Greetings, One & All~

This promises to be a momentous month on many levels, as I’m sure you are all well aware. As always, I’ll focus my commentary on the creative realm with good news and announcements of upcoming events, in the belief that music, poetry and art really do change the world for the better. Be well, be in touch and enjoy your November A 440 Newsletter in joy!


Nakai, Eaton & Clipman

My two favorite words: two SOLD OUT shows at Old Town Center for the Arts followed by a SOLD OUT show at The Musical Instrument Museum Theater bode well for the exclusive Tucson appearance of The Wilde Boys (R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton & Will Clipman) at Sea of Glass Center for the Arts on Saturday November 19th at 7:30 PM. I’m told there are still some SRO tickets left for this concert, so let’s all get together and make it four-for-four SOLD OUT as The Wilde Boys close out the Fall ’22 leg of their on-going Spiral Rendezvous CD Release Tour!

Sea of Glass tickets & info at:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/r-carlos-nakai-william-eaton-will-clipman-tickets-411421060467









NE&C photos courtesy Paul Hurschmann / Bibo Photo


Spiral Rendezvous

And speaking of Spiral Rendezvous, most of you know by now our new Canyon Records album appeared on the First Round Ballot for the 65th GRAMMY Awards in the Album of the Year category (much to my surprise, as that category is typically populated by mega-pop stars and seldom features avant-garde music like ours?!).

That round of voting closed on October 23rd, with the announcement of Nominations due on November 15th and Final Round Voting opening on December 14th. As always, if you are a Voting Member of The Recording Academy and find our music worthy of your vote, we welcome your support; if you aren’t, we welcome your positive vibes and best wishes every bit as much!

Either way, EVERYONE can listen to free full-length song samples from Spiral Rendezvous and find out more about our music, our band and our label at:

http://canyonrecords.com/product/spiral-rendezvous-cr-7212/





Nakai & Clipman

Another tour endlessly spiraling out to rendezvous with new audiences is Awakening the Fire, featuring the previously GRAMMY-nominated music of the R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman flute-and-drum duo. Our next appearance will be on Saturday November 12th from 3:30-5 PM as part of the Indigenous American Heritage Celebration 2022 at Water Street Plaza in Henderson NV. This outdoor event is free and open to the public!

more info at:

https://www.cityofhenderson.com/residents/special-interest/indigenous-american-heritage-celebration-2022



photo courtesy Pamela Hyde / A’toka Arts Management


https://canyonrecords.com/product/r-carlos-nakai-will-clipman-awakening-the-fire-cr-7108/




Worlds Within

A recurring motif in my recent writings has been the idea that everything that has ever happened or ever will happen is happening right now; yet another manifestation of that eternal present concept of time recently came to light when I discovered the avant-garde voice-and-percussion album Worlds Within by Solvei McKenna & Will Clipman is still extant and commercially available!

To further extend the metaphor: Sol has been brewing up a new storm of material in her LA studio, with the idea that she and I may record a follow-up album in 2023. Watch this space for timelessly timely tidbits on this; meanwhile, treat yourself to some of the tastiest tuneage ever to be heard between Venus and Mars at:

https://music.apple.com/na/album/sol-will-worlds-within/563070037





Unity Duo

My monthly re-Unification with singer/songwriter, progressive activist and Unity in the Valley Musical Director Amber Norgaard has become as integral to my lunar rhythm as your A 440 Newsletter: the latter rising at the beginning of every month and the former setting near the end. Our next offering of musical spirituality occurs at 10 AM on Sunday November 27th in Sahuarita AZ. Plenty to be thankful for there!

*Those of you who’ve been on this journey with me for a while will remember Amber’s country-folk-rock masterwork Long Way Home, on which yours truly laid down ten of his best drumset tracks ever in a genre in which he rarely appears. Timeless music well worth a listen!




Photos of the Month

The wildlife here at Rancho Improvisoso has been truly wild this autumn, adapting as we all are to new realities of climate and weather with heretofore unforeseen patterns of behavior: the reptiles aren’t sure whether to go into hibernation or keep fattening up for their long winter’s nap; the bats are still raiding the hummingbird feeders every night two months beyond their customary migratory departure; the coyotes and bobcats are fearlessly investigating every potentially nourishing scent; the roadrunners and hawks are coexisting in an increasingly subtle and complex pas de deux while the seasonal whitewings–who are usually gone by August–are still scrapping it out with the native mourning doves and Gambel’s quail for their portion of seed from our feeders, while we two-legged’s take daily inspiration from nature’s up-close and intimate spectacle.
















Poem of the Month



Revelations



Sometimes they come with blinding clarity

in the dead of night

when the veils are thin

and all the doors of all the rooms of the house

swing open

and it’s all one vast waking dream;



say, at four-forty

in the wee hours of a cool autumn morning

as the perfect musical note strikes

like the proverbial diamond bullet to the forehead

releasing an enormous body of work into the universe

just like that:



one mustn’t be stunned into forgetful silence

by the enormity of it

or succumb to the comfortable blandishment

of pulling the covers back up

and warming back down

into sleep



but rather get up in the dark,

put one’s bare feet on the cold floor,

find one faint source of light

and scribble it all down

even though—or perhaps precisely because—

no one else will ever know.







© Will Clipman 2022








~May this November be memorable in every good way~










Worrying wastes the very energy one could use
to change for the better whatever it is one is worrying about.

~Guillaume Henri