My snow driving skills put to good use… So much fun to be in a show with such other wonderful musicians… Attack of the curtain!.. Thank goodness for the extra help, or we would have never made it to the next appointment!.. I was certain she’d said “Last time!”… Bananas and a rubber chicken… Testing my new camera by taking pictures of Tiger Okoshi… Good thing I carry my own hachijo bachi… Amazing to see the girls so enthusiastic… MC’ing because I’m loud and the mic is broken… A night sky filled with confetti… 4 shows in 4 days is my taiko limit and when someone offers you nuts, take them!… Great fun to jump into a piece I hadn’t played in 6 months… Improvising on stage as people file in… Too many things to mention… Temporary tattoo for Sheilarae… My first parade and being very colorful… Playing Reimei at dawn… I can’t help but thank my closest taiko friends for letting me drag them to a mountain and order them around… Playing in the back of a pick-up truck and dancing in the street… Manny, the world’s largest athlete introducing us and waiting for Martin Short before we can set the stage… Forgot a drum stand, time to improvise!.. Made our own hachimaki in the time between shows… The ONE family bond is stronger than my personal fears… Canceled due to tornado warning!… Solidified the relationship of performer to audience… This street isn’t big enough for all the noise we make!.. Many amazing taiko groups under the apple trees… So many of us were sick, but we still gave it our all… Even sick, you can’t stop me from fue!.. Almost everything that was said about their dojo, we could echo about ONE. It was amazing to see their strength of community and what it had built… My first MC’ing where I got to think about it ahead of time… ONE working towards its own street fair! Plus I made a new shime stand.

A few of the year's taiko moments.

I feel exceptionally blessed by taiko in 2009. I can only hope for what 2010 might bring.

Taiko players packed the room, and enjoyed dinner together at the opening reception on Thursday evening.

The first full day of the North American Taiko Conference (NATC), Friday the 7th, was even more of an eye-opener than I thought it might be. While it may be that not every North American taiko group currently in existence was represented there, the experience, skill level, and chops of those in attendance both inspired and challenged me. As a sempai for most of our Community Members in ONE, I bear a responsibility for maintaining and improving my taiko and serving as an example for others.  Translating this to the larger taiko community, it felt somewhat like a wake-up call for me to evaluate anew my capabilities, weaknesses, and taiko IQ, one might say, relative to my experience. Not in a ruthlessly competitive way; more along the lines of seeing a fellow workshop participant play well and thinking, “Hey, that was pretty good and he had said he started playing taiko just 2 years ago….” The skills flashed by the different groups performing in the Taiko 10 concert drove home that point.

Playing in the Taiko 10 will be particularly meaningful for me, as it’s somewhat of a personal homecoming– I left the warm sunny skies of Los Angeles almost 8 years ago, before I had the chance to learn how to play taiko. In my six years with Odaiko New England since then, I’ve probably performed close to a hundred shows. Yet most of my family and friends have never seen me perform, including my 92-year old grandmother, who has been an avid taiko fan for the past several years.

Me and Grandma at the 2005 Taiko Conference

She has macular degeneration and can now only distinguish shadows and shapes, but somehow she still gets a great thrill out of watching taiko. I guess that just goes to show the universal power of taiko to reach out and inspire people of all ages, cultures, and abilities– that, I think, is the true spirit of the Taiko 10, and it’s why WE’RE TOTALLY GOING TO ROCK THE JACCC PLAZA ON FRIDAY AUGUST 7!!! There’s no room for nerves, intimidation, or anything less than 110% when you realize it’s not about you or how many mistakes you make or whether you’re as good as all those West coast groups– it’s really about the 92-year old blind woman in the front row who is counting on you to awaken that raw, visceral, exuberant piece of her soul that’s still there somewhere inside, even after 92 years. So rest assured, we’re not flying 3,000 miles across the country to deliver anything less than 10 minutes of raw, visceral exuberance!

Want a sneak peek? Check out the audition clip that earned us a spot:

http://www.youtube.com/odaikonewengland#play/uploads/1/HgUEertBgvQ.