morbid anniversary...

today is the 47th anniversary of the assassination of john f kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the united states. prior to the lives lost on 9/11/2001, my generation had nothing of comparison that defined that generation, who all used to utter "i remember what i was doing the day kennedy was shot..."

my mom was of that generation, and as the anniversary of her death approaches, i find the need to relay stories about her that seem significant. sort of as tribute, or perhaps just to remember her...

as i went back into my little brain to search for that memory, i remember her saying, i think, that she had just gotten her hair done that morning. i think she worked at the time at the riverside, an old-school casino famous in reno when "the rat pack" was around. based on other pictures from even later than the time the assassination occurred, which was about six years before my time, the hair was probably some variation of bouffant...

she mentioned walking old-school downtown reno. on the corner of 1st and virginia streets, there used to be this woolworth's that had a lunch counter like the old style one's did. up until past the time that i was a teenager, that woolworth's and lunch counter remained there. she heard people screaming out in the street, and started to walk down the street. she passed a store front with tv's in the window and listened/watched the news of kennedy being shot:

 

i visited the area where he was shot quite by accident a couple of years ago, while attending a wedding in dallas. i didn't realize where we were until we were driving through the area. then i saw the x on the street, and the book repository. it was creepy, to stumble through a place of historical significance and not realize it until you are there. there is no preparation, it just sort of hits you.

wow. i seem to remember her mentioning walter cronkite. he passed away in 2009. guess i am feeling a tad somber today...but i did want to get my mom's story down.

peace.

i am the biggest nerd ever...

i've always been a geek. there, i said it.

over a year ago, i don't even remember where i heard about it from, but i saw or someone mentioned to me this awesome awesome new video by someone who i perceive as an independent artist, who had a really cool video out:

 

now, can i just say....i love this video. if you've never seen it, please go watch it. it's worth it, i swear, i will wait....
...
..
.

back? okay, good. i work attached to a marketing department, although i sort of consider myself the geek attached to all these creative geniuses. i have spent a lot of my life contemplating largely useless things. things like color, colors by themselves and in combination, color creation, composition, space, how to create positive and negative space, how we interact with our world, one-two-and-three dimensional space, things like that. many people have, and many people have just a little too much time on their hands. that would be me, apparently. i also love how technology adds to this mix and how innovative, creative and awesome mixed-media stuff can be.

so, i've had this video saved on youtube for over a year. occasionally with youtube, one must go through and clean out their stuff, because some stuff you had bookmarked or saved violated someone's copyright, causing the dreaded infringement, so videos have been removed, or moved into a category called vevo where youtube can make you watch a commercial for each video you want to see. LAME...but that's another talk for another time...in watching this video again, near the end, there's a little red bubble that says "watch 'Her Morning Elegance' behind the scenes", and it's a hyperlink, so i click on it:

 

turns out, once the video was made and got a lot of attention for it's ingenuity, those taking the original still photographs broke down the video again into its component parts of 2096 individual photographs. now, they are selling them, only one copy of each photograph will be sold world wide. this speaks to me on so very many levels! it makes my little geek heart go squeeee! now, i have no idea if i will be able to come up with $250 for a single art print. as art goes, that's not overly expensive, but when yer a poor brown girl just trying to keep her house some days and saving for world domination travel, i don't know. but....i will pick one out, and keep my eye on it. perhaps the fates will smile upon me and i will end up with one.

how small our world has become that people in all different parts of the world can own a piece of this amazing, innovative video. i SO want to own a piece of this historical undertaking! here's a link to the site that's organizing it: Her Morning Elegance Gallery (link opens in new window).

yeah, i know.

i've reached new levels of geek.

and i'm okay with that.

peace, and happy friday, next week is thanksgiving, what are you thankful for?!?

Updatin'

So, the Hazards of Love is going amazing. I feel incredibly privileged to be a part of this group of amazing performers and people. Here's some youtube-age if you are interested in what we have done with things...

When moving this post, I discovered that the old Hazards videos were gone. I don't know if Jill removed them because they were not the most current iteration of the show, but I loved those videos, they were a moment in time and a memory. I am sad, but no one can take away the pictures. See below...it was a beautiful show I was proud to be a part of....(added 4/21/15 when transferring)
 
Life is very busy work-wise for me, too. I have been doing event staffing/security stuff for Lawlor Events Center and UNR Football and Basketball, and that's been more fun than I thought it would be. This weekend will be a cold game, outside, during the day. It's supposed to snow. BUT, I bought these groovy new gloves that I can give a blow job to and they will warm my hands. I will let everyone know how that works out and might even follow-up with pics...

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to get to see, arguably, three of Tribal/Fusion Belly Dances most famous, talented, amazing artists. Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes and Mardi Love, who form The Indigo, brought Le Serpent Rouge to Reno. It ended up being a sold out show, which was very cool. I hope some promoters take that to heart and realize Reno can support such cool events =)

Here's the graphic:

It was a really, really good show and I have a new hero in Mardi Love. She was amazing. She wore this skirt that I wondered how it stayed on her body, but stay it did, she looked awesomely hot and she was very, very good. Here's a pic of her, taken by my friend Lisa Fisher:

Photo by Lisa Fisher

Truly a Goddess!

Here is one of my favorite "poses' if you will, from Hazards. This is Ms. Sharon, cradling Lindsy, who plays Margaret, but it's one of the things that struck me from the first time I saw the show run through. Beauty in motion!

