The Jim and I are probably more in sync than we've ever been in the past and we're building a dream together. I must tell you, it's quite exciting! For me personally, I have had a year of wonderful moments of openness and honesty this past year and hard moments of misunderstandings, anxiety and people who don't really know me well enough to know that I would and have never intentionally done anything in my life to hurt anyone. However, I've mended fences with a few folks, closed the door on other chapters and all of these passages have lead me to a huge move forward in my life and in my dreams.
Jim and I have signed a lease on our very own space/place downtown in Knoxville to create an artist collective, and have the primary location for my dance studio/classes. In fact, the dream became real faster and more suddenly than ever expected...like the minute the dark clouds rolled out of area, the sun came out and this amazing space became available for us to realize a few dreams of our own. So, we worked hard, secured supporters and we did it...we put the money where our mouths are and we have our own place to work on together. In addition, we realized all the people who have shown us openness and willingness to work towards a shared love, shared vision and shared dream were right there for us and behind us 100% to make this a reality. We feel connected and hopeful and for that - we are grateful.
The most exciting thing, other than having complete creative control over your own destiny at this time is that the place that we've found has an INCREDIBLE history and will have a wall detailing that history within it's four walls. Mind you we have a TON of stuff to do yet to get the place ready and more importantly, open for business, so we're not revealing a whole lot yet but we will give you a bit of the insider's view of owning your own collective and making it the place you've always imagined. So stay tuned, and know this...dreams do come true. Brick by brick we will create a small haven of hope, happiness and shared vision. Lots to do...but totally worth it.
How timely for me to re-enter into the blogosphere than on the annual retro-fabulous Record Store Day? Well amongst our travels today included a stop at 2 of the fine actual brick and mortar establishments that still purvey the tactile experience of purchasing music. While I have a small thorn of hipster fear that makes me nervous about being around vinyl these days, I am always within the walls of a record store on the day that celebrates a on-going, but struggling means of commerce in our world of digital downloads and iPods.
I traveled with the husby hoping to score the "Tebowie" release from LNJF but ended up with a 45 of one of my FAVORITE, McCartney tunes "Another Day". So unexpected score! Jim didn't leave with anything other than a t-shirt celebrating our local-record store. I must admit I was excited to purchase my first 45 in over 10 years though...which made me think...
What was your first record purchase? Not the first record you remember, the first one you actually bought with your own money? I remember both my first 45 and 33 purchases: "Goody Two Shoes" by Adam Ant and "Built for Speed" by the Stray Cats (the later album I got in trouble with because of the word "Hell" in one of the songs, little did my Mom know but I had a borrowed copy of Prince's 1999 in my room with FAR worse lyrics). There was a true joy in getting a 33 album and being able to read the back, hang the album art on your wall and the initially pristine condition of the inner album condom. I'm just glad to know that the interest is still around in general and the crowds were out in full-force which brought a smile to my heart and soul.
If you're looking in the greater Knoxville area for some all senses experience of music here are my recommendations:
1) The Disc Exchange (our friend Paula works there and it's a one stop-shop experience).
2) Lost and Found Records (it's our neighborhood record store and carries more vinyl than anything).
3) Raven Records (haven't been but have heard good things).
4) McKays (hit or miss based on what CDs and vinyl people have sold to pay their electric bill this month - plus I'm kind of staying far, far away from McKay's since I lost my first iPad there - boo).
Where the hell have we been? Busy...but rather than just add another blog to my already jammed schedule, we're bringin' the RETRO-MODERNS back to life. So...here we go.
Today I went to see the documentary that I had been waiting to see: "Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest", and it really opened my mind and my heart - which frankly was completely unexpected. The documentary chronicles the 2008 reunion tour which rubbed raw some old wounds that lead to the band's disintegration towards the end of the 1990s. It made me understand elements of relationships that often times we overlook or gloss over. Elements, that...when not explored only make you question more.
