Artist Dates, Week 27 ~ A Little Music and a Lot of Moon

On Friday, March 18th, and Saturday, March 19th I sat outside in my backyard with a bottle of wine, and camera in hand waiting for the moon to rise.  Sometimes it's just the simpliest things that bring you the most joy.

March 18th Moon

March 19th Supermoon

On Saturday afternoon I went over to the Fine Art & Wine Fest Fest in Fountain Hills and listened for awhile to guitarist Eric Hansen.  A little music and a lot of moon does wonders for your heart and soul.

Only the heart knows how

to find what is precious.

FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY

Artist Dates, Week 27 ~ I Heart Scottsdale

I started out my week of Artist Dates going on Saturday to the Scottsdale Arts Festival.  I got there around 1:00pm and had to park about five blocks away.   Between the Old Town Farmer's Market, the Giant Spring Training game, and the Art Fest...let's just say parking was a BITCH!

I spent the entire day there, so parking a little further away was not going to hinder my day.  I walked the entire Art Fest, then sat and listened to music for awhile...had a little lunch...then went to see the new exhibits at SMoCA...walked around a little more...went to see the Haikou: China Sister Cities art exhibit of painting and sculpture art at the Civic Center Library.

I walked around some more because I love seeing new artists and there were quite a few here at the Scottsdale Art Fest.  Then I went over to the Camera Obscura exhibit. Camera obscura means ‘dark room.’ Functioning much like an early camera, the device projects images of the surrounding Festival into room-sized, darkened chambers.  It was pretty cool.

Then I ended my day by listening to Marmalade Skies playing Beatles tunes.  The most impressive thing was an artist was painting during the concert pictures of the Beatles.  You could not tell what he was painting for about ten minutes, then all of a sudden you could tell the first painting was of John Lennon, and the second painting was George Harrison.  Pretty cool stuff.  Do I date myself with saying "Cool."





My second Artist Date of the week was going to the Scottsdale Desert Stages Theater to see A Raisin in the Sun.   This was one of the most extraordinary performances I have seen in awhile.  The cast was perfect.  I brought a friend from Chicago with me who had seen the original film with Sidney Poitier and was sobbing at the end.  When we walked out of the theater and started talking to the cast, she began to lose it once again...she was that moved by their stellar performances. 

The best career advice to give the young is,

find out what you like doing best and get

someone to pay you for doing it.

KATHERINE WHILEHARN

Artist Dates, Week 26 ~ Spring Events

Well Spring is not officially here yet, but it feels like Spring  with warmer weather, plus the springtime events have started. I love the sights, sounds and colors of Spring.

I went to the el Pedregal last Sunday for their Spring Wine and Jazz concerts.  The group Shining Star performed

It was a perfect day to sit outside and listen to music for three hours.

I also went to The Desert Botanical Gardens to see the Spring Butterfly Exhibit.  They will have eventually about 18 different types of butterflies.  These butterflies, unlike the Monarch butterflies in the Fall, will come and sit on you.  One landed on my shoulder.  I saw many people with butterflies on their arms, hands, shoulders and on their heads.



While at the garden I also saw the John Schaefer Photography Exhibit: A Desert Illuminated.  The exhibit features 30 photographs of cactus flowers of the Sonoran Desert. These stunning macro photographs are wrapped in the visual and contextual embrace of a Renaissance-era illuminated manuscript that connects the human passion for science and art. By placing a sheet of black construction paper behind the cactus, he is able to isolate the subject, intensifying the composition of the richly hued and delicate flower.

I also saw the Ludvic Steel Jam Sculptures in the Garden. Ludvic's junkyard finds are gathered and recycled into lively, impromptu compositions. He reassembles, cuts, reshapes, sandblasts and grinds the materials, claiming to never discard a single piece. The sculptures, titled “Steel Jam Session,” are created as in a jazz jam session —“in the moment,” — with the artist following his intuitive sense. A viewer can see how each sculpture moves to the rhythm of Ludvic’s perpetual jam session.

Only the heart knows how to find what is precious.

FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY

Artist Date, Week 25 ~ The Mystical Arts of Tibet

This was the first week where I came very close to missing an Artist Date.  I have been in the house nursing a cold, and I had been summoned for jury duty in downtown Phoenix.  But since I  did not have to report back to the courts on Friday, I got out of the house and went down to the Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts to see the Drepung Loseling monks of Tibet.   These ten monks are in town for the Mystical Arts of Tibet tour, which is co-produced by actor and Buddhist Richard Gere.

