Making More Room for Creativity...

Before I went back to school to once-and-for-all finish my bachelor's degree, and continuing for the next 4 years or so, my life was full up with creative people.  I was living, at times, with my friends Kelsi and Nicole--a musician and an artist, and later moved in with another roommate, also a musician and founder of her own record label.  There were always musicians and artists hanging around or passing through our homes.


And much of that time, I was completely immersed in the English Department at SJSU, which had recently begun to offer an MFA in Creative Writing, so there was a great deal of writing going on there.  During those years I attended literary readings, plays, local artists' and musicians' shows, and open mics.  And surrounded by all those people's dedication to their respective arts, I found it pretty natural to remain, often, inspired myself.  It was a really nice period of my life and one I've missed from time to time.


There were also times when I convinced myself that the last thing I needed to do was to surround myself again with more dreamers like myself.  The thing about people who are drawn to the Arts and Humanities is that they really can talk a WHOLE lot of bullshit.  We could bullshit and dream and speculate and weave saucy tales all day long, live on subsistance salaries, pray/eek/grit our ways through every month's bills and stop so long to smell the roses, then talk/write/paint about the roses that we don't even notice when they've dried up and winter's come.


What I really needed was balance.  I needed to move forward with my adult life and career, yes.  But I took it a bit too far and decided to nix the creative elements (and people) from my life entirely.  In recent months, I've been happy for any opportunities to welcome inspiration back in.


Which is how I ended up at Rosie McCann's with Kelsi Monday night.  I learned (thank you, Facebook) that the band of an old acquaintance of ours from my carefree college years (who used to play at an open mic we frequented) was playing down there, and I thought going would be a nice way to close out the holiday celebrations.


So Timeless, Jonah Johnson's project, is nothing if not inspiring.  The group (a revolving kind of collective comprised of Jonah, his sister, and a gang of talented musicians including a brass section) is so full of positive, uplifting energy that even an overcrowded dance floor of people at snooty-ass Santana Row couldn't help but smile and be nice to each other.  It probably helps that most of those folks were lured there by So Timeless itself, which tends to attract other positive people, believers in what you put out there coming back to you.


It was really nice to be there with Kelsi, too.  I love going to hear music with her because we can dance and talk, but also just listen together, appreciating specific instruments or beats or whatever.  The highlight of the night as far as music goes may have been this hip-hop/jazz/soul/r&b group's take on The Cure's "I Will Always Love You," which I really wish I had a recording of.


The highlight of the night apart from the music was the simple act of remembering that creativity and inspiration are ALWAYS there when you are ready to embrace them.  I used to associate those days of readings and concerts and the open mic where we met Jonah and bullshitting about all of the above with my youth, time-capsuled off and traded in for more responsible endeavors.  But that thought itself is bullshit.  I want to live the rest of my life surrounded by inspiring people who aim to put something new out into the world.


We can't all be that way, for sure.  Some people were born to appreciate the art that's put into the world and not necessarily create it (sometimes I feel I belong in that category), but surrounding myself with creators enriches even the act of appreciating those creations.  When I see the people behind the efforts, learn about what inspires and drives them, and sometimes even get to witness the creating, I think I am more open, less critical; I see and hear things I may not have otherwise.


That also makes me more forgiving of my own efforts and more able to just start.  Just START something to see where it may go.  When I'm closed off and critical, I'm fearful of even the starting.


So I offer up a toast to Monday's outing, and Kelsi and I have pledged to do these sorts of things more often together--to take our minds off the concerns of parenting and (in her case) marriage for a spell and get back into the realm of creativity.  I'm beginning to believe that--if there is anything real about the concept of a Fountain of Youth, the realm of creativity is where it dwells...


Here's a really sweet So Timeless song as a parting gift (gotta wonder why the horns are here when I don't actually hear any in the song, but they are usually actually *playing*, hahaha) :)

The GGA Project -- Day #292 "Musical Exploration"

For a while I've been wanting to introduce Monkey to a piano.  Well, he's actually met one before--at my girlfriend Kelsi's house--but I wasn't sure he'd even remember it.


