CIRCLES

today I opened a Doug Aitken installation by performing with Terry Riley on the street in front of Seattle Art Museum with the Seattle Symphony, accompanied by some of my very best friends and most admired colleagues - including Paul Taub who took me to coffee at 19 and convinced me not to quit playing clarinet and leave seattle to pursue a life as a concert producer instead (I didn't think I was a good enough musician - a battle I'm sure I'll continue to fight my whole life, but luckily I learned what music is really about and now I know better)...and after that spectacular performance I went to work on some crystal beth with 7-piece band & 12-piece choir for the SJCE/Bushwick Book Club premiere at Town Hall next week 3/28 & 29.....I can't believe I'm celebrating 15 years in seattle this year - what an incredible place. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world that would allow me to be who I am so fully - in all its dynamic complexity. It's good to have a home. It's good to have a tribe. Music is the Best.

((( MAKE SOME NOISE PEOPLE )))

it seems music is our first collective response in both deep tragedy and great celebration, universally....
I think that means it's fundamentally important to humanity.
Yep, I think so.
collective activation - expansion of presence
people need a way to deal with themselves
a way to deal with all of it
((( make some noise )))

STRENGTH IN VULNERABILITY DECREE

strength in vulnerability decree: today is suck it up and embrace your insecurities Monday!

that's right! today I will embrace my least favorite activity as a performing artist - the photo shoot. I play music. I'm not a model. I am best experienced in motion - in the transmission of vibration - preferably with audio. But if you want people to ask you to do things, you have to tell them your name. and if you want to receive someone's recognition, you have to show them your face.

perform for 200,000 people, surrounded by video cameras and a 25ft press gallery directly in front of the stage - no problem, fully confident. moderate a panel of creative thinkers for an audience talk back, produce a concert, present a marketing plan or pitch a proposal to a board of directors, - no problem, fully confident.

stand still and have your photo taken solo to accompany an interview piece.....MOST. DREADED. PART. OF. MY. JOB.

It's an honor to be featured, I am proud that my work and my clients' work is being noted....

but this is one of those moments that I feel like the path would be easier if I was a dude doing this job....it feels like they face less scrutiny & objectification when it comes to their physical image accompanying their work....but I'm not a dude...I'm a lady....a fiercely fire-y, ferociously energetic lady that believes the world can be changed through the power of creativity....so she's gonna go have her picture taken....

I'm not here to be looked at - I'm here to be felt - but to do that I have to let you see me.... ...it's a relationship dependent, time based activity....

REMEMBER

REST IN SOUND BUTCH

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/arts/music/butch-morris-dies-at-65-creator-of-conduction.html?_r=1&

reflection. mentorship. intuition. discipline. focus. intention. sound. lineage. friendship. community. expression. communication. transcendence. understanding. compassion. symbiosis. inspiration. humanity. creativity.

Butch Morris framed it so perfectly - "it's not what is it - it's how is it moving"

For me personally, working with Butch was an answer to a question - he changed my life. In our correspondence following his conduction work in Seattle, he offered the following thoughts...which I think in this moment - are for all of us:

"If I was able to give you “something” (anything positive) to further your adventure, I am very (very) happy and grateful to do so. I can only suggest that you continue your quest, answer your questions, and ask them too as I have had to, to arrive at this point in this life…. And continue to “understand” to the best of your ability. YOU ARE WELCOME, YOU ARE WELCOME, “YOU ARE WELCOME” to the best that life in art has to offer. But you “must” seek and you must “be”….all is before you. “All” of our questions are important… Have patience and the answers will come.. All of what we have to do takes time… Trust yourself. Disappointment is a part of what we all have to live with… but the joy will overshadow disappointment. We have to give ourselves time to learn,…be patient and trust yourself. ….all will be OK. It is always a great pleasure to work with a mind such as yours… You have many friends in this universe of music…they will find you and you will find them. ...stay articulate."