I attended their free lecture on Friday afternoon titled, “From Confusion to Enlightenment: Steps in Inner Evolution.”  The audience laughed with their depiction of confussion by showing a picture of George W. Bush. 

Then I spent some time watching four monks work on building a sand mandala which is located in the lobby. Formed of a traditional prescribed iconography that includes geometric shapes and a multitude of ancient spiritual symbols, the sand-painted mandala is used as a tool for re-consecrating the earth and its inhabitants.

The monks will painstakingly lay millions of grains of sand into place on a flat platform over the four days here in Scottsdale.

The closing ceremony is on Sunday, and the monks will dismantle the mandala, sweeping up the colored sands to symbolize the impermanecne of all that exists.

In the lobby there is also a community manadala which everyone is invited to work on for as long as you like.  There is someone there to teach you how to use the tools to paint the manadala with sand. This practice of mandala painting helps you "live in the now," and get out of your monkey mind that is always thinking and chatting with itself.  I spent a little time coloring in the mandala myself.  It does take concentration and patience, and it does help you drop your monkey mind.

                                                                                                    

We can never obtain peace in the outer

world until we make peace with ourselves.

DALAI LAMA

Artist Date, Week 24 ~ Attended The Oprah Show

I finally made it to Chicago and to the Oprah Show.  :-)  I had tickets for Wednesday, February 23rd, the morning taping.  We had to be there between 7:00am and 7:30am, but we were in line by 6:30 and there were about 120 people there before us.  The staff at Harpo are very friendly and helpful, and they made check-in smooth and easy.  They started calling us to the studio in groups around 8:15.  We had good seats, right in the center directly facing the stage.  A friend of my sister got pulled from our group and they sat her down right in front of the stage.  She was so close to Oprah, she later described the bunions on her feet to us in great detail.  lol

Oprah came in around 9:15 and talked for about 10 minutes before the taping began.  The show was about fugitive mom Susan LeFevre, a.k.a Marie Walsh, a woman with the help of her grandfather escaped from jail in Michigan when she was around 20 years old, and was on the lam for 30+ years before being arrested. Her husband and her three kids didn't know she had been convicted of a crime and had escaped from jail until she was arrested in front of her San Diego home.  The interview lasted just over an hour, and when they took breaks for commercials they were quite short and not as long as the commercials breaks on TV.

After the taping was over, Oprah stayed on stage for just over 30 minutes talking to the audience, taking questions, and even posed for a picture with a woman and her three daughters.  She told us some very funny stories about the first time she smoked pot, how she thought Elizabeth Taylor was a real bitch the first time she interviewed her.   She talked about her dogs, and showed us pictures.  She also took a few pictures on stage for the June issue of O Magazine.  She said she will have her own show on the OWN network starting in September which will a weekly show, and with no audience.

I wanted to go the Oprah Show for the Oprah Experience and that is exactly what I got.  I was really blown away by how long she spent with the audience.  She didn't walk off the stage until about 11:10.   I wasn't as concerned with who her guest was, or what the topic was about.  I have heard she does not always spend any time with the audience...depending on her schedule, or who she has on.  I read on the Oprah message boards people who attended the second taping on Wednesday said Oprah did not stick around after the show.  So I feel lucky we had as much time as we did with her.  Our show won't air until April 7th, so I have to wait until then to see if my face made it on TV. lol  After the show we had a nice breakfast, and then went to the Oprah Store.  I bought a T-shirt and a coffee mug which I already used this morning.  

Oprah and her staff are going to LA today for the After Oscar show on Monday, then they have a month off.  Once they return there will only be 35 shows left to tape.  The Oprah Show goes off the air the last week of May.  :-(   Now I can scratch seeing an Oprah Show off my Bucket List. 

While in Chicago I did some touristy things.  I attended a play at the Steppenwolf Theater called, Sonnets for an Old Century.  The play takes place in a waiting room for the afterlife.  It was very good.

The next night we went to Second City.  They had a 'best of' show for their 50th anniversary.  It was hilarious. I kept the program with all the actors names, so I can see which ones become big stars some day.  I have been to Second City many times and I have seen so many of them make it big.

