It’s getting to be a bit redundant saying things have been crazy the last little while. I’ve been saying that for at least two years. Crazy busy is the way it is and will be for the forseeable future.
It was a good a summer. Trips to the UK & EU were a blast, and I got to visit groups in Heidelberg, Devon, Derry, Paris, Zürich, Hamburg, & Oberhausen.
Thanks to:
Ilke I got to see some amazing Fireworks over a very picturesque castle.
Fiona I got to see Muff in Donegal and drum & collaborate with a great group of women.
Cola I had a wonderful place to stay in Paris & got a chance to visit friends I hadn’t seen in a long while.
Frank & Virginie I ate all the things.
Micah, I got to throw taiko players (or at least their avatars) off of random building and objects, and see more of the Zürich than I ever had before.
Silke I got to reunite with some old Tentekko friends, including Sayuri Ito (now of Amaterasu Taiko Dojo) & Yoshiko Hara, & I got to see Monika Baumgartl, who came all the way out to the airport for a visit on my last day.
Marco I got to go to my favorite Swiss chocolatier & visit his mom (who I very much adore and hadn’t seen for a long time).
Of course there was lots of drumming, too, but that’s kind of a given
Special thanks are due to Jihan Adem for helping to make most of the arrangements & to James Barrow for his kind assistance with TaikoBaka logisitcs.
Then there was Sac O-Bon, Asano Taiko’s 5th Anniversary (where I got to play jikata for Tanaka-Sensei, Yoshikazu-san, & Yuta Kato), and then PSF & watching Leslie Komori compete in the Sumo tournament, Mark Rooney’s Taiko Connect conference where I got to actually perform in a staged performance (as opposed to jam at an NATC reception) with PJ Hirabayashi (& Young Park) for the first time ever – (it’s a funny story you should ask me about some time), an amazing trip to NYC and lots of tasty meals & karaoke with OMNY Taiko, the Taiko Spirit Festival in Switzerland followed by a trip up into the Alps at Seealpsee which was both crazy and awesome, a TaikoBaka intensive in Newport (Shropshire), a brief and most excellent respite in Barry (Wales – thanks to Oonagh), and a final stop to visit Yasmin & the gang in Swansea.
Since then we’ve had our 29th Anniversary, I’ve been to San Jose’s 45th, I’ve also been out to visit the group in Fort Wayne, and Sac Taiko has been working on material for SFTD’s 50th
In the midst of all of that I’ve been able to nail down particulars for a tiny Shidara tour next May (Sacramento, Los Angeles, & Tucson for sure with possibly a few other stops), finalized dates for a Women & Taiko event in Los Angeles, & nailed down some dates to teach at Asano Taiko U.S. next Spring and Summer.
I still need to get info back to ECTC folks and submit my workshop proposals for the 2019 NATC, and meanwhile I’m still trying to find or make some work in December.
! all the fun ! i can has it !