Greetings, One & All~
Having wandered in this high desert for nigh on forty years now, I can share from long experience that the season between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice is prime time in Northern Sonora. As much as I’d prefer to be recreating outdoors, an abundance of good news compels me to come inside out of this gorgeous weather long enough to compose and send the November issue of your A 440 Newsletter.
It’s a tad early this month, for reasons revealed anon!
GRAMMY® News
Trialogue (Sherry Finzer, Darin Mahoney & Will Clipman: Heart Dance Records) and What Lies Beyond (R. Carlos Nakai Quartet: Canyon Records) are on the First Ballot for the 59th GRAMMY® Awards. Voting Members of the Recording Academy will find us in the Contemporary Instrumental Album category, and we welcome your support if you find our music worthy of your vote.
Leon Littlebird & Will Clipman
Rocky Mountain troubadour and raconteur Leon Littlebird will bring his Border-to-Border Tour to Arizona for a concert with yours truly in Tucson’s most inspired and inspiring performance gallery Galactic Center on Saturday October 29th at 8 PM.
Tickets are available at the door only and early arrival is recommended!
Becoming One with Your Inner Drum
On Saturday November 5th from 10 AM-4 PM in the Kiva Room at Western National Parks Association in Oro Valley AZ, I’ll conduct the latest iteration of my ever-evolving Planet of Percussion world music workshop: Becoming One With Your Inner Drum explores the uniquely personal relationship between drummer and drum, centered on the concept that YOU are your own most wonderful instrument, and is open to players of all skill levels. An order-in lunch will be provided by WNPA between our morning and afternoon sessions; participants are invited and encouraged but not required to bring a favorite drum or percussion instrument to supplement my pan-global palette–all necessary instruments will be provided by yours truly!
Enrollment is limited and advance registration is required at:
http://www.wnpa.org/event/national-parks-store-becoming-one-with-your-inner-drum/
Udu Voodoo at Rancho Improvisoso
Pursuant to our public workshop, I’ll offer private master classes with a focus on the udu (or to paraphrase Cole Porter: udu that voodoo that you do so well!) in my studio here at Rancho Improvisoso on Sunday November 6th & Monday November 7th from 1-3 PM each day. Enrollment for these intimate, interactive sessions is limited to six participants at $50 per hour and is by prior arrangement with yours truly only.
Please contact me via my website for details and directions at:
http://www.willclipman.com/contact.php
RCNQ Video on the Canyon Channel
The brand-new one-minute promotional video for the R. Carlos Nakai Quartet from CFProductions can now be viewed on the Canyon Records Channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fwOPPYlTUQ
*You’ve GOT to check out RC doing the Wallaby Dance!
RCNQ In-Store Event
On Saturday November 12th at 7 PM the R. Carlos Nakai Quartet will appear at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe AZ for an intimate mini-concert and CD-signing to launch their new Canyon Records release What Lies Beyond. Priority seating begins one hour before the show, and these FREE events are almost always SRO, so early arrival is strongly recommended!
For further information please call 480.730.0205
RCNQ Concerts
On Saturday November 19th at 7 PM the Q will perform a full concert at the Vail Theatre of the Arts in Vail AZ.
Advance tickets for this show can be reserved at:
And on Wednesday November 30th at 7 PM we’ll perform a full concert at the Green Valley Community Performing Arts Center in Green Valley AZ.
Advance tickets for this show can be reserved at:
https://performingartscenter.thundertix.com/events/86837/saleable_seats?performance_id=1632637
Myths & Masks at Sonoran Sky
Beginning on Monday November 21st and continuing through Friday December 9th I’ll return to Sonoran Sky in Scottsdale AZ for my 22nd consecutive annual Myths & Masks Artist-in-Residency. We’ll refresh the AiR with two days of nature-inspired outdoor Mythic Persona Poetry workshops at SSky Camp in Prescott AZ on Wednesday & Thursday November 16th & 17th, then return to school for maskmaking, painting, 3D sculpturing and community showcase performances of our completed work.
Nerve Chorus on Vinyl
The delightfully improbable dream of my 1985 cassette-only release Nerve Chorus being reissued as 7″ vinyl on the German label VOD has come true! You can order your copy of this Limited Edition of 444 pressings, with numbered certificate, at:
http://www.vinyl-on-demand.com/-1-432-605.htm
*Now all I have to do is find someone with a turntable so I can listen to mine–there’s a FREE autographed copy in it for you if anyone out there would like to help me out!
Poem of the Month
These days I feel like Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of Oz: for me, there really is no place like home. This freshly-minted Poem of the Month celebrates the wonders to be found in one’s own yard and neighborhood, and seeks therein the patience, strength and wisdom to finish each day a little better than one started it. Enjoy!
Olive Tree
Outside my kitchen window
in bas-relief against black lava rock
your pollen-dusted canopy is tossed
by autumn desert wind.
May you live a thousand years
like those in Etna’s rich volcanic soil
I mused about one afternoon
over a bottomless bottle of inexpensive red
with my Sicilian neighbor, who
nearly blind and deaf at eighty-seven,
still brings paint and clay
so patiently to life each day.
May I grow gradually wiser
watering your gnarled roots,
acquire by proximity the gentle strength
of his tough heart, soft hands.
© Will Clipman 2016
May your month be filled
with the extraordinary pleasures
of ordinary treasures
Joy increases and sorrow diminishes when shared.
~Guillaume Henri
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Will Clipman
musician • poet • performing & recording artist • maskmaker • storyteller • educator
phone: 520.591.0776
fax: 520.743.0650
email: williamclipman@aol.com
website: www.willclipman.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/willclipman
