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This weekend we’ll be performing with Mu Daiko at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis from Friday November 21st through Sunday November 23rd.  Mu Daiko was one of the first On Ensemble supporters.  Back in December  of 2003 they brought us to Minneapolis as guest artists for their annual concert series.  Michelle was still with us we didn’t tour with a drum kit or a turntable and the koto was used for only one piece: Gengakki and even that has changed drastically since then.  We’re looking forward to hanging and performing with Mu Daiko again!

Mu Daiko with On Ensemble
November 21-23rd
Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm Sunday at 2:00pm
Tickets: $25 students/seniors, $27 general
Buy tickets by phone: 612 436-1129 or online

During the week Kris, Maz and Kelvin will be headed up to Winnipeg to lead workshops for our friends up in Winnipeg Hinode Taiko.  I’m unfortunately going to miss the Winnipeg trip and will miss Mr. Ono’s amazing butterfish sushi and famous tuna, avocado and grapefruit salad.

Today Maz and Kelvin hit the road with a van packed full of equipment to Minnesota! On November 15th we’ll be performing at the College of Saint Benedict Saint John’s University’s Humphrey Theater in Collegeville then we’ll be performing with Mu Daiko at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis November 21-23rd. In between the two performances we’ll be heading up to Winnipeg for workshops with Hinode Taiko. It should be a fun little tour provided we don’t get stuck in bad weather. We’ll be making posts from the road so keep checking back!

Whew… We just finished our annual home concert and have many people to thank. A big thank you goes out to Johnny Mori, the Japanese American Community and Cultural Center and the great staff at the Aratani Japan America Theater. Thank you to Kevin and Travis our great sound guys and a HUGE thank you goes out to our great lighting designer Eileen Cooley for all of her work! A big thank you goes out to our FoundatiOn Team who helped us set a new fund raising record this year and to all of our fans who came out to the show!

Also a special thank you goes out to Kris’ sensei Kineya Katsuyukie for coming all the way from Japan to be a part of our show and finally congrats to Kris for receiving his natori! We all very proud of Kris!

Our concert is tomorrow!! Apparently there has been some confusion with the ticket website. For a while it was indicating that our concert was sold out but there are still tickets available! Everything should be okay now but you can always call the JACCC box office directly and there will be tickets available at the door.

We had a great run through tonight and we’re really excited about tomorrow’s performance. As a special treat we’ll have some pre-release copies of our new album “Ume in the Middle” available at the concert!

We had a great time performing at the Oceanside Public Library’s 2008 World Music Series! It was a great sounding theater and a great audience. A big thank you goes out to Kristine, Deborah and the Friend’s of the Oceanside Public Library for their help in bringing us to their community.

Also thank you to everybody who came out to see our performance. It was especially nice to see members of UCSD Asayake Taiko at the performance. We connected with Asayake Taiko at the Collegiate Taiko Invitational this year. On Ensemble was paired with Asayake Taiko for a master class session and we were particularly impressed with their energy and eagerness to learn and improve. Also a shout out to Stanford Taiko’s Elle who keeps showing up at On Ensemble events this summer!

Stanford Taiko went on a massive three week tour with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Stanford CHamber Chorale, Stanford Choral Union and the St. Lawrence String Quartet early this summer. Stories and pictures from the tour are featured in this month’s Stanford Magazine. How cool is that? I know I’m starting to sound like an old man but back when Kris and I were in Stanford Taiko there were no international tours and we had to haul drums 300 feet in the cold California winters just to practice…

Our next performance is Saturday, September 13th at 7:30pm in Oceanside, CA. We’ll be part of the Oceanside Public Library’s World Music Series. We’ll be performing a full concert program at the Sunshine Brooks Theater located 217 North Coast Highway, Oceanside, CA 92054.

Thanks to the sponsorship by the Friends of the Oceanside Public Library, tickets are only $15 each for all ages. Due to limited seating at the theatres, advance ticket purchase is strongly recommended. Tickets can be purchased at the Civic Center Library or Mission Branch Library checkout desks. Free parking is available next door to the Civic Center Library in the Civic Center Parking Garage. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; open seating (only). Performance time is 7:30 p.m.

It’s not everyday you get a call in the morning to perform with Stevie Wonder at the Democratic National Convention and by the end of the day find yourself at Wonderland Studios rehearsing with the legend. Crazy… I need to pinch myself.

Anyways… I don’t want to give away too much, but I’ll be heading to Denver next week for the Democratic National Convention! Woohoo!

Back in 2004 I got to go to the Boston convention with Hiroshima got stuck in an underground parking lot for three hours and we all know how that election turned out. It was also the tour that I lost my job as primary navigator… Heading back to the hotel from dinner I missed the hotel exit four times in a row and the worst part about it was that every time I missed the exit we had to pay a toll! That was the last time I got to be band navigator. Now we have a GPS instead.

Maybe in 2012 On Ensemble will be famous enough to get invited to perform at a DNC! We’ll have to win a grammy first, so there is still work to be done, but we might as well aim high! More later…