LIVING ROOM PARTY 62

Sketch_Kumbda

(sorry computer microphone...you are no match for the crystal beth)



....you guys should hear all the parts happening in my head along with this, sometimes I forget - no one else can hear them beth, it's your own private party until you orchestrate...boom boom band coming closer every day :)

CRYSTAL BETH - BAD FOR JAZZ

Presented by Bad for Jazz, Crystal Beth did a 50 min set on Hollow Earth Radio!

I think I'm going to use it as the first Crystal Beth recording for sale...there were some problems, you know, songs I started to fast or little things like that, but overall I felt it was my strongest solo set yet...it was the first true solo synthesis of my improvised and compositional personas and I got totally swept away in the music - FINALLY!

No nerves, no self abuse, no fear...just pure CRYSTAL BETH!!!

Doing a solo set is hard work, keeping the energy up and moving as a single person is really something intense....but after a year and a half of baby steps I finally feel confident enough to start booking the project on bills with other bands.

(Thank you Bad for Jazz for the opportunity and invitation to do whatever I wanted! Artistic freedom makes for artistic bliss!)

POST MOTHER MAY I PHASE 1

I've finally been able to do a few updates to the Mother May I blog...there is still much audio & video from the week of performances to sift through, and eventually it will make its way up there as well...

I am so grateful to all of the artists & experiencers with whom I shared the installation week. It was unlike anything I've ever been a part of artistically, let alone created! I still haven't found the right words to truly process the experience.

Unexpectedly, a catharsis sanctuary was created out of that space with those connections and intentions....it healed me deeply, and based on the numerous letters and comments I have received, I feel it worked on a number of other people as well. Thank you again for your deep participation and vulnerability. As I move forward into Phase 2 of the project I have a much greater understanding of the potential of the piece....this is only the beginning.

"Mother May I learn from you, but find my own voice - transforming difficulties of the past into opportunities for the future?"

http://mothermayimakewaves.wordpress.com/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK!

International Frank Day!!!!
(happy 7th birthday little frankie)

After 6 months of conception, knowing it was time to pull the 5 years of arts support, administration, production and development experience I had into a single camp, unified under a single umbrella, I took the last of my student loan money to buy a laptop & printer and hire a web designer/developer...on January 5, 2005 the Frank Agency website was launched, and a new life was born.

7 years later, A LOT has happened....it constantly changes and shifts and grows and evolves, but the mission stays the same - to bridge the spaces between artists, presenters and audience members. I have had the great honor and privilege of supporting an endless list of astounding individual and organizational creators in the clarification, articulation & amplification of their vision/voice......AND THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF WHAT IS TO COME!!!!

An emphasis on creativity in a culture gives rise to creative solutions to social problems.

THANK YOU for 7 AMAZING years!!!!
xo - love - FRANK

LIVING ROOM PARTY 61

Sketch_New Year Dreams



prefunk living room party on NYE...
before the eye liner & sequins came a new crystal beth sketch...
I was thinking about all the amazing things that happened in 2011 and all of my hopes for 2012....some people are concerned about this year, I myself feel like we are on the brink of a paradigm shift that THRILLS me!!!

It's not going to be easy...in fact, at times it will be downright painful, but together we can change the course and create a more abundant future. An emphasis on creativity in a culture gives rise to creative solutions to social problems. I promise you that I will do my part, with every fiber of my being, throughout every breath I take...please promise you will do the same...we're in this together - I'm human, you're human, we're all human. It is a shared experience...



....An emphasis on creativity in a culture gives rise to creative solutions to social problems...

make the incision and fill it with LOVE, COMPASSION, and COMMUNICATION!

Happy 2012!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I rang in the new year with some of my favorite people, making music with Jherek Bischoff at this event.

I will be playing with Jherek in NYC at his big CD Release concert in February, performing with the Wordless Music Orchestra and a slew of AMAZING SPECIAL guests including David Byrne & Greg Saunier (Deerhoof) as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival.



More info if you click these words - YEAH!

FROM THE ARCHIVES

a photo from 2005 where I'm seen alongside some of the gods of clarinet after we improvised together briefly...generations of greatness...

L-R: BF, Eric Mandat, William O. Smith, and Sean Osborn
(Sean taught me, Eric taught Sean, Bill taught Eric & Sean)

BISAFURY

There is so much great fury to come with this new project featuring Jessica Lurie, Samantha Boshnack and myself....we kicked off a future of activities by playing with Paul Kemmish (bass) and Olli Klomp (drums) in an all improvised Christmas Eve show at the Seamonster...

It was really quite fun - with the exception of the drunk dude who faceplanted into the band, and the other dudes yelling disrespectful things at us the whole night....a note: yelling things like "come on clarinet girl, show me what you got" and "yeah trumpet girl, give it to me" do not aid the music...in fact, as I demonstrated - it makes me stop playing and wait until you shut the fuck up before I will continue to burn...women play instruments just like men do, we are badass and it sounds even better if you can hear the music instead of listening to jerk offs trying to get up in our business...imagine that...I chose not to break the flow of the music to address this problem with the audience, but after much post show thought, know that in the future, I will get on the mic and make you look like an asswipe in front of all your friends and the other hot women in the audience - so be ready.

