11.23.03
The cast and crew drives back to L.A. Whew. Time for a vacation. Thank you to everyone in Arizona who made the tour such a fantastic success--Esther Vandecar for coordinating workshops, Mino and Kathy for lunch on Tuesday, Coach Mickey Yokoi for the barbecue, Melinda De Jesus for bringing us out to lecture for your class, Kyo Rei Taiko Kai for the great potluck and performance, Maria Moreno of the HMD Program, Chuck Matsumoto, Rev. Furumoto and the Phoenix Buddhist Temple, Alan, Marilyn, and Tracey Tang for letting us stay with you, Bombu Taiko and Isshin Taiko for coming all the way out to see the show, Kariann Medina for promoting our show, B.Lu for coordinating our residency, and Michael Reed for believing in our show.

Thank you to our awesome crew for all your hard work--John, Gerry, Yoko, Tomoko, Gary, Jayson, Jonathon, Rona, Amy, and Susan. And to the cast...thank you for your dedication and creativity, and for believing that we could make this happen.

11.22.03
The World Premiere of TAIKOPROJECT:(re)generation at Gammage Auditorium. Behind the scenes photos here...

11.21.03
Day Five...morning--student matinee. 2600 wacky kids from K ­ 12 schools throughout Arizona. Noon--"Brown Bag" open rehearsal. Afternoon--light focus, sound check, video projector test, cue-to-cue, and notes. Now it sets in...3 years of creative development...culminates tomorrow...there actually aren't any photos from today because we were so exhausted...d'oh!

11.20.03
Up at 6:30 am to get to our first school show at Kyrene Pueblo Elementary School. Thanks to teacher Jayson Phillips who helped coordinate the show and who also plays a mean Edo Matsuri...Noon...cruise out to American Express Headquarters to do a lecture-demonstration for their employees...3:00 pm...finally some down time. Okay, so we saw a mini-golf course and couldn't resist. A quick 18 holes and then we say bye to our Arizona taiko family, the Tangs, and head out to ASU Gammage Auditorium to meet up with Team MNTS to load in!!
Today's photos here...

11.19.03
Day Three in Arizona. Up at 6:30 am to make a 7:00 am appearance on KFNX 1100 am and a quick interview and kuchi shoga performance of "Expanding" with host Rick Bloom. Then over to Channel 3 for a tv spot on "Good Morning Arizona" where Bryan and local TV personality Brad Perry exchange some witty banter and then Team BYMK performs to promote Saturday's show. 1:40 pm. Over to ASU to guest lecture at Prof. Melinda De Jesus' "Asian American Arts & Cultures" class. 5:30 pm. Is that it? No...our Residency Coordinator/Slavedriver Bianca "B.Lu" Lucero had us perform for ASU's Hispanic Mother/Daughter Program and facilitate taiko workshops for 120 Hispanic mothers and their daughters. We were scared about this one, but it was actually a fantastic experience that was also a lot of fun!
What a day...photos here!

11.18.03
Team BYMK has a great lunch with Mino and Kathy of the Phoenix Buddhist Temple. Thank you so much and see you at the show! Soon thereafter, the first residency activity begins, an after-school taiko workshop at Ocotillo Elementary with Esther Vandecar's fourth and fifth graders. Closing out the night, Team BYMK conducts a hip hop taiko workshop for the Arizona taiko community at the SGI Cultural Center.
Today's photos here!

11.17.03
The TAIKOPROJECT aisatsu's with Duane at Green Hills Memorial Park. Thank you for everything, Duane. Now we can begin. Bryan, Mich, Yuta, and Kelsey take off for Arizona to begin residency activities at ASU. In the evening, TAIKOPROJECT's new Arizona taiko family, Kyo Rei Taiko Kai, hosts a great potluck at the Tangs' house with a fantastic performance by the Kyo Rei kids!
Photos here...

Meanwhile...Shoji, Naoko, Maz, and Tiffany put the final production and touring elements of the show together and get ready to go on the road to Arizona on Thursday...

11.16.03
Crew meets with set designer Akeime Mitterlehner and set builder Derek Bjornsen to check out our new Odaiko cart for the show! Thanks Akeime and Derek for all your hard work and dedication to the show!! Meanwhile, the cast does the final audio recording for "Truth" at the On Ensemble studio.

