Greetings, One & All~

A sliver of waning crescent moon rose an hour ahead of the sun on this cool and calm first day of November in Northern Sonora: a harbinger of the fragile yet durable beauty available in this eleventh month of the year 2021, if we but see it clearly and gently seize it. Here’s a bit more on that score in this issue of your A 440 Newsletter. Be well and be in touch!


Rhythmic Healing

I neglected to articulate with crystal clarity in my October newsletter that my Rhythmic Healing retreat at the Redemptorist Renewal Center tonight is a private event for the clergy there. My apologies for any misunderstanding, with rhythmic healing to all!




RC3

At 7 PM on Friday November 12th, the R. Carlos Nakai Trio brings its inimitable brand of global native fusion to the outdoor Hotel Congress Plaza Stage for a rare hometown concert. This don’t-miss performance features multiple GRAMMY nominees R. Carlos Nakai, AmoChip Dabney & Will Clipman at the peak of their collective powers as they continue their three-decade exploration of a musical realm beyond boundaries.

info & tickets:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/r-carlos-nakai-tickets-166566172907



photo art courtesy Shery Christopher Photography


Invisible Forces

The invisible forces that bring two atavistic avatars together in this lifetime will be revealed in a space dedicated to the invisible energy exchange between performers and audience when Invisible Theatre presents Will & The Wolf: 8th Day on Thursday & Friday November 18th & 19th at 7:30 PM and Saturday November 20th at 2 PM. Join To-Ree-Nee Wolf & Will Clipman for a deeply refreshing dip in the mythopoetic image pool as they spin a wonder-filled web of story and song guaranteed to delight the senses and stimulate the spirit.


online ticket link (select the November calendar and pick your show date):

https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/32555/1635739200000

or call the box office at:

520.882.9721


photo courtesy Shery Christopher Photography


Wilde Boys

Once every decade or so, R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton & Will Clipman return to the Canyon Studio (which, legend has it, was built with this trio in mind) to conjure a new offering of their uncanny musical magic for your listening pleasure. Multi-GRAMMY nominees The Wilde Boys (as they were dubbed in the previous millennium by Canyon Records CEO & Producer Robert Doyle during a particularly unpredictable session) will record new material on November 22nd, 23rd & 24th with master engineer Russ Marsden at the helm for a much-anticipated mid-2022 release.


The Three Russian Bears on Red Square, courtesy of an innocent bystander


Harmonious Journey

You’ve no doubt noticed that the spearpoint of many of these mythopoetic musical explorations is the veil-piercing Native American flute voice of Gold & Platinum Record artist R. Carlos Nakai. Now you can add his new Canyon Records compilation In Harmony, We Journey to his earlier compilation In Beauty, We Return as the bookends around your Nakai collection. Your humble narrator’s pan-global percussive pulse is felt on four of the twelve cuts, including the first open-market release of Monsoon Morning, a Nakai, Eaton & Clipman song previously available only as the thirteenth and closing track on Music in the Garden: Volume 1, a series produced for Desert Botanical Garden.



cover art courtesy Robert Doyle Photography/Canyon Records


Restore & Explore

And even more beauty awaits over the yearly horizon: registration is now open for Restore & Explore, a weekend retreat at Creative Life Center in Sedona, Arizona with Will Clipman & Rona Yellow Robe presented by the 501.c.3 organization Where Passion Meets Purpose on February 18th-22nd, 2022. Explore this wonder-filled opportunity to restore your creativity and well-being through music, myth and mask at the links below:

https://www.solsticeflute.org/restore-and-explore.html

https://www.solsticeflute.org/myths-and-masks.html

https://www.solsticeflute.org/sound-bath.html

https://www.solsticeflute.org/winter-concert.html







Photos of the Month

We’ve had an embarrassment of natural riches here at Rancho Improvisoso this Fall, from the Full Hunter’s Moon to this morning’s evanescent waning crescent moon rising just ahead of the sun. I don’t believe it’s reading too much into them to ascribe lessons in balance, harmony and peaceful coexistence to these moments that so fleetingly capture our attention during this season of subtle transformation. Make of them what you will: here are just a few images from our catalog of worthy candidates to share as your November 2021 Photos of the Month. Enjoy!


Magical Moonpath, courtesy Shery Christopher Photography


Peaceful Coexistence, courtesy Shery Christopher Photography


Rescued Beauty, ICU Imagery



Poem of the Month


The Great Butterfly Storm of ‘21



Sometimes it really is this simple:

do you advocate love or hate?

For my part, I’ll throw my heart

on the bonfire of truth: beauty

owes us no indulgence, so let us

not be careless in our haste

with fragile things.



The midnight blue-and-black one

I rescue from the pool during

The Great Butterfly Storm of ‘21

dries out and gathers its wits enough

to flutter away, and I admonish myself

for the hubris of imagining

I can save everything.



Some ascribe this phenomenon

to a long-dormant efflorescence

triggered by this year’s epic monsoon;

others to our long-thwarted longing

for all things lovely and delicate

in an age of deliberate ugliness.

For my part, I’ll take what lies



beyond the logic of cause-and-effect.

I’ll accept this inordinate abundance

of winged iridescence without needing

to know how or why. I’ll just breathe

carefully, with clear intention; walk

lightly on this troubled, struggling earth

whose strength I’ll never fathom anyway.





© Will Clipman 2021








~Stay cool, calm and connected~









However bad things get, it’s never too late to stop making them worse.

~Guillaume Henri



Will Clipman

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

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

520.591.0776