Featured at Lawrence Street Art Gallery 24 VIII 2012

Fri. 24 Aug. 2012 ~8:00 p.m.

Featured Performer (Me!) for the Poetic Travelers open mic at the Lawrence Street Gallery, Ferndale MI

22620 Woodward Ave. Suite A Ferndale, MI 48220

Though I've played at a handful of open mics since 2006, this is the first time I can recall being the featured performer. If you're on facebook and want to share the event with friends, here's the event link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/474563675889871/

In an interesting loop of life events[1], I'll be the featured performer for the Poetic Travelers open mic at 8:00pm in the Lawrence Street Gallery of Ferndale hosted by Markita Moore.

The open mic officially starts at 6:30 and runs until 9:00pm (at which time lights go out and people are promptly ushered out of the gallery). I'll play a half hour set of dear and fresh tunes.

Markita Moore is one of the first people I met through the open mic circuit. Open mics with hosts like Markita are an important part of our communities--they're invaluable outlets for humanity. I can attest for some that they are precious opportunities to meaningfully and constructively communicate with other people in a safe environment, I've witnessed it firsthand in others and for myself in rougher times[2].

Back to the music: I plan to muster compelling music for my slot. I'll "officially debut" several of my newer tunes, add a pinch of explanation or storytelling, and plan for a dash of audience participation too.

As implied with the word "open", open mics are open to the public.

Hope to see you there!

[1] Why's it interesting to me? Find out at the open mic!

[2] There's a story behind this which you can read, though I won't be playing the meditation at this event: http://elementalmeaningmusic.blogspot.com/2011/05/meditation-on-middle-class.html

In recap:  I thought I'd try making an official premiere of a few new tunes with a dash of explanation or storytelling.  The initial working setlist (about 1/2 an hour of music):

Breathing
Stammer and Soar
Pensive Wail
Courage in Complexity
Lament of the Virtues
Guess who's keepin' it groovy?

Was shortened to about 20 minutes of music and story telling, and it was swell:

Breathing
An Feochan* (by Tommy Peoples)
Courage in Complexity
Guess who's keepin' it groovy?

[Note: the time of this post was chosen for archival purposes...]

Online musical adventures with Ian

I guess this is karaoke for Indonesian reggae?

http://youtu.be/lh3HFgVX0Ts

Hear the fleeting flavors of javanese motif in the breaks!

I actually suspect the reggae rhythm is common and easily discovered independent of other places.  It would be interesting to know if the music really was influenced by reggae though...

Wondrous musical collisions of orient and occident

So much orient in the metal, it's a punch in the primary audio cortex that even Edward Said would approve of.  Sometimes you've got to love notes that sound this "wrong" and savor the tonal and dynamic brutality.

http://youtu.be/f0UMQeLd_UU

[side note: I pretend the location says the "Battle Tree Cafe" to boost the metal-ness of the band in my imagination]

[one more side-note:  I like to imagine that Secret Chiefs 3 appear in whatever village they're supposed to perform in, and enlist most of the village's musicians to play their live concerts--two drum sets?  multiple violinist/violists?  multiple guitarists?  Let's pilfer talented people from the place we're about to perform in!]

http://youtu.be/P1p4Qa_z65g

[last side-note: Secret chiefs have wonderful music, I'm only posting the metal/oriental blends here as I enjoy the novelty of the combination]

Also, Edward Said is a fine scholar and human being in my opinion.  I'll leave it to you to find out why (hint, he pointed out the whole orientalism phenomenon in the first place!  Also, he wrote about the arts too), but here's a good place to start for those not interested in reading his books: http://youtu.be/xwCOSkXR_Cw

A wonderful global funk channel on youtube:

Koto funk:

http://youtu.be/D8S1D2OYm2w

Though it's immediately rooted in Japanese and funk, I'm pretty sure the Wu-Tang clan would have appreciated this stuff.

Shamisen funk:

http://youtu.be/eA87H-wEFV0

Snippets of thought from early in the year

"Find good reasons to trust yourself."
It seems I wrote this at at 03:19 (AM EDT) on January 1st 2012.  Will do!  Maybe I should start a book for generic life-advice statements too.

Also, "The play combined the music of Arnold Schoenberg and the aesthetic of Noh theater."  (p.66 of Art Journal 2012 [winter])  Double whammy!


Perhaps I'll add more re-discovered thoughts here from earlier in January/February...

Transcending known responsibility

What happens when the solution which the world looks to science for really tells us we must be more responsible than ever imagined?

We tend to seek a quick fix through facts yielded by science.  Perhaps someone in history asked: "What happens when we exploit a heavy element like Uranium?"  With intent to answer a perceived need: "we need something to make us more powerful in this war".

