so a few things that i want to talk about, in typically erratic fashion:

1. back to the graveyard -

this is a new solo show i’ve been working on, the first live-performance draft of which took place in September 2008, but which i’ve performed in various incarnations since at Footloose’s Shotwell Studios (January 2009), Bindlestiff Studio’s Single Shots at Thick House (April 2009), and APICC’s festival at SomArts (May 2009). i’ll be doing graveyard again June 19 – 20th 2009 as part of an Artist In Motion residency at Footloose’s Shotwell Studios. Look here’s a link for info: http://whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=288

i’ve been gratified by the positive and enthusiastic response i’ve received for this show – it’s a completely different solo show than my solo play Lydia’s Funeral Video, and it’s been fun and exciting to work on the new project at various venues & with different audiences. i also had the chance to work with directors Ellen Sebastian Chang & Pamela Wu Kochiyama on the most recent incarnation of the show, and before that i had input from Allan Manalo, the artistic director at Bindlestiff, and others – anyway, it’s an ongoing process, and i’m looking forward to doing the show again in June. which leads me to:

2. Laundry Party -

this is an artist salon series that my friend & musician Sadie Contini and i started in January 2009 – the idea was to gather artists/people-who-do-stuffs in various disciplines (including music, theater, writing, film, photography, website development, microphone-cable-making, cooking…), give us all a mini-deadline to generate material to present, and hang out. (the “laundry” part really has nothing to do with it – it was a good name in search of an event, but its meaning is open to interpretation; basically like the name version of a rorschach test.) so far we’ve had 10 Laundry Parties, and 2 LP publics, and we will be having another LP Public on Saturday, June 20th, at Shotwell Studios. (i already provided the link, but here it is again: http://whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=288)

LP will run from 9pm – 1am, since it will still involve the party part, this one somewhat self-centeredly serving as an LP Public & Celebration for my new bicoastal, grad student lifestyle (that’s number 3, but before we go to that) -

LP has been enormously helpful in terms of generating work – i will be reading three pieces written/developed for/by LP this Friday & Saturday (5/28 & 5/29) as part of Eth-Noh-Tec’s story jam event at SomArts. look, here is a link: http://whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=271

LP will also be expanded to include NY peoples/events/parties. yay.

3. re-positioning myself

i am re-positioning myself, and my way of communicating the way in which i am re-positioning myself. i’ve mentioned in earlier rambles that i am moving my corporeal self to NYC to pursue an MFA in playwriting at columbia. while this remains the case, it is ALSO true that i will remain SF-based in spirit and, sometimes, in action. so i am re-positioning my message of re-positioning to emphasize that i am embarking on a bicoastal lifestyle – i will be in sf & nyc, and will continue to think of myself as an sf-based writer & performer, as well as, now, a nyc-based writer & performer. this understanding is very important to me! i’m madly enamored with the communities and peoples with whom i work & play (sometimes, often, there is little distinction) here in the bay area, and i simply can’t bring myself to truly leave, period. so, i’m merely expanding my sphere of activity.

okay, glad i got that all of my chest. and now onto experiencing the rest of memorial day

I have run out of coffee. In running out of coffee, I realize again that I drink too much of it, probably more than even a typical caffeine-addict, and that I’ve come to think of coffee as a sort of brewed magical elixir that fortifies my spirit. This can’t be true; especially not of the cheap tasteless sludge I’ve been drinking of late – but I still imagine it’s true, and somehow that fiction makes my day better. If that’s the case, then I suppose the lies I’ve been telling myself actually assume a truth of their own, wielding incredible powers in the world of Me. At certain times, these are the only truths that matter.