Blatant promotion disguised as Artist Date suggestion

What could be a better Artist's Date than getting up on Saturday morning to struggle though a snow storm and its blistering winds to hear the Lyceum Chamber Chorus sing at St. Michael's in Independence? Nothing! At 8:30 (AM!) tomorrow, at St. Michael's on Brecksville Road, my son's school choir subgroup, the "Chamber Choir", will be singing at the memorial Mass for Bobby Tripodi, a sibling of one of their schoolmates who died a number of years ago. Bobby's parents run the Cornerstone of Hope, a bereavement organization that helps grieving parents. I don't know them well, but they must be very brave people.

I must confess that when the larger choir sang the Advent concert in December, they blew me away, they sounded tremendous. The new director, James Flood, has whipped them into great shape. We'll see how the smaller Chamber Choir does. Saturday morning is not usually a meditative time, but in a snowstorm it can be. I'm just sayin'. Cheers!
http://www.thelyceum.org/schola.html

Assignment from the Beyond

Hello, fellow feisty Artist Wayfarers. Here is a knock on the door from Ann Hampton Callaway, singer/songwriter/optimist/diva-on-the-go. What a fun start you are off to! Ever since the brilliant and delightful Ann Hogsett seduced me into joining this group, I have done absolutely nada to participate except feel some fun ann-ticipation about what is going on and some curiosity bubbling about how I can make this part of my very busy lifestyle.

I read "The Artist's Way" several years ago and have given countless copies to friends because I believe in is empowering principles. What was funny about the book is that I have naturally been doing a lot of what she says to do much of my life. But in the last few years, as I travel more and more and spend much of my time connecting with people on the internet, I have noticed that my personal writing and journaling has dwindled. Part of the problem was that I was involved with someone who thought nothing of reading my journal so I began to stop my life long habit, out of a deepening need for privacy. So, now, three years after the end of that relationship, I am re-examining my habits and my need to connect creatively with my depths.

I put a beautiful writing table in our bedroom for the purpose of journaling and writing poems, etc. No computer allowed. It comforts me. No daily practice as of yet, but definitely patches of progress.

I have been doing automatic writing ever since I read Bob Dylan's free association novel "Tarantula" at the age of 13 or 14. It blew my mind that someone could write so freely and brilliantly so I began trying it out and over time, struck gold. The liberation it has unleashed in me has had enormous consequences. My intuition has expanded greatly and I am compelled to put myself in creative situations that many people would probably be afraid to tread. I've discovered that I do my best thinking when I'm not thinking. Years of this writing live in various books and countless songs I have written as a result of this abandon I have, over time, learned. Crazy as it sounds, I may be one of the only people in the world who will make up songs on the spot anywhere and anytime, fearlessly rhyming about any given theme in front of my audiences in jazz clubs, theaters and concert halls across the world. Those pages each day that you are writing can lead to this sort of freedom so I hope you are excited. Thanks to Ann's tap on our shoulders, I want to delve deeper once more into this daily practice that Julia Cameron proposes.

I had an amazing experience last week- the most unexpected writing assignment. I lost my beloved father John Callaway, legendary Chicago journalist, last year on June 23rd. It has been the most heart wrenching loss of my life and I have been struggling on many levels to deal with it. So I consented to have a session with a new friend of mine who is a medium/author named Tina Naughton. In our one hour session, my father emerged in spirit form and said he would like to write a book together. It could be using writings of his that were never published and adding my own thoughts but it could also involve me channeling him. Can you imagine? I am very intrigued and excited about the prospect.

During the session, my dad conveyed to me that he was trying to find ways to connect and that he has and would continue to appear to me in rainbows. (Last week, on a treacherous drive from San Francisco to Palm Springs, I saw three rainbows.) I was told that when the session was over and I went to the beach after, there would be a sign from him. so, there we were walking to the beach on a perfectly sunny day and what should appear above but a small round rainbow in the sky! It almost looked like a radiant beach ball. And above the ocean, there was a small cloud floating in the perfect shape of a heart. My father always loved to make his point and since he had just done so in such a dramatically gorgeous way, I immediately sat down and put pen to paper, inviting him to speak through me. As waves lapped near my feet, over one page of "dictation" unfolded which was mysterious and thought provoking. I'm looking forward to dedicating many more encounters with this energy. I will let you know how this book idea progresses.

So, my fellow adventurers, just wanted to say hello and wish you all a splendid time on this path we are sharing. I look forward to reading your words and sharing our revelations together.

Reading Deprivation Week Alert. & 5 Whys.

