Saturday, November 29, 2008

By the Light ...A celestrial Joint this week


Holiday Get-Together: Jupiter, Venus, Moon~3 Brightest Objects In Night Sky Will Make Unusual Joint Appearance During Thanksgiving Week"


Starting Thanksgiving evening, Jupiter and Venus will begin moving closer so that by Sunday and Monday, they will appear 2 degrees apart, which is about a finger width held out at arm's length, said Alan MacRobert, senior editor at Sky and Telescope magazine. Then on Monday night, they will be joined by a crescent moon right next to them, he said."



Thursday, November 27, 2008

When you say it cannot be done~someone went out and did it

http://www.maniacworld.com/art-in-the-eye-of-a-needle.html

Interesting his comments about teachers making him feel small, that he was stupid.And that he was a lonely 5 year old building houses for ants.It shows that people really need to grasp there are numerous learning styles. And how many potentially genuises have been squash because of someone's opinion that it cannot be done.

Wiords are indeed powerful.

This artist who cannot read or write recently sod his collection for 20 million dollars. I think it is poetic justice.


Made me think of these quotes:

Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail. ~Theodore Dreiser, Life, Art, and America, 1917

The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep. ~Paul Strand

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.~Mark Twain

Tuesday, November 25, 2008


Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~ Dr. Seuss

If you were to leave me ©08



You remind me of a sunrise," I said

on the day my eyes fell on your face.
And your name becomes my mouth,
Feeling like chilled honeydew melon on parched lips
While Santa Ana winds carried on all around me.
That I be in the right place, you to me & I to you & you to thee…
I am as here as I could be gift wrapped by your words,
And a dressing gown of your voice and draped in your smile.
If you were to go away right now it would be like the air stopped at half past not anything
If you were to leave me now I would be like Shakespeare’s
To be or not to be that is the question whirling on the Ferris wheel
If your were to leave me now all I would have is
A melody of silenced stringed notes…,
A cosmic symphony of no mores
That would have an audience of one
Though you may never know of how I deeply I loved you…
I vowed I would never forget you
Though your name had been quieted by time
Jubal…
This is what I remembered of love to be like at 16.
All rights reservedJHM912-08©

Monday, November 24, 2008

Métamorphose-transformation


Yesterday I thought tI had fallen asleep for the night only to discover that what I had done was taken a long deep nap. I woke up at 8:30p wondering why it was so dark outside for it to be morning ? I sat rather laid there as usual being still and thinking while waiting for daylight, bu it did not happened. Then I became puzzled and honestly a bit confused & unsettled. I realize having move to a new area of the country that daybreak is a little later, but it should not had been that dark if it was indeed morning.


Nothing told me to check the time and when I finally did it added to my confusion as it said 8:30, but I filed to see the PM.


When I guess was lucid enough to realize I had not slept the night but in essence took a long hard nap that I felt better though some residual part of me was still out of sort. I now know that what happened to me is not uncommon, but it was still unsettling. But now that I was more oriendted and gotten over that it was not morning, I got up and then was struck with one word to write about: Tranformation and considering my burgeoning fascination with French: métamorphose (beautiful eh?)


I wrote the following which was part of an introduction text::
Thesaurus:
shift, translation, transmutation
Noun:
· 1. the act of
transforming or the state of being transformed
· 2. a marked
change in appearance or character, especially one for the better
· the
replacement of the variables in an algebraic expression by their values in terms of another set of variables;
· a
mapping of one space onto another or onto itself;
· a
function that changes the position or direction of the axes of a coordinate system

2008 has been a decisive year for me.

If I knew back in January what was to transpired I would have been fraught with fear, shivering/quivering in my figurative boots. Would I have frozen like a deer caught in the headlights and paralyzed to move? Perhaps, but this was one of those times when ignorance was indeed bliss.

I've not been a fan of surprises or unexpected curves which may seem strange to people who know me as I work purely improvisational, very organic but usually I am in a in the driver's seat. Perhaps because I trust myself well enough when I am working improvisationally that the outcome should and would be what it is maybe the paramount reason why my new beginnings this year came out as well as it did despite all the turns and twists...

Two weeks ago I became a grandmother for the 8th time, the first for my son. The day before I moved into a tiny studio up in a lovely, peaceful scenic hills after moving clear across country to live in Oregon.

