St. Louis: Duke 'n Jazz

Duke Ellington at Hurricane Club in 1943. Source: Wikipedia.

Duke Ellington's birthday is (was) April 29.

Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

In honor of same, The Focal Point and pianist Christopher Parrish pulled together seven local, exemplary musicians to celebrate Mr. Ellington's gifts.

Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

The Focal Point is an important community space. It calls itself a "listening room." The Focal Point is small, but hosts roots and regional music that includes string bands, bluegrass, folk, Irish, tango, some swing, and I'm not sure what else.

Dawn Weber, Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

With eight musicians on the stage - plus a grand piano! - it was a crowd up there!

Kendrick Smith and Eric Slaughter, Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

The octet was formed just for this performance - they had never performed together before. So the group operated in the spirit of an after-hours jam session - one of the criteria Christopher Parrish used to select the one-night only band members was their familiarity with Duke Ellington's music.

David Gomez and Kendrick Smith, Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

I learned a new musical term during the concert - the "head," which is the melody. After one song, Christopher Parrish explained that he'd wanted to signal the drummer for his solo, but the signal got missed before the musicians "returned to the head" - returned to the melody.

Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

Later in the concert, I saw Christopher Parrish touch his head while looking at the band, after all had done a solo, and with my new knowledge, I took this to mean: "Return to the melody now." I felt right smart.

Take a listen to the 15-minute set in the video below, in which you can relish how each musician gets to do their solo thing and how all eight work together:

Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

The vibe of the group reminded me of my trip to D.C. in 2016, when my friend and I kicked back at Twins Jazz.  That video of the Michael Thomas Quintet below:

Dawn Weber, Kendrick Smith and Eric Slaughter, Christopher Parrish Octet, The Focal Point, Maplewood, Missouri. April 2018.

Creative Life: Jewelry

My newly-born earrings. Columbia, Missouri. April 2018.

The stars and planets aligned recently in Columbia, Missouri, with the announcement of a jewelry-making class.

• I would be in Columbia on this particular weekend.
• I had some earrings in need of repair.
• Although I'm not a pink sort a gal, I've been having an envie for pink earrings.

So it was that, following a morning hike at Three Creeks Conservation Area, a lackluster lunch, and a grand spillage of liquid onto my hiking pants (Note: Do not put a carbonated drink into a thermos and expect to open said thermos without theatrical consequences), I walked into the Heart, Body, and Soul Center for a jewelry-making class by Ms. Addie.

I'd brought my broken earrings with me. To create new earrings, I selected two pink stones and two tiny, gentle-green pebbles. I only spilled the contents of one container onto the floor.

Ms. Addie showed me how to make little wire curl-ettes at the bottom of the pink stones, to keep the stones from slipping off the wire. She pointed out how each of three tools at my little station - all of which looked like generic pliers to me - served different functions: cutting, turning, and moving.

She showed me other smooth moves, too, but like dance steps, I haven't retained them. So I will likely, as she suggested, seek tutorials on youtube.

Jewelry tools (pliers). Source: Vickie O'Dell.

The above photo shows five kinds of pliers. Above my pay grade, but you can learn more about jewelry-making implements here.

Ms. Addie especially likes making jewelry out of found items. Hearing her story of re-purposing pearls she'd inherited from her grandmother inspired me to make something new from my own grandmother's heirlooms. Some day.

St. Louis: Symphony Chaco

Symphony Chaco, UMSL, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

The University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL) hosted the premiere of an original symphony: Symphony Chaco, composed by Gary Gackstatter.

Symphony Chaco, UMSL, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

One hundred choir members (led by Jim Henry) + 100 orchestra members + Native flutist, R. Carlos Nakai + iconic road-trip memoirist, William Least Heat Moon +  writer,  Debora Taffa.

Symphony Chaco, UMSL, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

When you've got 200 living creatures doing something together, in sync, then you've got power in the air.

