A new blog post less than 8 months since the last one! What is this world coming to?

Greetings and salutations,

It's dawned on me that I haven't exactly provided an abundance of resources/links for Mary Casiello & the band, and of course her new CD "Lovely Life". So without further ado...

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/marycasiello

and

http://www.reverbnation.com/marycasiello

I should add that track one on the CD has a quite different sound than the rest of the disc...and it's the only song without my bass and Timm's drums. On the other 8 tracks you will hear some highly assertive, ocassionally riffy and frequently melodic bass guitar playing (okay, stop bragging, Dave).

And I promise to add an entry on Centralia soon. Honest!

AWOL -again- blogger back -again- in business!

Greetings to one and all (or could it actually be down to just one - literally - if not zero by now?),

Another unreasonable amount of time between posts, but due to a couple of pretty darn good reasons:
A) my underpowered laptop PC experienced a major crisis. I use the term major crisis because when a PC takes about half an hour to just bring up Internet Explorer, there's something majorly wrong with it. And that's just getting IE to appear. Moving between web sites, or even trying to watch a YouTube Video, is a whole other story. A Toshiba equipped with 512-meg RAM trying to run Windows Vista (which I have quite belatedly discovered is a prodigious memory-eating system) is doomed to epic fail, and my Toshiba did just that, and
B) I continue to not only burn the candle at two ends, I have added a third end so the candle will burn even faster! So now I am a member of Odaiko New England, bass player for Mary Casiello and also bass player for Centralia! By the way, I would like to state that I have no idea how I find the energy to be part of these three ensembles.

But thanks to my computer-savvy friend Jay, I am up and running again with a far more healthy 2 gig of RAM - yay! Jay-san, doumo arigatou gozaimashita. (insert sincerely-thankful bow here)

So much to write about I don't know where to begin, so I might as well start with Odaiko New England. Have been gigging intermittently all year long, with some satisfying shows performed at Newport's Black Ships Festival, Bellows Falls VT, Salem State College, Boston Pride Parade and Boston Pride Festival (playing a 20-minute set on the main stage at Boston's City Hall Plaza), in addition to cool gigs like playing for Medford's Ebisuya Japanese Market/J Magazine (a Japanese-language monthly magazine published in Boston), the North Suburban Y in Woburn, and others. Will post some links to photos and such soon, but for now I just want to post an entry for the first time in forever.

As for gigging with Mary, the shows have been a bit less frequent & for a variety of reasons. But big news is happening within 8 days: she's having a CD Release Party on September 11, Saturday evening, at Precinct Bar in Somerville (right in the middle of Union Square, to be exact)!! I'm pretty stoked to know that my bass playing is on a commercially-available CD, and that it represents my more mature playing style; let's just say that in the 1980's, while barely beginning to learn & develop some musical knowledge & comprehend what a bass player does and can create within and for a song, my playing was...well, let's be diplomatic and say "enthusiastic". That's a nice euphemism, right?

Centralia, my new band, deserves its own entry so I won't go on too much about it. We are a three-piece band: Harry plays guitars of all varieties and sings, Tony is our skillful and rock-steady drummer, and I play a fairly aggressive bass. Harry actually has to encourage me to play more notes; I'm convinced this is because I have played bass for three decades (this month marks the 31st Anniversary of me strapping a bass guitar over my shoulder & plugging it into an amplifier for the first time), but mainly for groups where the bass is strictly as a supportive instrument. In Centralia, I'm support and "lead bass" practically rolled into one.

By the way, for those wondering where we got the name Centralia from, try googling Centralia, PA. We like the imagery, and for the three of us, we possess such a passion for music that we like to think we've got the 'fire inside'. I have to say, if I didn't have a fierce passion for bass and for music, I wouldn't be playing it in two bands simultaneously 31 years after I took my first lesson in La Porte, IN, with Frank, the 'Big Z', in September, 1979. Frank, a thousand thank you's for giving me those early lessons & starting me off on this wonderful path, bridging rhythm and harmony in the coolest instrument ever designed for musicians.

