Nocturna

Nocturna, a radio show on the LA public radio station KCRW, is currently the soundtrack of my nights. The listening experience is completely different at night than it is in the day. It's even better at night listening to it in your car while driving the streets and freeways of LA, the orange streetlamps casting their light and shadow, light and shadow, in your car. I don't know why I get so nostalgic for my hometown sometimes. The music on Nocturna isn't even the type of music I usually seek out, but for some reason, it really affects me. I love the deep base that KCRW broadcasts their DJ's voices at. I love the way you can play the music quietly in the background and hold a conversation and then somehow the conversation is that much more deep or meaningful. Do you ever have those moments where the pauses in conversation are just as precise as speech?

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, you can listen to it anytime, but may I suggest, you listen to it at night?: Nocturna on KCRW.com

A Night on Mount Diablo

Went camping with friend Mary this weekend atop Mt. Diablo, right below the summit. It's the highest mountain in the area and really beautiful. Mary and I used to like to go camping all the time when we were in college, but we haven't been in over 10 years. I've really missed not being able to go camping with her, or even seeing her on a regular basis, so it was really wonderful when she seized a rare scheduling opportunity and we managed to find one of the only open camping reservations in the area--for one night only.

Mount Diablo has that rugged California landscape about it: live oaks clinging to the rolling hills browned by the late July heat, outcroppings of dry, hard stone, and tons of poison oak. One of the great things about getting out into California open space is smelling that wonderful earthy, tangy smell. It is so lovely. We had a full moon to our very selves, and it was the first time since I can remember where we weren't shivering our butts off in the rolling fog of night. We were actually above the fog line, and we watched as it rolled in, covering San Francisco so that the only visible landmark was Sutro tower, and filling up the lowlands and spilling up over the foothills and filling in the valleys, slowly creeping toward us but never quite reaching our vantage point high above the world. We watched the stars roam across the night sky overhead, we saw the darkness of the cities and suburbs come alive with the constellations of orange streetlights, saw the streaming tail of the highway that brought us here. The land is so dry and parched in July that they prohibited campfires, but it was ok. We sat in the circle of light cast by our lantern, and we talked, and we not-talked deep into the night. We listened to the sound of the breeze fill the pines so that they created rumor and spoke their secret languages, heard the rustle of the dry, jagged leaves in the oaks, felt the presense and immensity of the wind like some giant, unknowable sea-creature come close, as if out of curiosity, and felt its wake as it moved like current through the last of the dry grass and then disappeared into the inky blackness of the atmosphere above us, leaving only stillness and inpenetrable silence. In the night, animals walked by our tent like menehune, unaware or unconcerned that someone woke in the night and heard it pass, and then closed her eyes to it, wishing that schedules were easier to schedule, and that opportunities like this would come by more often, and, most of all, that nights in summer were a little longer.

Shows!

I don't have any pics yet of our BIG SHOW, but I know they'll probably come dribbling in here and there. I'll post them as/if I get them. We SOLD OUT, people! Isn't that amazing? SOLD OUT! There was a wait list and they were adding chairs at the last minute and I know we started really late, but the audience was really great. We had support from all our dear Drum Camp folks, as well as some of my wonderful and fabulous taiko class students, as well as family (my Dad and his sisters!) and friends, and tons of people who are just really great supporters of the arts. Thank you to all who attended. You have no idea how wonderful it is to perform to such an appreciative audience. It just means the whole world. It really does.

We worked really hard on this show. Lots of rehearsals. A new song. Refining what we already had. It was good. It was really great to work with such great people. Meri and Crissy, our newest members, just blew me away. Meri plays the fue so beautifully, and Crissy is an amazing taiko player--she was a Kodo apprentice, yo! And our core members--Janet and Bean and Carolyn--they're my rock.

I played with all my heart. Projected best I could. Put my all into my solos and into bringing everything in me to the performance. And I sweated like crazy. My forearms sweated. I didn't know they could do that. My hachimaki was heavy with sweat when I took it off and my tank and pants were all wet. That's a good sign. I was completely wiped out on Sunday and took a nap I had a hard time waking up from. One of those really hard naps where your eyes are so heavy they won't open. Woke up like that this morning. Heavy.

