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NOTE: This a working list of artists, community organizations, companies, and services. By no means is this list comprehensive. If I forgot anybody, please hit the contact link and let me know. - G.S.
Artists // Community // Shops // Services
Artists
Keiko Agena
An amazing television, screen and stage artist. I've been fortunate enough to have been able to work with Keiko live on stage many times while playing guitar with my old band Visiting Violette. If you haven't already seen her on the Gilmore Girls, see her website for upcoming screen and television appearances. Oh, and, she really does play kit drums too.
The American Daisycutters
Bil Lane (who is one of my engineering mentors) has a band that rehearses, records and plays out of the San Pedro/Long Beach area. Check out their website for upcoming dates. You'll like them if you're into hard rocking instrumental jams.
Jackson Browne
What can I say? A great man, a great artist, a legend. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to learn and work with you.
Boo Boo Kitty
Golda Inquito, Gertie Meza and Jenny San Angel's new band that grew out of their former project Tulis. I've been lucky to have produced them on many levels. They have a heavenly blend of vocal harmonies with acoustic instrumentation. Their website features upcoming dates.
Melody Butiu
I love her voice: powerful, focused and precise. Oh and did I mention that she can act too? I'm still trying to find all the other talents that Melody has hidden in her bag of tricks. Check out her website for upcoming stage and screen performances.
John Cruz
Last year I was fortunate to work as an assistant engineer on John's latest release "One of These Days." He is hailed as one of Hawaii's celebrated entertainers, often selling out shows on the islands. He will often play on the West Coast. And, if you get a chance, you should try to catch a show. Visit his website for dates, clips and links to buy his music.
DJ James
DJ James does things with sound that I didn't think were possible. He even did a remix of the old Visiting Violette song "Carnival." Sickness!
DJ Ultraman
Ultraman was kind enough to lend his turntablism on some early, early Mosaic productions. Thank you for teaching me about the roots and elements of hip-hop! He often spins the ones and twos at various LA-area clubs. See his website for dates.
Nicole De Jesus
Nicole's voice is like crystal: clear and smooth. She's a songwriter, singer and a vocal teacher. We've worked on many tracks together. Check out her website to experience her charm.
Paul Dieter
Jackson Browne's personal engineer who is always, without hesitation, willing to answer my stupid questions anytime of the day. He's worked with some of my favorite bands like 10,000 Maniacs and REM. Read about him on his website.
Tom Goller
Tom is a talented musician and song writer that I worked with briefly back in 2000. I played a little guitar on his first album "Stained Glass Tear." You can buy "Stained Glass Tear" as well as his latest release "Paleotronic" on iTunes. Please check out his website.
Kiyoshi Graves
I'm not sure if there's nothing this guy can't do. He writes songs, sings, plays guitar, plays bass, scores, produces and, oh yeah, almost single handedly built a recording studio for himself. He and/or his band play often in Los Angeles and on the West Coast. Check out his website for dates.
Cameo Hill
I love working with Cameo because she's so down for trying something new. You can buy her self-produced debut album on iTunes and CDBaby. She is also singing and playing bass in the all-female punk band The Pubes. Although they hail from Phoenix, they do on occasion play in the LA-area. Check out her website for solo and band dates and for links to buy her music.
Hiroshima
A highlight of my music career was playing guitar in Visiting Violette as an opening act for Hiroshima in December of 2004 at the Japan America Theatre in Los Angeles. For years, Dan Kuramoto, Danny Yamamoto and June Kuramoto have been mentors and role models for me as Japanese Americans who have made a successful career in music business for over two decades. Please visit their site.
Shin Kawasaki
There's too much to say about Shin. I legitimately believe that when it comes to music, he can do anything. I've been lucky to have graced the stage alongside Shin for over five years in various ensembles, but mostly with Visiting Violette. He plays just about every night of the week somewhere in LA. But his new passion is with his band Los Desnudos. See his website for dates.
