Talk Story |
By Gail Sharp
May Photo
What can you tell us about this picture? Who are these people? What were they doing? When was it taken? What significance to our Community Center does the photo represent?
Send your comments to talkstory@vjcc.com with "May Talk Story" as the subject.
March Photo
The Talk Story email inbox was empty again. BUT!, I had the perfect solution to that. At Bingo Night on April 26, between games, I passed around a copy of the March Talk Story photograph and asked Bingo players to identify as many individuals as they could. Contributing to Talk Story brings good luck! A few of the contributors, or their family members, were Bingo and Balloon Burst winners.
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Here are the identified with their identifiers in parentheses: James Tanabe is standing on the left (identified by Mie Ino and Ann Hojo.) Seated around the table clockwise from the left hand corner are: unidentified 1, unidentified 2, unidentified 3, unidentified 4, Sam Yumori (by Sam Shimoguchi), Jin Asakura (by Mie Ino and Ann Hojo), Sus Ioki (by Jim Akioka), Jim Mayeda (by Fusae Nishina), and Architect Ken Tawa (by Jim Akioka and Sam Shimoguchi.) |
By
Isabella and Olivia Fitzgerald-Harewood
Photography by Kenji Ono
| Last month we had a guest performance from Johnny Mori and George Abe at the Venice Gakuen School. Both of the men performed Japanese drumming known as Taiko (which actually means “Large Drum” in Japanese) along with other instruments such as the Japanese flute. They played festival pieces from both Japan and the United States. They use different sized custom-made drums and dressed in traditional Japanese clothing to craft an enjoyable performance.
Kinnara Taiko is the second oldest Taiko group in North America. Each member has over 30 years of experience with the art of playing Taiko. Johnny Mori is one of the original members of Kinnara Taiko. He has been performing for 37 years. Johnny used to be a member of the jazz group Hiroshima, and recently retired after performing and recording with the group for 25 years. George Abe, born in Manzanar, California and raised in Los Angeles, started his music experience on the clarinet, oboe and the saxophone. He developed a keen interest in Japanese music and especially the Japanese flute. He orchestrated classes in the art and now he constructs his own flutes. |
 Johnny Mori performing |
Children being a part of the taiko experience
Last month they performed three original songs for the Venice Gakuen School. After the wonderful performance, they let many students experience the music of Taiko by letting them play the drums.