Greetings, One & All~
I’m back at Rancho Improvisoso just long enough to do laundry and get my April A 440 Newsletter out, so let me cut to the chase and get right to the good news. . . .
Tour Update
The R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman Awakening the Fire tour in northern California and southern Oregon was a roaring success: we played sold-out shows to standing O’s, were immediately invited back for return engagements, and had to re-order CDs by overnight air two shows into the tour, which we proceeded to sell out of twice over.
New Directions
As the tour unfolded, we found that audiences were responding as enthusiastically to our storytelling as they were to our songs, so we’re now dreaming up a new recording project that will incorporate spoken word with instrumental music. The personal transformation workshop we facilitated in Ashland, OR the morning after our concert there was also hugely successful, so we feel we’re on to something substantial with our offering of a concert + workshop combo package to future presenters.
Rain Man
Another interesting aspect of the tour was that I had set a personal intention before leaving to try to bring some rain to the drought-ravaged region we were visiting, where some of the communities we performed for were in danger of literally running out of water in mere months. Sure enough, it poured torrentially everywhere we went! When I would mention from stage that I “might have overdone my raindance,” the overwhelming response was to keep the monsoon mojo going; I tried to bring some home with me to Tucson, but it fizzled out around Gila Bend.
“After the Storm” courtesy Shery Christopher Photography
Further Adventures on the Road
We’ll take the last train to Clarksville for the next leg of the tour, where we’ll meet our esteemed colleague and harp-guitar wizard William Eaton at the station for a Nakai, Eaton & Clipman Trio concert in Rowntree Recital Hall at the University of the Ozarks on Wednesday April 9th at 7 PM. I’d say we’ll have time for coffee-flavored kisses and a bit of conversation but you might get the wrong idea about The Wilde Boys–we don’t Monkee around!
From there the Trio will drive back to Little Rock AR, catch the last plane to Austin TX, and perform a return engagement concert at the legendary One World Theatre on Thursday April 10th at 8 PM with One World co-founders Nada & Hartt Stearns and Ara Tokatlian, leader and co-founder of the Argentine band Arco Iris, joining us for a spirited evening of world music improvisation.
Tickets & info for this show are available at
http://www.oneworldtheatre.org/ShowDetails.aspx?Event_ID=2&cbResetparam=1&Genre=&Venue=&Month=&Year=&m=&y=
Myths & Masks
From April 21st through May 2nd I’ll return to Cheyenne Traditional School in Scottsdale AZ for my annual Myths & Masks Artist-in-Residency, empowering fourth grade students to express their Inner Mythic Persona through maskmaking, creative writing and performance; following the conclusion of the workshops, I’ll return to CTS on the evening of Thursday May 8th to emcee a community showcase of student work as part of the school’s annual Evening Under the Stars celebration of the arts.
And here’s a preview of a really exciting event coming up this Summer: Myths & Masks on Orkney Island in Scotland!
You can find out all about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and take advantage of early registration discounts at
www.dreamtimearts.com
Now on Facebook
As a corollary to this exciting new collaboration with Dreamtime Arts, I have finally been dragged kicking and screaming into the Facebook Age: you can now find yours truly at
https://www.facebook.com/willclipman
Intercultural Journeys
And speaking of exciting new collaborations, I have recently been added to the artist roster of Intercultural Journeys, a non-profit arts organization based in Philadelphia PA (coincidentally or not my birthplace, nicknamed The City of Brotherly Love) which “seeks to promote understanding in pursuit of peace among people of diverse faiths and conflicting cultures through dialogue and the presentation of world-class performances in music, dance, the spoken word, and other art forms.”
It is a profound honor to be affiliated with IJ; I invite you to use my link as a gateway to finding out more about this inspired project and its inspiring cast of artists:
http://www.interculturaljourneys.org/will-clipman/
And now, alas, it’s time to start packing again~may your April be blessed with showers of good news~and here’s looking forward to the May flowers that will no doubt blossom in your next A 440!