As a visual artist & poet it suited me just find. I have yet though in time I will, intergrate myself into this very eclectic, culturally rich communtiy as I need time to be still and allow my transformation to continue, to process what I have learned thus far.

I have not had much of an opportunity to visit here over the last few months because I have crisscrossed, full circle twice around this country, photographing places I had never seen, reuniting & with people I have had a long over 3 decades of history with while relinquishing some people and somethings along the way.

Some of the time, I did not think I would be able to breathe and it does not mean that everything was bad or handle badly. But you know what, I DID breathe and I did handle things well and what I could not I was ok to as I was able to transform some of it and others I left alone.

And in the process I also released some weight. I've expereinced eating raw food & delicious organic food, became a lot more active then I used to be in the last few years and in the process started transforming myself. I had been dreaming a lot this past year and 2-3 reoccuring dreams. I knew my subconscious was talking to me and I needed to take heed.

Which is one of the reasons when I decided it was time to "run away" or more like running to this Great Adventure,come what may that it was time.

I had to trust my instincts. A friend in a discussion made this statement: "I Believe...things...Must Fit Me" This was not said in the light of being self absorbed or smug but how at a critical part of maturity,becoming wiser, we seem to know that having approval or permission or justification for living a fullness is not base on someone else giving it to us. We accquire it by doing it.

So now this is what I am doing. For years I have dreamnt of creating fucntional art as in home furniture among other things as well as write a book. I want to create what I call my Mea*Moona gardens though I have little gardening experience. Well guess what? I will be doing it now in my new studio in the woods


So now here I am and l looking forward to what will happen next and be thrilled beyond measure with what could be. I expect there will be valleys ans well as mountains and won't be up all the time, but as I read in a quote:


"When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand on or we will be taught to fly."


I read something that the producer Qunicy Jones said in a television interview and that was "to dream BIG and even if you only do half of it, that it is still ok"


I am watching a lot of folks and loving the transformative elements that their efforts brought forth. We never ever realy stay the same, not completely and probabably shouldn't. Makeovers are good, but I like "make-up" instead. Making over strikes me as covering over somethting already there rather then making up as in improving. The core of who we are remains stable we tweak ,adjust , refine, mature transform, a marked change in appearance or character, especially the better.


As I have spent the last few days going over, updating deleting things that has been put off for the last several months while I was on the adventure I came acros in several places some of my goals for the year and really was delighted albeit surprised over the one I finish and did it seamlessly and did not take as much work as I initally thought it would be. I was even more surprised which ones I did not do but still can.


So woudn't it could it not be that way for any of us especially when it comes to our individual efforts toward our dreams and aspiration?


Now that I am in the process of métamorphose and see some of that manifesting itself in ways I had least expect to be that just accept it. We can all have that time to appreciate due process, that we can indeed evovle into all that we can become that our efforts will not go unrewarded, simply that it may not come in the manner we expect for it to be.


A change is gonna come, just perhaps not in the way we want or have control over.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

MacArthur Genuis





An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one. ~Charles Horton Cooley


Way to Go Ms. Mary!

Mary Jackson, fiber artist: 2008 recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation genius grant. Video of Mary Jackson on the Craft in America web site.http://www.craftinamerica.org/artists_fiber/story_118.php
Now that's what I'm talking about!

16th & Vine




Greg Carroll Quartet performing in the Blue Room





The Blue Room"mural photograph by JHM07







Lyrics by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 1951 recorded by Wilber Harrison





I'm going to Kansas City



Kansas City here I come






I'm going to Kansas City



Kansas City here I come



They got some crazy little women there



And I'm gonna get me one






I'm gonna be standing on the corner



Twelfth Street and Vine



I'm gonna be standing on the corner



Twelfth Street and Vine



With my Kansas City baby



And a bottle of Kansas City wine






Well I might take a train



I might take a plane



But if I have to walk



I'm goin' just the same






I'm going to Kansas City



Kansas City here I come



They got some crazy little women there



And I'm gonna get me one

Friday, November 21, 2008

If Jazz was a Color?


If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn.” ~Charlie Parker

If you find yourself ever in your life in Kansas City,Mo you have got to go to the American Jazz Museum which has one of the most extensive collection of jazz artifacts to suit any sensibility.