I am so very thankful for Butch Morris and Wayne Horvitz. ((((( <3 )))))

http://bfeyeheart.blogspot.com/2010/03/betting-with-butch.html

Yo Butch - am I playin too much? Now you're tellin me more movement and I'm wonderin where the groove went are we in development? Yo Buch - am I playin too much? (chick influenza)

Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris, Bobby Previte...After All These Years (WH) > LISTEN https://soundcloud.com/wbhorvitz/07-after-all-these-years-1

photo by Daniel Sheehan

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY FRANK!

January 5, 2005 the Frank Agency website was launched, and a new life was born. 13 years of arts administration….concert production, publicity, grant writing, development, booking, management, strategic planning, promotion, marketing, box office, outreach, communication, communication, communication….and 8 years ago I embarked on an idea… What if instead of every individual working to develop their single network of resources, we banned together – pooled our information, collectively worked towards trying to strengthen our efforts and possibilities, and supported each other to build something bigger than any one of us could create on our own – simultaneously challenging each other to step up to the fullest manifestation of ourselves…. …..I started trying to create a hub of institutional, organizational, structural, communal, activated knowledge revolving around the notion that every artist has a valuable voice and contribution, and somewhere out there, there’s an experiencer (audience) who wants/needs to hear exactly what they have to say, and presenters who want to create a plane for that exchange to occur….and these things should be more connected – more accessible – deeply working together to explore the cavernous aspects of our humanity. A lot has happened in 8 years – twists, turns, ups, downs – there are things that could have been done so much better, there are things that were absolutely astounding. But the truth in the work has remained the same- at it’s root the theory that “an emphasis on creativity in a culture gives rise to creative solutions to social problems” I am still as scared as I was 8 years ago – scared that I have no idea what I’m doing, terrified that I’ll not help at all, fearful that it’s just not possible to elevate something so fleeting & intangible in a world of greedy commodity driven idolatry. But, I’m also more confident and more sure than ever that my theory is correct – and that no one knows what they are doing, and that we’ve already helped, and that it has to be possible to elevate the fleeting & intangible because it is the very essence of our existence. and that our makers, and culture creators, can take us in to aspects of our being we do not understand, cannot control, do not see, but have to deal with, and are driven by….they help us dance with, and sing with, celebrate and release the full complexity of human experience….art is the discipline of being…. I am so grateful to every one of you who has participated in this idea – every artist, every experiencer, every space, place, presenter, and partner – it has been an incredible journey, and I believe so much more is possible. In another 8 years I’ll be looking at my 40th birthday – and little Frankie will be able to drive. It’s time to build…. Thank you for 8 AMAZING years

THE AMAZING BUDDY WAKEFIELD

please have a listen....I had the AWESOME experience of breathing with Buddy by fire and music with great humans in the home of a good friend a couple weeks ago, and was so very relieved and charged to hear someone find the right words...thank you Buddy Wakefield... segments of what he dove into that night are featured in the video and poem below...I've developed a love affair with his work and perspective. We Were Emergencies (by Buddy Wakefield)

We can stick anything into the fog
and make it look like a ghost
but tonight
let us not become tragedies.
We are not funeral homes
with propane tanks in our windows,
lookin’ like cemeteries.
Cemeteries are just the Earth’s way of not letting go.
Let go.

Tonight
let’s turn our silly wrists so far backwards
the razor blades in our pencil tips
can’t get a good angle on all that beauty inside.
Step into this
with your airplane parts.
Move forward
and repeat after me with your heart:

“I no longer need you to fuck me as hard as I hated myself.”

Make love to me
like you know I am better
than the worst thing I ever did.
Go slow.
I’m new to this.
But I have seen nearly every city from a rooftop
without jumping.
I have realized

that the moon
did not have to be full for us to love it,
that we are not tragedies
stranded here beneath it,
that if my heart
really broke
every time I fell from love
I’d be able to offer you confetti by now.

But hearts don’t break,
y’all,
they bruise and get better.
We were never tragedies.
We were emergencies.
You call 9 – 1 – 1.
Tell them I’m having a fantastic time.

MATTER

you matter
you make a difference
you affect things

and you want to matter
you want to make a difference
you want to affect things

how wonderfully convenient really.
so, own it

LIVING ROOM PARTY 66

(no more words but impossible to sleep)

LUXURE ROUGE IN NOVEMBER