Back to NYC and living in my truck  

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I fly back to New York on Wednesday. I had been talking with a friend about managing his rentals and living in one unit starting April 2nd. However, that's changed... he has someone visiting and had to give them the space I was going to use. I can still do the management option with him, but it might not start until May. So, when I get back to the city, it will be all about the Chevy truck until I figure out something else. At least it's getting warmer there.

At this stage in my life, having left the corporate 9-5 paycheck world for artistic passions and pursuits, I find it exhilarating to live like a gypsy of sorts. The detachment from the material holdings is undoubtedly liberating. I have stuff, sure... in storage... but I want the stuff in my Heart, Mind and Soul to account for my "wealth".

My little delivery business, NYpickup.com, manages to cover my expenses. I don't eat sushi every night, but when I do eat it, what a treat! Otherwise, I know some great cheap eats in the city to keep my belly full and my body healthy.

I think when I get back, I'll join the NYC rec centers so I can swim, work out, rock climb and have a place to shower. That and my truck, will make the month of April go by very easily.

The main reason I want to be in the city is to have more opportunity to find creative collaborations. And, it's a fun city, so why not?

However, if the wind blows strong enough, I might just find myself back out in Colorado before the end of the year.

You just never know, till you know...

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Bad Blood  

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I traded emails with an old collegue who told me that they don't speak with another friend and coworker because they have "bad blood" between them.

What does that term imply?

I imagine that if someone became angry or hurt that it could figuratively "boil their blood", burning it in such a way that it can't carry the same life force it once did. Thus, the blood is "bad". Sure, I could look up the origin of the term, but my interest is more about what happens to cause it and how can it be rectified?

The idea that people who've been close as friends, family, lovers or partners can carry any form or anger, resentment, annomosity or worse, apathy, towards eachother makes my heart sad, truly.What happens that causes this? What is so completely unforgiveable?

Then again, what is "forgiveness"?

Is it an act or a feeling? Who does it or feels it; the one forgiving or the one being forgiven, or both? Is it the willingness and ability to look beyond in a sincere attempt to regain harmony in ones heart? Do two people have to share in the understanding of forgiveness to benefit from it?

Tough questions. Tougher answers.

I believe all things can be healed through the forms and practices of Love, Understanding, Compassion and Empathy.

I had an Inspired notion to remember this with an acroynm made from the first letters of the words:

L.ove
U.nderstanding
C.ompassion
E.mpathy

...LUCE.

Interestingly, the word "luce" is a form of the word lucia, latin for Light. Light is Love.

So...if something is troubling in the shawdows of the dark, then bring Light to it. Bring Love to it. Bring Understanding. Bring Compassion. Bring Empathy. Bring LUCE. Eventualy, it may foster the forgiveness to propel from past pain into the new and the Now.

I don't purport to know it all, by any means. I'm always a student first and foremost. I make most of it up as I go along. I have caused pain and felt regret. I seek harmony and wish to avoid discord. I try my best, not always succeeding. Nobody says it's easy. We all learn from one another, as painful as the leasons may be.

If there's any bad blood between you and another, I hope the Light shows a way.

Have a beautiful day!

One Love and Big Hug,
Dallas

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You Have Such Great Energy  

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Have you ever had someone tell you that you have good energy?

I've heard this from people for most of my life; new friends, romantic interests and even strangers. It humbles and warms me to know that someone would find my nature harmonious to their own vibration. Likewise, I know when it feels good around another person and like to let them know the same.

I tend to think about the science of life from a quantum perspective. String theory suggests that at the most sub atomic levels, all things are composed of tiny strings and strands of vibrating energy, each one a part of the collective.

Like notes on a scale, we become, as a whole, a Symphony of Being. Everything you see, touch, taste, smell and hear is also within this grand and glorious orchestration. Even the space between us is part of the score.

As we meet and interplay in and out of physical proximity with other vibrating strings, it only follows that the combinations and variations of these unions shall result in either:

harmonic convergence
or a disruptive dissonance.

We either make beautiful music together or perhaps we just don't do the dance at all.

Each of us, as a single consciousness and mass of membranes, has it's own song. As we hum our lives along, we set the tone of our being. It can be fairly constant, moving only amongst the sharpest notes and richest refrains. Or, it can go off the charts, emitting coarse chords and somber keys that leave you and others feeling flat.

So, when I have someone tell me I have great energy, it's like music to my ears. I don't mean that in an egotistical way, only that it affirms that my frequency feels fine and that the we are grooving to the same magical mix tape.

but

What happens when sour notes are struck more often than sweet? What alters a person's core vibrating frequency? What makes us whistle a different tune? And how do we equalize ourselves and compose a better balance? These are some of the musical mysteries of life.

Time to ponder and play on....

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I miss my truck  

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I have been without it for almost a month now. I left her parked in Rosedale in Queens while I flew to Florida.

Now I sit in warm sunny Boulder, CO at a coffee shop. I flew from Tampa to Denver last night. I'll be around for about a week visiting friends and getting my fix of the altitude. It reminds me again of how much I like it around Colorado. A little mountain cabin, away from it all... that's the good life. Maybe this fall, after a hot summer in the city.

Next week I head back to NYC to settle in and start pouring over the 80 hours of footage of Bill Inman and Uncovering America by Horseback. I am looking forward to developing something out of that adventure last year. Perhaps a series of web episodes instead of a feature. I'm not sure yet until I start watching and writing about it.

Stay tuned...

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My Hometown, Marquette, MI  

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Thought I'd post a little video I decided to shoot one day a couple fall seasons ago.


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Salvador Dali on the Playa?  