Click on and you will see images from my "If Jazz was a Color"? exhibitiob in the Changing Room Gallery featured there. The AJM also house the Blue Room at the famous 16th & Vine where you ears will have a feast to compliment what the eyes dined on.

http://www.americanjazzmuseum.com/?page=showcontent&content_id=23&action=display

There is a excellent sculpture in the backside of the museum, of Charlie "Bird" Parker native son.


American Jazz Museum: 816-474-8463

1616 E.18th Street

Kansas City,Mo

American Jazz Museum Fax: 816-474-0074

Admissions/Box Office: 816-474-6262

Blue Room Night Phone: 816-474-2929-

No Wasted Space...


"20 of 2" Photo~ All Rights ReservedJHM©08

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

~ Aesop, Greek author of fables


People usually talk of "spending" energy and time on others as if once it's used, it's gone. In reality, that effort is a powerful investment because you'll get more in return. When a match lights a candle, the match's flame doesn't shrink--if anything, it grows. In the same way, you'll be even more inspired and successful by building others up. The bonus is that they'll also be better equipped to return the favor. Take action today to make someone's life a little better. Come up with just one nice thing to do for each of the important people in your life, one little thing that can make all the difference. After all, what good does it do to improve your health or your life if you're not going to do anything with it?


Under the Dome




All Rights ReservedJHM ©08 ~All Photographs

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experiences behind him~- Eleanor Roosevelt, human rights advocate


Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Believe it or Not~The Greatest American Hero theme Song

Someone commented that the theme song from the Greatest American Hero reminded them of me. I am flattered and decided to put the lyrics here...Believe it or not it was one of my favorite shows in the 80's...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9cB1K27v1o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt8-iUxZ5Vc


The Greatest American Hero Lyrics
By Mike Post and Stephen Geyer -


Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.

Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,

It should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not, I'm walking on air.

I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

It's like a light of a new day-
It came from out of the blue....
Breaking me out of the spell I was in...
Making all of my wishes come true-.

Believe it or not...
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free...
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.

Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

Chance of Rain~Believing in yourself no matter what






"The mighty oak was once a little nut that stood its ground".~ Unknown



On July 24, 2004, there was a 0% chance of rain in Cincinnati. No way was it going to rain, according to the people who should know best. You know what? Despite millions of dollars worth of sensors, computers, and forecasting systems, the weather experts were wrong. It rained, against all odds.


This is not a criticism of weather people.


It's just a reminder of all the people who were given 0% chance of making it by the "experts," but who succeeded anyway. Whenever accomplishments are on the line, there are always voices whispering, preaching--even shouting--that it can't be done.


Sometimes, that voice is coming from inside our own heads. If you're having doubts about your abilities, just remember: How many times have the naysayers been proven wrong? No matter what anyone says--no matter what you might believe--it can be done. The nut can become a tree.


There's always a chance of rain.

Latter then Former: Wandering around Moon's Mind Today


All Rights ReservedJHM ©08


These are simply my thoughts as I meander around my mind


Funny how life can actually roll sometimes...


I mean I look back at this year for me and say "Whoo, talk about roller coaster ride"!


Since January, I written about new beginnings, making changes, walking on air and having a feeling about moving on to something else. But I now ask myself knowing then what I know now would I have proceeded?



Yes.



Not that I could have stopped much of anything since much that happened was things out of my control. I would have simply been stuck in a place that would have aggravated things, paralyzing me more. The difference for me is to really get that there are things that I absolutely have no control over, but I surely can manage when tossed at me. There have been lots of revelatory dips in seeing people that I had been blinded to for who they were and what they could or would do.



This is not to say these are bad, wicked or evil people but very flawed human beings and not knowing what they may have been going through themselves (or even if they were not) does not condone their actions, but at least for me gives me a certain measure of peace knowing that I could give myself permission to invite them out of my figurative house.



I am being really quiet in my new studio in the woods quieting myself, looking around to reconfigure how I want my new world managed and you know what? I am not sure yet what that will be but I do not have to rush headlong into anything.



There has been a wealth of emotions that are coming to the surface the last few days because I've been still and I am not trying to suppress any of the feelings nor do I have to act on anything. And all the feelings are not necessarily negative, victim minded, or to be pitied or needing to cast myself in a role of helpless or hopeless.



I don't see myself as any of those things. If I had to pick something it would be more of feeling overwhelmed (and that is dissipating) as I have worked on sorting out all the things that have been thrown at me with nary a moment in between to just breathe.



