Friday, October 31, 2008

The TenGooz at Nalu Toy Box, whipping up the surf!

We love playing at the toy box. Not only because of the great staff and good acoustics, but also for its location, which is right on the beach! Even in September Thomas and Mio could get in a little surfing before our gig.
Last weekend, cold and windy afternoon weather kept us from even wetting our feet and to the north and south, hardly a soul could be seen all the way out too the horizon.
We were worried that no-one would show up for our show, put while returning from beach walk-philosophical discussion with Thomas, already cars were pulling up for the gig.
A voice called out- ARE YOU THE TENGOOZ? We then realized that we would not be playing just for the staff that night.

We started a sound check which somehow turned into a first set. We ended up playing 3 sets in all before packing it up, and though this was far from our best show, in some songs, especially TIME FLOW and SAUDADE there was some magic.

Tonight we will be at GUM BALL in Tsukuba for a Halloween gig. We had a couple of rehearsals this week and have added a new song - based on a Thomas riff (highly Levitical), and revived some of our old stuuf (OFURO).

Hope to see you there tonight!

Avi

Saturday, October 11, 2008

A Work BY THOMAS MAYERS

A Work BY THOMAS MAYERS

A WORK BY THOMAS MAYERS

Thomas Mayers Paintings at Saitoh Takashi Gallery

I'm prouder than ever to be a TenGoo.
From the very beginning, with physicist Ascelin Gordon(guitar), MD Kawakami Ryutaro(sax) and diplomat Tom Debor(bass), we were never your stereotypical type of rock band.
After rehearsals we would discuss art , philosophy, history, religion etc...

The present TenGooz line-up is no exception to this tradition. Right now multi-lingual sax player- agro-scientist extra-ordinnaire Michael Frei is in Germany picking up a prestigious award andour newest member, guitarist, artist, Thomas Mayers is having a solo showing of his latest works at the Takashi Saitoh Gallery in Ushiku.

Many of his newest creations build on photographs which he has recently shown at the same venue. These are ofreeds and other vegetation around Lake Ushiku which Thomas proceeded to alter, according to his vision, with his computer.

In the current exhibition, these reeds (plants which feature in various creation myths) can be found used as subtle foundations, seeds out of which burst surprising colors, textures and symbols.
Thomas has planted recognizable object(animals etc) in each work, which can be interpreted as referring to the natural world, history, art etc. Each work could be its own topic of serious dicussion.

You can see the exhibition until tomorrow at

www.saitoh-coffee.com

Thomas uses his artistic sense and experience to add tecture and color to the TenGooz music. You can hear him on our recording of Rain Falls... http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/157146
and we will soon release our new track- CHATTER - which has Thomas playing guitar like you have never heard before!

I am proud to be in the same band as Thomas and I hope you check out his works in color and in sound.

Avi Landau

Friday, October 10, 2008