04.22.10
We are back in LA! Twelve great days on the road have come to an end, and we only have about a week back at home before we fly out to Cleveland for a week-long residency at the Playhouse Square. Then we begin our drive back to LA taking the warmer Southern route! Plans are also in full swing for our upcoming home shows at the Ford Amphitheatre, coming up on July 10 & 11, 2010. We are going to be debuting about six new songs, so you won't want to miss any of it! It'll also be the release party for our first and new CD recording, produced by none other than our own Masato Baba!
04.20.10 04.05.10 04.03.10 03.23.10 03.12.10 03.11.10 03.08.10 02.24.10 02.22.10 02.19.10 02.08.10 02.02.10 01.31.10 01.21.10 01.18.10 01.14.10 01.01.10
Whew! It's been quite a tour,and it's almost done! We have had some really fun workshops with taiko groups across the country, and had an unforgettable performance in Indiana hosted by the Fort Wayne Dance Collective! We started off with a short drive to Las Vegas, where we hung out with Jen, Dave, and Lisa Sara from Las Vegas Kaminari Taiko, then had a fun set of workshops with the folks in Moab Taiko Dan. Thanks Hop and Sheila for setting the workshops up! After that, we headed through the Rockies to Denver to have a fun workshop with Denver Junior Taiko. Thank you Aiko for setting it all up and taking care of us!! While in Denver, we also picked up some new bags from our favorite taiko bag-maker extraordinaire, Toni Yagami! Then we drove out to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where...we did nothing (it was just a good eight-hour drive from Denver. The next day we headed to Chicago, Illinois, where we conducted a workshop with Ho Etsu Taiko, Kokyo Taiko, and MBT Taiko. Thanks Jason, Rev. Ron, and Elaine for all your work in setting up the workshop, and to Erik and Christine for taking care of us in Chicago! Hmmm...this post is getting long, but a lot has gone on in the last eleven days. Next we headed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and had a day of residency activities with the kids at Weisser Park Elementary School and Fort Wayne Taiko. On April 17, we had a sold-out house at the United Arts Center for our show there, helped out in large part to the hard work of Liz, Andy and the Fort Wayne Dance Collective Staff, as well as this feature article from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Yesterday, we performed at the Fort Wayne Cherry Blossom Festival, thanks to Noel, Maggie, and Liam Knox for their hospitality, and after driving to Ohio, we just had a fun Omiyage workshop for the kids at the Dublin Middle School! Thank you to the boosters and Susann for bringing us out to see your fantastic taiko program! We also met Rachel, who teaches the Elementary kids taiko here, and Prof. Eric Paton, local taiko instructor and Burlington Taiko leader Stuart Paton's twin brother! Tomorrow, we have our last workshop of the tour with Pittsburgh Taiko. It's been a fun tour and it's exciting to see taiko thriving all across the U.S. More news to come...
Tickets are now on sale for Rhythmic Relations 2010! Advance tickets and discounted group sales are available directly from the Ford Amphitheatre Box Office. If you want the best seats in the house, consider donating to our 2010 BaseBeat Campaign! This year, we not only have the best seats reserved for our donors, but also new perks such as advance copies of our new CD, and limited edition TAIKOPROJECT 10-Year Anniversary photobooks!
Next Saturday, we hit the road for Indiana, making stops in Las Vegas, Nevada, Moab, Utah, Denver, Colorado, and Chicago, Illinois for workshops and just to hang out with taiko folks! If you happen to be near Fort Wayne, Indiana next week, check out our show at the Arts United Center!
Today, we are performing at John Thomas Dye Elementary School in Bel Air, and then heading to downtown LA to perform at the Green Planet Movie Awards gala celebration! In other news, if you happen to be near Fort Wayne, Indiana in a few weeks, join us for our next big show at the Arts United Center, produced by the Fort Wayne Dance Collective!
We are excited to post our new Rhythmic Relations 2010 website! Tickets will be going on sale on April 1, but only the best seats will be available to our BaseBeat:2010 Donors. Help us make the show happen and get the best seats in the house!
A big THANK YOU goes out to Kevin Higa and Sign-a-Rama for providing vinyl lettering for the TP van! Bryan was Kevin's assistant for the first North American Taiko Conference back in 1997, where Kevin served as the first conference coordinator! Thank you Kevin for your support and if you need signs or banners, go see him in Santa Monica!
Plans for our upcoming tours to Fort Wayne, Indiana and Cleveland, Ohio are in full swing! Another long road trip coming soon, and workshops with taiko groups on the way out and back! Plans are also moving along for our big summer shows at the Ford Amphitheatre. Tickets for Rhythmic Relations 2010 will go on sale April 1! To get the best seats in the house, stay tuned for our BaseBeat 2010 sponsorship info...
New beginner taiko classes start on March 9! Registration is now open, sign up today! Check out our studio page for more info!
Our recording session is over! Now it's just time for mixing, mastering, production, and then TP will have its first CD! To see photos from the recording session, click here!
Today we head into the studio to record our first CD! Three days...thirty six hours...and eight tracks to make happen! Wish us luck!
Our personnel page has been updated! Meet our new trainees (well, not that new, they started last summer). Welcome Jenny, Liz, Emily, Andrew, and Kris to the TAIKOPROJECT family! In other news, plans are underway for our upcoming tours to Indiana and Ohio, and we are deep in rehearsal in preparation for our upcoming CD recording! Get ready to hear TP like you've never heard us before!
Rehearsals for our recording session are heating up! Only two weeks left til our three-day recording session with Glenn Suravech. Spearheaded by Maz, TP's first CD will feature new songs and arrangements that will redefine the sound of TAIKOPROJECT.
In preparation for next weekend's Little Tokyo Korea/Japan Festival, we are rehearsing with the Kim Eung Hwa Korean Dance Company on a collaborative piece. In the past ten years, we've done collaborations blending taiko with klezmer clarinet, Vietnamese pop music, Chicano rock, European House music, American rap and hip hop, Zimbabwean marimba, Greek bouzouki performance, and Indian Bollywood music. After next weekend, add Korean traditional dance to that list!
Planning for our Rhythmic Relations 2010 shows at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre has begun! Save the dates, Saturday & Sunday, July 10 & 11, and hope to see you at one (or both) of the shows! Performances will start at 8:00 pm, and we are also doing a morning matinee for families in the Ford's "Big World Fun" series on Saturday at 10:00 am! Stay tuned for more details on the show and special guests!
Heading out to Vegas for a quick performance for Cadence Design Systems at the Wynn Hotel. Then, continuing work on our new studio and developing new songs for our first CD recording!
Tomorrow we perform our "(re)generation" show with our four newest members, Jenny, Liz, Emily, and Andrew, and long-time member Byron performs in his last show with TP! Ticket info available here! In other news, we have just been featured in an interview in the taiko magazine "Esto Es Taiko," an Argentinian taiko magazine! You can read it online (if you can read Spanish), here!
Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu!! Happy New Year! 2010 marks the 10th Anniversary of TAIKOPROJECT! Stay tuned for exciting events celebrating our first ten years of creative work! Projects on the horizon include our first CD recording, educational programs in our new studio, development of new works with marimba and koto, musical collaborations, and RHYTHMIC RELATIONS 2010, scheduled for July 10 & 11 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre!
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