Last night I was playing music from Pandora on my phone while he took a bath when "Great Balls of Fire" came on.  He went CRAZY.  He was laughing and imitating me pretending to play piano on the edge of the tub.  So I figured today would be a good day.


I remembered there was a piano store across the street from Santana Row in San Jose, and since we were headed down to hang out with Nicole and girls anyway, well...


Today's New Activity: Tickling Ivories with the Boy


So of course he didn't really PLAY the piano.  But he didn't bang on the keys either.  He would press the keys individually and listen to the sound.  That is, until he found the keyboards.  There were just way too many buttons to behold and explore, so he got a little wild during that part.


The employee there--a professional pianist himself--was very helpful and friendly, giving advice about when to start kids on lessons and related stuff.  I told him I recently heard a radio story in which adults were talking about how much they loved music until their parents forced them to learn an instrument.  I mentioned that I'd like to find that balance between encouraging his interest in music and pushing him away from it.


The man made a good point.  He said you have to find some other means, some other way too keep it interesting for them, some way to ignite their passion (according to him, this is the primary job of a good music instructor, which I believe).  "For example," he said, "if your child comes home from school and says "I don't like school.  I want to quit," you'd never just let them stop.  You would find a way to encourage them because you know it's good for him."  I like that analogy.  While I don't think every child needs to learn an instrument, I absolutely believe that most children who grow up playing hate and resent the practice part of it to some extent.  And yet if no parents out there made their kids keep on keepin' on with the lessons, there wouldn't be very many musicians out there.  Don't the majority of the great musicians start pretty young?


So yeah, he had a great time, but it'll be a few more years before I begin contemplating lessons.  I am, however, considering taking back the present I got him for his upcoming 2nd birthday and buying a keyboard instead.  Shhhhh....

The GGA Project -- Day #280 "C'mon Mama!"

Monkey loves to dance.  He is a true music lover, and it thrills me to watch him as he truly listens to different kinds of music and--in his own Monkey way--dances in a way that's fitting to the rhythm and type of song.


Some time ago I took Monkey to a couple of library story times.  He was a little too young at that point to listen or pay attention, and shortly after that I started working full time and never thought to take him back.  So when we woke up this morning I decided to see if there was a story time today.  There wasn't, but there was something that sounded even better: Music and Movement group.  The description said there would be dancing and singing and all manner of thing that's right up his alley.


So then.


Today's New Activity: Music & Movement at the Library


Here's the thing though.  The group was short on movement and long on dorky.  Dorky evil.  Not dorky endearing.  The lazy leader just plopped into her chair and reached over to start a CD playing "If you're happy and you know it..."  Then she led us through 4 different rhymes in which the end result is the Mama tickling the child.  Though the small group of kids seemed to be 2-3 years old (pretty freaking young), the little bit of music there was still seemed somehow immature for them.  Nobody was all that into it, and Monkey definitely was not digging the dork fest.  Not one bit.


After less than 10 minutes, he grabbed my hand and very vehemently led me to the door with these two words: "C'mon Mama."


It wasn't stated with a question mark at the end like it typically is when he implores me to go somewhere.  It was a directive, and in there was definitely the unspoken sentiment: let's get real Mama.  Give us both a break.


And you know what?  He was right.  I'd tried in vain to get myself into the group, but it was just too much.  Or too little.


I propose a music group in which the kids just listen to real music.  I mean grown up music.  Just general music that adults and kids can both enjoy moving to.  The songs Monkey likes best on the Pandora toddler channel aren't kids songs at all.  They are just enjoyable songs with good beats.  Forget the library music group.  We'll just dance in the living room for now.  I was actually relieved he was the one to bolt and I could just follow him under the auspices of keeping track of my son :)


Instead, we went to the nearby park and had a great time.  Monkey was in great, adventurous spirits, once we escaped from the library.  And don't get me wrong.  I love the library.  But they should probably stick to books :)

The GGA Project -- Day #201 "Nueva Estacion"

I remember a while back my friend Kelsi mentioned that her taste in music had opened up to include a whole array of things she might have poo-poo'd before.  At the time I couldn't relate to her; I felt the opposite was true of me at the time, but now I'm beginning to understand where she was coming from.  I think I'm coming from there too these days.


