Legend of Morning Glory at CSUMB

We performed the Legend of Morning Glory with the team at First Voice. It was a great ensemble with Maze Daiko on taiko, Mark on bass and sho, Mas on woodwinds, KK, Emma and Kimi with their beautiful dance, Jael on direction, and of course, Brenda doing the wonderful storytelling. I swear this show gets even better and tighter every time we do it.

It was great that it was in Monterey this time. The folks at Cal State Monterey Bay were wonderful hosts, and this was a journey that I really needed to take--for my soul's sake. I love that part of the world. I spent four years at UC Santa Cruz, so making my way to Monterey felt warmly familiar. I'm fairly certain that the first time I ever saw Brenda perform was at a show at UCSC. I can't remember what the show was about, but I DO remember her hair!

I'm just gonna be lazy and do slide show blogging.

Load out at our beloved RCW:

Two cars, tons of equipment. I joke that the only reason why they let me in Maze is because of my car, which holds a surprising amount since my humble Yaku is a just a Jeep Cherokee.

And this is what unloading looks like:

It turned out that all we needed to do on the first day was unload and spike. Janet and I were pleasantly surprised that we had half an afternoon to explore Monterey on our own after that. So we decided to go sight-seeing. And of course if you hang out with me, you'll end up at the beach one way or another.

And heck. We even made our way to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We managed to get in in time to see one of my favorite exhibits--the Jellyfish:

Day two was all business. The following are some shots I managed to take during our tech rehearsals. They're pretty self explanatory! These are the guys looking all jazzy:The taiko drums in the fabulously flattering side-lighting:
Mas and Mark jazzing it up:
Brenda working her magic:
More spectacular Brenda:

Bean working the sound effects. I believe that is a plastic grocery bag she is playing. I always said that Bean can play ANYTHING!! I bet if you gave her a bowl of spaghetti and a pair of chopsticks she'd be working out a symphony, or maybe a rock-opera:
All in all it was a great show!! Not sure when we are doing it again, but I don't think this is the last of Ghosts and Girls!!