Greetings, One & All~
February is full-on here in Willyworld. Enjoy all the good news in this issue of your A 440 Newsletter and have a fabulous February in your world as well!
First Friday
The festivities began promptly on Friday February 1st with R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman performing a benefit concert for Arizona State Museum Educational Programs at First United Methodist Church in Tucson AZ in conjunction with Canyon Records.
30-second video clip from our opening improv:
video courtesy Shery Christopher Videography
SOLD OUT!
In my role as a performing artist, my two favorite words are SOLD OUT! So I’m humbly honored that three of my 2019 events are already. . . well, you know. . . .
The RCNQ show at the Musical Instrument Museum Theater in Phoenix AZ on Saturday February 23rd sold out two months in advance! The MIM has added a second show on Sunday February 24th, to my infinite delight, as this temple of sound is one of my favorite stages on the planet to play.
info & tickets for the second Sunday show:
photo courtesy Shery Christopher Photography
The R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman concert on Saturday May 4th at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch in Pomeroy OH sold out five months in advance! To my knowledge, there has been no second show added, but there are two other excellent shows on Thursday & Friday May 2nd & 3rd at Streamside Concerts in Arden NC, a half-day’s drive away.
info & tickets for Streamside Concerts:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/r-carlos-nakai-will-clipman-tickets-54406233509
Will, Jorma & RC backstage at our previous sold-out Fur Peace show in 2015
And the Solstice Flute School & Festival on June 17th-22nd in Midway UT, where yours truly will serve as Percussionist-in-Residence, sold out seven months in advance! There is a wait-list, so all hope is not lost for participating in this wonderful week-long event.
https://www.solsticeflute.org/school-wait-list.html
February Features
Shape-shifting from stage to classroom, I’ll return to Sonoran Sky School in Scottsdale AZ for my annual Arizona Alive! historical story-writing & storytelling Artist-in-Residency with fourth grade students Monday-Friday February 4th-8th & 11th-15th.
Sonoran Sky Storytellers at our community showcase in 2018
And shape-shifting again from school to studio, I’ll record with Bay-Area flutist, composer and fellow Heart Dance Records artist Monica Williams on Thursday February 7th at Clamsville Productions in Chandler AZ.
This session is part of the Heart Dance Records Summit on Friday & Saturday February 8th & 9th: a weekend of house concerts, jam sessions, round table discussions and recording sessions in Anthem, Cave Creek, Chandler and Scottsdale AZ, masterminded by HDR President Sherry Finzer (stay tuned for news on my 2019 HDR duo album with Sherry!).
Spring POPS
Planet of Percussion will pop up like a desert wildflower in March, with three informances at Villa Montessori School in Scottsdale AZ on Friday March 1st, and a by-invitation performance at one of my all-time favorite venues Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix AZ on Friday March 8th as part of DBG’s Special Needs Day event.
photo courtesy John Running Photography (cropped and lightened by Gabriel Ayala)
Season Previews
The new Medicine Arrow (Roman Orona, Aaron White & Will Clipman) will make its debut at the legendary Alwun House in Phoenix AZ on March 23rd.
Yours truly will make his third appearance on Marin TV in San Raphael CA for a taping of the Theatre from the Ground Up show with Producer Lori Greenleaf and host Gino Rose on Friday March 29th.
On Saturday March 30th I’ll head north to Willits CA to present a daytime workshop and evening concert of Myths & Masks at Willits Community Theater, produced by Kitty & Creek Norris.
info & tickets for the Willits workshop:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4057176
info and tickets for the Willits concert:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4057197
I’ll then continue north into Oregon for three R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman concerts (the first two of which will be combined with day-of-show workshops) in Bend OR on Friday April 5th, Pacific Grove OR on Saturday April 6th, and Ashland OR on Sunday April 7th. The Ashland show will be presented at the Rogue Valley Unitarian Church by Lloyd Barde Productions (stay tuned for info & ticket links to the Bend and Pacific Grove shows).
Ashland info & tickets:
https://tickets.brightstarevents.com/event/r-carlos-nakai-will-clipman-duo-in-concert?fbclid=IwAR1zW1rCcpygthVxbj5C-a4DAjjUnlqUXPfq56kPD0SFPkQvxefMa6-HCtk
Photo of the Month
Shery Christopher continues to capture astonishing images of our desert skyscape here at Rancho Improvisoso, all au naturel and unretouched: what her eye sees is what it is!
Deep Winter Fire, courtesy Shery Christopher Photography
Poem of the Month
Time or Light
I’m awakened in darkness
by stillness. Even
my breathing is loud.
Don’t brush away that burnt bitterness
just yet; let it linger awhile
on the tongue.
When everything that means
anything hangs in the balance
there’s never enough
time or light. Simple pleasures
fall away one by one until there is only
the illusion of pain.
Minuscule rivulets of lava
flow down from the fontanel
as a final paroxysm shudders:
I can but reconcile myself
moment by moment
to the moment.
Toss the last few shreds
of ego into the caldera of dawn:
how lightly they land and flame out,
and what a relief to realize
I am and have always been
just an old monk!
© Will Clipman 2019
~a fabulously full and fulfilling February to all~
If one can but act with purpose and grace,
everything else will fall into place.
~Guillaume Henri
Will Clipman
poet ~ percussionist ~ maskmaker ~ storyteller ~ performing artist ~ educator
www.willclipman.com
williamclipman@aol.com
www.facebook.com/willclipman
520.591.0776