The short term answer they sought was yes, atomic reactions can afford a user tremendous power.  But the fundamental truth derived from it was an answer that asks the inquirer "are we responsible enough to consistently meet the challenges that emerge from consequences of this never-before imagined scale of magnitude?"  Whenever we discover a new level of complexity, the responsible answer immediately resets to a decisive "no."  Until everyone is capable of understanding complexity and the ethical implications of the system, it is irresponsible to engage such a system, especially when much of the world potentially has access to it or its potential impacts.


I gave a parallel example to a problem I've been thinking about spurred by a domestic (well, domestic in a national sense) human rights advocacy issue.  It isn't nearly as destructive, but the implications in the science are tremendous and unsettling.  It's not information that you can broadcast to the world unless an established and thoughtful community dialogue of substantial reach is already in place to handle any unrest that may arise.

That said, the issue itself merits action, and countless people are already working on it out of ethical drive even without having all the "hard" empirical data at hand.  This is the uncertainty of courage.  Even if you have few or any reason for an optimistic outcome, it's better to act so that you least put forth the effort.  It's an odd balance of ebb and flow:  there comes a point when one may be the best acquainted and prepared to bring forth challenging and discomforting issues--you become the smartest person in the crowd simply because you know enough about the problem and its possible solution to manifest the transformation of reality.  Therefore, you are responsible for bringing it to light.


Understanding this status incites dramatic shifts in the default attitudes enforced by most of society--we're used to delegating responsibility and may even draw from a sense of entitlement in attempt to justify doing so.  It's ingrained into our elections, in our governmental agencies, and at almost any workplace.  Any time you hear the phrase "it's not my job" in response to another person's problems, I challenge you to carefully reconsider the statement.  What matters fundamentally is not the individual's job, it's their responsibility.  Usually, a "job" is the prescribed objectification of an identity and its associated responsibilities.  This beguiles many in becoming an excuse for them to deny their ability to discern and act on their own behalf.  There exists privilege in being a dedicated audience:  knowing what you do now from hearing--which may place you among a select few--you have the ability to focus your discernment and learn on a different level than others who create.  In doing so, you may cultivate wisdom and act upon it from a different perspective.  Yet bringing wisdom forward with persuasive authenticity requires a degree of courage that almost necessitates one to act beyond measured reasoning.  You anticipate no favorable response from the people you interact with, but you reserve hope your assertions will find constructive reception.

I'll add a slew of paraphrased quotes that reinforced several of my convictions in late February (the 20th) of this year:  The Honorable Representative Shanelle Jackson of Detroit came to the University of Michigan-Dearborn to share her experience as a grassroots elected representative.  She urged everyone to "be an ambassador... [despite knowing a lot of people who love their city], they don't have that Detroit fire-hunger... The people here now need to vest and be an example, ultimately that will draw the new Detroiters".

She also reaffirmed my belief that apathy and complacency only serve to perpetuate injustice.  In response to a question regarding disenchantment with elected officials and Detroit's municipal government:  "When people get apathetic and step away, aren't you endorsing that corruption?  By doing that, you take away your positive energy--the only checks and balance for the desired status quo."

Jackson followed up by saying:  "local safety, clean neighborhoods, some problems are too big for government to solve--that's one on one, hand to hand community work that must be done." [I have 80% confidence in retention of original words in this last one as I wrote them down in shorthand at the event.]

I'm convinced I need to act swiftly.  I cannot un-learn what I've discovered in the research, and it would be irresponsible to leave the issue of concern as is.  Yet without proper educational and community context, I'm definitely concerned about disclosing all of the details to people whom I cannot maintain a face-to-face dialogue with at this time.

Youth Verbose

The waiting for wisdom post stirred another thought:

I recently wrote a long e-mail to a friend in an effort to clarify and remediate an oversimplified brief communication I had sent out earlier. I again realized that it’s really important to be explicit about what I intend to do. As I said elsewhere, I’d rather err on the side of being verbose. This goes hand in hand with what I learned about releasing my website in the life as a one shot operation post: industry does not behoove matters of personal care.

Sometime in March or April I resolved to make more contemplative writings in detail.  Why?  Later on in life when things get too hurried, I might not be able to lay out the principles behind how I look at a situation—a learned opinion might be all I have to lean on.  If I’ve already done the reasoning while I’m still young, it gives ample time for others to see where I’m coming from.  If any revisions are needed, I can do so, but assuming the principles are sound, it won’t be as challenging to grapple with compared to getting started for the first time. 

That does not excuse or exempt an older individual from earning their opinions, but it makes it easier for one’s word to bear proper weight when you have a record of reasoning.

