Be All You Can Be: B 4 Peace

Finally, this project that has been in my sites for a few years is now ready to launch. This is part of the on-going series of "B 4 PEACE" Social Media/ Peace projects that are part of the long term series "Pornography of War."
The twitter campaign is undertaken in Bangladesh by our twitter campaign coordinator Mr Arif and Ms. JC in the Philippines, and our Vermont crew. The project in DC we hope is straightforward, though rarely is anything so direct, but it is the campaign for 4,800 plus people who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though I would have also preferred to commemorate the several hundred thousand dead civilians who have been killed in these wars.
Come out to Washington D.C. on 18 September 2010 at 12 noon on the north side of the Washington monument. Check out www.namayaproductions.com and the B 4 Peace campaign.
More projects coming.

Creative Joy the Modern Renaissance

A sublime and joyful summer of creativity in Vermont. In the beginning of the summer since February I was hip deep in the Beatnik Cafe production for NYC in April and with the Richmond Shepard Theater. The learning curve on creating and making a play is profound, especially someone who learned their craft as a "shade tree mechanic" but in many ways the various productions I had done along the way both of the Jazz Beats, the other plays I had written, and the poetry have all served well for this. Yet, as everyone who works with theater knows, every component of theater is a world unto itself. The world has become so divided into people who only create one kind of theater, one kind of drama, etc.. Or, only a poet of Vermont. Or a jazz poet. Or a photographer of nature. Or a painter. Or a poet of erotica. I am having one of the truly glorious moments where my spirits and sense are alive in my creative journey. Like the Shakespeare sonnet, Summer has too short of a stay. For whatever moment of creativity and joy like this, it does come to an end, it transforms, and like some artists like Picasso, Matisse, O' Keefe and others they were creating until the end of their life. Yes, at 55, though a spry fellow, I am aware of the the vicissitudes of health and life, but as I had said in my other writings and postings on "Obligation" my obligation is to wake up every day and create. My creative pallet is writing (poems, plays, essays), painting/ drawing, photography,design, sculpture, multimedia, and performances.
I do not feel overwhelmed or manic. Though sometimes I do feel a little bewildered -- I start to draw and the power of a poem draws me in. The pastel drawing is a collage and then realize there is a part that is a jazz guitar lick. Curious. I am allowing myself to float on that river of creative instinct,allowing the winds and the changing tide to carry me along. That is freedom! The line from "To Althea from Prison, "Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage:minds innocent and quiet take that for an hermitage, if I have freedom in my love, and in my soul I am free, angels alone that soar above enjoy such liberty."
This personifies the power of creativity which is love. The love of life, the affirmation, the connectivity to the power of life. Though the journey is about "my" creativity, it is very much an invitation for other people to engage in their own discovery. A sublime joy is a blank paper and box of pastels or pens. Playing, my classical guitar and listening to what the guitar wants to bring forward. The exquisite phenomenology - the paper- artist- life. That is the dialectic. The essential conversation.
I am sometimes distracted by all the commotion of the world, all the glitz, excitement, and that isn't even including the commotion in my mind.
In this age of instant messaging, instant oatmeal, instant everything...there is such a paucity of genuineness. The creative process brings us right into that moment. The creative process is the bell in the meditation hall, it says, right now. The breeze that comes with the new morning light says, right now. The laughter of an infant says, right now. This conversation I'm having with you now, is right now. Ironically, the "rightnowness" is not instant and it is. It is connecting to your creative soul/ your first breath you took as an infant, the first colors of the world that filled your senses. It is part of the perennial philosophy and it is part of the sublime moment now. The "sublime moment" is when the only moment is here as you breathe and it is as if you had the eternity of time to enjoy it. William Blake said, "To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and Eternity in and hour."
As an artist, when I am at my best, through my poetry, photography, or performance work -- it is about the creative experience right now. With my performance stories I am at my greatest joy when I can create the entire show on stage drawn from the suggestions of the audience. At the same time, there is a profound joy in taking the time to create an elegant and well crafted work. The task is to find the balance, the spontaneity of the moment, and the depth of time to fully develop the work.

I am a Renaissance artist, in a non-renaissance world. Other might say, hyperactive, hypercreative, even more pejorative? I want to so very much share this creative joy, delight, and power in this discovery process. Yet, I use the appellation of Renaissance artist with great care, as a person who is profoundly connected to their creative journey, the constant process of "Rebirth".
Painting and drawing: I have some of my new drawings on the website. Some are abstract. Some are representational such as my series "Pentagon Man" a nine foot tall Pentagon headed creature with a large ICBM penis, serviced by Miss. Liberty, Congress, and the American Lush Bimbo dittoheads.
$680 billion dollar Penis - This project has been on my sight for awhile. Now it is creating the time to finish the earlier drawings and bringing a student on board to help with the execution.
Beatnik Cafe - Figuring out what is the best way to move forward with this will be a large creative task.
Jubilation: I am your mountain - This amazing story of my grandmother who was an indenture servant from Ireland, who works in an old house in New Orleans with an old black former slave by the name of Sally Jubilation. Sally is a wise woman, herbalist, and the housekeeper. She was "bought" by the Mistress of the house Miss. Emma before the Civil War. Miss Emma from the old Southern Aristocracy though only a teenager bought her with her own money and then freed her. Miss Sally has chosen to remain with Miss Emma. Miss Sally when she meets a person of good character and worth says, "You are a person of worth and dignity." Yet, in the sixty hours I have recorded she is always able to find the worth and dignity of most people she has met. I am almost feeling like I am "channeling" the spirit of Miss. Sally, as I am sitting down with my tape recorder and taking notes, as if I am across from the table. My "grandmother" Miss. Rosa is telling the story from her journals and her memory of this incredible women she met when she was young.
Jazz Lullaby: Dulcita - A new jazz guitar piece I wrote and will record soon.

Many other projects going on. No solo performances schedule besides looking at Beatnik Cafe performances this fall. All of my energy and time will go in the foreseeable future will go to finish the recordings I've started and continuing to coordinate and focus on projects for the Pornography of War:
Tio Namaya - Two CDs worth of children stories and songs
Celebrate Life- Stories, poems and music that are a celebration of life.
Vermont My Home - Stories, music, and poems

Jazz Mu- This is the least commercial but artistically the most important in terms of music and performance. This is the best of my avante garde and experimental jaz word improvisations and sound poems
I have a young audio engineer now on board starting in August for 20 hours a week to help with this and the podcasts
"Turn on, tune in, and drop in to your creative soul."