Fluid/Form

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the Master of Plaster
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Breakout...

It's been a tough end of winter.

I'm going out on a limb here and posting my plans for collaborations and events, some of which are already in the works. Most of these are past the concept phase and are actively being pursued. I've done a lot of writing and this week some construction, some rehearsals, some organizational stuff, some tangible action with physical results will happen. And i figure by presenting my list to the world maybe it'll help motivate me during those times when one can get bogged down.

I've gotten to the point where I want to pour my energy into things that are meaningful to me, interesting and stimulating, and fun. That's the test I'm applying these days to most everything. I need 2 out of 3 of those things to be consistently fulfilled; life is too short to settle for less. So, away we go! Collaborators and co-conspirators are welcome to join in. Just leave a comment and I'll be in touch in short order.

That's enough of an intro, it's time to get to work...

The Just Making Stuff Grand Plan for Disruption of Business as Usual 2010


Sound Jesters: Sound Gestures- live performance piece with Mark Warren. Spoken word, sound collage and video projection. I'll do the writing, spoken word and video parts, Maestro Mark will do the sound mix, audio collage and mashup. If I have the right rig I'll record and post here after the performance. We're scheduled to do that April 4.

Einsteins Hair: Sonic Experiments- another project with Mark Warren. We plan to wear labcoats and goggles, and are build and perform a bunch of hacked up circuit bent noise/music machines and contraptions. Hardhats and earplugs might be a good idea. We'll perform this sometime before mid May, assuming no injuries or major conflagrations.

The Cacophony Circus- My Grand Dream and quite possibly my Life's Work coming to fruition. A puppet theater will be the centerpiece of the Circus. In addition there'll be sound installations, live music, video, projections, live poetry and readings, sound sculpture live painting, you name it. Whatever I can put together that fits into an hour. I intend all the pieces to have a message or a moral to the story, which of course will be pulled from my personal life view, philosophies and pontifications. All with intent of rousing the rabble from our social and cultural somnambulance. I want to try to dry run at least one or two of the puppet performances before may, the Grand Premier of the Circus will be June 19th at the Arbuckle Road Alternative Theater. With luck this will turn into a full blown five alarm chaos of illuminating and entertaining bedazzlement. It will almost certainly be comprised of a cast of thousands. Ok, maybe not thousands, but at least tens...

The People's Gallery a portable "gallery" of sorts co-conceived with the incredible Margaret Couch Cogswell, our working title has changed to The Tiny Gallery. It will be 5 feet by 5 feet square, completely portable, we'll curate tiny shows in it and just put it up anywhere. It will break down and fit in my van or Margaret's truck and we're designing it so it will go up in 15 minutes or so with no tools. Believe it or not, no cardboard, cause we wanted it to be somewhat weather resistant and reusable. The walls will be made from salvaged hollow core doors, put together with hinges. the roof will be clear corrugated panels (i guess we'll have to buy them cause i can't find them anywhere junk or salvage...) but i figure we'll have less than $100 in the whole thing. the first show in it will be July the 8th, a no sale showing preceded by a big vat of sangria, all taking place in a highly visible public area. Construction begins (and will complete!) next week, curating begins early june, the installation will be one night only on July the 8th. We're offering the constructed gallery to Phil Sanders to beta test with his spring concentration class, an event unto itself.

ReFashioning: A celebration of re-use, renewal and re-distribution of forgotten resources (with Lisa Blackburn and John Hartom) a day long event that consists of a clothing drive and creative textile altering workshop. At 6 pm the doors close and we'll break down the workshop, flip the space, reopen at 8, there'll be a party, the Circus, a speaker on the topic of the need and value of local social services, maybe some poetry reading, live music and a fashion show of the stuff that was made during the day. There'll also be an multi-media installation focusing on themes of sharing and redistribution of existing resources, alternative economies, and the question of "what is enough?" Admission to the night event will be one can of fresh canned goods, and at the end of the evening all food and clothing will be donated to a local shelter group. Yet another cash-free non-commercial event. It'll happen in mid/late October. and will be sizeable. We're working on getting an empty storefront donated for our use for that event (my idea being that if it's successful it opens up the possibility of a semi permanent space for The Just Making Stuff Center for the Disruption of Business as Usual Alternative Economy and Life Skills Incubator Institute and the Archaic Computer Salvage Company storefront)


And of course there'll be all kinds of little side things going on, especially video pieces. I just finished one I'm pretty proud of and will get that posted soon.

A boy's got to have a project...

So that's it for now. Rock on.

MB, out.

How To Cure The Plague

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Chinese herbs save another life...
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Dear Winter:

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march snow
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