaki. I stayed with the great Andy Clayton, who between sessions of baseball and skateboarding with his kids, showed me his recent work on Calypso steel drum music. The highlight of the weekend was Stanford Taiko’s great performance. The new members are strong performers already and the concert debuted a number of new and really refined works. The following morning, two people at the Mountain View farmer’s market recognized me from the concert and said how great they thought Stanford Taiko was. I agree!

It was a joy to see so many of the folks instrumental in Stanford Taiko’s history and Jane Lin, Wisa and Sue, Linda and Steve, and all the other folks involved with the weekend made us feel special. Thank you, Stanford Taiko!

Maz and I are making our way out east on a TaikoProject tour. We facilitated the Bon Taiko Bonanza workshop in Las Vegas and Denver, spreading the “named phrases” and “battle” concepts and last night did a Many Sides introductory workshop for Fort Wayne Taiko. I love all this taiko choreography! After a few more TaikoProject events, we arrive on the east coast in about a week. We’ll be met by Shoji and Patrick and perform as On Ensemble at the Eastern Taiko Conference. Much fun!

I took our guest artists from Japan to the airport yesterday, returned the 15-passenger van, and started on the post-concert, where-did-I-put-that-thing?! reorganization efforts. I fell asleep for a few hours but can’t seem to relax quite yet, so here are some wrap-up thoughts on the events.

I have amazing friends and family. So many of our guest artists’ best experiences came from the work of others. My parents organized an amazing home-party featuring nagauta for us in Bear Valley. Hiro, Michiko, Audrey, and Maria teamed up with my parents (on their 45th wedding anniversary!) to prepare a healthy, local, organic lunch and dinner, for a total of more than 100 meals. Maz organized the whole concert setup and teardown with a host of energetic volunteers. Margaret managed the yard sale. Matt managed Burn Your Own. Mikael filled in last minute for audio recording. Jason, David, Aki, and Tomomi helped guide guests and lend support everywhere. Battle participants and concert collaborators pulled me through really challenging music and were loving and supportive the whole way.

I’m really embarrassed that I did such a poor job of introducing our wonderful guest artists during the concert. I used regular names for many of our performers from Japan, worried that I might botch their stage names on so little sleep. I also completely forgot to introduce our dancer, Nakamura Narumi (Hiromi Ashmore). Ug. I’m such a thoughtless dork. I’m so sorry Hiromi!

Katsuyukie Sensei and Katsujyuuro-san did everything in their power to help me survive the shamisen pieces and to cover for me when I made mistakes. My biggest regret is not being able to devote more of my energy to making sure they had everything they need to perform their best. I want to be a collaborator that truly features others, but Sensei and Katsujyuuro had to worry about helping me get through my parts. The incredible strength of their playing despite these distractions is a tribute to their musicianship. I’m inspired to continue practice and inch toward this ideal.

My apologies also to everyone that the concert started a bit late… it seems I’ve been running 20 minutes late for the last week.

These mistakes aside, I’m relieved the events went well and I appreciate all the positive feedback. It was a ridiculously ambitious series of events, and things could have easily fallen apart. Thanks to all those involved for being a part of this. I hope it was a positive experience for everyone.

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/225761

Ticket sales for the Good in Gardena concert tomorrow are available through midnight tonight (Saturday). If you’re planning on coming but haven’t yet purchased your tickets, please do so today. It will help me with the setup if you have your ticket in advance.

Thank you everyone and see you tomorrow!

In the GVJCI lobby, I’ll be holding a musician’s garage sale featuring musical instruments and other things we love. The sale will include the koto on which On Ensemble composed and first performed Gengakki (for $175!), a great-condition IBM Selectric typewriter, and a host of other satisfying home and work items.

For those of you attending the meet-the-performers lunch, I’m pleased to let you know our shipment of miracle berry samples has arrived! The extract from these berries is formed into a pill that you dissolve on your tongue and that makes sour things taste sweet. We’ll have a variety of foods for tasting (apparently lemons are incredible)!

Sawada Seijyuuro, the award-winning tsugaru-shamisen player, will be playing a song or two for us at the lunch. He performed at an event we organized in Tehachapi yesterday. It was great! He’s got an amazing dynamic range; from tiny, technical, plucking, to all-out bashing. You’re in for a real treat!

Advance-sale concert tickets are available through midnight tonight! If you’re planning to come, ordering your ticket today makes our job a little easier. Thank you!

Along with Katsuyukie Sensei and Katsujyuuro, an additional three singers and three shamisen players are coming from Hakodate and Japan, specifically for Good in Gardena! These are some of Sensei’s most accomplished (and friendly!) students and I am tremendously excited to have them join the lunch and concert! Here are brief introductions of the members.
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Good in Gardena debuts a ton of new material! We have a new shamisen arrangement and two brand-new On Ensemble pieces. It will also be our first time doing the slant-drum battle in LA, with more than a dozen participants! These friends have been working on new movements and rhythms for the last six months and I’m excited the world will get to see their creations! Here’s a short preview with clips from a few of the battlers, including Maz and my dorky batchi-switching stuff!

Please order your tickets soon to join us March 11!

Good in Gardena Preparations