11.15.03
The TAIKOPROJECT does one final dress run-through of the full show with the full lighting design in preparation for the ASU premiere next week. The show is lit beautifully thanks to Gerry Linsangan, and now that our dear friend Ronalee Par has come on board the production team to help dress the performers, and Jonathan Caparte Chavez and Jayson "Lord Nngu" Kwong have joined the crew, we are just about good to go. And away we go...

11.12.03
The show is close. Oh, so close. Things that Bryan has to do today: scan photos for Truth and Okage Sama De, interview Qris and Rev. Mas for Discovery, develop the video montage for Truth, update email correspondence, sign off on ASU contracts, talk to our videographer, touch base with Akeime about set design, pick up lanterns from Higashi for Gathering, talk to Johnny about Kinnara drums, talk to Tomoko about production schedule, leave Traci a message about writing plans, talk to Yuta about shime stands, check on plans for truck rental, talk to Kariann at ASU about tv pr opportunities, email Dorinne about our upcoming preview, Derek about future DVD plans, Lisa about Bombu, and...update the website.

11.08.03
Eddie Ikuta shoots new promo photos for the TAIKOPROJECT along with Qris Yamashita. To be posted shortly...

11.07 - 08.03
Musical consultant Byron Au Yong returns to LA for a brief visit to go over musical development of the show. Thank you Byron, for taking the time to jump on out for a quick weekend and your input and creativity! We miss you in LA (don...kadon... kadokodon don...)

11.04 - 09.03
Production Associate Gary San Angel visits LA to work with the TAIKOPROJECT during our final residency weeks in preparation for the Arizona World Premiere. Thank you Gary for all your time and work in helping us get the show together!

11.04.03
Day off. Kind of. Okay, not really. Most of the cast has the day off, but Shoji and John are meeting about music plans, Bryan is meeting with Akeime about set design concepts, and then Naoko, Shoji, and Bryan are having dinner with Qris, Rev. Mas, and George about "Discovery."

11.03.03
The TAIKOPROJECT performs a public preview performance of (re)generation at USC's Bovard Auditorium, presented by USC APASA (Asian Pacific American Student Assembly). View photos here!

11.01.03
The TAIKOPROJECT performs a special preview of (re)generation for our BASEBEAT donors, Bombu Taiko, Kitsune Taiko, Kinnara Taiko, and other special guests who have inspired us and have supported the creative development of the show. Thanks and love to Lisa Shimamoto for spearheading the bountiful reception and to Nancy Kikuchi for the beautiful kampai speech (Rinban would have been proud). Thank you everyone for attending and allowing us to share the work with you all. Photos here!

10.31.03
Happy Halloween! The TAIKOPROJECT celebrates by rehearsing for 12 hours until 11 pm. How's that for scary? Maz keeps everyone in the spirit by bringing in candy and having everyone trick-or-treat from his dressing room. Strangely enough, everyone is dressed in the same costume, "Taiko Player During Rehearsal."

10.30.03
Bryan talks to Kinnara people about "Discovery of a Voice," and use of Kinnara's vintage taiko drums. If you've ever seen Kinnara perform, have you ever noticed that every single drum has a different tone? And also...have you ever noticed that every single member of Kinnara has a different style of playing? Think about it...

10.28.03
The TAIKOPROJECT goes through its first "stumble-through" for the show. Define "stumble-through." So if a rehearsal of a show with all the transitions and full pieces and costumes is called a "run-through," then a preliminary version of that with mass confusion can be termed a "stumble-through."

10.27 ­ 11.01.03
Aya Yoshida of St. Louis Osuwa Taiko joins the TAIKOPROJECT for a week of residency. Thank you Aya for coming all the way out to work with us and for sharing your time with us. Have a safe trip and see you again in L.A. soon!

10.25.03
Multi-media designer Brian Nishii and Bryan put the final touches on video/multi-media work for the production. Also, Maz installs casters on our taiko stands. Behold the glory of wheels (and not having to lift 100-pound drums that much anymore)...

10.24.03
Week Four of the residency comes to a close. Nearly all of the music is finalized--but this week was an amazing breakthrough for our theatre work with John. The cast is really becoming the storytellers that they will need to be for "(re)generation." Videos are close to their final edits, photo and video documentation is progressing well, and other designers are starting to come on board to finalize the production. Nearly all of the costuming is completed, and I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge our fundoshi sponsor, Robert Hori, and the fantastic costumes being finished by Diana Furuta.

