Trading Denver for Madison

I was supposed to give my gateway performance art workshop at the Colorado Flute Association's event in April. As it turned out, the University of Denver didn't want to provide the A/V equipment I need to present it, so the CFA had to ask me not to present. That was disappointing as I was really looking forward to it.

But as it happens, a proposal for the same workshop I was supposed to give in Denver has been accepted by the good folks at the Madison Flute Club, who are putting on their Third Annual Flute Fair. I'll be in Madison, WI on Saturday, April 22nd to share my performance art workshop with the assembled classical flutists.

They also tell me I'll play in the Gala Recital, and sit on the judges' panel for the Young Artist Competition.

"I'm a latke; I'm a latke...

...and I'm waiting for Chanukah to come!"

No, they didn't play that song, but I was reminded of it on the drive home from the party at Frieda and Jesse's place last night. The band was Zoyres, and it was their stripped-down lineup consisting of Mike on saxophones, Liam on trombone, and Eddie on drums. Their slogan is Eastern European Wild Ferment. When we arrived Mike was lying on his back partially supported by a stability ball so I stood over him to say hi.

Paul & I had lots of fun listening to them and ultimately dancing around manically with the assembled folks. Our dancing was nothing like the dance troupe that Zoyres shared the bill with, though. Zooz Middle Eastern Dance Company did a beautiful set of as they put it, "old dances, new dances, and works in progress". I really enjoyed their performance too. Their web site is www.zoozdancecompany.com.

Online community for fans of my tunes

I'm flattered to report that an online community has been created for folks who like my music. They call it "InterPolly", I guess because it's going to be an international network of people in the know.

Here's the URL:

http://tribes.tribe.net/interpolly

Mentioned on Salon.com

My new flute quartet, "Remove Before Flight", written for 2 C flutes,
alto flute, and bass flute, was premiered on October 8.

Patrick Smith, in his aviation column "Ask the Pilot" on Salon.com, mentions the piece in his overview of aviation-related classical music this week. It's only a brief mention and link, but you might enjoy the article on your way to it:

http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2005/11/04/askthepilot160/index.html

Affairs as performance art

Some time back I was reading an interview with Laurie Anderson. The interview was mostly about her work as NASA's Artist-in-Residence, but in passing she mentioned a performance artist in New York, whose medium was having affairs with her collectors.

I have done some cursory web searching but I haven't found out who this artist is. If you know, please comment; I'd love to know her name.

I've been musing about this on and off ever since I read the interview. Before any of you cynical dismissive types start scoffing and wondering, "what's next?! first it's Sex Worker, and now it's Performance Artist?" just hear me out for a second.

Performance art is multiple disciplines forming one work of art. This art must take place live; it can't be recorded, without ceasing to be performance art.

An affair takes place live, and can't be recorded without ceasing to be that. An affair, in that it's more than just friction of body parts, involves multiple disciplines...potentially sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Plus all the other senses that are engaged when you form a bond with someone.

What must it be like to get a commission from someone, and then start planning and executing the work -- which is an affair? The artist would plan how long the affair would be. She would arrange every aspect of it for her lover -- who is her audience. Surely the artist would want the work to be original, a new way of expressing oneself in the genre. She would want to come up with something thought-provoking, startling, moving.

How much input would the audience have into the work -- since s/he's also commissioning it? Does the audience collaborate with the artist, or is the audience passive?

What would it be like if all of us out there who are having affairs...relationships...viewed them as works of art? If we were that conscious of them, if we cared that much about their beauty, originality, and the way they're expressed; if we considered them an expression of the highest capabilities of our humanity, how would they be different from the relationships we've had up to this point?

What if our partners knowingly collaborated with us in creating the works of art that our affairs can be? What if we were all that engaged, and never took each other for granted?

I never shrink from a challenge. :)

Great weekend

Paul and I undertook a 12-mile hike, with a 1700-foot overall climb, in Butano State Park. Our goal: to find the Abandoned Landing Field indicated on the map. We'd tried this a couple of years ago and not made it all the way, on account of not having brought any food with us. This time, we were all prepared with sandwiches, granola bars and plenty of water to get us there. And we made it all the way up to the landing field...the most disappointing landing field ever.

I guess I wasn't expecting a flat stretch of gravelly dirt with a radio shack on it. I think from looking at the map, which had an icon that looked like a long concrete slab with a center line painted on it, I erroneously started visualizing it as a concrete slab with a center line painted on it, teeming with the spirits of airplanes that had taken off and landed there, perhaps.

It was so anticlimactic when we got there that Paul wasn't convinced we had actually reached it. A guy came by on a mountain bike and we asked him if this was really the abandoned landing field. He assured us yes, that was it. How long had it been abandoned? 10 or 15 years. Was this really it? Yes. Furthermore, it was the same one that had been featured on Bay Area Backroads. It had been used for logging and ranger stuff and they had landed Piper Cubs there.

Thus underwhelmed, but very thoroughly exercised, we completed the hike and proceeded to Duarte's in Pescadero for dinner. There where the artichoke is a totemic vegetable, we went artichoke mad: chilled artichoke hearts, cream of artichoke soup, artichoke ravioli in pink sauce, and pie a la mode (not artichoke pie. even in Pescadero, apparently, they don't make that). We spent the night in a B&B, and now we're back, lavishing attention on cranky Murphy. :)