Growing up in Easton, Pennsylvania I was blessed to routinely have access to New York, which both excited and scared me all at the same time. You cannot deny the insane amount of cultural opportunities that make that town pulse with a heartbeat all its own. As a youth, I was blessed to be taking hip hop dance lessons and to have incredible friends who introduced me to what I like to think of of "conscious rap". My favorite hip hop has always been Tribe (and their associated incarnations), De La Soul, The Beastie Boys (Paul's Boutique and Beyond), and as an adult - I find myself still drawn to Q-Tip, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots and The Beasties. I have truly enjoyed seeing hip hop find a groove within itself that was less about one-upsmanship and bling and more about life...beautiful and complicated.
So, I will be honest when I tell you that while I loved the music of Tribe and I'm a big fan of Tip, I didn't really know what lead to the group going their separate ways. When the reunited in 2008 I really wanted to try to go see them, but missed out on tickets. Today, I realized that much like family relationships which are a smaller cosmos of a real "tribal" existence, it IS what we leave unsaid that really starts to eat away at our connections to one another.
From what I saw within the movie, and commented to a new and enlightening friend two of the most pivotal members of the group, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg shared a true "brotherly" relationship. Both knowing each other the longest in the group, I noticed how Q-Tip (being an Aries), really embodied the pushing, motivated, forward motion of his art. He's a leader by nature and sometimes misunderstood as being self-involved or strictly about self-interest. Truth is, he loves and cares about his Tribe but sometimes, while he is an incredible lyricist - is unable to get across what he feels about those he cares for most. Nothing that was revealed in the documentary surprised me about him, and it made me appreciate him more.
On the other hand, I learned more today about Phife than I had ever know. Deeply wanting and sadly stuck having to deal with health issues that in some ways, robbed him of some of the joy that his art gave others. I see him struggling with feeling held back by himself. There's a hint of understandable jealousy, and un-resolved grief within him and I felt that deeply. In fact, I realized how much that festering sense of loss and efforts to deny what you really feel can lead to relationships slowly crumbling. Mostly because you are not connected to what you feel. You are so focused on how you feel, that you lose the ability to share that with others. I was touched by his relationship with his wife, and his continuing journey. Just wanted him to know that I understand how he's struggling with some of the simpler elements of his relationships with his friends. Pride and managing your life with limitations you cannot control. Sometimes this closes you off to deeper connection because all you see is that rather large chip on your shoulder. I say this, because I have mine. Blessedly, I see it more and more as a piece of sawdust more and more these days.
A Tribe Called Quest was a family within itself. It still is. It is a collection of friends who joined into a collection of family by choice...a family that created music but was still exposed to elements of division that communication (or lack thereof), can create. So while I was left with a hint of melancholy, I was also left with wonder. You cannot deny how much the right collection of people when together can create magic. So thank you Tribe for showing me that we are all meant to be together for whatever time we're granted and when we are there, with one another - we can create something bigger than ourselves.
Playing now at Downtown West in Knoxville - GO SEE IT.
So I realized that my last post on here was June 19th...sad! Initially I was going to write a post about neglect, but I decided to write a veiled version of where I've been and what's been going on.
There have been things in my life that have been out of balance for quite some time and after narc-ing on myself followed by negotiations with the husband - we've reached a place of Nirvana. Now this would be awesome if the nirvana didn't involve hard work and dedication to the bigger plan but it is what it is and for the first time, I'm free of the burdens that have weighed me down for so long. So, look forward to more posts and lots of happier times now that the Jim and I are on the same page and have figured out a lot of why we've struggled at times.
If you know anything about me personally, you know I'm a true "Broadway baby". I grew up with fondness for Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals (The King and I, etc.), moving onto a crush for Kander & Ebb (Cabaret, etc.), in my teens until I found my true love, Stephen Sondheim in my twenties. It happened one afternoon while sitting in my 1st bedroom in my parents house which housed a TV. I was mindlessly watching TV when I stumbled up on "Sunday in the Park with George" featuring Mandy Pitinkin and Bernadette Peters on A & E. I was curious at first and soon became captivated. I never heard a musical like that. Complex vocal and orchestral arrangements, unique and sometimes biting lyrics, incredible stage direction and innovative set design and effects. From that moment on...I wanted to know more. To hear more...to experience more of Sondheim's art.
