So, I noticed that I write here like once a month, so here I am!

Actually, I started a new blog, so you can visit me there from now on and hopefully I'll be updating that one more often than this one. I'll still update this one from time to time, though.

Yup! In less than three weeks, we will be in the middle of the North American Taiko Conference!!

That also means... Taiko Jam 09 (FB page) is in less than three weeks!! aaaaahhH~~~~~~!

If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, you should get them soon!!

Here's a little promo video.  The group I play with isn't performing, but 4 other awesome groups are!... and I'm planning it, so come support!!!  You won't be disappointed!

I recently helped shoot a wedding with Steven!  Long day, but I had so much fun!
Thanks for asking me to shoot with you, Steven!  :)

If you've been following my blog for a few years, this post should be familiar...

TP was invited back to Hollywood's goth club, Bar Sinister, to bring back the "Drums of Darkness".
This would be our third time there since 2006. 

We always have a lot of fun when we go. 

We get to dress up and wear costumes that we normally wouldn't wear and take on a new goth persona. 

The best part is the Bar Sinister crowd.  Since it's a club atmosphere instead of a theater-ish set up, people are all standing and dancing. 

 


Check this out to get a sample of what we played.  :)


:)

Oookay! Here's the last bit of our East Coast Tour~! woohoo!

March 21, 2009

We had to drop Maz off at airport so he could be back in LA to rehearse with On Ensemble for their Cerritos show. 

Then, we drove through Arkansas and arrived in Plano, Texas to stay there for the night.  Ate at Zenna Thai/Japanese food restaurant.  Yummy Pad Thai!  mmm...

We saw this amazing sunset while we were driving this day...





March 22, 2009

We dropped off Bryan at the airport in Dallas. We would meet up with him again in New Mexico!

Now, it was me, Jason, Jen, Tomomi, and Courtney... and we drove to Austin, TX.  On our way, we stopped in West, TX to try Czech Stop to eat some legendary Kolaches!! Czech Stop was highly recommended by Angie, who brought us out to Austin.  I looked online for some reviews and alll the reviews were so good that we HAD to stop by! 


 

It was PACKED!



They had a huge selection of fillings!



I got the Sausage/Jalapeno/Chesse one... and...



the Blueberry Cream one!  YUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!



We kept driving to Austin and met Angie at Clare's apartment, where we all stayed for the next 2 nights.  :)

We tried finding a place to eat... and wanted to try Chuy's, but it was like an hour wait (we ended up eating here the next day for lunch).




We decided to go to Green Mesquite instead for some Texas BBQ!







March 23, 2009

We drove back to Chuy's to eat lunch and then headed to U of Texas for some workshops we were leading.  The first one was a beginners workshop.  Lots of people showed up and it was really fun!

Right after the beginners workshop, we did an Omiyage workshop for Austin Taiko and U of Texaas Gin Daiko. 

Here we are with Austin Taiko and Gin Daiko!



We had pizza for dinner and had to go to Amy's for ice cream.  They all recommended it, and of course... if the locals recommend it, it must be good!

The guy on the left did all these cool tricks with the ice cream.  It's kind of like a Coldstone's. Yum!




March 24, 2009

We left Clare's apartment at 6am and had QUITE an interesting time putting the trailer back onto the van.  We actually pushed the fully loaded trailer!  crazy...

We made a quick stop at a gas station.... and pulled out Courtney's splinter.  ouch!

This was a LONG LONG drive.  Jason drove for 5 hours and Courtney and I each drove for 4.5 hours.  14 hour drive!  ACK!!!!!!  AND there was like NOTHING on the way.  :/

On our way, we stopped to gas up and eat lunch... then realized that the van wouldn't start cuz the battery was dead.... good thing there was a Walmart right there and we were able to get some help jumping the van.




Here I am driving.  :)  THANK YOU cruise control. 



We were all super tired by the time we got to New Mexico.  We made it to Smokin' Bachi Taiko's rehearsal space and reunited with Bryan.  He was in the middle of a workshop and afterwards, we all went out to eat. 


While I was in the restroom, they took my camera and did the classic bryan/tounge pose... and well, if you're gonna do that, be prepared to have your picture posted onto my blog. :P

     

The girls stayed at Fox's place that night... and I passed out. 



March 25, 2009

Fox made breakfast for us!! 



MmmMm




This is his house... and that's the driveway.... and the van and the trailer were parked behind that black car...



Well... we realized this was going to be a challenge to get the van out.  Little did we know, it would take close to an hour to get out.

The wheel broke...  :(



and so we had to use creative ways to get out of Fox's driveway.  Luckily, we were able to.... unlucky for Jason, his toes got hurt. 


We drove from New Mexico to Arizona and ended up at our destination 1.5 hours late.... 1.5 hours AFTER our workshop with Kyo Rei Taiko was supposed to start.  Oh no!!  oops...  We were still able to do the workshop and everyone seemed to understand. 

We stayed at the Tang's residence.  :)


March 26, 2009

GOING HOME!!! WE DROVE HOME!!!! I've never been so happy to be back in Los Angeles.  We literally cheered when we saw downtown LA and all the smog. 

It was a long month of touring and traveling.  I think for me, since I was only home for a few days after coming back from Greece (mostly spent rehearsing) before we left for this tour, it was more like being gone away from home since mid-December to March 26... 3.5 months.

I DO wish I used my slr more often.  Almost all the pictures taken were with my trusty p&s.  

We unloaded all the equipment and Hiro picked me up.... and we went to eat at Kotohira.... and I had yummy Udon. 

It's good to be home.

:)

Thanks for reading~!!