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After Tahoe, we had a nice stopover in Placerville.  We had no idea where Placerville was or what to expect.  It turned out to be a pleasant surprise!  It was an old, quaint town with lots of character.  The Cozmic Cafe was a great place.  Good food and good people.  Thanks to Chris for bringing us out and thank you to Jazz and Dan for housing us in your beautiful home!

The next morning, we drove to Stanford University, Kris and Shoji’s alma mater.  Kris taught a timing workshop to Stanford Taiko.  What a great bunch of kids!  They learn so fast.  After the workshop, we had lunch together and Blair, one of the members, asked Kris what his major was.  Kris said he majored in English, but the joke was that all of the Blair’s teachers still talk about how Kris and Shoji’s major was taiko!

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…