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My old family friend, Yuri Kageyama is having a book party with reading of poems and music tomorrow, August 15, 8pm at Yoshi’s in San Francisco.  Her son, Isaku, is performing taiko along with old family friend, Makoto Horiuchi on guitar, and Eric Kamau Gravatt on drum set.  Please check it out!!!

For more info:  CLICK HERE.

On Ensemble friend and inspiration, Yoko Fujimoto, will be performing with pianist/composer/arranger Derek Nakamoto and taiko player/flautist Kaoru Watanabe. So sorry I’m going to miss this… I’m sure it’s going to be a great show!

More info at the JANM website.

Hiro flew up to see Shasta Yama last weekend. After enjoying the dark night skies of Mt Shasta, we’ve spent the last few days exploring the Bay Area, hiking around the Presidio in SF and visiting museums in San Jose. Thanks for the fun, Hiro!

Thank you so very much to all of our donors! The fundraising campaign raised over $7000 to empower InventiOn 2011, On Ensemble’s year-long focus on creativity. We’ll be debuting much of our new work at our Torrance performance in October. In the meantime, we hope the FoundatiOn Team members enjoy the music, new t-shirts, bags, and love letters. Thank you all!

Hiro and I went to the Shoreline Aquatic Park lighthouse today to watch the arrival of bicycle crew, Wolfpack Hustle. They were racing Jet Blue’s “Carmageddon Flyover” from Burbank to Long Beach. They departed at the recommended airport arrival time for the flight (1.5 hours before departure), and arrived a few minutes before the flight was to take off from Burbank. Way to go Wolfpack Hustle!

On the 10th of this month we had the pleasure of returning to Ashland to participate in a “Green Show” performance. The Green Shows are held free for the public in the beautiful outdoor plaza. It’s one of On Ensemble’s favorite places to play and this time too was a fantastic experience. Thank you to Jess and the helpful crew and the enthusiastic audience!

And thanks to the Ashland Daily Photo blog for the following photos and videos!!

Thanks to the hard work of UCLA’s Kyodo Taiko and Yukai Daiko, the 2011 Intercollegiate Taiko Invitation was fantastic! The busy weekend was filled with workshops, good food (thank you to the caterers for the vegan treats!), and performances by the college groups. I taught matsuri slant drum choreography and we had a great time. I gave them three options of new moves and all three groups chose the hardest option, “Cronkite”. Perhaps we’ll see the rhythm sneak its way into next year’s performance. Thank you everyone!