Category: Uncategorized

Blogs: turns out, I’m bad at updating them. Oh well.

I have been very busy in the past year I have not been updating this blog, however. In particular, Throwaway released its debut album, toured in Japan, and was named one of the best albums of 2019 by Ghettoblaster Magazine and Organ Thing.

But I’ll take this opportunity to make an exciting announcement: I’ve been awarded a grant by the Asian Cultural Council to travel to Japan for three months in spring 2020. For what purpose, you might ask? To study the shamisen, of course! I’ll be primarily in Tokyo, in residency at the Youkobo Artspace and studying with Reigen Fujii and Hidejiro Honjoh.

The Asian Cultural Council does amazing work and continually astounds me with their kindness, generosity, helpfulness, and enthusiasm. I cannot thank them enough for this incredible opportunity.

I would also like to give a huge shout out to Bachido – they’re a LA-based website helping Westerners have access to the shamisen, and their founder Kyle has been ridiculously helping in fielding all my questions.

Onward!

Why hello! If you’re reading this, that means you’re looking at my brand-new website! Huzzah!

As such, all previous blog posts have been deleted except for the last one – we’re starting afresh here. Also, truthfully, it was highly inconvenient to copy and paste all that biz.

Also, the show archive has been trimmed, and now stretches back only about a year.

Welcome to a new era of joy and cleaner interfaces!

A roundup of news!

First of all, Throwaway has been doing many things that I’m not posting about here. Go to the Throwaway website for all that biz.

Second, I’ll be heading to Columbus next Friday, February 1, as one of the featured performers at The Fuse Factory’s incredible Frequency Fridays series. Also performing is my good friend, the extraordinary koto player Kozue Matsumoto! If you’re anywhere near Columbus, come on out! Plus, you can be treated (??) to a giant picture of me on the Facebook event.

Next, Uroboros is up to things. I just wanted to let you know that. Moving on.

Lastly, I’d like to announce my involvement in and co-leadership of an incredibly exciting new project: The Seven Sages, a band that exclusively plays the music of the Legend of Zelda. Our first show will be a huge bash on February 21st (the anniversary of the first Zelda game) at Ziggy’s in Ypsilanti, MI.

So many more shows are occurring – including a set at Ziggy’s on February 15th opening for the incredible Chicago bass clarinetist, Jason Stein. More info on the shows page!