I could expound further but I’m certain I’ve conveyed the core of the idea.

Side note: I’m amazed how much faster typing is compared to writing by hand, I think it would have taken me at least 45 minutes to write this.  This took less than ten.  I’d still prefer using a notebook for diagramming ideas though—there are definitely a few visuals I can associate with this note that don’t lend themselves well to text…

This has been another stream-of-consciousness writing.  I'll probably return, revise it, and make note another day.

Waiting for Wisdom

I just realized how important it is to recognize the timeframes between taking a break and forgetting. The intention behind this behavior is essentially to wait for wisdom--time can give additional perspective to a problem. Papers, projects, conflicts, puzzling life problems, etc. benefit from breaks in chunks, but if you wind up needing a lot of time just to figure out what you were trying to do, the break may have taken too long.

At this point, the behavior can be a tremendous detriment--I'd liken a challenge to the development of a fruit:

A plant needs time for fruit to develop, we may recognize its transition from bloom to a fruit, and may wait for it to ripen. Wait too long, and it loses its potentially nourishing and rejuvenating properties. Wait much longer and you may be baffled to discover a new plant in its place.

I frequently wonder if I confuse delay with patience, and how to make the distinction. Discerning necessitates a clear understanding for the definition of patience, as I'm certain that waiting is a vehicle of patience, but does not embody patience. To the dictionaries (note, I omitted a few irrelevant definitions though the phrase "what's in the cards" comes to mind)!

{Randomhouse} pa·tience [pey-shuhns]
1.the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation,annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss oftemper, irritation, or the like.
2.an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness orannoyance when confronted with delay: to have patience witha slow learner.
3.quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence:to work with patience.
{World English Dictionary} patience (ˈpeɪʃəns) — n

1. tolerant and even-tempered perseverance
2. the capacity for calmly enduring pain, trying situations, etc
3. chiefly ( Brit ) US equivalent: solitaire any of various cardgames for one player only, in which the cards may be laid outin various combinations as the player tries to use up the wholepack
4. obsolete permission; sufferance

There we have it, my rough summary: the capacity and willingness to to endure misfortune, pain, other presumably unpleasant circumstances with calm. Good to know!

The etymology is interesting too, I suspect when we speak of a person who exhibits piety, especially among christians, it has very strong ties with the concept of pain: early 13c., "quality of being patient in suffering," from O.Fr.pacience, from L. patientia "patience, endurance," frompatientem (nom. patiens), prp. of pati "to suffer, endure," fromPIE base *pei- "to damage, injure, hurt"

Enough tangent, let's return to edible things like fruit again!

There's something I like to call "scorched wisdom". Insight from an experience--particularly a traumatic one--has a ripening period. However, when kept within for too long, or when the conditions which incited insight lose their novelty, an individual starts to take it for granted without getting it across. At which point, anecdote begins to lose its vigor. One of my composition professors, Lee Brooks, likened writing a paper to cooking. We muster many ingredients, assimilate or integrate them into one place, and the heat introduced by our thinking presents a unique outcome.

Dwell too much on the same thing however, and a dark, hardened mass emerges from the process. I liken this to encountering people who have endured tremendous challenges, but were so taxed by the experience that they've burned out or are inclined to give bitter nuggets of truth. I've certainly been there before too.

We can use John Kingdon's concept of policy streams and "windows of opportunity" to weigh out what's happening. When problems, solutions, and politics (I define this as an articulation of desired action) are together, it creates a window of opportunity for us to take coherent action toward. For a person who's experience was burdened for too long by a problem, complacency with their situation becomes a real possibility. If one takes complacency, they eventually lose their desire to engage the problem and articulate some kind of action. At this point, even if they're later introduced to viable solutions, the window of opportunity shuts when it comes to actually doing something useful.





Image sourced from: http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862006000800021 fair use disclaimer: I've not copied this image, it's directly linked to its source host and used as an educational aid toward understanding political and philosophical concepts.

The solution to this is simple: communication with others. Share what you've learned, even if it's still an ongoing experience.

Notes and additional references:


Even when I'm not trying, I tend to describe something before I can interpret what I actually tried saying.  I originally gave this post a temporary descriptive title "Patience, breaks, forgetting, and scorched wisdom" that delineated the sequence of concepts I wanted to cover in the post.  I later realized this is a lot about behavior, and I ponder over the structural link between the "waiting for wisdom" and "scorched wisdom" ideas.

The idea for scorched wisdom came up some time around June 24th, and I've forgotten the details behind how they arose. Fortunately, I wrote something on paper about it so I'll try to put it up here later on too.


patience. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved July 28, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/patience


patience. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved July 28, 2012, from Dictionary.com website:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/patience