OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!!
This weekend is the awesome-rrific-est festival (in my humble opinion) that this city has to offer — the 37th Annual Nihonmachi Street Fair in Japantown! This festival, if you’re at all interested in the Japanese culture, is a bevy of art, live music, martial arts demonstrations, and seriously grubbin’ food. The coolest part for me, tho’ is the performance of the world-famous San Francisco Taiko Dojo. These masters of this complex and soul-shaping musical and percussion art form put on one of the best presentations of taiko drumming, and are superlative in their approach to the craft, treating it — as any serious taiko dojo does — as a discipline, a study in meditation, a marriage between the physical body and universal rhythms.
(Want to check them out before heading over to the fair? Rent “Rising Sun”; yeah, that’s them in the opening sequence. You’re welcome.)
Trust me, this is not to be missed…ever…especially since it’s TOTALLY FREE!
Check out the fair’s Web site for more detailed information, including other musical performances and demonstrations, and where you can best set-up a perch to watch the parade. (Last year, George Takei was the Grand Marshall — I LOVE this city!) See you there!
