Tomo the Samurai profile picture

Tomo the Samurai

About Me


Tomo is a Ronin (vagabond samurai) saxophonist from far east who has nothing but two legs for walking miles and one heart to love Japan, music and art. He plays saxophone with Beat Crunchers (Tribal Funk), Classic Ballistic Missiles (Hip Hop), Chunk the Monk (Rock-a-delic), Volifonix (Funk Rock: winner of Best of Eugene 2008), Allan Stuart Heltzel (Jazz), Raw Action (Break Dancers), Rhythm Army (Break Dancers), GreyMatter Jugglers (Epic Jugglers), Honkey Funk (Psych Jam), and many more great performers in Eugene, Oregon.
He has performed as a saxophone player of several groups at Macdonald Theater (opened for Grammy Awarded Bone Thugs ‘n Harmony ), McArthur Court (opened for Grammy nominated Fat Joe, Sean Kingston , and Chapel’s Show ’s Charlie Murphy), Wow Hall , in Oregon Country Fair (at Monkey Palace, Spirit Tower, and youth stage), Coos Bay Fun Festival (at main stage and Pacific stage), Eugene Celebration , Oregon Asian Celebration (at main stage), Teddy Bear’s Picnic in OCF fair ground (at main stage), and Honk Fest West in Seattle. Best of Eugene 2008 awarded Volifonix recorded his saxophone lines for all songs of their first labeled album, Oregonism, which will be released on March 2009.
Was born and grew up in Tokyo, Japan for 19 years. This is his 13th year in the states. English is his second language, and Music is the first one. He used to teach Japanese in university and high school and still teach origami for free @ Cozmic Pizza almost every Wednesday 6-8 pm. You may see his origami work @ Luckies Club and Cigar , and Jackalope Lounge in Eugene, Oregon. Sharing Asian culture before getting upset against stereotype and misunderstanding is his life policy. The following photos are some origami he has designed.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/6/2006
Band Website: http://www.geocities.com/wssamurai
Band Members: music on this webpage

Green Envy
Volifonix w/ Tomo

FOCUS
Beat Crunchers

HARVEST
Tomo Tsurumi (sax/piano/composing)
Christopher Paulin (guitar)
Allan Stuart Heltzel (producer/engineer)

ROGER'S ZOO LIVE
Bobby Lindstrom (guitar/MC)
Tomo Tsurumi (saxophone)
David Ford (guitar)
Brian Crawford (bass)
Mike Carrillo (drums/MC)

See You Again, Brian
Brian Forbes (drums)
Tomo Tsurumi (saxophone)
Chunk the Monk (guitar)
Bobo Brazil (guitar)
Jake Lamar (bass)

TAKE FIVE
Tomo Tsurumi (sax)
Allan Stuart Heltzel (piano/producer/engineer)
Influences: Maceo Parker, Masato Honda, Miles Davis, Karl Denson, Gil Scott-Heron, Confucius, Sadao Watanabe, Suga Shikao, Hideto Matsumoto, Satoshi Kamiya, Takashi Matsunaga, and Godzilla.
Sounds Like:

Record Label: Unsigned

My Blog

Good News about the Economic Depression

(You must wear in jacket at my house in winter time.)I have lost some hours of my working shift but have earned more time to clean, to read, to cook, to exercise, and to practice/perform music.  Thinn...
Posted by on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:52:00 GMT

Origami Lesson

  Looking for art activities?  Try origami instructed by native Japanese artist, Tomo the Samurai. [Instructor]*27 year experience in origami*15-year experience in origami instruc...
Posted by on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:43:00 GMT

Being a Bridge

    I've just finished my performance @ Jeanie's Diner in North Bend, Blue Moon Lounge in Coos Bay, VFW in Bandon, and Roger's Zoo in North Bend during Martin Luther King Jr. Day w...
Posted by on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:53:00 GMT

Why is my Origami Lesson free?

I have taught origami for more than 10 years in America. I sometimes charge money when people ask me to teach origami in different schedule, but my weekly origami lesson is always free....
Posted by on Wed, 20 Dec 2006 15:18:00 GMT

A Story about Snail

Yesterday, I remembered about when Mr. Tanabe came to my house and told my mom, "Your son is retarded and daydreams too much during my class. You have to train him harder, or he will be a worthless a...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:15:00 GMT

Power of Music

During Oregon Country Fair 2004, I was walking everywhere of the fair ground all night and day long, played music everywhere, and found a group of people standing up and looking at a fence. Many dayti...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Oct 2006 17:01:00 GMT

Live with Your Own Rule

Written by Tomo the Ronin On the New Years Day in Oregon Coast 2004, I was laying on someones garage where has no floor, just dirt, no lock on the door, and no airtightness on the walls. I kept squeez...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:41:00 GMT

Pity

I saw a dream about a middle aged fat man's upsetting face today. I could not hear his voice but saw his facial expressions with deep wrinkles between his eyebrows, big dabble chin moving hard up and...
Posted by on Wed, 11 Oct 2006 19:31:00 GMT

Power of word

written by Tomo the Ronin Word has a power.  The word that we speak of is a magic spell.  For example, your body is spelled by your name.  You are John Smith if your name is.  I don't say, "I'm bored...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:43:00 GMT

Manner of Sushi

Written by Tomo the Ronin Traditional Japanese table manner is different from the Western one. I'd like to explain you the basic table manner @ sushi bar or restaurant because good manner makes sushi ...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:44:00 GMT