SF Taiko Performance in Berkeley 11/22/08
Written by admin on November 24, 2008 – 1:02 pm -
This Saturday, we attended a Taiko festival of the San Francisco Taiko and many other special guests with our friends Tosh and Michiko. We had the whole day so we spent our time hanging out in Berkeley before the show and Tosh and Michiko were very nice in showing us around town.
We picked up some lunch at a ridiculously famous place on Shattuck called The Cheeseboard Pizza Collective. This was a place that is all worker owned. No boss, managers, or employees! Besides that, their menu is a daily menu which is their only menu of the day. Each day, there is a different pizza. There are no other choices but this special pizza for the day! And you should see the line!
Of course, their pizza was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed their curry, potato, lemon zest today-only pizza. There was a live band and everyone was just enjoying the beautiful day. Wonderful place to try if you’re ever in the area.
Shortly, we left to a spot called the Fourth Street Shopping District, a really popular area for some outdoor shopping and strolling. Great look and feel in the surroundings. Spent some time browsing the stores and had some gelato. Such great weather to be out too!
Afterwards, Tosh wanted to show us some great views of San Francisco from the hills of Berkeley, Grizzly Peak. This was probably the highest point in the entire bay area. Cool and windy drive through the hills and the view was spectacular!
You might want to check this picture out in full size, I thought it turned out great!
From the top, we drove down the hills to UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall for the Taiko Festival Performances. The best performance was by far the group called O Edo Sukeroku Taiko straight from Japan. Their 6 person set was simplistic, harmonious, and tuned. Incredible speed and well coordinated.
However, I can’t say the same for the melee of 20-30 person set of the SF Taiko ensemble, leaving me with confusion from the random screaming and the overcrowdedness on stage. This is where it shows that bigger is not always better…
And finally, we had some late night dinner at a small Thai restaurant. Perfect ending to a pretty funfilled day with even some leftovers.
Cheers 
Berkeley gallery >>HERE<<.
Tags: berkeley, foods, taiko, views
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