But now I have in this studio in the woods have gotten a few moments to inhale & exhale, to be still (and can you believe this) a moment to be alone. This is a bit disconcerting as one of my biggest gripes this time last year and the earlier part of 2008 of how cut off & disconnected and isolated I had been in NC.



But this is different because this time I get to chose rather then something was being imposed.


There is a certain level of refreshment coming from anonymity though even saying that gives me a certain bemusement as I really standout here. I mean in a small city of 135,000 where African Americans make up maybe 3,000, I am going to stand out without any attempts on my part. In the 3 weeks I've been here I have seen maybe 20 black people on the street. Plus I am a tall, blond older on a cane lagniappe black woman too so I am going to be.



Okay I've wandered off I hadn't wanted to write much lately in my essays as I felt frozen like a deer in the headlights same thing with any other creative ventures outside of photographing what I've been seeing the last few months. But looking back at the pictures has allowed me to have a visual of what I have seen and it has not been all bad. That despite all of the challenges, I have seen beauty and awesome moments that kept me upright and breathing.



Perhaps some of the support and the encouragement takes a form we would least expect. I've criss cross the country twice over the last 5 months and that in itself is a feat that some people never got to do.



And despite the fact that it feels like my body plus everything else has completely fallen apart over this year, it has now put me in a position to take care of what was not done. And though I wanted to go home to New Orleans that perhaps I needed to be here instead for awhile, a minute, a moment, of a stage...



I read this from someone who name now escapes me but it was the questions asked that caught my attention when someone is redirecting things.


Ask yourself the questions:


What did the old me used to do”?


Then ask:



“What will the new me do differently”?



And there lies the challenge.

I think we all know how we’ve done things and if we keep going there without a more positive result then we need to recognize on a cellular level that it ain’t working! So now, what can be done differently? And make no mistake though I know you are brilliant enough to have figured it out, that doing it differently will be met with resistance whether external or internal. Lots of things will crop up in either new shapes or a regurgitated old one to slow you down or to distract you, but as I found out this year, that happening told me I was on my way otherwise there would have not been any agitation as the status quo would remain the same with another year passing.



I've got a lot to do over the next year as I slim down everything around me and then getting used to the new slimmer me (I am not necessarily talking about weight here) to boot. It still feels foreign and new, because it is foreign and new.



Bemoaning the fact this year how I felt like I had lost me while in NC, but then this morning I got to thinking maybe that "me" wasn't me all that time. Or was no longer me and I had to shed it. Or become more of me & enhanced.


I like the latter rather then the former.



Story that Bears Repeating

He Did What He Had No Business Doing

The Story of Art Tatum ~

By Mike Kramer, Staff Writer www.sparkspeople.com


Cheers to a boy who didn’t know any better.


Cheers to a man who didn’t let a little thing like reality stand in his way.

Cheers to a self-taught musician whose creativity and skill is the stuff of legend.


Cheers to Art Tatum, maybe the greatest jazz piano player who ever lived.


Art Tatum was remarkable before he was good. Blind in one eye, partially-sighted in the other,

Art idolized Fats Waller like many boys did in the 1920’s. He wanted to play the piano, and he wanted to play like Fats.That’s where he began. Where he ended up proves what you can do by shedding your self-imposed limits.


Born in Toledo, Ohio, Art stubbornly refused to close his dream off in fantasyland. He taught himself to play using Braille and piano rolls, and listening to the radio and phonograph. He imitated, he copied, he improved.But here’s the really amazing part – Art didn’t know he was sometimes listening to two people playing. When he practiced, he was learning to play two parts of the same song at once! He had no idea, but he did it anyway. He learned it so well that years later, Oscar Peterson heard Art playing and thought ART was two people. He wasn’t the only one.

Art went on to star in the nightclub circuit that cruised through New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and national radio. He created his own original and creative style that made great musical heads shake in awe and bow in homage.Art took great pains to master his craft.


He got so good at what he did that, over a two-day session, he cut 69 singles tracks – and only three needed more than one take.Legends of Art’s skill seem almost plausible. One claimed that classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz was moved to tears upon hearing him play.

It was also said that Art could identify the dominant note in a flushing toilet.


Limits – mostly false ones – can defeat us before we even start. Do you feel handicapped in some way? Does your knowledge that "there are two people playing" convince you that it’s not possible to do the same? Could your goals benefit from a little less knowledge and little more naïve faith?



