Working Things Out in Groups

First day of June and i started the day by closing my windows, turning on the heat, and crawling back under the covers until it was warm enuf to get out of bed. Doesn't bode well for a long hot summer, which everyone seems to be expecting somehow. Haven't consulted the almanac but my breath, i am not holding it.

So i am currently engaged in the experiment of living an internet-free life. OK, i haven't given it up *completely*; witness this blog. But my use has become minimal - check email, Facebook, maybe myspace; banking and bills and i'm out. i'm not reading Twitter, Walls, message boards, articles, other blogs - i'm reading books. And doing stuff.

It seems a logical progression, somehow. i've been actively on line for about sixteen years, now. And i think the internet, for me, has hit that wall that all the mega-apps ran into around the turn of the century - its now been tweaked right up to its capacity; anything truly new will have to come from some sort of breakthrough. Some way of using it that hasn't happened until now. Social media, of course, wants to be that breakthrough. Its got potential. Alas for it, it arrives at a time when i realize i'd just rather be out there living my life than sitting in front of a computer screen writing about it. Even in 140 character blurbs.

So what am i doing with all this fabulous life i now have time to lead? Doing what i do best, of course: keeping busy. i've gotten space in a new community garden that's started a little ways west of here. i need to put a new inner tube in my tire, but i intend to bike over there to work on it a couple mornings a week (if the weather ever warms up). Its gone from vacant lot to - well, garden - in a few short months. There's raised beds, a central herb spiral, compost pile, walkways and a shady seating area. Next week, there's going to be a pot luck which i'm looking forward to because we have a wide ethnic representation, a number of newly immigrated families from various locales.

i'm a big fan of Starhawk's novel "The Fifth Sacred Thing" because it strikes me as a very potentially *workable* utopia (even the politics, tho that's not what i'm talking about here). In it, Northern California has more or less seceded and become its own little functional hippie-socialist nation state. i won't say her ideals are perfect, but they make a hell of a lot more sense than the bloated, unsustainable consumerist model that's bleeding us all dry now. i love this garden, and so many like them, because they Feel like definite steps on the path to that sort of survivable future.

i'm on hiatus from the theater at the moment, or have been; i guess if we have read-thru tonight for the summer show, that's about to end as rehearsals start. Of course the troupe is its own little microcosmic tribe: we've had people pass through and others (like myself, i guess) take root. This month for the first time we lost one of our own with the death of brin metzendorf (aka Samual Crow Walker) who performed under the name madbunny as well. This is a loss i'm still personally processing, so don't care to say too much about here; but i will say that in its aftermath, people seem to be coming together again, making an effort not to let life drift us all apart. Whether ultimately this will result in more than a slew of new Facebook friends its hard to say, but i'm at least enjoying the impulse while it lasts.

Right now, my biggest project is working with Morticia's Chair. We are putting on a show in two weeks - and i don't mean 'hey kids, let's put on a show!' (even if it might trace to exactly that impulse) so much as we are puttin' on a muthafukkin' SHOW, a'ight?? And i just know that afterwards, there's going to be a whole buttload of people saying "Oh, i wish i'd've seen it, it sounds cool, blah de blah blah blah". Well YOU don't have to be one of them; you can go to Center for Rock Research and gitcher ticket raht *now* (June 13th, $10, private party, no sales at door, Midtown area).

Yes i'm pimping this as hard as i can, because we have put as much work into this as any production done at the Liminis. And its on the *scale* of productions there. Without seeing the space, its hard to grasp just how cool this whole damn thing is, so take my word on it, k? And if the fact that CRR is playing ALL of Rush's 2112 *and* ALL of Radiohead's OK Computer *AND* MC is playing *AND* RYDR is opening up *AND* there's skits between - if all that isn't enough, well, this is my very first foray into lighting design and programming, and i'm feeling pretty effing good about it. So ya better show up coz i don't want to have to kick your ass for not being there afterwards. i'm the butch one don't forget, i will, too.

Yeah, i'm excited bigtime about this. i'm jazzed about the show itself, but even moreso at the opportunity its presented me. i know i'm still a ways off from being a "lighting designer" but i feel i've crossed a line where i'm now more that than not. i spent a ten-hour marathon session on the board yesterday that went from Wait, how does this work again; to having fifteen pre-sets programmed in. Given that before we started this, i knew how to hit lighting cues on time *and that's all*, i'm proud of myself. Even more so because this isn't just gels on par cans. We've got LED cans and half a dozen specials (including a lit arch over the 'bridge', floor specials, smoke, and the OK Computer itself) and scanners that can make daisies or stars or pinwheels in damn near any color you like and and and. And and, there's about fifteen different ways to make any given effect happen, so making the transition to where i Grok it is a big one. Its a really good feeling for me, so i hope some friends show up i can show off my hard work to!

You say you want some more, well, here's some more. i'm going to be performing as a living statue at the Murray Hill Art Walk this coming Sunday; another thing i'm excited about. i've done this a couple times (life modelling as well, which i'm also doing once a week) but this is my first gig doing it on my own. i'm thinking to be a sort of Spring/Summer Goddess type figure.. of course if it were authentically Graeco-Roman i'd have to do it w/one breast bared but i think we won't quite go that far. Still, as soon as i write this i'm off to the thrifts in search of costuming. If you're in Cleveland, stop by sometime; i'm supposed to be on the south side of Mayfield just below the hill, hoping it neither rains nor freezes nor gets beastly hot! Hm, i might need a helper to come by and feed me water every so often - who's free on Sunday?

i think that's about got me covered for the next two weeks. We'll be going in to rehearsal on Big Love soon, which opens at the end of July. We're planning a tribute/benefit in brin's memory which will also likely happen end of July. At War for the Forseeable Future will be doing a one-time reunion gig for that show, which i'm highly looking forward to. i'm going to Colorado that month for a family reunion, the first time all of us minus my girls will have been together in twenty-plus years. My family isn't very big; i've got two parents, two kids, one brother, one aunt, one uncle, and two cousins. That's it. So to have eight of the ten of us together is kind of a whoop-de-do. And i'll have a piece in a show at the Asterisk for the July ArtWalk (and probably be set up outside Edison's as well).

Big Love will close at the end of August, and then it will be time to start gearing up for Recycled Rainbow. i'm still planning to run a workshop tent - a Chatauqua - for that, which will mean re-building my pavilion but hey. What's a little thing like that in the larger scale of things? (btw, if you are interested in presenting something - anything - contact me). That's in September, and i'll have another piece in a show at Doubting Thomas that month too. Its only conceptual right now, but it involved ladie's undergarments, so you might want to remember that one.

i probably will have another blog up before i'm through all that, but if you wonder why you aren't hearing from me online - get out from behind your computer and take a look around town. i'm the one doing all those things i wanted to when i was younger but never could "because..". Maybe its time you were too - ?