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Upcoming
Pacific Northwest performances:
Western
Washington University on Friday May 16th
CD Release
Party at Kobo at Higo's on Tuesday May 20th
Triple
Door on Thursday May 22nd
5.9.08
Elsie Awards for 2007Cerritos Center for the Arts reviewer Glen Creason gave On Ensemble the "New Star" Award on his CerritosInk blog. Here's what he said:
New stars: On Ensemble- these young men had ideas and musical vision that really opened the ears and eyes of audiences at the Center in March. Riffing off the Taiko tradition the men appropriately took “Turns” (a marvelous composition) to another level altogether while keeping the intense taiko drumming at the foundation of their show. The ON Ensemble is a group I hope to see again at the Center.
Quite flattering really. He's also in luck since we'll be back at the Cerritos Center with Kenny Endo in Spring of 2009!
peace,
5.9.08
Zuh Zuh Zuh
Maz flew back from Japan yesterday, got off the plane and went straight to our gig at the opening of the Shinjo Ito exhibit at the Westwood Art Forum. Crazy. It was a fun gig.
My latest musical obsession has been this track Zuh Zuh Zuh from Moe Pope and Headnodic. My brother-in-law turned me on to a group called the Crown City Rockers and it looks like these guys are Crown City Rocker alums. Anyways, this track is just sick. It kind of reminds me of the Latch Brother's Bangra remix of the Masters of Illusion track "The Bay-Bronx Bridge". Anyways... listen and be enlightened.
peace,
5.6.08
The Northwest Tour is coming upWe're adding more dates as we get closer. We'll be having a CD release party at KOBO at Higo's on Tuesday May 20th from 6-7pm. We'll also be doing some residency activities at Western Washington University and Washington University as well as workshops with the Seattle Taiko community and Portland Taiko. Then we end it all in the Bay Area at the Collegiate Taiko Invitational, should be a lot of fun.
We also have a performance tomorrow evening for the opening of the Shinjo Ito exhibit at the Westwood Art Forum. More later!
peace,
5.5.08
Noodles , like music need to be taken seriouslySeriously. I don't usually like to spend these post complaining, life it too short but this really has to be addressed: Why isn't there a decent ramen place in Sawtelle? There are an abundance of shops and even some that make an attempt an artful bowl of ramen but I'm telling you none of them, I mean none of them approach ramen greatness. It's a serious art peoples! First of all you can't have more than three items on your menu and be taken seriously. Why have 18 choices if they all suck? Just do one thing and do it well...
There is one bright spot for ramen lovers in LA, Orochon at Weller Court in Little Tokyo. Three choices, all well done. Good and solid, 5 stars for LA, 2.5 stars if it were in Tokyo actual. Okay... enough complaining. Seriously though if anybody has a decent ramen place to recommend on the west side I'm all ears, but if it sucks I won't be your friend.
peace,
5.1.08
Birthday, new album and Pacific Northwest tour...First of all it's my birthday! Yeah. 32 and counting. I freaked out about turning 30 on my 29th birthday (always like to be ahead of the curve) so now the thirties are starting to feel more like home. It's been quite a year full of all of the highs and lows life can through at you. Definitely a year of emotional growth. When I turned 30 I think I posted how I'm still waiting for that day when I wake up and feel like an adult. For better or worse I'm definitely having more of those days although as I write this I notice I'm wearing my Decepticon t-shirt and old school Nintendo belt. Oh well...
Our new studio album "Ume in the Middle" is almost finished. I had a mastering session with Leslie Chew the day before yesterday and the album is sounding really great. Miles Endo is working on the cover design and then it'll be done! We're planning on releasing it late 2008 or early 2009 more details soon...
This month we are headed up to the Pacific Northwest for a performance at Western Washington University and another performance at the Triple Door in Seattle. We're also planning on connecting with the Taiko community with workshops in Portland and Seattle. If you are in the area come check us out!
Kris and I have started work on redesigning the website. It's going to be a major improvement it terms of look and functionality. We're moving to a Wordpress powered site and are very excited about OnEnsemble.org 2.0. We're hoping to expand the scope and the interactive abilities of the site. Should be a lot of fun...
peace,
4.22.08
In2In ThinkingKris, Maz and I had a week of school performances with Performances to Grow On followed by a performance at the In2In Thinking forum this past weekend. This is the third time we've performed at the In2In forum and it's become one of our favorite convention gigs of the year. A huge thank you goes out to John Bergstrom for all of his support over the years and for bringing us to the In2In forum.
Maz is leaving for a trip to Japan on Thursday and we're starting to look forward to our May tour the Pacific Northwest with performances in Bellingham and Seattle. We'll be performing at Western Washington University on May 16th and the Triple Door on May 22nd.
peace,
4.14.08
Because tax day sucksIf you are like me you've put off taxes till the day before they are due and am now hating life for procrastinating for 4 months. I need lots of music and caffeine to do taxes. I can't help with the caffeine but I've just posted a new mp3 for all you procrastinators out there.
Loops/AfterRain.mp3 - 17.7MB: Track number 6 from "Ukiyo LIVE" (2007) featuring Patrick Graham and Kaoru Watanabe.
At 19'24" it's the longest song we've ever recorded. May it numb some of your tax day pain.
peace,
4.11.08
Chris Tin (see post below) and I have been attending ASCAP's "I Create Music " Expo for the past couple of days. It's been a great experience full of informative workshops and seminars on almost every element of the music industry.
One of the highlights of the expo has been an interview with Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. Now I've never really been a Bon Jovi fan but hearing him them talk about their approach to music and how they have managed to stick together and stay true to their ideals through 25 years in the music industry was inspiring. I found myself agreeing with everything they said and came to realize that the passion, drive and philosophy it takes to create meaningful music is basically the same whether you are a mega successful rock god or an obscure genre defying taiko fusion group.
peace,
4.8.08
In the studio with Chris TinLast Saturday Kris, Maz and I recorded taiko parts for Chris Tin's upcoming album at Sage and Sound Recording Studios.
It was a fun day and it was great to be involved with Chris' exciting recording project. It's a album of 12 songs about life, death and rebirth written in 12 different languages from Maori to Swahili. Back in January he went to London to record the orchestral parts to the album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the famed Abbey Road Studios. I don't want to give too much away but what we've heard so far sounds amazing.
peace,
4.4.08
Where did March go?Yikes, apologize for the lag in website updates. Just returned from Hiroshima gig in Phoenix and tomorrow we headed into the studio to record parts for Chris Tin's upcoming album. I won't give too much away here but it's a great project to be involved and we'll definitely be posting more about it in the future.
Kris and Maz had a school performance at John Muir Middle School in Burbank today. We have several local performance in April and in May we'll be headed up to Bellingham and Seattle for a little Washington tour. More details soon...
peace,