In addition to instruments, singing voices, and narrative voices, a slide show in a giant overhead screen opened a virtual window onto Chaco Canyon and, at times, animated paint images, which  synchronized with the auditory performance.

The symphony fit well into my limited attention span for such things, which was an added bonus to my experience of it. It lasted about an hour. 

I've been very close several times to going to Chaco Canyon, but it's not worked out so far. Maybe in the future. When I think of Chaco Canyon, I think of a place not far from there, Bisti Wilderness. Which I visited once, but hanker to again, and stay awhile.

Bisti Wilderness, Navajo Nation, New Mexico. May 2013.

The symphony began with Creation and ended with the leaving of Chaco Canyon by its inhabitants, climaxed by the shattering of pottery:

"Breaking pottery is an act of purification and offering, a prayer of release to the afterlife." 

Program note from Symphony Chaco: A Journey of the Spirit

This took me back to two final days in my rooted home: 

Just Stuff. I got a little teary-eyed re-reading this just now.

Mazel Tov! A reader took me to task for what I did. I have no spiritual regret for my action. It felt fitting. I do confess to a bit of a cringe at the materialistic loss.

With last night's Symphony Chaco, it seems I was just carrying on an ancient tradition.           

Missouri: Some Gospel Music on a Sunday Evening

Mid-Missouri Christian Choir, Jefferson City, Missouri. April 2018. Dan Fankhauser.

Although I'm not a Christian, I do love gospel music.

Mid-Missouri Christian Choir, Jefferson City, Missouri. April 2018. Brian Smith.

A Jefferson City church hosted the Mid-Missouri Christian Choir last night.

Mid-Missouri Christian Choir, Jefferson City, Missouri. April 2018. Julie Rollins.

This choir is good.

Like Proud Mary, the song above starts off nice and easy and then it gets to rolling, rolling.

Mid-Missouri Christian Choir, Jefferson City, Missouri. April 2018. Jeannie Sneller. 

I think of some other gospel music concerts I've had the good luck to attend:

• El Paso: Gospel Explosion
• Antigua: Praise the Lord and Pass the Chocolate Kiss
• Opelousas: A Holy Ghost Party
• Toronto: Toronto Mass Choir
• Tbilisi: University Choir

Mid-Missouri Christian Choir, Jefferson City, Missouri. April 2018. Tracy Tackett.

 

Mid-Missouri Christian Choir, Jefferson City, Missouri. April 2018. Brian Smith.

Mid-Missouri Christian Choir, Jefferson City, Missouri. April 2018. Dan Fankhauser.

Missouri: Three Creeks Hike

Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

I joined a hike at Three Creeks Conservation Area hike, hosted by the Sierra Club.


As winter continues to hang on, the morning began overcast and chilly. Begrudgingly, it did lighten and warm some as the day grew.

Nevertheless, petite wildflowers made a showing. Two adept identifiers, the hike guide and one of the hikers, named spring beauties, wake robin (trillium), sweet william, wild plum (tree), pussytoes, toothwort, lousewort, Dutchmen's breeches, bluebells, false rue anemone, [true] rue anemone, yellow violet, common violet, large bellwort, and a couple I'm forgetting.

Wake robin (trillium). Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

We saw the foliage for future blooming may apples, wild ginger, wild geranium, and colombine.

Paw prints. Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

It wasn't just wildflowers. I added two carcasses to my carcass collection: 

Dead frog. Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

A video:

And a fossil. 

Crinoid parts. Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

And a prosaic hiking sight, poop. (I so love how such a pretty, poetic word as prosaic describes something ordinary.)

Poop. Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

 A fruitful walk.


Below, a slide show:

Three Creeks Conservation Area, Missouri. April 2018.

St. Louis: 100 Boots Poetry

Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

Through an El Paso writer, I learned about the 100 Boots Poetry Series at St. Louis' Pulitzer Arts Foundation. The intel hit me just in time to attend the final event in this year's series.

