Greetings, One & All~

With the advent of Earth Day, the full Frog Moon, and the unexpected blessing of April showers here in The Singing Desert, May promises to be a month of flowering renewal, as new shoots continue to spring up alongside long-cultivated seed-plantings coming to fruition. Enjoy a bit of uplifting news in this May 2021 issue of your A 440 Newsletter and be in touch!


Restoration & Renewal

Now is the time for restoration and renewal, and in that spirit I am delighted to return to Canyon Ranch Woodside Wellness Retreat in Woodside, California to conduct a weekend retreat appropriately titled Rhythms of Restoration & Renewal on Thursday-Sunday, May 27th-30th. Nestled in the ancient redwood forests just south of San Francisco, Woodside offers a perfect environment for personal growth, transformation and wellness. Over the course of our retreat, we will map our return to a calm and centered way of being in the world through a creative immersion in nature, music, poetry and personal storytelling.


https://www.canyonranch.com/woodside/retreats/featured-retreats/rhythms-of-restoration-renewal/





Winging It

Interviewers who have the intelligence and discipline to do their homework, ask insightful and provocative questions, and then give the interviewee time and space to answer thoughtfully and meaningfully are rare. Diane Wing is such a personality, so our most recent conversation on Wing Academy Radio is a deliciously wide-ranging yet laser-focused dialogue aimed at the heart of the human experience in this particular evolutionary moment: forty-five scintillating minutes that feel like five, and will leave you wanting more. Fortunately, the more is all right there on the Wing Academy website!

Listen and enjoy at

https://www.dianewing.com/radio/will-clipman-musician-poet-maskmaker/





RC3

Before RC heads north to Aspen Camp for the summer, your intrepid global native fusioneers the R. Carlos Nakai Trio will be engaged in the creative development of a new repertoire this month for our long-awaited, much-anticipated and pandemically twice-postponed appearance at the Feel Good Festival on July 18th in Atlanta, Georgia. Hot ‘Lanta is about to get a whole lot hotter!








Rhythm Spirit

The band formerly known as Vibe Tribe has changed its name to proactively avoid copyright infringement issues with the forty or so other entities operating under that monicker. Henceforth, we will be known as Rhythm Spirit, the domain for which our percussionist, booking manager and founding member Robert “Swami” Peizer owns. Never fear, though: we will continue to bring you our patented eclectic blend of highly original and high-energy dance music, so watch this space for upcoming performances!




Atavistic Avatars

Also in creative development this spring and summer is Will & The Wolf: a new collaboration between long-time atavistic avatars To-Ree-Nee Wolf and Will Clipman. Building on the successful runs of our solo shows at Invisible Theatre, we are in discussion with Artistic Director Susan Claasen to bring this synergistic summit meeting of music, myth, song and story to the IT stage in in November 2021. Watch this space for updates!




Quintessential Quintet

The newest pop-up in Willyworld is an alchemical amalgam of extraordinary musicians I unofficially refer to as the Quintessential Quintet. Comprised of guitarist/composer Marshall Jones, bassist/violinist Rob Paulus, keyboardist Richard Katz, vocalist Cantrell Maryott, and yours truly on pan-global percussion and drums, QQ has begun convening at Rob’s Midtown Music Loft to record videos for YouTube, and will be looking to perform live as our repertoire gets buffed and polished and quality opportunities arise.


Peak Experience

Last night’s solo performance of Will Clipman: A World of Music, Myth & Mask at the world-renowned Musical Instrument Museum Theater was a dream come true for yours truly. The Museum is a temple of world music and culture, and the Theater features the best sound on the planet, subtly creative lighting design and plush audience comfort, making it THE perfect venue for my show. Thanks to the impeccable MIM team and to all who attended this socially-distanced sold-out show for a uniquely memorable evening!






Photo of the Month

As if to gently remind us that every day is Earth Day, and that this little oasis in space is our shared and only home, this young mule deer doe came by at sunset on Earth Day Eve to slake her thirst at one of our Rancho Improvisoso wildlife water bowls. Sweet!


Oh, Deer! courtesy Shery Christopher Photography



Poem of the Month


A Deeper Light



Legend has it hawk and raven are natural enemies

yet these two are clearly playing. They launch



from their perches atop adjacent power poles

into an aerial pas de deux: gracefully swooping,



soaring and diving with obvious delight, then

hovering face-to-face in mid-air fifteen feet



above my upturned face, merely enjoying

their sheer mastery of their shared sky



as if to imply if we can do this why not you

though that may be too anthropocentric a view.



Fear of the other is learned; there is no fear

if we follow our original instructions, see by



a deeper light beneath the sparkling surface,

which illuminates the interwoven double helix



of our commonality and answers the lingering

question: What happened on the eighth day?



Could it be the eight laid down to sleep

and dreamed itself infinity? Coiled sleepers



awaken at this beach house on the shores

of time, perched on the edge of the caldera



where primeval lava cooled to form an inland

sea, which only lately tilted up tectonically and



emptied, re-imagining itself a singing desert ringed

by sky islands, trilobites fossilized nine thousand feet



above sea level in the bedrock of an alpine forest!

They follow their hunger down into the earth, sensing



with their tongues a silent long-forgotten tongue; down

through the idea of sea and the permeable desert floor,



inward to the living core, and further in where

truth lies, and where there shines a deeper light



than could be seen before this moment, by which we

say what must be said, hear must be heard, and know.





© Will Clipman 2021








~May your May be a month of new beginnings~







Featured May Event

Rhythms of Restoration & Renewal
Canyon Ranch Woodside Wellness Retreat
Woodside, California
Thursday-Sunday May 27th-30th, 2021

https://www.canyonranch.com/woodside/retreats/featured-retreats/rhythms-of-restoration-renewal/





There is no time like the present for restoration and renewal.

~Guillaume Henri



Will Clipman

poet ~ percussionist ~ maskmaker ~ storyteller ~ performing artist ~ educator

www.willclipman.com
williamclipman@aol.com
facebook.com/willclipman

520.591.0776