And today we had a nice-paying gig at Yeeha again. This time at corporate headquarters. They've got nice digs there. They make it so you don't have to leave to go get your hair cut or go to the gym or get an iced mocha--it's all there. It was a completely different audience than the Big Show. But eh, it was a slick gig. Here are people being goofy:
I love being a taiko player. In the year since I joined this Maze Daiko group I've had so many adventures! It's fun. It's such an interesting journey. I look forward to more adventures.

Wet T-Shirt Contest

Ack. Tonight was the sweatiest rehearsal ever. I got to RCW early in order to tighten a shime for the big show before the rehearsal started. That got me really sweaty. It was just dripping off me as I was standing on top of that drum, pulling my heart out. I was a little embarrased because when I brought the shime over to Janet to ask her something about it I was making a puddle and trying not to get it on her. Then when we were rehearsing, I got even more sweaty. My shirt was soaked and my hair was all wet and it was as if there were a raincloud hovering over just me. Janet too. After a run-through she said, There's water all over the stage and I know it's not all from me! It was like a scene from Flash Dance! Not that I'm complaining. Sweat is good. Crissy said that she tries not to drink too much water in order to not get sweaty. I guess that's a good theory, especially when you have such impressive performing experience like her, but you need water to keep you going, and sweat is not such a bad thing. Kinda gross, but not so bad. The only time I don't like it is when I'm performing and it runs into my eyes and blinds me, but, eh. When I got home and out of my shirt, I noticed I'm losing a lot of minerals--salt maybe? I've been drinking gatorade lately--more for the sugar than anything else--but I guess I need that little kick of sodium to keep the blood levels in balance.

Oh this is going to be a great show. I am working with really amazing people, and I know they are nothing but good influence. I have so much to learn. And I am so inspired to work harder on solos and stage presense and all that. I feel like this is just the beginning. Time for bed now. I have tomorrow to prepare and most of Saturday day. Are you coming to the show? Oh, please oh please say yes!?

Maze Daiko in Concert!

I've been so busy lately I haven't had much time to do promo for our upcoming show featuring Maze Daiko and Ojala. Here is our blurb:

Saturday July 21, 8pm

$18 in advance $20 at the door

Buy tickets for Ojala and Maze Daiko - an Evening of Women Drummers
Ojala is a group of 6 talented women who combine traditional Afro-Cuban folkloric music, infectious funky contemporary rhythms, beautiful vocals and imaginative and original songs. Carolyn Brandy, a groundbreaking Bay Area female percussionist, is the musical director of the band, and the inspiring vocals are led by Regina Wells and Elouise Burrell. Joining them are Annette Acosta and Sue Matthews, and dancer Ava Miller.

Mazeru is the Japanese word for "mix" and taiko (daiko) is the Japanese word for "drum". Maze Daiko creates an exciting mix of instrumentation and rhythms with the physical elegance and powerful sounds of taiko. Ensemble members Janet Koike, Kathryn Cabunoc, Carolyn West, Crissy Sato and Tina Blaine (also featured on djembe and dumbek), plus guest artist, Meri Mitsuyoshi playing fue (Japanese flute), create intricate rhythms and melodies to fill the stage with vibrant music and sound. Two amazing groups in one evening!

Rhythmix Cultural Works
2513 Blanding Ave
Alameda, Ca 94501
(510) 845-5060
mailto:info@rhythmix.org

O Mio Yemaya

Just got back from drum camp. It was a wonderful experience. I got to help teach taiko as well as take other kinds of drumming classes. It's really nice to see the things other types of percussionists are doing, and to hear their stories and to be able to play with them. We had to take two trips to get all the drums there (in 2 cars), and two trips to get them all back. Exhausting, but so worth it.

Knotted Up

Oy. If I could reach down inside my stomach I'd probably pull out something like this. I'm stressing, though I know I shouldn't. I'm learning a new song that we're going to perform and it just makes me nervous. I'm almost at the point where I can play it smoothly, but it hasn't sunk in yet. It's not at the point where I can play it without thinking, where it gets nice and deep into the muscles and tucked away in the chasms of the brain. The song has really pretty movement and it's in six time and thank goodness I don't have to solo. To complicate things, I'm busy. It's a good busy--teaching my taiko class, and then assisting at Drum Camp again this year, and lots of rehearsal and family coming up for the show. It's all good though. I'll get through this!