AWOL blogger back in business!

When chaos piles onto stress which had rear-ended having too many irons in the fire, apparently a blogger like myself goes 'missing' online until he finally starts to sort it all out! Your humble correspondent apologizes for a preposterous lack of blog posts these past several months.
Well, let's get around to catching y'all up:
early October: my landlord asks me to move, on short notice, into another apartment in the same building so he can start renovating my place (which probably needed a makeover 30 years ago - let alone now).
The catch is that the temporary apartment is a studio apartment...and my apartment is a spacious (read: Dave-sized) 1 bedroom. And it is absurdly overloaded with stuff. Uh-oh.

I spent 3 months in the temporary place, from mid-October to mid-January. I believe I mastered the art of putting things on top of other things. At the very least, I got a LOT of practice at it. ;-)

Then I had to move everything back into my rejuvenated (well, to a point; that landlord is thrifty, to the point of being cheap. The walls were stripped of all the old paint & wallpaper, insulation was installed, the hardwood floors were sanded down and urethane'd, the bathroom was thoroughly redone; all well and good and a big improvement, but it's easy to spot the numerous instances where he really skimped on workmanship and finer details. Oh well, what can one expect these days?) apartment. So getting all my stuff edited slightly, rearranged and reordered has kept me pretty busy recently whenever I wasn't working, eating, making music, reading, writing, painting and sleeping!

In between moves I had a couple gigs with Odaiko New England, traveled to southern Texas to spend Christmas with my Mom and (increasingly frail) Dad, played a delightful gig at Precinct Bar (Somerville, Mass.) with Mary & the Band, acquired a doumbek from a taiko friend, met a fellow musician & talented multi-instrumentalist, Harry Hussey, and had a fruitful jam session (he on acoustic guitar, me on the bass), attended Odaiko New England's Shin'nenkai (basically a New Year's Party - an opportunity to enjoy a potluck dinner, alcoholic beverages and a generally great time together), and I completed a small painting (acrylic on canvas) to be sold off as part of a fundraising effort. It turned out more or less okay, but I wish I had started it earlier than I did; I was literally finishing it up about 12 hours before I had to deliver it! So there are a couple of details I'd have liked to improve upon but just ran out of time. Maybe I'll post a photo of it - eventually.

Oh, and in case you didn't already know, I'm out there on Twitter, too! If you're on that as well, you can find me as "BassManDave".

Have to run - working on a couple of side projects for Odaiko New England - but I just had to provide an update SOMEWHERE along the way!

Oh, and Happy Year of the Tiger - gung hay fat choy (I hope I'm saying that right...)

Orchard Taiko

Autumnal greetings!

Has it really been almost a month since my last post? Time sure flies when you're a happy (and busy) gigster...

Speaking of gigs, on September 26 four Odaiko New England (ONE) Community Members (yours truly, Cat, Diane & Joy) trekked up to Shelburne Orchard outside of Burlington, VT, for the "Ringo Matsuri", or Apple Festival, hosted by Burlington Taiko Group (http://www.burlingtontaiko.org/). This event features apple-picking (of course), fresh cider & pies for sale and various other activities - and lots of taiko drumming! It's open to other groups; a few of us from ONE had attended the previous Ringo Matsuri in 2007 and really enjoyed the experience, so we were really looking forward to this year's event.

This year, in addition to Burlington Taiko and ONE, three other taiko groups were represented: Arashi Daiko (http://www.arashidaiko.org/) from Montreal, Oto-wa Taiko from Ottawa, and UConn Taiko.

Burlington Taiko and its sensei, Stuart Paton, kicked things off with a lively Shishi-mai or Lion Dance, followed by a spirited version of the song "Sokobayashi".

We followed with a solid version of "Hamon" which garnered a big round of applause. :-)

The other groups followed, and everyone played really well - outstanding taiko! We played one of our crowd-pleaser songs, Shin-en, and invited members from other groups to join in, which was fun. A highlight was an all-hands-on-deck version of the well-known piece, "Hiryu Sandan Gaeshi" (more-or-less an invitation for the Dragon God to visit Earth and bless it three times). Since all the different groups had their own 'matsuri' section in the middle, it was decided to jettison that part so everyone could just play the main part. What a splendid noise we all created! It was really something to be surrounded by about 25 other drummers rocking out.