The next day I spent downtown.  I went to the Art Institute and saw their new Modern wing, then had a great dinner on Michigan Avenue.  Came home early to rest up for Oprah the next day.

I am now home, but I came home with a cold.  I always seem to catch a cold when I am in Chicago.   I needed to get out in the fresh air today, so I went over to the Fountain Hills Art Fair.  I'm staying in all weekend, and just plan on watching the Oscars on Sunday.

A little of what you fancy does you good.

MARIE LLOYD

Artist Date, Week 23 ~ The Dixie Swim Club

Last Sunday I went for the first time up to the Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center in northern Scottsdale to see the Dixie Swim Club.  I liked what I heard, but I didn't hear much.  I had a last row seat on the far right side, and I have terrible hearing when it comes to high pitch voices and accents.  So I only heard some of the dialogue.  The theater was even larger than I expected, and the actors did not have any microphones on them or hanging over them, so I missed a lot of the dialogue.  The audience was laughing a lot...I only wish I could have heard what they were laughing about.  Next time I go there, I will make sure I have a front row seat.

The great thing about getting

older is that you don't lose all

the other ages you've been.

MADELEINE L'ENGLE

Artist Date, Week 22 ~ Bye Bye Birdie

I'm on a roll when it comes to seeing plays.  This week was no exception, and I went to see by myself Bye Bye Birdie at the Desert Stages Theater in Scottsdale on Super Bowl Sunday.  I have never seen this musical before, nor did I have any clue what it was about either. 

The musical was very entertaining, and the cast was excellent.  I've never been in the larger theater at Desert Stages before, so I had no idea I could actually trip the cast with my feet...they were that close to the people sitting in the front rows.

This was the first year we didn't have a Super Bowl Party to attend.  So I came home and watched about 20 minutes of the game with hubby, then the half time show, and that was enough for me.  Football season is now officially over, and there is only hockey and basketball for my hubby to watch.

I'm just getting around to blogging about my Artist Date which was on February 6th because I spent most of my week working on polishing up and improving the 10-minute play I wrote in my play writing class.  I sent it out to three different 10-Minute Play Festivals so far.  Maybe I will have beginner's luck and a Festival will pick my play to perform.  It can't hurt that my Planet Forecast for this week said, "Transiting Venus Trine Natal Pluto:  You're likely to develop a flair for fashion, and you definitely have the panache to pursue a theatrical career or try anything else that is related to the performing arts."  Hey, I'm open to all the help I can get - even when it comes to the sun, moon, stars and planets aligning in my favor. 

Ideas have come from

the strangest places.

JOYCE CAROL OATES

Artist Date, Week 21 - Seeing Oprah in Chicago - NOT

I had a really GREAT Artist Date planned this week.  My sister who lives in Chicago got tickets to see Oprah on Thursday, February 3rd.  I had planned on coming in the afternoon of February 1st, but the Blizzard of 2011 had other plans for me.  :-)   I was actually on the airplane, and we left the terminal, the flight attendants were preparing for departure - then the captain comes on and says we are having problems with the engines and we need to be towed back to the terminal.  We wait, then wait some more.  Finally, the captain comes on again and says by the time we fix the problem we will have missed our opportunity to get to Chicago before the blizzard hits.  My sis was a little disappointed, but my hubby was happy. He wasn't too thrilled I was going to Chicago during a blizzard.  He was to say the least, a little nervous about my being there during the Storm of the Century.

Luckily, my dear sweet sister got our Oprah Show tickets changed to later in the month.  So I am still coming Chicago, and you better be kinder to me this time.  :-)  I wonder what I missed today at the Oprah taping.  I was teasing my sister that if Oprah decided to take her audience somewhere wonderful, and she gave up her chance to go, and wait for me later this month - she will be really pissed off.  (lol)  Or I like to think, the taping we will attend later this month will be way better than the one we missed today, so the Blizzard of 2011 did us a favor.  Thank you - thank you very much.

Anyway, my only Aritst Date this week was still lovely.  I went to the MIM this past Sunday to see the Yound Sounds of Arizona play.  The two groups were sensational.  When I was a kid almost everyone played a musical instrument - it was just what you did.  Today, it is rare to find kids playing musical instruments, they only want to play sports.  I found it refreshing to see these very young and talented kids.  Hopefully more kids will be encouraged to play an instrument. 

Any disaster you can survive is an

improvement in your character,

your stature, and your life. 