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I recently visited the Salvador Dali Museum for it's 26th anniversary. While soaking in the elements of the exhibition I came across this painting, called Sentimental Colloquy (Study for a Ballet).

Almost instantly, when I saw it... I imagined it as a full scale installation set on the playa in the Black Rock Desert, the location of the Burning Man festival.


I attended my fist Burn only last year, in 2007. I was invited at the last minute and didn't really have a chance to participate at a level at which I would have preferred. So, when I stared into this painting, I saw the potential for a future project.

At the end of my museum visit, there was a performance of interpretive dance based on several different Dali paintings and set to music against a video backdrop of the art. This was a beautiful ballet in it's own right and furthered my vision of the installation as being a moving piece. I see the bicycle riders as staged, set in motion and filmed or photographed in such a way as to recreate as closely as possible the same positions of the riders as in the original work.
















The vast desert playa is the perfect canvas for a third dimensional recreation of this painting. I am not yet completely certain how I will approach the piece, but I have a few ideas.

One option would be to have a fixed, non-moving and complete representation in place for the duration of the festival. Another would be to have fixed bicycles and use participants as the body of riders, allowing a more interactive experience. Once in place, people could walk up, put on a head dress and be in a Dali painting.

A third, and the most participative, would be to use moving riders on their own bicycles, creating a living ballet that changes with each orchestration.

Logistically speaking, it would be less of a strain on storage and transport if I obtain bicycles at the Burn itself. Likewise, the use of fellow participants as the riders makes more sense than to use dummy models. The uniqueness that each person brings provides a more vibrant aesthetic than the black bodies. I would like to see a little color in this interpretation.

As I stated, I could allow the riders to use their own unique rides. This would be easiest. However, the absence of the black bodies and the presumably non-black bicycles would drastically chance the original tri-color balance of Dali's work. I enjoy the level of black in his painting and the stark contrast of black against the white playa would be much more effective.

To this end, the idea of having my own black bicycles is still appealing, despite the amount of work involved in obtaining and modifying. I may bring black body suits for people to wear should I decide that I will go for a more true representation of the original work at some point, even if only once.

I know that the Black Rock City Department of Public Works collects hundreds upon hundreds of broken and discarded bikes during and after the event. However, I don't know how many appear early on in the week. I would think most bikes are cared for and held closely until near the end of the festival. I will contact the DPW to find out if they have any idea of availability based on previous years and if they would be open to me recycling broken bikes for this project.

My thinking is that I would begin the installation with just the field of lines, piano, branches, rocks and head dresses. I would recruit and direct riders to the location to stage intermittent recreations for photos and video. I also intend to build a platform that would allow for viewing at the proper perspective. Lastly, the placement of the installation would be such that the angle of the sun would cast the same shadows seen in the painting at the proper time of day.

As the week progresses on, I can procure, paint and affix bikes to the playa. The piece could be transformative, evolving from fully participative to primarily interactive, eventually ending with all the bikes in place for more permanent installation. Or now that I think about it... perhaps do that in reverse... to evolve from fixed and monochromatic, to a living and vibrant.

The piano and waterfall is the most elaborate component. I will need to begin a search for a grand piano that I could modify. Perhaps I can cut and disassemble so that I could more easily transport it to Nevada. Also, the branches might need to be some sort of molded design. I will have to engineer a suspension model, perhaps having the left side resting on the desert floor and the upper right, affixed to the piano.

In all of this, I'll have to protect from the strong winds and sand storms that blow across the playa all week long. I can't have the water filling with dust and clogging the pump. Nor, do I want the branches to get ripped away and blown across the city. I think I can affix the bikes to the playa with the use of rebar.

I could add a perspective aspect using a smaller version of a piano and changing the depth and viewing position. I could also make the piano a drinking water fountain/oasis.

OK... that's the brain dump on the idea. More to come...

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Ah... Love  

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I am going to share something more personal than I usually do. And with the birth of Spring it's apropo.

It took me quite some time to let go of a former lover. Way too long! But I attribute that to my stubborn Leo Pride. I don't like to admit I make any mistakes and my optimistic nature often prevents me from seeing a problem as insurmountable. However, realism eventually set in as I cut the heart strings and released the psychic bonds, allowing healing and new growth to spurt from the old wounds.

Now, with the return of the Sun and the Light...with each day getting longer, my pursuits of passion are back in full force. Love is in the air.... can you feel it? Spring has sprung. From the dead soil and cold shadow cast by the pain of the past, comes new vigor. Seeds will be sown, Love will be grown. My heart has opened and it flows forth with the intense desire for a future harvest of immense proportions.

Ain't it grand?

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I'm an Uncle!  

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Zeitgeist Movie  

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I've finally watched Zeitgeist. Pretty powerful piece of work. If you have a couple hours of quiet time, check it out.

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Baby Belly  

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Made it to my sister's. A baby is on the way any day now.


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Off to Langerado  

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Taking a musical break this weekend. Seeing a bunch of bands at the Langerado festival in Big Cypress. Music is healing. It'll be a good recharge.

My sister's baby is due in a week. I'll be heading to St Petersburg.

I have a couple different living options in new york when I get back in April.

I've heard that the Oprah show is showing interest in the Uncovering America by Horseback story. They asked for a highlight reel of footage. I sent them a link to the short reel I made for the finish line of the Inman's cross country horse ride.

I'll be working on this documentary most of the year... editing, writing and applying for grants. Eventually, I'll have something to screen. Should be a good learning experience.

That's it for now.

Hope you're all doing great and your little slice of the
Universe!

peace

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Parking Moment  

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