Later on, another highlight was provided by members of Oto-wa Taiko and Arashi Daiko teaming up to play the Kodo song "Zoku". A powerful performance, which was punctuated by Arashi Daiko's Sandra wielding the 'baseball bat' and walloping the daylights out of an odaiko: Afterwards, while the Burlington group packed up its equipment, many of us from the various groups took a leisurely stroll around the Orchard - a nice opportunity for us to chat, take photos & relax. Though our work wasn't done for the day...

As a special treat for the guest taiko groups, Burlington Taiko hosted a gathering at their dojo, with a big potluck group dinner followed by - of course! - more taiko playing. We played a song from San Francisco Taiko Dojo's repertoire, "Tsunami", which Stuart learned when he studied with Tanaka Sensei at the SFTD, and everyone had a chance to solo on Burlington's homemade odaiko. A fitting end to a delightful day of music and rhythm!

Extra special thanks to Stuart and Burlington Taiko Group, Jean-Francois and Arashi Daiko, and everyone else who contributed. The invigorating and nurturing spirit of taiko and the larger taiko community was much in evidence, and greatly inspiring.

Odaiko New England performing in "Taiko 10"

Hi,
With a humble apology for not posting sooner. I owe you all about 37 1/8 posts' worth of entries, so I won't dally.
To return to this year's North American Taiko Conference (yes, more than a month later I'm still absolutely soaring off that experience), Odaiko New England had the good fortune to be selected for the Conference's "Taiko 10" concert. This concert is intended to give 10 groups a chance to perform for their taiko friends & peers - for ten minutes each.
We were really thrilled to be chosen...but then we had to think about "what can we play?"
11 of us were attending the conference, and there was no question of performing anything without all 11 of us. However, individually we possessed varying degrees of repertoire, skill sets, and so forth, making the song choice(s) no simple task. Complicating this further is the question, "What can we play that shows our capabilities best?" We could have played "Mahora", which would've filled the 10 minute slot nicely, but that song doesn't feature some of the dramatic choreography that makes taiko so visually compelling.

Mark (our Artistic Director) settled on an arrangement of a familiar (well, familiar to taiko players young and old) piece, "Shin-En". This arrangement has a little power, it has a little style, and there's enough going on to make it entertaining. To add some flair, Mark brought in a ringer, former Ondekoza member Marco Leinhard, to ply his virtuoso shakuhachi and fue skills on our behalf and help stretch the piece to about 8 or 9 minutes in length.

Great!

So, on Friday evening, August 7, we're decked out in our very cool new happi coats, awaiting our turn (next to last) and watching the other taiko groups strut their stuff.

After awhile, we're noticing that some of the groups play for much longer than 10 minutes.

After awhile, we're noticing that some of the groups play outstanding taiko.

Professional-grade taiko.

Some of the soloists (especially members of Maze Daiko) are truly exceptional performers.

{uh-oh}

And we have to follow all that.

{gulp}

Determined to play our best & have fun, we went for it.
Somewhat inexpertly, but with a lot of enthusiasm.
For proof, check out this video link to the Taiko 10 groups' performances (an ironic thing about this is that there were...actually....9 groups for this concert. Not sure how that came about) and see for yourself how we fared. :-)

http://www.scruffyfilms.net/taiko10/Taiko10/Taiko_Videos.html

(note: special thanks to Kathy Fuller & San Diego Taiko for filming it all, and to Elaine Fong of Maze Daiko for providing us with the link!)