Aloha

Just got back from my first vacation in over 3 years. Boy did I need this vacation. I went to the Big Island of Hawaii and stayed for 10 days. We went to the beach almost every day and I was in heaven. Did and saw so much that I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. I had a good time.

Here goes.

This is actually Maui seen from the airplane. Pretty.The Big Island is the youngest of the Hawaiian islands. As you may know, the islands sit atop a volcanic vent that spews forth lava that accumulated and eventually formed each of the islands. The tectonic plate that the islands sit on keeps moving westward, hence, the dozens and dozens of bits of land in the island chain. The Big Island is, well, the biggest, and evidence of all that (relatively) recent volcanic activity is everywhere. Here is Laupahoehoe Point, site of a major tsunami in the 1940's (I think). Rugged and beautiful and dangerous: And here is the highway outside of Kona. Pure volcanic landscape at sunset (with rainbow, if you look close enough):One of the things I love most about Hawaii are the houses. Most of them have these galvanized roofs and sit on raised foundations, I think because it rains a lot here. I took tons of pictures of houses and this was one of my favorites, maybe because it's green:Oh, and they don't have trash in Hawaii--they have rubbish. This is a rubbish bin, as my Mom used to call them:

Before major tourism took hold, two of the major industries on the Big Island were ranching and sugar cane. My great grandparents came here in 1899 to work the sugar cane in Puna. Evidence of the sugar cane industry, although now defunct, still sprouts up here and there:Ranching is still intact. My grandfather actually worked on Parker Ranch, one of the oldest ranches in the U.S. He was a carpenter. Parker Ranch has been around since 1847, and they were celebrating their 160th anniversary. Every year they hold a rodeo and we got to attend it on the 4th of July. They had horse races (the guy on the loudspeaker kept saying, "no wagering, please." Yeah right), Poo Wai U (which is a kind of calf roping), Branding (with paint, thank goodness), calf-dressing (you heard me right--the team that could put a T-shirt on a calf the fastest won), Ranch Mugging (more calf-roping) and Team Roping, which I didn't see because we were in line to get us some chili. Here is a pic of the dreamy paniolos, or cowboys:And here is a shot of my first Hawaiian obon. They had taiko drummers playing in between old-time music blaring from the loudspeakers. I don't know how to dance, but my friend wanted me to dance the Electric Slide when it came on. I politely declined. Who knew it was an obon dance??:Another thing I love about Hawaii is how quaint things can be. Here is a picture of a small-town grocery store. Reminds me of the store they had on the island of Lanai we used to go to when I vistited as a kid:And of course I went to the beach--almost every day. I was being a tourist after all, and I love the ocean, especially when the water is calm and warm and practically crystal clear. We saw fish and honu, or sea turtles. Here's a shot of one of the lovely beaches we went to and one of me in my Japanese tourist disguise (and I'm actually a couple of shades darker now):They also had a grass shack set up at the beach. I wanted to move in and stay forever, but I couldn't find the front door:Oh, and on the 4th of July we also got to set off fireworks. In LA where I'm from, they banned fireworks when I was just about old enough to remember anything. All I remember is setting off sparklers, which kind of suck. But here fireworks are still legal. We bought a box of fireworks and friend Kris said we also needed to get "punk." I was like, huh? What's punk? Apparently, punk is a slow-burning substance often used to create a kind of smoke that repels mosquitos. They used to give it out when you bought fireworks, but not anymore. One of the highlights of this trip was when we went to the store and Kris asked someone, "You guys got punk?" And the lady replied "Aisle five." You have to understand that in Hawaii everyone speaks a wonderfully lovely and fluid pidgin. It's like everyone is singing to each other. When my mom (who was born and raised in Hawaii) got together with her sisters, they would sometimes speak pidgin. You have to go there to appreciate it. Anyhow. Here is me with punk and my first fireworks:
And in parting, here is another one of my favorite things. On the highway between the house and the beach was a sign saying that the Minimum speed limit was 40 mph. Wouldn't want anyone getting too comfortable with the relaxed and slow-paced island life. Ahh. It was good. It really was. Can't wait to go back. But now it's time to get back to life. I had a 5-hour taiko rehearsal today. Another tomorrow. Class on Tuesday. Drum camp all next weekend and a ton more rehearsals. July 21st people. Big concert. Try to go if you can!