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Dan Sanchez is a member of Icho Daiko in Cleveland and alongside Maryll Phillips, hosted a four-hour improvisation intensive with me and Maz on Jan 6. Dan is a really talented taiko player with infectious energy and enthusiasm. I found this awesome pic of him on the interwebs! Dan will be blogging about our recent workshop.

Welcome, Dan!

Hello from Cleveland! We spent yesterday with Maryll and Dan of Icho Daiko doing a 4-hour improvisation intensive, focusing on taiko-set playing and slant-drum soloing. It was really, really fun! Maryll and Dan are really motivated and enthusiastic. Thank you guys!

It was Maz’ birthday yesterday. Everyone say, Happy Birthday, Maz! We went out to eat after the workshop, and were joined by three friends from a previous visit to Cleveland: Brittany, Nathan, and Bo. It was nice to have everyone together.

Becky at Cleveland’s About the Cake made this little vegan delight for us. Thank you, Becky!

Last night we spent the evening with a great high school friend of mine, Matt Watson. Maz got to see photos of me and Matt from engineering camp at Rose Hulman in 1994. Ah so many years of geekdom.

Today we taught two workshops to the wonderful folks of Fort Wayne Taiko! We did Slant Drum Form and Movement, as well as Bon Taiko Bonanza. It was 5 hours of drumming fun and everyone made a ton of progress. Thank you to Fort Wayne Taiko for the food, fun, and rhythms, and to Jackie for putting us up for the nights in Fort Wayne!

On our way Bloomington, we stopped to get gas in the middle of Missouri nowhere. We were shocked to realize it was the same little gas station of the “If you don’t know nothin’, I don’t know nothin’.” incident a few years back. Here’s the story.

Maz really needs to go to the bathroom so we pull off at the next available exit. There is nothing to our left, but to the right sits a lonely Conoco. “Thank goodness!” says Maz. Maz enters the station and glances around. “Which way is the bathroom?” The surly attendant replies with a monotonic drawl and a frown, “We ain’t had water here for 3 days.” Maz’ consternation is apparent so the attendant continues, “I been goin’ out back…” “Out back?” Maz asks. “On the buildin’…” There is a pause as Maz imagines peeing on the back of the building. With the same monotonic drawl, the attendant says, “If you don’t know nothin’, I don’t know nothin.” The immediacy of his need pushes Maz to take the advice. As he sheepishly makes his way back through the station to leave, the attendant says, “Come again.”

The attendant this time was a different person, equally surly. Still no water. No matter though, we had a little patch of ice to play on and our lunch included the anxiously awaited sprouts, so we were happy.

The drive through the Rockies from Moab to Denver was a little dicey at times. We used chains, but all the same, our front-wheel-drive van (with a relatively heavy trailer) struggled to get traction. On the last hill before the Eisenhower Tunnel, we spun the wheels going 10mph for a few tense minutes but somehow made it over the pass. Whew!

We spent New Year’s Eve with Aiko and her family in Denver. It was the perfect way to wind down, with healthy snacks, ping pong, and video games. Thank you Aiko, Yuuji, Matthew, and Connor!

Maz scores! from Kristofer Bergstrom on Vimeo.

After Denver we went to Yutan NE and met Lincoln Kokyo Taiko. We spent new year’s day playing bon taiko and eating Maureen’s mom’s osechi ryouri, the traditional Japanese new year’s foods. Everything was delicious, Emiko! It was a wonderful way to start 2011! Thank you Kokyo!

Today we did another bon taiko workshop… this time in Olathe KS with Ki Daiko and Three Trails Taiko. We had a fantastic time with Dianne, Keiko, and the whole gang. The enthusiasm was really energizing! Thank you, everyone!

Dec 29 – My parents gave me some sprout trays for Christmas and we’re putting them to use on tour. If everything goes well, we should be able to have hiyayako (cold tofu) with ginger and sprouts by about Olathe KS. A night of soaking and they’re growing. Go sprouts go!

Dec 30 – 80% sproutage! They seem to be surviving the cold weather. How can you tell if a sprout is chilly?

Dec 31 – Just a few more days to go!

Once the sprouts have grown a bit, you’re supposed to put them in sunlight so they make chlorophyll. Today was a sunny day, so the dash was a perfect spot. Tomorrow’s lunch is going to be awesome!

Delicious! The radish sprouts were really strong and spicy and the alfalfa were sweet and flavorful. It was a *lot* of sprouts for two people to eat in one meal so we’ll offset the two trays when we start the next batch. Amazing these little seeds have all that energy in them!

The adventure begins!

Maz and I spent last night with Korabo Taiko in Las Vegas and taught a new workshop we’ve been working on called Bon Taiko Bonanza. The Korabo members were great! We had the honor of playing some of the group’s brand new drums and ate homemade, vegan curry tikka masala and couscous after the workshop. What a great way to start the trip! Thanks for everything, Korabo!

Shoji gave a great workshop on Omiyage to members of Fushicho Daiko in Phoenix. They did a fantastic job learning the core of the piece, with its complicated rhythms and movements. Emma even made vegan chocolate cake so we all had a treat after the workout. Thank you Fushicho!

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) was a wonderful treat! We got to see the drums that MIM commissioned from drum-maker and On-Ensemble-friend, Mark Miyoshi. In the image below, Maz is talking with him on the phone.

Mark’s drums are located in the “North America” section of the museum. As I was walking around the museum a staff member approached, recognizing me from that morning’s performance. He said, “Can I ask you a question?.. Sometimes people come up to me and complain that these taiko drums are in the North America section, versus Asia. What do you think of our decision to put them here?” I told him On Ensemble was very pleasantly surprised that the Museum had taken the more honest and complicated approach of representing Mark’s instruments as American. I explained how his finger-jointed-stave construction technique is uniquely his own, and how it was a reaction to the challenges of building taiko with the woods available in the US. The staff member said, “I’m so pleased to know how to explain it now… teaching moments!” Go MIM!!!