BISAFURY will be playing in NYC in February, hoping to work out some heads and such since it's a composer heavy project...

TO THE FUTURE!! WITH BISAFURY!!!

(photo by Sparky Collins)

TANGO AHORA! MUCH MUCH MORE-A!

I am loving this tango band...and I have a feeling we are going to dive in even deeper in 2012 to create some really breathtaking sounds....more to come...

CRYSTAL BETH'S FIRST CLUB SET

After a year and 3 months of performances at salon parties, cafes, and galleries I was ready to take Crystal Beth into the club environment....it's a very different experience to do a solo performance in a club setting, it is a very uncontrolled environment and a bigger room to fill up both sonically and energetically, but I felt like it was time, and having the invitation to do it at Wayne Horvitz's new club, the Royal Room, seemed like a perfect fit and perfect timing...SO I DID IT!!!!

I dedicated this set to the members of Kultur Shock, who in 2009 jerked me back from the throngs of sublimating my personal artistic mission...plans were in the works for me to move to Chicago to get a masters degree in arts policy when I got hired to go on tour with Kultur Shock to Russia - through Shock therapy I empirically realized the greatest contribution I could make to the world was to perpetuate MY most authentic self (not just the authentic self of others) truly and unabashedly....I came home from Russia and changed the structure of my entire life to align with this true objective, and I continue that adventure daily...THANK YOU KULTUR SHOCK


Crystal Beth Live at the Royal Room
December 19, 2011

Djelem, Djelem
Invocation & Thanks
Rally
Ghost
Siberian Delirium
Buddhas & the Bitches
Doshi Dei

SAM BOSHNACK QUINTET

For the opening weekend of Wayne Horvitz's new club The Royal Room, Samantha Boshnack created a new project and wrote a suite of new music for the new venue....

The band featured Sam (trumpet), myself (clarinet/bass clarinet), Joe Doria (piano), Isaac Castillo (bass), and Max Wood (drums).

Sam is one of my best friends, Frank Agency clients, and one of my all time favorite musicians/composers...and yet, we rarely get to really play together. THIS WAS AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I look forward to more in the future and hopefully there will be audio to post soon...

ALSO - SUPPORT THE ROYAL ROOM...THIS IS WHAT COMMUNITY IS ALL ABOUT!
http://theroyalroomseattle.com/

DUETS WITH TREY GUNN

After 7 years of friendship and a handful of collaborations with me in the business/administration chair, I finally got to play with Trey this past December.

I had a strong hunch that it would be beautiful, but I really didn't expect the level of communication & magic we accessed....it was, to echo Trey's words, "SUBLIME"......

A recording was made of the evening, and hopefully that will surface in the not too distant future.

I'm still swirling from it really, all of it, and can't help but wonder, if that's what happened when we played together for the very first time - in the very first moment - with no plans or preconceptions, then what could we do if we actually developed something, both improvisationally and compositionally....I honestly do hope there's an opportunity to find out...

COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT

This December I had the great opportunity of doing my first presentation on my current compositional practices - the blindfolded pieces and cross-stitched soundwave scores.

Thanks you Washington Composers Forum & Jack Straw!
http://www.jackstraw.org/programs/cspot/Composer_Spotlight.shtml

some of the blurbage..

Jack Straw Productions and Washington Composer Forum present
Composer Spotlight:
BETH FLEENOR
The Focusing Power of Form

Wed, December 14, 7:30pm

Composer Beth Fleenor offers thoughts, sounds, and a short performance expanding on her ongoing installation Mother May I, which features cross-stitched sound wave scores, as well as her developing etudes for Blindfolded Ensemble.

Exploring the power of focused intention, Fleenor has created a series of Movement Exercises for Blindfolded Ensemble that she uses as training pieces for unifying collective communication. In addition to performing and recording the works, she uses the blindfolded concept to develop ensemble awareness, as a means to move seamlessly through other forms of improvisation and composition. The blindfolded concept is currently being applied in training for performing the graphic notation of Mother May I's cross-stitched sound wave scores.

Both pieces are expansions of Fleenor's work, which revolves around committing to your individual voice and projecting that intent through the score or form you are working with.

Recorded works will include Seattle Jazz Composer Ensemble performances of Movement Exercise No. 1 for Blindfolded Ensemble, created through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program, as well as tracks from the Mother May I opening which featured Fleenor performing clarinet, voice & electronics with a seven-piece ensemble.

EXACTLY

"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it spends its whole life thinking its stupid" (Albert Einstein)





(photo posted from unknown internet source)

THE TRUTH ABOUT LESSONS

sometimes you learn the most about what you do want by experiencing things you don't.
the future is bright...very very bright...and full of abundant LOVE


















(photo posted from unknown internet source)