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.. 

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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)