First of all, look at the post just below this one and see what Viv has to say. She's far more interesting than I and I hate to get in between you and her fabulous post -- so full of ideas, creativity, thinking and questions that will inspire you! -- but I need to alert you to something that's up the road a few days.

Reading Deprivation Week is coming. Next week, in fact. Like, Monday. The assignment is not to read for pleasure or escape, and yes, Julia recommends you not fill the empty space with TV or (sob!) 'Zuma's Revenge. I'm alerting you because you may want to do some things now, like finish your book club book.

I know this is going to be hard. We, many of us, need to read incoming email for work. I plan to keep writing agent queries at the rate of one a day and that requires some research for each one. You need to handle this as you do.

But here's the deal: RDW or as I like to call it "No Readie Week" is MAGIC. Because once you step out of your familiar hiding places and look around, what you see is the truth. And endless possibilities.

No Readie Week will force you to have creative breakthroughs, insights, beginnings that you will not believe. Your head will become at first a noisier and then a quieter place. (After the WHAAAAAA! sound dies away.)

So, what about those "Whys" mentioned in the subject line?

The Japanese (who I hope never read this in case I don't know what I'm talking about)have a practice they do as part of troubleshooting on the job, in the factory, in the boardroom, etc. It's to ask "Why?" five times.

"We can't get the cars done by Friday." "Why?" "Because the wheels aren't here." (Can you tell I'm not in the car-making business?) "Why?" "Because Kaizen Inc-san can't find the tire connectors." And so on. Usually by the fifth Why they have an answer they can work with to get the cars done by Friday.

The Five Whys can work for you during RDW because you'll have time to ask a second question before you go "Oh, I'll never [fill in the blank]" and then numb your sad little head with reading or tv or surfing the tangled Web we wove. Goes like this:

"I'm never going to find an agent."

"Why?"

"Because I don't believe I can be that successful, lucky, talented."

"Why?"

"Because my mother once told me that everybody wants to be famous but only a very favored few can. And I shouldn't get my hopes up."

"Why?"

"Because she loved me and didn't want me to be disappointed."

See. It doesn't even really take five. Here's what I get if I don't let the first answer just fulminate for years on end without looking at where it comes from or what it means to me now: My mother loved me and didn't want me to be disappointed. Or possibly be too 'career-oriented' and not get married." (This WAS the fifties, you know.)

That's all. That understanding doesn't get me an agent. I have to do that with the sweat of my brow and all my guts for every query, but it does get me a place from which I can see clearly enough to try.

Reading Deprivation Week is blinders off, people. Amazing Grace.

It can change your life, make you sad, make you angry, shake you up, calm you down, light your fire, or whatever, but it wasn't written by someone else or produced in Culver City or wherever. It's yours. And it's worth "wasting" a week for. And I would say the advantage to you would be in inverse proportion to just how bad you don't want to do this.

Now, here what you don't need to do. You don't need to call me and say, "Wow, the Jehovah's Witnesses just dropped a little brochure off at my house, and I glanced at the cover, and it looks like my eternal soul might be at stake here. Can I just skim it?"

My answer is, "Hell, yeah. Do whatever you got to do." This is your opportunity. Your decision. You don't need my permission to put it off, to only do three days, whatever. You can ask me for support of any kind, encouragement, comfort. Any kind.
But the permissions are all in your court.

Enjoy.

What keeps me up at night

Mental illness. Dreams of mummies. Diagnosis diabetes. The Exhibits.

For those who missed early posting and introductions, it's Vivian in Michigan, a former adwriter at Liggett, colleague, friend and devotee of Ann Hogsett.

After Morning Pages, Artist Dates and other ventures having to do with bicycles and book collections, what I do on a daily basis is work on concepts and content for life science exhibits at the Detroit Science Center. Most exhibits are targeted to grades 4 through 8, so by design, content must be simple. Playful. Interactive. Interpretive. Light reading.

In a walk-thru the museum today, I could point to nearly 30 exhibits where I've had a direct hand in developing the design concept and text. From Talking Couch Potatoes, to a Rappin' Refrigerator, from a traveling exhibit on Diabetes to the life and science of Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato, it's been wild and crazy work. Firing on all cylinders at times. And hair-pulling otherwise. I'm grayer (and balder), but happier. Not a bad gig for an old English major and long time copywriter.

Now about my Mental Illness: in a nutshell my assignment is as follows (in funderspeak): "to research and develop the content for an exhibit exploring the nature, the science and stigma of mental illness, its spectrum of disabilities, and what strategies, medications and healthy habits can be deployed to help those living with mental illness cope.

Still working out the details. Ya think??!

