Greetings, One & All~
I trust this finds you all in good health and spirits, as is your humble correspondent. This is a time of new beginnings, of adapting to a changed world and continuing to pursue our passions in creative new ways. So, while the booking dominoes have continued to fall as far out as September, other events closer in are moving forward mindfully, responsibly and considerately. In the spirit of keeping in touch with all the good news that’s fit to print (and with apologies for it being just a tad late due to yours truly having been out on the road again) please enjoy this June issue of your A 440 Newsletter!
New Beginnings
My outdoor Planet of Percussion solo performance at Pinon Hills Labyrinth Retreat in Pinon Hills CA on May 30th was a wonderful re-entry into the world of live performance, and a model of how live events can be presented mindfully, responsibly and considerately in the new reality we all now inhabit. Many thanks to Matthew & Mirrah Mullen for hosting my visit so graciously, and to all the interesting and interested folks who attended.
Breathing Space
The Space Between Breaths 2020 Summer Tour has been distilled down from the original five shows to its essence: our two privately presented outdoor concerts in Colorado Springs and Loveland CO, both of which will feature comfortable social distancing and cordial respect for all personal protection preferences, in addition to a mile o’ smile and a ton o’ fun. For information and advance ticketing, please contact Sherry Finzer at Heart Dance Records and she’ll put you in touch with our gracious hosts.
info@heartdancerecords.com
RC3
The latest iteration of the ever-evolving Nakai phenomenon is RC3: The R. Carlos Nakai Trio. RC3 places Nakai’s incomparable Native American flute mastery center stage at the sonic spear point of AmoChip Dabney’s mellifluous multi-instrumentalism and Will Clipman’s percolating pan-global percussion. The new sound is spacious and soothing, yet groovy and danceable: high-energy music played with subtlety and finesse. RC3 is recording new material with engineer Peter Dalton Ronstadt at his LandMark Sound Recorders studio in Tucson, Arizona; the trio will perform live in the Southwest this fall, and in the Southeast next year. Watch this space for the continuing adventures of RC3!
Poem of the Month
I’ve been writing a lot over the past three months and have a bunch of new poems to share; but when a friend and A 440 reader requested a Poem of the Month that was about anything other than the pandemic, I realized all my new work had been inspired in some way by current events and would not provide much diversion from that subject. So I’ll hold those for a further remove from present reality, and offer instead this gnomic utterance from the archives: though it was composed two years ago, it resonates presciently in subtle ways with the present moment. Enjoy!
June
a month of endings
and beginnings
of extremes
and broken records
of power lost
and regained
of veils pulled back
and masks removed
of truth revealed
and sweeping clean
of letting go
and just being
© Will Clipman 2020
Photos of the Month
That clicking sound you’ve been hearing is not the re-emergence of the 17-year cicadas, it’s the shutter of Shery Christopher’s camera. With a wealth of new images to choose from, I had a hard time narrowing the month’s selections down to just these three. Enjoy!
Setting Flower Moon, courtesy Shery Christopher Photography
Reptile Renaissance, courtesy Shery Christopher Photography
We Come in Peace, courtesy Shery Christopher Photography
~Wishing you all good health, good spirits and a good way forward~
Make beauty.
~Guillaume Henri
Will Clipman
poet ~ percussionist ~ maskmaker ~ storyteller ~ performing artist ~ educator
www.willclipman.com
williamclipman@aol.com
facebook.com/willclipman
520.591.0776
