Last night Thom and I went to the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage—the free performing arts series presented every day at 6 p.m.; that’s two of my favorite words right there, “free” and “arts”—to see Portland Taiko. Taiko (
) is the traditional Japanese art of drumming and the name of the drums themselves. I was first introduced to this kind of music in college, where my good friend Eriko was a member of the student-run group Stanford Taiko. And the college connection continues here, as the Portland group was founded by Stanford alums. The performance last night, which played to a packed hall, was amazing. I love this music. It’s beautiful, powerful, and athletic, and possesses so many possibilities for innovation. (And I admit, I also find taiko sort of erotic in a primal kind of way. Ahem.)
[Update: The performance by Portland Taiko is available in RealPlayer format on the Kennedy Center website, as part of the Millennium Stage archives.]
Afterwards, we battled the bitter cold and made our way to David Greggory for dinner. Yum. They’ve extended their Restaurant Week menu and prices through January. I selected the arugula salad, braised lamb shank (“with grain mustard potatoes, crispy kale, and red wine reduction”), and vanilla-bean scented flan. Everything was fantastic. I’d never think to fry kale, but hey, I might eat more greens that way. Oh, and the piece of lamb was huge. Seriously. “Renaissance-fair”-size is how Thom put it. David Greggory is a great place: prompt, friendly service (we had a firecracker of a waitress), and excellent food. We’ll definitely be back.