So far I've arrived at the metaphor of a giant maze (50x50 feet) housing a 15 foot luminescent walk-thru brain sculpture. Chambers surrounding the Big Brain include a mirror maze (in which visitors will Search for Self, a deep blue area where Depression is Real and bipolar disorder Storms the Mind, a hyper area exploring ADHD, autism spectrum and epilepsy, and High Tension area touching upon OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorders, anxiety, phobias and eating disorders.

Coming up for air. . . are you there?

Fellow wayfarers, as I understand, our pathway this week is exploring the corners of the maze, so to speak. Seeking synchronicity in what comes our way. This may be an imposition on your creative energies, but just for the fun of it, I invite you to daydream, imagine and play along with me. . .

Where exactly does the brain end and the mind begin? What is mental illness anyway, and who says? What have you read, what have you experienced, where have you ventured that would inform the topic of mental wellness, so illusive and personal, an imprecise science, such a presumption that we can wrap it up in neat bows for visitors at a museum -- how indeed, and what do you think?

For starters, I'm puzzling and stumbling over the name of the exhibit, the one-two punch of a title, the power words that capture the complexity and ambiguity of the subject. Shades of Grey was a leading candidate, then got overturned by BrainStorm. Or how 'bout MindStorm: Brain Under Fire.

Any thoughts? All welcome. And do tell, do share: what are you working on?

Synchronicity gone awry.

So JD Salinger was in my head pretty strong and consistently in recent weeks. Imagine how I felt when he bought the farm. I was more hoping for a new book.

Louise's First Blog

Greetings, this is my first blog--ever, and just wanted to say hello. I have a date with myself tonight at Severance Hall to listen to the St. Olaf's Choir, something I have never done before. And, I am treating myself to a box seat a place not normally available to the "public."

Tah Dah! Laura's Play Opens Thursday

Laura has been relentless and intrepid in pursuit of her goals as an actor. Therefore, as night must follow day, she's in a play opening this week at the Beck Center. And though I know Laura considers all her plays as important and worthwhile (as would I who have seen almost all. Although I'm still kicking myself that I missed Rumors also known as How Laura Met Darrell and Found Love )this is a a role she gets paid and worked to death for. Which makes it special. Cleveland artists, this would be a very excellent artist date. I'm just saying.


Is He Dead?
“New” Mark Twain Comedy Premieres at Beck Center for the Arts

Lakewood, OH—What happens when a group of poor artists stage the death of a friend to drive up the price of his paintings? A fake funeral, cross-dressing, and lovers' deceptions, to name a few.

Beck Center for the Arts presents the Cleveland premiere of the Mark Twain comedy, Is He Dead?, on the Mackey Main Stage, February 5 through 28, 2010. Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Special 10 a.m. weekday matinees will take place February 11, 18, and 19.

Written by Twain in 1898, Is He Dead? richly intermingles elements of burlesque, farce, and social satire. Discovered by a Mark Twain scholar in 2003, Is He Dead? was adapted for modern audiences by talented playwright David Ives and staged on Broadway in December 2007 to strong critical reviews.

“This is pure comedy – a fictional, farcical Paris-set yarn about a young painter, the real-life Jean-François Millet, who fakes his death to score fame and fortune,” said Playbill.com. And Variety called Is He Dead? “a ripely enjoyable confection.”

“Is He Dead? is a tremendous piece of satire by one of America’s greatest wits,” says Director Matthew Earnest. “People from all walks of life will enjoy the high-speed antics of these kooky, Buster Keaton-style dimwits trying to protect their secret: that the gorgeous Widow Tillou is actually the great painter Jean-François Millet in a wig and heels. We’re left with a very funny discussion of the value of things, and people, and a freewheeling discourse on gender and identity.”

Playing Millet and Widow Tillou is the highly talented comedic actor Nicholas Koesters. Joining him as co-conspirators in the deception are Tom Woodward as Dutchy, Adam Thatcher as Chicago, and John Peters as O’Shaughnessy.

Tickets are $28 for adults, $25 for seniors (65 and older), $17 for students (with valid ID), and $10 for children (12 and under). An additional $3 service fee per ticket is applied at the time of purchase. Preview night on Thursday, February 4, is $10 with general admission seating. Group discounts are available for parties of 13 or more.

For tickets, call the Beck Center box office at 216.521.2540, ext. 10, or request seats online at www.beckcenter.org. Beck Center is located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just ten minutes west of downtown Cleveland. Free onsite parking is available.

Beck Center’s production of Is He Dead? is produced through special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. and is sponsored by Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, Cox Communications, the Ohio Arts Council, and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

Beck Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that offers professional theater productions, arts education programming in dance, music, theater, visual arts, early childhood, and creative arts therapies for special needs students, and gallery exhibits featuring local and regional artists.

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