Art learned that the "real world" is exactly where dreams belong. All the proof he needed came on a night when he visited a club where Fats Waller was playing. That’s when Fats – his hero, his idol, his main inspiration – told the crowd, "I just play the piano. But God is in the house tonight."





Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Evening in North Dakota~Photograph ALl rights reservedJHM©08

Real Love

Hands~ Photograph All rights reserved JHM©08

Do not Half Step


Half Step~Photograph All Rights reserved©08
I heard this quote from Quincy Jones:
"Dream Big...If you only get to do half...it is still Ok"

Moon Watch

November Evening Moon All Rights reserved JHM©08


Go and check out these websites:



Design Drip http://mc5394.aisites.com/IMD132/final

Be prepared for a visual feast with:

Ayo http://www.ayoka.com/


Fenimore Museum: Through the Eyes of Others http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT7fpj12BZw



http://www.gotriadscene.com/profile/detail/6

Saturday, November 15, 2008

A Foggy Saturday Morning







All rights reservedJHM 08

Hello World









Salli Addis Born 11-10-08 1:25pm 7.5 pouds and 19 3/4" l
This is my son and his daughter....

Friday, November 7, 2008

Bubbling Up



Sounds of the Men 12'x8; All Rights ReservedJHM©01
I was sitting in Dunbar Fine Creole Food Restaurant on Feret Street Uptown New Orleans at aJazz Brunch back in early 2001 totally mesmerized with the sounds of the musicians performing. I was sitting at a solitary table for one right up at the band as it was the only space left. Dunbar was a favorite place to dine once a week as they had a killer gumbo on Friday's that was my weekly treat.
When they announced they were going to have a jazz brunch on Sunday's I was game. Good food and good music? How could you lose?
While enjoying my meal, I suddendly notice something that I had not paid attention before as how caught up in the music these fine muscians were. The it hit me.. I wondered what was going on in their heads and music being one of the few arenas that men seem to allow themselves full reign over their emotions. Then the words starting spilling over napkin after napkin until what you see below came into being.
The quilt followed.
That happens sometimes for me the words come first then the visual. Sometimes its a flash of an image
It is still after all this time one of the largest quilts I ever made and is a tribute not only to the men that day, but to all the musicans in my family. I did not inherit the gene to play a musical instruments as my siblings did but I am playing a different melody.

Sounds of the Men ©01


Tonight I ate up the blues...
Burying itself...
Enmeshed completely,
with harmonious
silken strands.
Belly up bass.
That you tickled and cajoled.
Issuing a rumbling thunderous groove.
Lingering cadence under hooded shadowed eyes.
Off in a place...
Goatee half-smile swirling lemon drops off your face.
Saffron tinged wails flecked lazily.
Suffused pushing sprinkles of heavenly notes.

Wafting ...

Brushing upward past aromatic clouds
An atmosphere...
Toward boundless galaxies of stars,
shining in applause for you!
Glistening huge moon shouting...
"Bravo, bravo, bellisimo, bravo!"
Belly filled high steppin' trumpet.

"Tonight as I ate up jazz..."
Seasoned with salsa rhythms.
Mighty, mighty joy-full-ness.
Snares brushed lightly.
Bronzed hands with an affinity to river deep promises.
Head just a'boppin"
(Go 'head! Go 'head)!

"Look at me...
I'm as happy...."

Take me to the bridges of sparkling waterfalls.

"Tonight I ate up lavender stained ribbons of husky melodic blues..."
Tendered jazz from champagne fingers.

Poignantly soothing ebonies and ivories,
just raising Cain!
Coaxing sugared sweetness in your harmonies.

"What are you shielding behind shaded eyes?
Persimmoney blues-man?"

"Tonight as I ate up the jazz..."
In candlelit, twilight hours.
In a secluded vista.
Surrendering to rainforest greens...
The sweetest thing!
Sublime.

"Have some blackberry jam & wine...
If you please".

As I glide over to savannah plains,
to a place they call Smokey Mokes.
I do declare!
When you smile.
So caught up in your own aria...
Pregnant with a covenant.
Luxuriating, basking in...
Blues-hues...
Mooncues...
Moon-blues cheri''.

By the light of the moon...
Fusing ripples of waves and waves and waves of rhythms.

