Eien Hunter-Ishikawa (professional taiko/percussion/shinobue player) did a great interview with Mike Penny for his blog. Check it out.
Haha! I was just about to post that here! 
Thanks, Joel!! Wasn’t that an awesome interview? Really, really insightful.
Eien had posted it on the Taiko Facebook community so it was a fun surprise. Great guy. I got to do a workshop with him and On Ensemble when they were touring last year. Awesome show.
Lots of good stories in the interview. The tuning to taiko discussion was very interesting being a taiko player. It’s something I’d never considered before, but makes total sense. I wouldn’t mind learning more about tuning shamisen to different instruments (or keys) actually. I perform with a fue player and never feel like I can get in tune with her fue(s). It sounds so simple, but it can feel more like an art-form than exact science sometimes.
I’ve taken a workshop with Eien on shime daiko in Vegas and it was great. I look forward to what’s coming in the future from the collaborations. /There was a lot of interesting info. I didn’t know Santa Cruz was a hot bed! (sorry, I don’t know CA well and I get all of those “Santa __” all confused anyways), so I’m sure one day I will want to visit. All of that history should be in a book. Mike mentioned Lark in the Morning. I get their camp flyer since I bought a few drums from them and I always thought it sounded interesting. It was a good interview!