Oh yes, as an extra note: a few of my friends who have already seen the video of Odaiko New England have found it amusing that I, the biggest guy in the group, played the smallest drum, the shime-daiko, for this song. ( ! )

Still 'flying' almost 3 weeks after Taiko Conference

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while - but I've been busy writing a couple posts for Odaiko New England's very own blog, as well as taking notes during our taiko retreat this past weekend, and almost playing our canceled-at-the-last-minute-gig (more on that soon, as it deserves its own blog entry!), and getting a VERY cool new toy for my bass - a SansAmp Bass Driver DI. I'll have to write about that, also, because it's amazing. But back to the point I wanted to get around to for tonight: I'm still completely stoked about taiko'ing in the wake of that Conference.

Something that has really settled in these past couple of weeks are the inspirational stories one hears about & reads about. Or sees in person. Who ever heard of a wheelchair-bound taiko player? Well, there is one, and this individual is a powerful shimedaiko player. Or how about a taiko player who started at age 55, if memory serves, and has continued drumming into her 80's? Stories such as these made me finally realize I can't complain about much of anything in terms of my own taiko playing & skills development. Yes, I'm not the most flexible guy...in fact, there are probably 2 x 4's that possess superior flexibility. I started taiko in my late 30's and not my late teens. I have bursitis in my left knee, which reminds me of that fact from time to time. And I'm a big, tall guy, etc. But if these other people can work around what some might regard as limitations to play excellent taiko, then I too can overcome my own hindrances.

(Perhaps I could have skipped explaining all that and just written "Dave, stop complaining and start playing good taiko" instead?)

A great weekend at the 2009 North American Taiko Conference!

I'll try not to get carried away by my enthusiasm while I write this...

Got back just before midnight yesterday from the taiko conference. 11 of us from Odaiko New England attended - more than half our group! (In the days prior to the conference, 3 of my fellow Community Members attended the 3-day Summer Taiko Institute (STI for short) led by ON Ensemble - after hearing about it, I wish I'd attended that as well...) We had a GREAT time there...the workshops and instructors were truly excellent, the taiko playing was inspiring, energetic, and also challenging (some of the other groups out there kick major ass - there's just no more direct way to phrase it). Some highlights from the 4 days - I'll go into more detail later:

Thursday - some 495 taiko players were in attendance, besides volunteers, observers, photographers and staff. Registration went smoothly, and in the afternoon many of us participated in the Leadership Forum. A very good discussion of some of the challenges and 'larger questions' many groups face. This was followed by the welcome reception/potluck dinner - kudos to the taiko players who prepared all that delicious food! One taiko group performed afterward, then there was a fun jam with players rotating in and out based on their # of years playing (i.e. 0-5 years began, then 6-10 years rotated in and so forth).

Friday - Opening Session, a really fun Taiko Games session presented at lunchtime, led by Kris of ON Ensemble, Workshop Session 1 (I attended Western Notation for Taiko Players, taught by Meg Suzuki of San Jose Taiko), a special video tribute to Daihachi Oguchi, the first Japanese taiko master to introduce the concept of kumi daiko (ensemble drumming), and the Taiko Ten concert. More on THAT soon - because I performed in it!

Saturday - Workshop Session 2 (I attended All-Around Musicianship, taught by Eien Hunter-Ishikawa), then I parted ways with some hard-earned income for various and assorted taiko goodies at the Taiko Marketplace - so many vendors with cool merchandise to beguile and tempt us taiko'ers! After lunch there were discussion groups; I sat in on 'Studying & Performing Taiko in Japan'. That discussion group was incredible - it deserves a special blog post all of its own. This was followed by Workshop Session # 3 (I attended the terrific WRISTS!, taught by Adam Weiner of San Jose Taiko). Odaiko New England members gathered to take Tanya out for her birthday (this effort was coordinated & planned by her daughter Jadelyn), then we headed back for the incredible Taiko Jam concert (more on that later - some phenomenal performances!!).

Sunday - Closing Ceremony and the group photo. I saved my purple member's Odaiko New England tee for Sunday, and it turned out to be a wise decision - as Mark observed, because of my height, size and wearing a purple tee, I served as a beacon for any of the other members lost in the crowd.

More to come, but I just had to get an overview posted now. NATC '09 was such a great experience & I met so many cool people. What an affirmation of taiko!