Not only am I listening to and even enjoying and definitely sometimes dancing in my seat while I drive to the likes of Katy Perry and Taio Cruz, I now have room in my groove for KBAY and KOIT.  wtf?  I have made fun on my Mama since I was a teenager for listening to soft rock stations, and now I totally get it.  When your child is in the car, there is something so relaxing about knowing that nothing even remotely offensive could possibly come on, and it's also fun to know the chances are good you can sing to most songs.  The only downside is the heavy presence of artists like Taylor Swift, but when the unbearable songs come on, I can always switch the station.  Which brings me to


Today's New Activity: Grooving en Espanol


The station I came across was called La Kalle, which is a urbanized version of La Calle, which means "the street."  This is the Spanish language version of a station like Wild 94.9.  It plays the latest hip-hop and pop, but also mixes in occasional merengues and salsas and just basically anything you can dance to.


I used to listen to a lot of contemporary music in Spanish.  This was back when Shakira singing in Spanish was contemporary (and for the record, I think her music was much better back then, though her (belly) dancing has been consistently crazy good).  In fact listening to, transcribing, and translating Spanish language music of all genres was how I learned a lot of the Spanish I can speak.  I'd run my translations by native-speaker friends and ask them to fill in gaps and translate slang words and phrases.  It was far more fun than trying to learn from books and practice alone.


Anyway, on the ride home from work today I was in the mood for something completely different.  I started scrolling through stations with the idea of finding the country stations, but 1) I couldn't seem to find and and 2) it's probably for the best since I can hardly stomach country.  I was sort of looking to see if my newly wider-opened musical acceptance also included country, but I somehow doubt that is the case.


Instead I landed on La Kalle and thoroughly enjoyed everything I heard, including some of the stuff I used to listen to 15 years ago now!  Gosh I feel kinda old.


The best thing was when one DJ signed off for the evening with a little pep-talk about thinking positively, because changing your thoughts can change your life.  I can hardly argue with that, and it was great to hear somebody say in out loud on the radio, for all to hear.  It was a nice thought for the traffic battle home :)

The GGA Project -- Day #174 "Now THAT's What I'm Talkin' About!"

Ahh.  Where to begin talking about


Today's New Activity: Attending the 4th SubZERO Festival


?


A while back I got wind of the SubZERO festival (which I somehow missed during both years when I was living--quite literally--around the corner from where it happened.  I don't know how the funky good vibe alone didn't have me wandering out my front door to find its source), and I've been looking forward to it for weeks.  How thankful I am to report that it didn't go the way of so many of San Jose's outdoor festivals and leave a little to be desired.  How could it with all this action?!

I couldn't get enough of watching this very talented foursome of belly dancers.  I generally love watching belly dancing, and tonight was no exception.  I managed to make it over their way during 4 separate mini-sets.  The drums they danced to were a calling I couldn't refuse.

Next I wandered over to one of the stages, where, for most definitely the first time in my life, I got to hear what happens when hip hop meets the trombone.  This band was just formed last week some time (there was also a female vocalist who isn't pictured here) but you wouldn't have known it with how good they sounded together.

Next, a visit to a traveling curios museum, a mini-version of which was housed in one of the many tents set up on South 1st street, which was blocked off for the festival:

Also among those tents:

a giant cardboard dollhouse with real scenes visible through every window!,

a station where stoppers-by could sit and draw models who switched out in what seemed like five-minute intervals, though some could have been longer (peek and you can see my friend Laura in the second row, doin' her art thang!...she's so cool...).

One stage featured an interpretive dance troupe that was covered in artful, very detailed body paint, and the body paint artist demoed her work live during one band's performance later in the night.  It's too bad all the details can't be made out from the pictures, but this is something of a before and after:

There were food trucks galore.  And though I longed to try the raved-about munchies from Gomo, they (and two other food trucks) were out of their only vegetarian options.  I found my friends Alejandra and Kliff during the food hunt portion of the night, and they both made off with yummy treats.  Hey guys!  It was great to do some catching up with them.  And congrats to Alex on her recent graduation!!

I SO meant to stop by the t-shirt tent of the guys who made Kliff's "Hella" t-shirt so I could finally count myself a bona fida Nor*Cal girl, but I forgot :(  I'll find 'em online.


