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email: ABAsonics@gmail.com
Upcoming events:
May 4: Sawtelle Japantown Association Children’s Day Celebration
May 18: Monterey Park Japanese-American Senior Citizens Luncheon
July 13-14: LA Betsuin (Nishi) Obon
July 27-28: West Los Angeles Buddhist Temple Obon
August 25: Gardena Buddhist Church ABA Long Beach Harbor Cruise
The City of Gardena’s Senior Bureau held their 2024 New Year’s Candlelight Dinner at the Nakaoka Community Center on January 25. We were happy to play to an audience of 140 of their members while most of those on the waiting list unfortunately missed out. The sound system set up for us by Wayne Nagao was awesome and we never sounded fuller and deeper. Much thanks to Wayne.
Hope to play in Gardena again soon.
Our annual Oseibo Taikai featuring the Dharma School kids and Dharma Center kids entertained everyone before the band took the stage. The Sangha danced to our versions of Honky Tonk Woman and Ichi Tasu Ichi Ondo. We also played a short set while folks enjoyed lunch.
Lots of fun playing this event for the first time. Food, drinks, and the company made for a memorable time. We got to play a lot of our favorites which the crowd enjoyed as well.
A pleasant cruise aboard the 90ft motor yacht Spirit on a warm and windy day made for challenging conditions to perform. Touring the high priced homes and seeing so many shipping vessels was quite the experience. Here is a clip of us performing Sea of Love while trying to keep our balance.
Our friends at West Los Angeles Buddhist Temple invited us to perform at their 2023 Obon Festival on July 22 and 23. There was quite a huge turn out and lots of food and games. WLABT Taiko performed right after us and before the Obon dancing in the street. It was a wonderful time and great atmosphere. Below is our Sunday performance.
It was great to have a near-normal Obon festival this year after previous drive-thru only events. Our band entertained in the kaikan on both days, July 8 and 9, prior to taiko and dancing. We not only performed but helped out in other areas such as chicken teriyaki prep and cooking, spam musubi making, boba drink prep and selling, etc. It was truly exhausting but was fun to see everyone. All photos are courtesy of Glen Tao.
We had a great time playing out in the west parking lot. Thanks to our ABA members for organizing and working the event and for everyone that came out enjoy our music on this very pleasant evening.
We had 27 songs prepared but threw in American Pie at the end just for kicks. Everyone was ready to leave after that!
ABAsonics was thrilled to perform for the Monterey Park Japanese American Senior Citizens Club’s May 13, 2023 meeting at the Langley Senior Citizen Center in Monterey Park. It was our first time at this venue and for this group. We had prepared a 9 song setlist with 1 encore but ended up playing 2 additional encores. We saw a few familiar faces and met lots of new folks. Here is a video of one of tunes we performed that day.
We were invited back to Gardena to perform at their Spring Fling dinner and dance on April 27, 2023. The venue was sold out for the evening and we got a truly enthusiastic response from the audience with included Gardena’s finest senior citizens, police, and fire fighters. Mayor Tasha Cerda was there one again rocking to the beat. A video of our opening number is on YouTube, follow the link below and you can hear the entire performance on our audio page (just click the button above).
ABAsonics performed 20 songs the dine-in folks and volunteers working in the kaikan.
ABAsonics participated in this year’s Buddhist Churches of America Jodo Shinshu Artists and Musicians Showcase which was held virtually on February 26. You can watch the entire show here, or watch our contribution in the links below.
We were fortunate to be able play for the West Los Angeles Buddhist Temple’s Shinnenkai on January 8. Thank you to our friends at WLA for your hospitality and a great party.
We played for the City of Gardena Senior Bureau’s Candlelight Dinner and Show on November 17 at the Nakaoka Community Center. We appreciated the chance to play outside of our own temple grounds to a welcoming audience. We were treated to a delicious pre-Thanksgiving dinner afterwards. Thanks to all who made this happen. Here is a video of the concert songs.
We had a great time performing at the July 3 concert and we thank all of our friends and family that turned out to enjoy the event. Special thanks to Rev. Murakami for taking lots of photos and Rev. Kory for video recording and posting on YouTube. Also thank you to Joanne N., Eric O., & Verena C. for sharing their content.