Layli Long Soldier, 100 Boots Poetry Series, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

The final event highlighted poets Layli Long Soldier and Douglas Kearney, authors of Whereas and Buck Studies respectively.

Douglas Kearney, 100 Boots Poetry Series, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

I'll return to the poets, but first some remarks on the Pulitzer Arts Foundation interior design.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri. April 2018.

Clean, industrial. Hard, but softened by colors. Strong, but giving way to the art it holds.

My notes on Ms. Long Soldier

Soft speaking, nighttime-soothing voice, unhurried pace.

"My belief is not a legend." Referencing how Native beliefs about how we all came about are as legitimate - as real - as Biblical (and other) beliefs about how we all came about.

A student asked her once what to write about, and she replied: "Whatever is or was missing in one's life - and start there."


My notes on Mr. Kearney

Smooth voice
Sings a song poem like drum beats
Many voices like changing radio stations frequently
I think of Tourette's Syndrome, his sounds, voices, movements


I've discovered that, as with songs, I often hear the sounds of poetry, but not so much the words. This was the case with Ms. Long Soldier and Mr. Kearney.

This is neither a reflection on the poets nor on me as a listener.


To meet two writers new to me, to hear their words from their mouths, and to enter into the space of the Pulitzer Arts Foundation building .... I am one lucky goose. 

St. Louis: Castlewood State Park: Spring Signs

Castlewood State Park, Missouri. April 11, 2018.

A slow walk on a Castlewood State Park trail on a sunny, warm Wednesday.

The trees haven't leafed out yet, but there are several varieties of wildflowers waving in the breeze - deep purples, some flashes of underside-fuschia, white, periwinkle blue.

Dismembered carcasses of trees pounded by last year's flooding lay atop the grasses.


A sweet, breezy video below of white wildflowers:

Portable: Exercise

Resistance bands

Not long ago, my mother spent time at a rehab center. The physical and occupational therapists introduced her to resistance bands. During my mom's sessions, I'd sometimes do the resistance band exercises with her.

Hoo doggies! I loved how effective they were at flexing the muscles, how easily I could change the amount of resistance for a stronger or gentler workout, and, of course, how portable they are.

I bought my own set of bands. The different colors have different levels of stretch resistance, with green the strongest and red the gentlest.

Although I get a fair amount of exercise with dancing and walking, which gives my legs a workout, I've really neglected my arms. The resistance bands are perfect for building muscle strength for these sad appendages, and I've been using the bands every day since I bought them.

Being a nomadic sort of gal, they are perfect for my rootless lifestyle.

Ferguson: My Living Room

Living room. Ferguson, Missouri. April 2018.

It surprises me sometimes the wash of pleasure I feel from color and clean lines.

My living room refreshes my spirit with its vivid simplicity.

Thanks to family members and secondhand stores for this daily gladness.

Some other nomadic living spaces:

Living space, El Paso, Texas.

 

Living space, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Living space, Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Ferguson: Spring Gone Missing

Bringing Spring home. Ferguson, Missouri. April 2018.

Oh, where is Spring?

Bringing Spring home. Ferguson, Missouri. April 2018.

It snowed on Easter.

Bringing Spring home. Ferguson, Missouri. April 2018.

 Unacceptable.

Bringing Spring home. Ferguson, Missouri. April 2018.

I had to take matters into my own hands.

Bringing Spring home. Ferguson, Missouri. April 2018.

On Monday, I picked up a bouquet of Spring from the local grocer. I put it next to the long-ago deflowered paper whites from official winter, which I clip every once in awhile to create the illusion of Spring to come.

Bringing Spring home. Ferguson, Missouri. April 2018.

 No, no, no, no. I am finished with winters in cold lands.

Bringing Spring home. Ferguson, Missouri. April 2018.

I am already planning my next annual home. It will be a warm and sunny place.

In the meantime, these yellow and red-cheeked tulips sustain my spirit.