Music and art were the main focuses of this event, and though I didn't photograph any art for fear the artists would say, "Hey punk, if you like it so much, why don't you BUY it?" (not that they ever would, and not that I'd be opposed to it were it in my budget, but it seemed rude to just go around taking pictures), there was a whole lot of beautiful work to take in.


Around 10pm my best gals Nicole and Kelsi made it, to my shock and glee.  It's SO great to be out with those Mamas, especially in the streets of downtown San Jose, and especially at night.  It reminded me of our earliest adventures in this town, before Mamahood got its wonderful, forever grips on us.  We stopped for coffee and then meandered a bit, seeing:

Bam!  Roller derby demo!  And

Bam!  A yarn bombing!


This is just a very small sampling of all there was to enjoy.  There were art cars and taiko drums, another super fun and energy-filled drum circle, a bicycle joust (!), spoken word, and I even found the tent of one of my bank's customers, who turns out to be quite a talented painter.  And there was so much more.


In the end, Kelsi and I danced to the spinning of a local radio station dj, whose name eludes me right now.  The music was so incredibly happy it was impossible to resist.  I read an article in Details a few months ago about how so much of today's new bands are super happy and bubble gum.  The author was practically lamenting the absence of the angst of rock music past (though not the extreme Emo of more recent past).  I could see the truth in that, if the music this dj played was to serve as any kind of example.  But you know what.  It's freakin' FUN to be happy!!!


Some years ago I was dancing by myself at the salsa stage at San Jose's Jazz Festival.  A Mercury News photographer happened to take a crowd shot that I was visible in, looking as free and happy as a young woman who'd just graduated from college should look.  The picture appeared in the paper twice in articles about the festival.  Dancing tonight I felt the same kind of joy that I see in my face and body language whenever I come across that picture (which is actually only when I visit my brother, who has it pinned to his bulletin board...sweet bro).  My life is not without cares or problems.  And in the past year it is certainly not free from conflict, confusion, or the agonizing act of trying to decipher which is right, of the multiple directions from which to choose.  But in certain moments, and more and more frequently, I am full of that same sense of joy and wonder and absolute knowledge that my life--in the present--is the best possible life I could be living.


Thank you to all the wonderful, talented artists of San Jose and the friends I shared the evening with for bringing me into that place tonight.

The GGA Project -- Day #19 "Musical Journey"

Today I went to visit my best gal Kelsi and her boys.  The drive is normally an hour long, and somehow--when traffic everywhere is lighter this week--traffic on this particular trip was terrible.  It took a good hour twenty.  But anyway, it was all good because (having put a muzzle on the Chuck Palahniuk audio book, and lost the Christmas station to the non-Christmas cheeserock that normally occupies it) I took the advice of my other best gal Nicole's awesome stepma, Chris, and decided that, I would, for


Today's New Activity: Listening to Pandora's App for iPhone in the Car


If you are not already familiar with Pandora.com, lemme break it down briefly.  It sprung from the Music Genome Project, in which...oh nevermind, lemme let Wikipedia do it for me:

"Pandora Radio is an automated music recommendation service and custodian of the Music Genome Project. Users enter a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar. Users provide feedback on approval or disapproval of individual songs, which Pandora takes into account for future selections.

While listening, users are offered the ability to buy the songs or albums at various online retailers. Over 400 different musical attributes are considered when selecting the next song. These 400 attributes are combined into larger groups called focus traits. There are 2,000 focus traits. Examples of these are rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies, and displayed instrumental proficiency."

So I've had the Pandora app for a while, but I never thought to use it because, I don't know.  I just never did.  But the drive was perfect for it today, so I plugged in my little transmitter and listened through the radio.


EDIT:  After a few comments, I realized I managed to make it seem like I was new to Pandora, which is not the case.  Using the (in my opinion, more user-friendly-than-the-website iPhone app and listening in the car as "radio" was what was new to me.  Just for clarification...)

