"Born in 1950 in Novosil, between Moscow and the Black Sea, a town so small that circuses didn't stop there, Mr. Polunin got his first glimpse of clowns at the movies. But it wasn't the great Russian clowns - Karandash, Popov, Engibarov or Durov - who influenced him. It was Charlie Chaplin. "I was 12 when I saw "The Kid,' " he said. "I just loved him." After moving to St. Petersburg to study engineering to satisfy his mother ("First become an engineer, then you can become anything you want," she told him), he performed in music halls by night. When his mother saw her smiling son onstage, surrounded by beautiful women, as members of the audience leaped from their seats to applaud, she said: "All right. You don't have to be an engineer.""(NYT | Theater |A Late-Summer Blizzard Hits East 17th Street By LIESL SCHILLINGER )

:: note :: . . . how many of us take the courage to follow our dreams . . . the school term begins . . . i resolve to keep the dreams alive . . . to all in their beginnings: dare to dream . . .

"In "Painting as an Art," Richard Wollheim identifies the experience of seeing-in as prior to representation, which involves the perception of, say, marks on a surface that can also be perceived as things apart from each other. This aspect of seeing-in is called twofoldedness; everyone knows this, for example, from the simple pleasure of looking at clouds and seeing people, animals, cars, etc. Wollheim insists that the experience of twofoldedness is not either/or, a switching back and forth from one image to another. Instead the viewer sees, experiences, and holds these images simultaneously. I wonder, however, if it's possible to experience trifoldedness, octafoldedness, or a multifoldedness wherein an image can provoke a number of simultaneous associations that the viewer holds, cycles through, balances and interrelates. An open image, then, would be most successful not only when it allowed viewers to see-in and experience a range of associations, but when the range of associations are simultaneously full and complex visual, sensual, emotional, and intellectual responses."(Chris Ashley | "Painting Conveys So Much Spirit": George Lawson's San Cai Paintings)

:: note :: . . . writing about a body of work which I would love to use as a model to write about a body of music that is dear to my heart . . . "open image" / open music / improvisation . . . a process of seeing-in / listening-in / acting-in . . . wondering how fluid the vocabulary is between visual art - music - theater . . .

"It seems to me that there are three types of interpreters: those who just play the notes; those who try their best to follow exactly what the composer has written without suppressing their own personalities; and those who deliberately set out to make things sound "different" (although all three will tell you they belong to the second category). Gould did his damnedest to do things his own way, and often ignored composers' wishes. You can get away with this where Bach is concerned, because little is written in the score besides the notes (there are hardly any tempo markings, dynamics, slurs, or articulation signs)." (Angela Hewitt | Glenn Gould's Bach | The Times Literary Supplement)

:: note :: . . . find myself struggling to write about music . . . came across a musician reviewing a biography about a musician . . . hmm . . .

Temple Concert
8 pm
August 27 2004

Duane Dorgan (drums)
Ray Stephanson (keyboards)
      special guest: Melodie Stephanson * (voice)

1. Fuji Vu Yu
   Stephanson
      (Three views from the mountain top.)

2. Art Auction Music Medley for a Deaf Audience
    (Abdullah Ibrahim, Stephanson
      (Nobody listens except the musicians.)

3. Blue Joy
    Stephanson
      (One who makes you happy.)

4. Truth About Ruth
    Dorgan
      (The child cannot turn away from the mother's song, simple truth.)

5. Ryan's Mud Hut
    Dorgan
      (Nephew Ryan rocks: in his village, his heart at the center solid)

6. Brasil Boogie
    Stephanson
      (Steamy eros at the Amazon.)

7. Killer Oasis *
    Stephanson, Dorgan
      (Thirsty camel funk. Killer dry hot. Sand and fiber.)

8. Slow Like Honey *
    Fiona Apple
      (Bittersweet dream.)

9. Hawg for Ya *
    Otis Redding
      (Snortin' blues)

10. Metatango
    Dorgan
      (A dance, dark night, hondo or deep song.)

11. Rooster Ramon
   Stephanson
      (The cock-a-doodle-do rag.)

12. Font Faja
   Dorgan
      (From deep in volcanoes at batet, garrotxa)

- - Encore - -

13. Hymn for My Fathers
   Stephanson

:: note :: . . . close to a hundred people were visited by the music gods . . . pure joy was in the hearts and lips of all . . . to the audience many thanks for your generosity . . . to the musicians . . . we journeyed to the place at the center of the earth and it was good . . . it is astounding how these compositions catalyze such complex experiences . . .

from Prologue: For Gavin, My Son

. . .

and even here you are the patient one
leading by gesture and grace
small arm raised from convulsions
soft hand touching my face
tiny fingers stroking my cheek
and a look       even here in hell
a look       from the mist of your
absence       of love.