"Tonight as I ate up the blues, tangled threads in jazz..."
The sounds of the men
Safe harbors, secured refuge.
Presenting yourself with the gift...
Giving yourself permission to speak...
and speaking it well,
I do declare!
Profess, I must ...
As I am enthralled...
This spectacle of delights.
While I gorge on the rhythm and muse.

Look at me...

All rights reservedJHM©01

Those Rhtyhms & Hues

left to right: Da Face©07 (on pillar) Sounds of the Men ©99 (in rear) Salsa ©98 right wall

Salsa~Rhythm Dancer 86x96 All rights reserved JHM©98
Shown at the American Jazz Museum 2008

I Wanna Send to ya



I wanna send some swing to ya…
My solitude is not a millstone imbibed in a gilded cup behind translucent shades.Ya see…I’ve been rocked by the wind and warmed by the sun.Is my green blued? As in a finely tuned riff?Or did the purple immersed samba graced a sienna sky?I wanna throw some rhythms to ya…As you incline on the red leather de-vine…With…your…Main…Squeeze.Sharing the sanctuary with my moments .That will groove and then settles behind my right shoulder waiting for the muse…
To begins.


I wanna hold the be-bop for ya…Straight ahead to the road…Where purple moons will come and purpler heavens to meet ya.Incline your ear toward majestic sharps…That grabs and pull ya!
Grace the tunes…
Is my green blue?
Or my round up?
Now swang will ya?
So the funk can get to ya!
I wanna groove the soul to ya…
Suspended, I am.
By the crooning in my heart.
The in-between submerged right behind my left ear where all my hopes and dreams…
Begged to begin
.Love-ness in the yearning-flower, seeking the right words to explain itself.
Showering the scope.
And then…
I wanna exude the blues to ya.
I was born by the rivers and the whistle-walks.
Where the wind ran at liberty and there were no enclosures…
For the spot between my eyes where all that I will be dwells
well.
And the blues continues.
I wanna flow the jazz to ya…
With silvered sculptured treble clefs…
Washing over curried brick clay.
Enchanted with…
Yeah it was…
Mellowed afternoon sun showering over a red leather de-vine.
Toward mellowed days and mellower nights.
And that is what I want to send to ya.
All rights reserved By the Light of the Moon ©02 JHM

Being Mindful

I want it to be known that any comments attributed to anyone that was not there's would only have been done from being unaware and not of malice or wrong intent.

I have applauded the new documentary of Treme and the importance of supporting what I believe to be good work on the part of these young visionaries as they document the lives of my beloved home in all its complexities.

To the one who sent me the comment, my sincerest apologies if anything was misconstrued. My information came from their newsletter and I appreciate you bringing it to my attention and I hope what I edited was sufficient.

Otherwise, please contact me and I will make any adjustments needed.

And yes! I would be delighted to quote you directly. Feel free to contact me?

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans "...













Please go to their website and check it out.
For more information visit:www.tremedoc.com
Better yet, purchase the film and bring them o your community. You will not be disappointed.

You must see this film! Way to Go Lolis & team!
From their newsletter:

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans "...REMARKABLE..."-Variety
LATEST NEWS An HBO Series on Tremé? Tremé Doc on PBS

Our screenings continue to engage audiences all over the globe.

The film has received:
* the "Best Feature Documentary Award" from the Flyway Film Festival in Wisconsin;
* been heralded as "the documentary film not to be misssed" at the Cork (Ireland) Film Festival; and ...
* described as "an intelligent movie that makes a fascinating counterpoint to the many films produced about Hurricane Katrina" from the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival.


MORE INFO WebsiteView the TrailerPurchase the DVDDonate To Our Outreach Fund
Who's Who
Directed by: Dawn LogsdonCo-Directed/Written by: Lolis Eric ElieProduced by: Lucie Faulknor, Dawn Logsdon & Lolis Eric ElieExecutive Produced by: Stanley Nelson & Wynton MarsalisOriginal Score by: Derrick Hodge
Additional music:Glen David AndrewsJohn BouttéEdmund DedeBob FrenchBunk JohnsonGeorge LewisIrvin MayfieldRebirth Brass Band


We are gearing up for more community screenings and a PBS broadcast for Black History Month. You can help us get the word out to your community - there is still much that needs to be done. Please look at the bottom article of this newsletter for ways to assist.
Thank you for your continued support,
Dawn, Lolis & Lucie