I have since seen 3 different productions of "Sunday in the Park with George" and each moved me to tears. I've been blessed to see a production of "A Little Night Music", which convinced me that the song, "Send in the Clowns", (when in context), is not a horrible song. I even converted, in some small ways, my husband who's not into musical theatre. Last year, we went to see the incredible production of "Sondheim on Sondheim" which explored his telling of his songwriting and his career combined with stellar performances of his music from such greats as Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams and the always surprising Tom Wopat (yes, Luke Duke). I own DVDs of "Into the Woods", "Putting it Together", "Sweeney Todd" (the original cast), "Sunday in the Park with George" and the last Broadway production of the film I'm discussing now...as well as the documentary of the original cast recording. Am I obsessed? Yes.
Today, I was blessed to receive a surprising text message from fellow "Musical"-lover Keri asking me if I was interested in attending a Fathom Event at a movie theatre in Oak Ridge with sweet man, James. It was latest production of the musical COMPANY, which got a great preview on this year's Tony Awards. COMPANY is my 2nd favorite of all the Sondheim musicals. It details the relationships of the main character "Bobby", and his interactions with 5 couples of married friends. It's an honest, not sugar coated, sometimes cynical but in the end...endearing portrait of marriage and the views of a single man who is a voyeur into the lives of his friends. It also details 3 dating experiences of this man who's just not sure what side of the coupled fence he'd prefer to be on at this time in his life. I quickly threw on some clothes and out the door I went.
I am SO glad I got it together in time to see this showing. This production of COMPANY pairs the genius of the New York Philarmonic with insanely good performances by Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Martha Plimpton (who the hell knew she could sing - and well), Christina Hendricks, Craig Bierko, Jon Cryer, the sublime Broadway grande dame of our age, Patti LuPone and that's only to name a small few of the performers who round out the cast. The timing was incredible. The cast so true to the material which has really stood the test of time (as the play originally was produced first in the 70s). The themes are still both true and relevant. The music, still moving. The joys and struggles of marriage so beautifully set to music. Trying to act cool, I couldn't help but clear a tear away as Neil Patrick Harris belts "Marry Me a Little" and the original add-on song "Being Alive". Even songs from the male perspective hit notes of resonance with many married women including "Sorry, Grateful". Add to that, Patti LuPone's almost TOO perfect belting of "Ladies Who Lunch"...it was musical gold.
I HOPE that this is a production that see's a release on DVD at some point, but in the meantime if you want to see musical theatre at some of its finest...get thee to to a theatre near you (I've seen it listed as playing this week at CARMIKE Wynnsong on Tuesday night at 7:30 PM), and give the old musical a try. It might surprise you how relevant some of the old stuff can be.
In order to wet your appetite, I give you the first song back after the intermission (which is somewhat different than a lot of the songs in the musical). ENJOY and buy your ticket NOW!
I was introduced in full to Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band via my first husband, and I thank him so much for really schooling me on the Asbury Park, anthemic, rock-n-roll group that was so much better than the songs that made pop-culture charts during my years of notice (i.e. Dancing in the Dark, Born in the USA). If you watch old footage of the whole group, what strikes me beyond the great musicianship of all the players is their sense of camaraderie. They look like they are having fun...and most notable in the FUN department was the "Big Man", Clarence Clemmons.
The sax is not one of my favorite instruments; in fact, I feel nauseated whenever I hear Kenny G; but I always found that Clarence's sax portions seriously added to the sound and sometimes sultry flair of the E-Street Band and his smile always make me do the same. So in honor of a great musician I wanted to highlight a few of the songs where his artistry really stick out for me.
SPIRITS IN THE NIGHT....you can't deny the sax makes this song.
BORN TO RUN...the sax phone part into the crescendo really just hits me like a ton of bricks.