The genius of Pandora is that it starts out with exactly what you tell it to (like, I make a station based on the artist U2, and the first song it plays is a U2 song), and then goes on playing songs in that same musical vein, saving you a whole lot of work trying to hunt down songs one-by-one on your MP3 player.  It doesn't always get it right, which is why you can thumbs up or down a song to tweak the station and get it closer to playing only stuff you like.

I had a number of stations saved already (the app pulled all my info from Pandora.com when I downloaded it), but today I added some new ones.  Namely:

Bon Iver Radio, example of his music here (thanks bro for the introduction to him):

Which ended up leading to this song, from The Frame, and from the movie "Once":

Cinematic Orchestra Radio, (thanks Jeff K. for leading me to this group):

And Florence + The Machine Radio, (thanks bartender at The Dirty Bird Lounge the other day for the intro to them):

Which led to songs by Sia and Feist.  Nice.


It ended up being a really nice ride down, even with the traffic and the post-rain mildewy FUNK in my car (why and how?!)  Music will pretty much make or break anything, no?


On the way home, Tinawiren Radio and Joni Mitchell Radio.  Man, I just LOVE all that music at my beck and call, without having to burn or download or PAY for it.  I like the surprise of it too.  You could say the radio is like that: you never know what's coming next.  But you have to listen to all those crap commercials, plus after a day or two with one station you pretty much know what all they may play.  This is a wonderful little gift every time!


And to my pleasant surprise, after all that constant streaming, my battery wasn't all that much drained.  I think this will be the way to go for a while.

The GGA Project -- Day #8 "84 Floors"

I try to get to the gym at least 3 days a week.  I am not, by even the loosest of interpretations, any kind of fitness buff.  I pretty much have to force myself to go most nights, and I am only able to do so by making myself vividly imagine the good, serotonin a-flowin' feeling I will experience when the ordeal is over with.  Mostly, that works.  (Though sometimes it's easier to get myself to go because it can be a treasured bit of time to myself, during which I listen to music, think through things, and just be alone.  We all need that!)


One of the things that can make the gym seem like a chore is getting in a rut.  In line with my not being a fitness buff, there are plenty of machines I don't know how to use, and I'm shy about looking dumb trying to figure it out; additionally, the last thing I want to do is attract the attention of a trainer by asking them and accidentally purchasing a personal trainer package I don't want.


So sometimes I just have to bite the bullet and figure out something new to do, just to break up the monotony.


Today's New Activity: Stairmaster, Ah Ah Ah

I was super intimidated by the Stairmaster.  I don't know why...it just seemed impossible to me to be walking up stairs for a half hour straight.  WHY would you want to walk up stairs for half an hour straight?  But then, why would you want to run, elliptic, or stationarily bicycle either?  The answer is always the same: it's just what you do if you wanna lose the post-baby blubber, keep your heart in shape, blah blah blah.


But the Stairmaster was actually a pleasant surprise, mostly because I realized that being so high up on a machine meant being super close to the air vent, and that made the whole work out much more bearable.  I was also going pretty slowly (level 4 of 20 for starters), so that made it easier too, while ensuring I could search for music to listen to on my iPhone with little to no danger of tripping to my death.  So it'll be nice to add that to the list of possible torture devices I can carry out my business on at the gym.


But speaking of music...  I discovered when I got to the gym that my iPod was out of juice, and since I can't bear to listen to the cheeseball music they pump in through the speakers, I resorted to my iPhone and figured I'd find some videos on YouTube to play.  But what to play?


For some reason, when I'm working out, my alter-ego of a music fan takes over and I end up listening to stuff I would never be interested in outside of the gym environment.  It's because what I'm most interested in during that time is a good beat.  So I listen to a lot of pop and top 40 kind of stuff.  Justin Timberlake?  Yes.  Akon?  Sure.  Shakira?  Why the hell not.


But today's video choices surprised even me in this way.  I walked up stairs for a half hour set to Lady Gaga. Weeks ago I never would have considered this.  As a vegetarian, I was pretty thoroughly disgusted by her little raw meat dress stunt at the VMAs.  I still am.  And yet, I can't deny a good beat and a catchy hook.

And also, her voice is great live, which I admire greatly.


So the gym pretty much felt like an all new experience today, which is great.  Knowing it's possible will keep me going there with not too much kicking and screaming.