What a privilege!

JOSEPH CAMPBELL

Artist Date, Weeks 19 and 20 ~ Playwriting Class

The reason I have not blogged for the last two weeks is not because I wasn't doing any Artist Dates, but one of my Artist Dates lasted two whole weeks.  I took a course in playwriting at the Theatre Artists Studio.  Hal Corley, playwriter and 5-time Emmy Award winner, taught the class.  The class was designed for people who never have written a play before and focused on writing a 10-minute play.  Not only did I write my first play over the two-week course, but I also participated in stage readings for all the other student's plays.  This course was exhilerating - but also extremely tiring.  The course just ended yesterday, and I'M POOPED!

Over the course of the last two weeks, I also managed to go see three productions.  The first two were Hal Corley productions - two plays he wrote and were performed at the Theater Artist Studio.

The first play I saw was Suocera - which means mother-in-law in Italian.  Suocera uncovers the rivalries and lethal dangers in a seldon explored family dynamic - mother-in-law and son-in law.

His second play Mama and Jack Carew is a harrowing look at an unlikely triangle that explores the dark corners of maternal relationships.  Both of his plays are very intense dramas and for mature audiences only. 

On a much light note - the third production I saw was The Producers at the Fountain Hills Community Theater.  All the actors were top notch, and the show was better than I expected.  I was impressed how a small comunity theater could pull off such a large broadway musical - but they did it - and it was GREAT!

Those who lose dreaming are lost.

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL PROVERB

Artist Dates, Week 19 ~ Sunday A'Fair - Peace and Community Day

On Sunday, January 16th I spent the whole afternoon in Old Town Scottsdale at Sunday A'Fair.  The theme for this concert was Peace and Community Day  - A day of unity in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday.

The first musical group playing was a local favorite - Walt Richardson and the Peaceful Warriors. They were sensational.  I could have listened to them all afternoon.

The second performance was another local favorite -  jazz vocalist, Nancy Gee, and her protégée Judy Roberts.  Both women could really belt out a tune.

 

During the break at the concert I went over to SMoCA to check out their new exhibit - Dance with Camera.  Spanning films from the 1960s to today, Dance with Camera explores the visual and conceptual connections between Hollywood musicals, avant-garde cinema, postmodern dance and MTV.

Courage - fear that has said its prayers.

DOROTHY BERNARD

Artist Dates, Week 18 ~ Old Town Scottsdale with Ducks and Tigers - OH MY!

Oregan Ducks vs. Auburn Tigers
BCS Championship Game

I have been too couped up indoors for the past couple of weeks.  I really needed to get out in the fresh air and sunshine for one whole afternoon.  So I spent my Sunday afternoon in Old Town Scottsdale with just myself and no agenda.  First, I went to over to the Sunday A'Fair and heard Sara McAllister Band for awhile.  Then I went to SMoCA to see the exhibit Bridges: Spanning the Ideas of Paolo Soleri. 

Then I went over to Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and saw in their art @ young gallery the exhibition Bridges: Connecting Earth to Sky.  After that I walked over to the Soleri Bridge.  I had of course seen it, but never walked over it before.  Nice!

The downtown area was filled with Ducks and Tigers.  It was great seeing all the restaurants full of people.  I ventured over to the ESPN zone where the pep rally was going on, and watched a little from a far off distance.  Even though I really don't care who wins the BCS game, it was hard not to get caught up in all their excitement.  Their exuberant energy was intoxicating.

Next, I ventured over to the Artisan Market on 5th Avenue.  The streets were also full of musicians and bands, so I parked my butt by each of them and gave them all a listen.

I ended my day back at the Sunday A'Fair listening to Bríd Dower.  All in all, a very good Artist Date with myself.  A little music, a little art, and a lot of crazy Ducks and Tigers.

While you are upon the earth,

enjoy the good things that are here.

JOHN SELDEN

Artist Dates, Week 17 ~ New Year, New Starts

I am not one to make New Year resolutions - never have and this year is no exception.  I make changes when I feel like making changes...like I felt like making changes this past autumn so I started doing this Arist's Way course.

Other than going to see the film The King's Speech which was excellent, I stayed home this week and did more inner work.  I started off my inner work on 1-1-11 doing a global meditation with the World Puja Network.  I love when people from all over the planet get together at the same time and meditate together for humanity and planet Earth.  This meditation on 1-1-11 was to usher forth the next highest potential for humanity and planet Earth in the year 2011.