(Body and Soul New and Selected Poems | John Livingstone Clark)

"The woman in black (or dark blue) enters in silence and stands beside a house projected on the wall. She bends her upper body to the ground and rises up repeating this movement again and again. Her untied black hair draws a parabola following the movement. The endless repetition is obsessive and insane. As time passing, it becomes a torture tearing at the heart of one who is watching. Is this act of bending and lifting an act of knocking in order to open the door? But what door? A silent scream fills the lungs urgently seeking release from this torture. The woman continues in silence. The economic and precise movement beats into the heart over and over again. She simply keeps repeating the action. The action is not only stronger than words but also honest and truthful. One cannot endure it, cannot pretend any more to be fine and happy with only a few problems. A deep pain surfaces revealing the other side, which has been hidden. Finally one admits and surrenders to her action. One becomes open and full-hearted. The hypocritical mask is torn apart as if she finally penetrates one's spirit, which has been closed and locked, so tight bruised and hurt. After banging so hard and throwing herself away, she is bleeding all over in her soul. Her blood is a sacrifice for me, for you, and for all who carry the wounded soul. The humbly opened spirit goes to her and embraces her without a need of words or masks. One finally faces oneself."(aeran jeong:inner response)

. . special project takes shape . . .

opening september 11 . . . playing with MusicMaskiMage Abstraction. . .

. . . while away saw The Dumb Waiter/The Zoo Story Pinter/Albee by soulpepper . . . found that the performance of Albee reached deeper than the Pinter . . . most review(s) concur . . . wanted to see a respected canadian theater company approach Pinter especially having seen and worked with Henry Woolf and Susan Williamson a team of Pinter colleagues and performers extraordinaire . . . Pinter demands a sharp, ironic, dark, comic sensibility and a naive yet alienated impulse . . . Albee is far more straightforward - north american actors, directors and audiences seem to respond to the simple allegory and tragedy . . . power in directness . . . power through the indirect . . . it could have been a revealing twin bill but this would have required each piece to be shaped as parts of a whole rather than just two distinct acts . . . the possibility existed as the same two actors shared the roles . . . the two directors needed to collaborate more . . . it is in the courage to forcefully strike these two brilliantly wrought pieces together that the sparks of fire would excite or crumble in our hands . . . soulpepper had the idea but lacked the vision . . .

:: note :: . . . Friday the 27th @ 8pm . . . will be an incredible evening of music . . . all welcome . . . 120 25th Street West . . . a two tone praire gothic structure (formally the Islamic Temple) . . . special voice guest Melodie Stephanson . . . years ago this duo inaugurated the temple concerts with a stunning collection of original compositions . . . hear more in this rare appearance . . .

"'Place is simply the projection of the internal state of the characters,'said Vancouver author Nancy Lee. In other words, it's a state of mind."(Is the Novel Dying? Don't write its ending yet, despite gloomy news from the U.S. In Vancouver Saturday, writers argued for 'emotional accuracy' and a sense of place. |The Tyee)

:: note :: . . . place is not simple . . . sense of place centers emotional accuracy . . . place is self . . . spent 14 days at another place and the self grows into other places . . . return to a certain disassociation . . . today a horrible auto/pedestrian accident left a body lying on the street . . . meters from the front door . . . my place was shaken . . . life is fragile and precious . . . give thanks . . .

. . . back . . . a most impressive exhibit . . . The Great Parade:Portrait of the Artist As Clown . . . a stunning perspective in a beautiful building . . . watching my teenaged son wander parliament hill, the war museum, the national art gallery, museum of civilization and many other ottawa sites was exhilarating . . . his curiosity and sense of history defied the stereotype of his self-involved age . . . power to youth . . .

. . . travelling . . . back in a fortnight . . . later . . .