UPCOMING SCREENINGS
11/07 - Colorado Springs, CO - Pikes Peak, East Library, 5550 N. Union Blvd. at Noon. Ph: 719-531-633311/08-09,
Colorado Springs, CO - Rocky Mountain Women's Film Fest
11/14, Houston, TX - Nat'l Council for Social Studies Conference
11/15, Wilmington, NC Cucalorus Film Festival
11/22, San Francisco, CA - Society for Visual Anthropology, American Anthropological Association



Lolis Helps "Tremé" Series
Faubourg Tremé Will Air On PBS Stations Feburary 2009
We are happy to announce that the Faubourg Tremé documentary will be offered to PBS stations throughout the country during Black History Month, February 2009. You can help by telling your local PBS affiliate that you want to see it aired in your town. Get The Directors' Cut

The PBS version of the film is edited to fit the television hour at 54 minutes. You can still order the whole 68 minute version here. Hurry, the holidays are coming. Give a meaningful and unique present for all the special people on your list!

Ways to Help
Make a pot of red beans and host a screening in your home.


Have a list of volunteer opportunities available for your friends.Call or email your local PBS station affiliate and urge them to "take the PBS Plus satellite feed" of Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Olreans on and around January 29th for a February 2009 (Black History Month) broadcast.

Encourage your university or organization to contact the filmmakers to present the film and give a talk at their next special event.Purchase the film for your former high school, your local community center, church and/or library.
Buy the film and give it to family, friends, and colleagues who still wonder why New Orleans matters.

This film is a co-production of Serendipity Films, LLC, Independent Television Services (ITVS), WYES-TV-12 New Orleans, Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) and National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC). Major funding for this program was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, State of Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, The Ford Foundation, Southern Humanities Media Fund, Open Society Institute, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities & many other kind people and organizations.

Inside/Out going~ full circle.

Chicago ~photograph All Rights ReservedJHM© 08

I am in this walking on air phase trusting that this adorable, albeit it small, but quaint studio apartment will be mine. The place though small is highly suited for me and my sensibilities providing me with some peace, stability surrounded by nature for a restorative period so I gather my balance and do move to the a larger plane then before.

I can identify of the irony that this place in some ways is an upgraded variation of 16 years ago when I first embarked on the phase that has concluded just this year. When I walked on air to create what is now an established art form (for me). And now 16 years later as I sep out into the air again, I am planning on moving into a similar tiny studio space with all my other trappings away from me so I will not be distracted to do what needs to be done.


Someone mentioned to me that this was a year for lessons and challenges which was an understatement. And I, too, cannot twait to see what writing comes out of it for the book. I had to see if I would step up to the plate no matter what and continue to follow what I yet could not see, through all the turns, disappointments and yes even some humor mixed in it all.


And I did. I am now in a physically geographically lovely place, still missing home but need to be here right now. The stillness is what's important, now. There is enough stimulation I can get if I want between here and Portland, but I needed to be in a space. Now.

This studio is in such a lovely peaceful place and I am surrounded by the loveliness of nature providing a calm idylic place for me to create and where I can take long walks to aid in my continuing healthy living growth. If it turns out not to be this studio there will be another.
I did not know that where I am right now was where I was suppose to be and I have met every challenge thus far sometime with great humor & aplomb other times with what in the world? And still others that should have sent me screaming into the woods, but I did not. This is where I should be for right now, but there is something in this I will get.

It reminds me of a comment someone sent to me today in regards to the time when Sister Oprah had to deal with that whole cow issues some years back and how the defense attorney yell, spat bullied accusing her of things that were not true. Then Sister O spoke of having a calmness come over her and no matter what he said, she knew it not to be true.

Likewise for me I have reached a space that no matter if people shout, scream spit stomp yell curse control or kill & it does not have to make me be what they want me to be.

They've tried, God knows they've tried, & for a split second (from time to time) they've almost had me convince they were right. They were not.

So we keep on and keep keeping on... The fact that I had challenges totally unplanned or desired tossed at me and I met them addressed them, step over them, released them tells me I can persevere in much. What a cleansing process it has been and the load is still getting lighter.

Whatever I have to do I have to do. In whatever length of time it takes to do i and in whatever manner I have it done in. People can either step up or step away.



It will be exciting to see what will transpire and how we are inspired and it is time now for all of us in whatever we endeavor, to step up to the plate...