Next on 1-1-11, I listened to the kick off program for the Awakening Zone...The International Network for Empowered Awakening.  Long story short...I had my own awakening a couple of decades ago.  For the past several years I just no longer choose to hit the snooze button.  It's time to get up and get out of bed.  I'm up..let's go!

Later on 1-1-11 and throughout the week I have been watching Oprah Winfrey's new network OWN.   I am so happy she is now on cable TV.  She said awhile back that she wants to highlight guests she has had on her Soul Series radio show to her television audience.  Now that she has her own network she will be able to do just that...bring it on Oprah. 

Each night this week I listened via the internet to Prediction 2011 Week hosted by Jennifer McLean.  One of my favorite shows was with local Phoenix Psychic and Professional Astrologer Joseph Anthony.   Joseph stated that 2011 is much more significant than 2012 because it will be the year of the great awakening. Mars, the action planet, will kick us into higher gear as it moves into Aries on March 3rd, and we’ll become more aware of self and consciousness. As Mars starts to align with other planets, it will trigger more energy and move us beyond our limits. That's good!  I need a good kick in the butt sometime.

The general consensus of Prediction Week 2011 was that many of us will shift from "seeking" to "manifesting."  Also, we'll experience an increase in our personal intuition and a greater knowing.  All I can say is, "Bring It On!" 

I am what is around me.

WALLACE STEVENS

 

Artist Dates, Week 16 ~ Movie Week

I love movies.  Films are my favorite art form.  Not only do I like seeing films, I equally like discussing films with others.  This week turned into another themed week by chance.  I saw five films this week...two in a theater, and three I rented.  All five films deal with dysfunctional families to some degree and all the trials and tribulations they go through.  I guess if it weren't for dysfunctional families and their stories, then what would a Hollywood screen writer have to write about? :-)

The first film I went to see by myself was Rabbit Hole, starring Nicole Kidman.  I loved this film, and it is on my top 10 best movies of the year list.  The film was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name.  Nicole Kidman was outstanding and gave one of the most stellar performances of the year.  I hope she walks away with another Oscar...she deserves it.  When I told my friends I wanted to see this film, they all said they could not stomach seeing a depressing film.  The film is not at all depressing, in fact I found it extremely uplifting, and also very comical.  Plus the topics brought up in the film are right up my alley.  I am one of those What The Bleep Do We Know thinking people.

Next, my hubby and I saw The Fighter.  Both of us liked this film very much. It's based on a true story, but exactly how true the story is..I'm not too sure.  Nonetheless, it was enjoyable.  This film should be honored with many awards this season, especially in the acting department.

Over the week I also rented a few movies that I wanted to see, but never got to the theater to catch.  So continuing on with dysfunctional family week, I rented Mother and Child, City Island, and Cyrus.

Mother and Child

As much as I like The Kid's Are Alright, I liked this film even more.  Now this one was a real tear-jerker.  This film only made a little more than one million dollars at the box office and was only in a handful of theaters around the country.  Too bad because it was a great film.  Annette Bening is even better in this film than she is in The Kids Are Alright, and sadly she is not being recognized for this stellar performance as well.

This film is a HOOT!  Another great film which only made six million dollars at the box office.  This film is laugh out loud funny.  I rented it because director/producer Stephen Simon of The Spiritual Cinema Circle highly recommended it to the circle members.  I am glad he did, because this film is a real gem.



The next film I rented I thought would be very weird and quirky, and it was, so it did not disappoint.  The characters in this film were by far the most dysfunctional of all.  This little filmed made over seven million dollars, better than the other two films.  Even though I liked it, it was still my least favorite of the three films I rented.

I prefer to see films on the big screen, but I don't always get a chance to see them in movie theater.  Thank goodness they come out so fast on DVD and Blu-Ray these days.  I love films so much that I will always watch all the extra features on a DVD or Blu-Ray.  If I really like a film, I will even watch the whole movie with the director's commentary if there is one. 


Next movies I am planning on seeing are True Grit, The King's Speech, and Blue Valentine.  Movies I missed seeing in the theater but are waiting for them to come out to rent are Get Low, Conviction, Never Let Me Go, and Nowhere Boy.

What a man thinks of

himself...determines,

or rather indicates,

his fate.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU