Greetings, One & All~
What had been shaping up to be a fairly laid-back May has morphed into a multifarious manifestation of myriad musical merriment. . . so much so that I’m having to send it out a day early in order to get in the air and on the road! Read on for all the good news in the May issue of your A 440 Newsletter. . . .
On Tour
The latest leg of the Nakai & Clipman Awakening the Fire tour finds the Intrepid Duo at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch near Pomeroy, Ohio on Saturday May 2nd. Our concert has been SOLD OUT for a couple of months now, but you’ll want to follow the link below to learn more about this marvelous entity founded by the original guitarist for Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, and check out other upcoming events there:
https://furpeaceranch.com/concerts.html
From Ohio we’ll venture southeast to Asheville-Black Mountain, North Carolina to perform two shows at the internationally-renowned 40th LEAF Festival on Friday & Saturday May 8th & 9th, and conduct an Artist-in-Residency program for middle school music students at ArtSpace Charter School on May 6th, 7th & 8th, which will culminate with a student showcase performance for the community.
You can explore the rich musical, cultural and artistic diversity of LEAF at:
http://www.theleaf.org/the-festival/
and learn more about ArtSpace at:
On Stage
When RC & Will return to the Old Pueblo, they’ll join forces with AmoChip Dabney and Johnny Walker for the world premiere concert of the NEW R. Carlos Nakai Quartet at Sea of Glass Center for the Arts on Saturday May 16th at 7:30 PM (doors open at 7*).
*This promises to be THE don’t-miss concert event of the Spring season, so advance tickets (and as reservations for the concert/dinner package) are highly recommended, and can be obtained at:
http://theseaofglass.org/events/357/r-carlos-nakai-quartet
Wear your dancing shoes and experience the sprung hardwood floor at Sea of Glass, or enjoy the comfortable concert seating–or both! We’re filming a four-camera, full-audio video of this performance, and we’d love to have your energy in the house to complement the irresistible grooves of RCNQ!
. . . And while we’re on the Sea of Glass, here are three sweet shots from our Nakai & Clipman Duo concert there on April 18th. . . .
New Media
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Dyan Garris (with whom I’ve had the pleasure of recording) has launched a gorgeous new website called NewAgeCD.com and yours truly has the honor of being one of her flagship artists. This compendium is impeccably presented and offers a wealth of musical artistry and spiritual uplift.
You can go directly to my music page at:
and read my poetic contribution at:
as well as learn more about Dyan and her concept at:
http://www.newagecd.com/about-new-age-cd/
Last month I was a guest on the Best Ever You show and had the pleasure of being most insightfully interviewed by co-hosts Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino and Dr. Walter Jacobson on a wide-ranging field of topics spanning music, art, culture, spirituality, poetry, mythology, maskmaking, storytelling–even quantum physics!
If you missed the live broadcast, no worries: my show is archived at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/besteveryou/2015/04/09/william-clipman–myths-and-masks
where you’ll also find out more about Elizabeth and Walter and their publications.
Review
I’ve always aspired to make timeless music, and the continuing currency of my GRAMMY-Nominated solo CD Pathfinder is always a welcome affirmation that I’m on the right path with that aspiration. A lovely new review of Pathfinder appears on the music, culture and spirituality site Angel’s Kiss at:
http://angelskiss777.blogspot.com/2015/04/review-pathfinder-will-clipman.html
A Night at the Museum
April also saw the Grand Opening of the permanent Tucson Musicians Museum installation at the Tucson Convention Center, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, performances by a cavalcade of Tucson’s finest musical talent, and of course a celebration of the 2015 TMM Inductees.
Standing in good company at the TMM TCC Grand Opening
As a first-round Inductee back in 2007, your humble narrator is deeply honored to be placed in such wonderful company and in such a prime location within the exhibit.
When you visit TMM at TCC, you can read the full story behind that little drum hanging above my photo (teaser: it’s my very first African drum, which my father brought back from Kenya when I was fourteen, and which ignited my on-going passion for world percussion).
And you can learn more about Tucson Musicians Museum at:
On the Horizon
Don’t miss out on the inaugural Gathering of the North American Flute on June 11th-13th in the cool mountain climate of Flagstaff, Arizona. Sharing the bill with a host of other stellar performers, I’ll be on drums and percussion with the R. Carlos Nakai Quartet to headline the Grand Finale Showcase Concert. I’ll also perform with Mark Holland; present two installments of my workshop The Flute and the Drum Are One; and accompany R. Carlos Nakai and an intimately eclectic ensemble of world musicians at a pre-festival musical meditation.
Information & registration available at:
New Subscriber Welcome!
Another affirmation I love receiving month in and month out is new subscribers to my A 440 Newsletter. This is the first issue for new subscriber Lisa Sammet, who caught one of my Planet of Percussion performances at Desert Botanical Garden last winter, and was gracious enough to send in this photo with her subscription:
Welcome to Willyworld, Lisa; and thanks again for coming out to hear me at Las Noches de Las Luminarias!
Poem of the Month
To the careful observer, the exuberant abundance of Spring in Northern Sonora will sometimes reveal intimate glimpses into the struggle for life that underlies the beauty of nature and illustrates the endlessly ingenious means by which even the smallest creatures manage to secure their place in the pageant of renewal and rebirth. This Poem of the Month tries to capture one such very real moment and give voice to whatever truth about the human condition might lie within.
Staying Afloat
In sixteen years of cleaning this desert pool every day
I’ve never once seen this: a life raft made of ants,
the tiny biting kind, who’ve linked their bodies together
in a perfect disc the size of a half-dollar to stay afloat.
At first I think why save them—they bite! But I am dazzled
by the brilliance of their unified mind, the sheer perfection
of the concept: alone we sink and drown; together
we stay afloat and live. I take the carrizo pole we use
to rescue honey bees and gently lift them: they do not
break apart, they do not panic, they do not fight one another
for position. They remain woven together in one seamless magic carpet
of pure unadulterated anthood, and ride this deus ex machina
out of the water and into the rocks that line the lower garden.
Only then do the shake loose and scatter, only then to they attend
to their own personal safety. How simple, how elegant it would be
if we could do the same: if we could trust enough to lift each other up as one.
© Will Clipman, 2015; from Wilderness in the Marrow
Photo of the Month
Talk about standing a cliche on it’s head? I took this snapshot of Shery’s Spring planting and gave it the caption May Flowers Without April Showers, as we’d had no rain at all in the month April; and of course, that very night, it rained! So to close out this issue of your A 440 Newsletter: the new caption is May Flowers Bring April Showers?!
May your May be filled with daily miracles!
None of us will ever finish
all we’ve set out to accomplish;
do what can be done
and be content.
~Guillaume Henri