Bil Lane
Bil is an incredible engineer with some really great ears. I learn from him everyday working at Groove Masters Studio. He also plays bass in the band The American Daisycutters. He most recently engineered and co-produced Lee Takasugi's latest release "navigating by stars."
Los Desnudos
Shin Kawasaki's jam band. Do you like jams in the tradition of Grateful Dead and String Cheese Incident? You never know what you're going to get at Los Desnudos show. And, I think they like it that way. See their website for dates. They play a lot in the LA-area.
Gertie Meza
Gertie writes great songs and plays electric and acoustic guitars in her band Boo Boo Kitty. She and I have worked together on many of her solo tracks. Please visit her website to listen to her music.
Natural Cause
Experience the raw power, precision and political message of this new rock/rap project. Made of up of LA-natives, my comrade +he op+imis+ is their turntablist. I am also fortunate to be co-writing and producing a track with their MC Eddie Santos on my next album. NC plays often in LA. You must see this band.
Long Nguyen
Do you like the brooding vocals of Eddie Vedder and Thom Yorke? Long reminds me of Pearl Jam, Radiohead and Coldplay all put together. Long and I will be working together to produce tracks of his original songs early 2008. He plays with his band in various LA-area nightclubs. Check out his website for dates.
Miles Ono
Miles has been, and continues to be, a great mentor for me in the realm of audio engineering. He taught me many tricks and tips in the art of live, front-of-house mixing. We've worked on various live mixing projects together for the past eight years. Most recently, we've been exploring the recording aspects of engineering together -- recording and mixing with a numer of local artists. This site is a new t-shirt design business that Miles and his friend Dave have put together that focuses on positive energy and images. Please visit.
Jenny San Angel
Jenny is in the band Boo Boo Kitty. She writes great songs too. She can also play a lot of different instruments: piano, guitar, bass, percussion and most recently kit drums. Check out her website for appearances.
Andrew Scheps
Andrew was my Fundamentals of Acoustics and Audio class professor while I was at UCLA Extension. He most recently worked as a recording and mix engineer on the Red Hot Chili Pepper's last record "Stadium Arcadium." He also mixed a track on U2's last release "U218." See what he's doing next on his website.
Kaitlin Solimine
Kato and I found each other while I was looking for a particular sounding voice for a track that made my latest album. She's an amazing talent and really easy to work with. See her website to listen to her songs.
Taikoproject
This is Bryan Yamami's nationally touring project which is composed of young twenty-somethings who are breaking the boundary of contemporary taiko drumming. Bryan has also been cool enough to take time out of his busy schedule to record taiko on some of my songs. You should see this show. Check the site for dates.
Lee Takasugi
Lee and I have a healthy rapport, often teaching and challenging me when it comes to writing effective songs and lyrics. We've worked together for over 10 years in Visiting Violette. She just finished her debut solo release entitled, "Lee: navigating by stars" for which I played some guitar and co-produced. You can look for her to make a big impact in the Hawaiian music market in the coming year. See her website for dates and new releases.
Alice Tong
Alice's voice is like velvet. It's hard to believe that she ever sung in a rock and roll band -- but she says she did when she was younger. She's always willing to try something new with her vocals. And, I believe she can do anything with her voice. Listen to her original songs on her website.
Rich Tosi
Rich is an engineer at Groove Masters Studio. I assisted him on various projects including Ben Taylor, Judith Owen and Harry Shearer sessions. He has numerous credits while working at GM. Check out his website to hear stuff he's worked on.
Tristin
Tristin has a raw and powerful vocal technique. I love it. She also is a successful stylist in the Chicago-area. Check out her website to hear her tracks and learn more about her life.
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Community
Little Tokyo Service Center
This organization does amazing work for the people of Los Angeles. They are also the creators of the world famous Tofu Festival that takes place in August in Little Tokyo. Among other projects, LTSC is responsible for building low income housing for Los Angeles residents, they sponsor bone marrow match donor drives throughout the city, they offer grief counseling as well as after school programs for youth among many, many other services. Please check out their website and support their cause.
Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress
This organization is made up of some very important people in my life who have taught me how to be an activist through my art. I have many mentors in NCRR. As an organization they were instrumental in the pursuit of redress and reparations for Japanese Americans who were interned in U.S. concentration camps during World War II. They continue to raise awareness on civil rights issues including the injust treatment of Muslims, Arabs and South Asians after the 9/11 attacks and speaking out against the Iraq War. Check out their website to learn more about them and to get active!
Shakespeare Festival LA
This organization, among other things, is dedicated to working with high school youth in the Los Angeles area through its Will Power to Youth and Play On programs. The basis for these programs is to outreach to youth by teaching disciplines such as writing, acting, set design, music and lighting through the production of a William Shakespeare play. I have been fortunate enough to have worked with SFLA on three separate projects where I served as a mentor in the areas of music and sound engineering. Please visit their website.
Tuesday Night Projects
Going on its ninth season, Tuesday Night Projects produces Tuesday Nights at the Cafe a twice monthly show that takes place on the first and third Tuesday of every month between March and October in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. I was fortunate to have contributed as sound designer and front of house engineer from 1999 through 2005. On any given night this event features just about every performing art discipline including a live artist who paints or draws during the event. Others include music, spoken word/poetry, improvisation, dance, acting, and comedy. Visit the website to see and hear audio and video and line-ups for the upcoming season.
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Shops
Blacklava
Raising awareness through his t-shirt designs, my comrade Ryan Suda is the creater/owner of Blacklava Clothing company. His original designs have been worn by many a famous Asian American artist and activist over the past decade. Blacklava is also an advocate for other artists by offering music, DVDs, books and clothing created by Asian American artists across the country. Check out his website. Many great gift ideas are available here.
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Services
ADK Microphones
ADK Microphones Founder & President Larry Villella bailed me out a few months back when I needed a replacement shock-mount for one of my ADK A-51mics. Apparently, ADK no longer manufactures and sells this model, because they have since redesigned it and sell a much better one now. So after a couple of weeks, low and behold, a package arrived at my doorstep from Larry which contained an exact replacement shock-mount for my mic. Apparently, Larry went back into his warehouse and managed to dig up an old shock-mount and was good enough to package it up and send it to me. Now that's what I call personalized customer service! There are a lot of choices for mid-priced mics on the market today, but because of that service, the first place I'm going to look for new mics will always be ADK. I own a couple of A-51s, but my main mic is their A-48 tube condenser. Thanks Larry.
Plan 9 Entertainment
A few years ago, I was fortunate to have worked with Plan 9 Entertainment on a music video for the rap ensemble Karmacy. This production company is composed of Byron Dote and Yuwing Lam. Dote, who is also known as +he op+imis+, operates as P9E's producer, and Lam as a writer and director. See their website for new productions and releases.
SESAC
This organization tracks and licenses all of Mosaic and Mosaic Sound Recording (MSR) releases that air on radio, TV and film. All songwriters should have affiliation with a publishing organization. SESAC is smaller than BMI and ASCAP and thus you get a more personalized handling of your work. Visit their website for more information.
Studio Matsu
Designer and artist Erik Matsunaga is the driving force behind Studio Matsu, which is responsible for the creation of many websites on the internet today, including my own. Erik is another of my comrades who continues to teach me about life through his art and vision. Visit this site to view a portfolio of his work.
tristinstyling
Tristin knows how to make a sloppy goof like myself look like I spend hours on my wardrobe. Just hire her for an afternoon and she will escort you through racks of clothes at thrift and/or retail stores (your choice) and make you look like a star . . . no kidding. She works out of the Chicago area, but often travels to Los Angeles for clients. Check out her styling on her website.
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