10.23.03
Guest composer Christopher Ariza comes into town to finalize Fog Dream Neon'd for (re)generation and to install real-time sound processing programs into our G4's for the song.

10.22.03
Set designer Akeime Mitterlehner stops by rehearsal to discuss ideas for set design with Bryan and John. Akeime is a fantastic and experienced set designer who Bryan met while working on the Mark Taper Forum P.L.A.Y.'s "Wondrous Tales of Old Japan."

10.17.03
The Japanese taiko group Yamato, performs for the Orange County Philharmonic Society's Eclectic Orange Festival at Segerstrom Hall. Bryan drops some taiko knowledge at his pre-show lecture on the history, development, and artform of taiko.

10.16.03
The TAIKOPROJECT performs at the Rafu Shimpo's Centennial Anniversary Banquet at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City. Congratulations to the Rafu for 100 years of dedication to providing news and information to the Japanese American community!!

10.11.03
Bryan and Yuta perform for the second of the Three J-Town Taiko concerts, this one at home at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre in Los Angeles. Thank you to everyone who came out to join us in this celebration of American taiko!! Check out photos....here.

10.10.03
Musical Consultant Byron Au Yong's score arrives for "Home," one of the pieces in (re)generation.

10.09.03
Week Two of our Eight-week final residency comes to a close! Major development on all of the taiko compositions have been made and are close to completion. Theatrical work has been moving forward steadily, and other production elements and staffing are coming into play. Great work thus far and much more to work on as we prepare for our USC preview and Arizona premiere...stay tuned...

10.08.03
The photo gallery and the personnel page have been updated! Special thanks to "Teacher" Ken Mukai for his photos and Bruce Arikawa for updating the new roster of TAIKOPROJECT artists.

10.04.03
Bryan and Yuta perform with Kinnara Taiko and San Francisco Taiko Dojo at the historic first of the Three J-Town Taiko concerts in San Jose. Check out the San Jose Mercury News article here and photos here...

09.29.03
Michelle and Naoko return to L.A. for the Fall, 2003 workshop residency. The final creative work begins for TAIKOPROJECT:(re)generation...

09.27.03
The TAIKOPROJECT performs as part of the Celebrate LA Festival, at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Check out photos taken by photographer Mari Nakano here!

09.25 - 30.03
Yuta and Bryan prepare for performances with San Francisco Taiko Dojo and Kinnara Taiko for the Three Japantown Taiko concert tour with San Jose Taiko, at the San Jose Repertory Theatre, the JACCC, and Zellerbach Hall.

09.21.03
The highly acclaimed Kitsune Taiko performs as part of the Festival of Children, at the South Coast Plaza in Orange County.

09.17 - 18.03
Bryan meets with video/multi-media designer Brian Nishii to go over plans for the multi-media/video logistics of "(re)generation."

09.14.03
The TAIKOPROJECT performs as part of the Manhattan Beach Arts Festival, featuring Shoji and the new L.A. transplants Maz Baba, and Tiffany & Kelsey Furuta!

09.09 - 14.03
Yuta and Bryan fly out to Japan to pick up our new TAIKOPROJECT signature bachi for the 2004 West Coast tour and to tape footage and interviews for "From the Inside/Outside," one of the video pieces for "(re)generation." Interviews are currently scheduled with Akitoshi and Yasuo Asano of Asano Taiko, Company, Ltd., Eitetsu Hayashi, Kiyonari Tosha, Yoshihiro and Yoshihiko Miyamoto of Miyamoto Unosuke Shoten, Kaoly Asano of Gocoo, and Leonard Eto.

09.04.03
Bryan meets with presenters at the WAA Conference in Long Beach to discuss plans for the Spring, 2005 tour.

09.03.03
The TAIKOPROJECT is awarded an Artists' Resource for Completion grant from The Durfee Foundation for the Arizona World Premiere of "(re)generation"!!

09.02.03
Bryan and John meet to discuss plans for the upcoming final workshop residency for the TAIKOPROJECT.

09.01.03
Check out the online article about the On Ensemble's recent performance at Grand Performances at the Asia Pacific Arts Online Magazine.

  printable version