Do you want to know what's going on these days?

Much to my delight, this past week, the ccMixter community was asked to participate in another art gallery event.  Artlab in San Diego is a working exhibition and performance space where artists are encouraged to share their process and their product with one another and with the community.  I like to think our work with the White Cube Remix project last year helped demonstrate how powerful our communal voice is, and that perhaps opened the door for additional sonic installation projects such as this to follow.

As the admin team started planning the announcement and focusing on the "how to" approach of this event, we agreed the idea that what we create as a community is much more than the sum of its parts was a splendid theme, albeit a mouthful.  A bit of googling, led me to the Wikipedia page about "emergence" which describes that very phenomena as observed in all types of systems from meterological systems (think of a hurricane), to chemical systems (snowflakes), religious, spiritual, physical, interpersonal.  It became clear that "emergence" is an apt theme for the ccMixter community which transforms elements of a whole; effecting, tweaking and recombining sounds from source material to create an entirely new piece of music altogether.

I plan to go down to San Diego when the gallery opens to be part of some live performances with Haskel, Snowflake, Spinningmerkaba and DJ Queenique. 

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But this is not all that is going on.  Box, Window, Door has initiated its fundraising campaign as we gear up for our dozen performances set for the first three weeks of March.  Being part of this production has been a very interesting experience as we work through our own dreams, as well as the dreams of the characters.  The work is intimate and deep in a unique way that I believe originates from the depth of connection that the author seeks to attain in her life through her work.  It permeates our interaction as a group so that the air is palpable with spirit during readings and rehearsals.  We will start a heavy rehearsal schedule soon.

I love bringing the music of ccMixter to another venue.  The music has become another character in the play -- not only supporting action, but at times informing it as well.  Soon, I will be very immersed in this process as I refine my curation,  start mixing tracks for the performances, and perhaps write some new material as well.

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And that's not all.After each performance of BWD, live music will play.  I have not only been involved in booking bands to play during that time, but I will be putting together my own band to do three shows.  I haven't had my own band playing my original songs for a very, very, very long time. I definitely have to practice a lot to get the live chops up to snuff.  But I have been enjyoing that process very much.  The other night, rehearsal was in front of the fireplace with a bottle of wine and a couple of cats hanging out in the living room.. 

* * *

But there's more:  The mundane and every day that demands times and attention   I could easily go on  . . . and on. . . .

Thanks to Yuransky for the image (one of the ArtLab artists)

EMERGENCE IN LOVE

As shadows melt when light shines,

we emerge in love.

Snowflake fractal patterns pulsing with meaning
crystallize from chaos into organized forms.
Each random pleasure is a hurricane
encompassing both power and calm.

This synergy is sublime.
When the whole is more than "more than"
different from "the sum of. . ."

It is the emergence of love
rising from the ashes of broken promises, truncated memories, dreams
extracted and treated until all parts
meld into this moment
inextricable from temporal markers.

It is your mouth on my mouth as we kiss.

So take this heart, and this sigh
to emerge in love.

Our conjoined melodies that linger
Rhythms that bind
Our sound the song of intentions combined.

The New Year with the Divine Miss S.

I stayed up way too late last night listening to music. The divine Miss S.  just bought a mandolin earlier this week, and has already taught herself enough about how to play that she wrote a song, that she then recorded with her webcam and posted on youtube. I'm not supposed to share the linkewith anyone; I posted the link on my facebook, but she insisted I take it down, but not before a couple of friends and family had a chance to view it. 



New Year's Eve was shabbat, so we just had a quiet dinner. After dinner, H. and I were hanging out in the living room. He was playing his guitar and singing -- serenading me in an odd way doing parodies of Robert Plant which I did not find at all romantic, although it was comical. At about 10:00pm, we heard a knock on the door. A boy arrived with a bottle of sparkling apple juice and two fancy glasses to toast the new year with the divine Miss S.  The boy looks  a bit like a leprachaun -- he is not terribly tall (5' 7" maybe), slightly round bellied, red haired, and he has a bushy beard. He is 16 and in the jazz band at school with the divine Miss S. While he drives, apparently he takes the bus to school with her. His visit was unexpected, to say the least. You should have seen Haskel bristle with daddy-bear protectiveness! He was hilarious, actually. Trying not to pace around or huff up too big in order to intimidate the poor boy, who was actually impressively gracious and well mannered. Poor Miss S. was totally embarrased, and awkward. Also, our house is a total mess. Miss S. took the boy into the kitchen where they opened the bottle of sparkling apple juice. H. had some too. Later, H. told me he took some just to make the bottle go faster so the kid would be more inclined to leave. We all sat around the living room for a few moments. S. brought out her mandolin. Then she took the boy on a "mandolin tour" of our house, ending up in her bedroom, where she perched on the edge of her bed, holding court while he stood. She has a chair in her room, but the space heater is on it. She did not think to remove the space heater to offer the boy a seat. H. was exhausted, and went to bed after I reassured him I would keep an eye and ear out on the "children." After a short while, the boy took his leave, giving me  a hug before he left. Turns out, he told Miss S. he might stop by, but she being a space monkey who doesn't always listen too well, thought he intended to stop by tomorrow so she was also quite surprised by this visit. I think he has a crush on her. She denies it, stating he is this way (warm, generous, and I must admit, somewhat charming) with everyone. H. is very concerned about the presence of any boys around our girls. I had to reassure him that having boys around is actually a good thing for our girls, and that they are good girls who he should trust.


(art courtesy of thepatonegro @ deviantart.com)