Photo by Edward Hennessey

Even exhausted, I am so lucky to have my life. All these moments mean so much....life is amazing! This is a rough time of the year for me....as it gets closer to the time when my mom passed away. I can't believe it's been four years! I still miss her every single day, and I hope she would be proud of me, living this life.

For the rest of this week.....practice Thanksgiving, Football, more Hazards, dancing, and more more more beauty!

Peace!

The Decemberists...

So, I have this friend. She's a really awesome friend, and I've known her for over 30 years. We lost a lot of time in the middle there, but we spent some time together just yesterday and talked about how easy it was to talk to each other just because we both seem to "get" the same things =) This friends name is Jill, and she is producing a show that I agreed to stage manage for...

I won't pretend that I'd really heard of the Decemberists before she started talking about doing this show, but after seeing a rehearsal, I am excited about what this will be like. I am excited about working with Jill, and I think this show is going to be amazing. Here is the poster:

And here's the press-release-y information about the show:

Hazards of Love- A Tribute to the Decemberists.     Produced and Performed by  The Juxtaposeurs:  Jill Marlene and Company

The Hazards of Love is a Folk Rock Opera written by the incredibly diverse and virtuosic Indie band "The Decemberists" and it is being staged and performed live by some of Reno's premier musical and dance talent. Hazards of Love is an Mythical tale of two lovers who meet by chance through the veil that separates the mundane from the Magical. In a dark forest, called a Taiga, the heroine, Margaret, ventures beyond the safety of her village into the strange mystic woods where she happens upon a wounded creature. As she stops to help, the creature transforms into a man and they fall instantly in love. There is - as there always is in the darker fairy tales - a deadly twist. The lovers must face the jealous wrath of the great forest queen and the lust of the bold and remorseless villain.

The Show is staged with full ballet including aerial silks, classical and some modern movement. All music is live and features a wide variety of studio performers, professional musicians and a few extremely precocious youth. Part of proceeds will be given to the Reno High School Orchestra for instrument acquisition, repair and replacement.

Audiences are encouraged, should they so desire to dress in "old timey" or Steampunk attire... just for fun.

Directed and Produced by Jill Marlene, Musical Direction by Raymundo Silva and Chris Nelson, Choreography by Lindsy Roberts and Company.

November 12th, 13th 18th and 19th at 8 pm.~ Doors at 7
November 21st at 3 p.m. doors at 2 

All Performances at The Great Escape in the Sports West Plaza
Tickets are $10 and are available by calling 775-225-4421 At Prism Magic clothing and gifts or at the Melting Pot World Emporium

Cast:
Music~
Director, Producer, Voice of "The Queen"~ Jill Marlene
Musical Direction, Keyboards, Voice of "the Rake"~ Chris Nelson
Musical Direction, Recording Engineering and Bass Guitar- Raymundo Silva
Drums and Recording Engineering~ Tom Gordon
Guitar, Banjo, Co-production and Voice of "William"~ Gabriel Hiiton
Keyboards, Bass Clarinet, Creative Consultation and Vocals~ Kaitlin Oki 
Voice of "Margaret"~ Mary McNeill
Violin~ Bryan Macauliffe
Guitar, Mandolin and Banjo Instruction~ Doyle Wayne Stewart 
Electric Guitar~ Steve Widmer

Children (vocals and movement):
Charlotte~ Elaina Joy Snyder
Dawn~ Elsa Robison
Isaiah~ Ethan Robison

Cast (Movement)
All movement was largely choreographed by the cast under the supervision of Lindsy Roberts

Margaret~ Lindsy Roberts
William~ Nathan Robison
The Queen~ Erika Tauchen
The Rake~ Rory Dowd
THE FOREST~
Brave Legend
Lara St. John
Michael Enns
Kat Rosen
Sharon Neville
Teresa Moiola.

Stage Manager~ Danielle Gann-Lind

Post Performance entertainment~
12~ Mark Earnest,
13th~ the Electric Catfish
18th~ Michelle Pappas
19th~ Todd South
21st~ Gabe Hilton followed by the Grups.

It should be a good time.

You should come.

Really.

Peace.

gender politics...

before i go further let me just say that while pursuing my college degree, i got a minor in women's studies, so gender politics and such have always interested me and been absolutely fascinating to me.

so, in examining what's been happening in the world lately, we recently celebrated national "coming out" day (October 11th in the US and October 12 in the UK). sort of on the heels of that, in my mind, is the recent campaign by some media outlets championing the "it gets better" campaign, after a rash of suicides from young people who were either bullied or victimized because of their sexuality or something about them in general, often the perception or actuality that they are gay. honestly, people, who cares? at any rate, here are a couple of recent really awesome thoughts on the subject....

this was posted to the "women of khaki" email list, which is a list who's members are all female black rock rangers, and it's a blog about a mom who got some serious crap because her five year old son wanted to be Daphne for Halloween:

My Son is Gay

The second thing are two videos that I very much admire for the message they send as part of the "it gets better" campaign. Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame, and President Obama. I am sure there are other admirable videos, these are just two that struck me.

Tim Gunn:

President Obama:

 

I love that this is an issue that people like our president and prominent public figures feel is important enough to create public service announcements for. It's stuff like this that gives me hope.

 Peace.