VI-RAL VI-RAL VI-RAL

Our aim was simple:

To make a music video clip

and to go VIRAL.

(please help us!)

But we got more than we bargained for, and have become the greatest of friends (having overcome creative-control freak clash). Ange thinks we are both 'silver backed gorillas' - I think what she is trying to say is that we are both desiring to be top of the animal kingdom of creativity but luckily she was able to step down and take my orders (not without minor insult and injury!) hehehe. We LOVE each other.

So here it is! The crafty stop motion video clip I made with/for Ange Takats, Sunshine Coast musician/singer/songwriter.

The Girl & The Glass by Ange Takats

And once you've seen that, you can watch the 'behind the scenes' comedy-drama that is...

The Making Of The Girl & The Glass

Spread it!

[current mood] Croissants & Beach Walks

Invitation with Song

The first version of song-communication arose with Solua Middleton sending me youtube video clips that expressed how she was feeling during conference calls with our bosses.

It became a bit of a continued conversation through song. Solua is a legend.

Most recently she emailed me a song to expressing how irreplaceable I am. She used the iphone ap 'Songify'.

I decided to one-up the use of song as communication by creating a Songify party invitation.

Tea party invitation by Natalija Brunovs

It's atrociously good!

[current mood] Leftover Juicer Bits Muffins & Quietening the Mind to Hear the Birds

Stop Thinking & Write a Song

For the past month my brain has been getting incrementally more overpowering. It's actually become out of control. I have to stop mid brain-debate and shout 'shut the f*ck up!!'.

What started as a quiet conversation became louder and louder, soon enough it felt like a chorus of one hundred voices shouting at me with fears, anxieties, attempts to work things out.

If you let the mind just go forth unmanaged it becomes an unruly mess. You can barely hear your soul.

So, too long between meditations and time out was due. I booked a flight to Sydney a few weeks ago to do something arty with a friend and then he recommended I join an intuition workshop as part of the Magicians Way course.

As per usual, when it came to the day of departure, the timing seemed bad and I have so much shit to do I thought 'why did I book this trip?'...

I ended up staying in Heather's cottage, situated in a hidden garden. It's an adorable a-frame super-sized cubby complete with ladder-access attic bedroom. Alone for a day I read all manner of materials, ate super healthy, sat, lay, stretched... I just hung out.

I watched a wonderful DVD by Adyashanti whilst sitting cross legged on the couch.

We also went iceskating and watched the Sydney Dance Company.

I walked around my childhood suburbs and listened to the silence.

Slowly my mind was quietening.

And Heather's piano just had to be touched.
I'm no musician but I let myself muck about on it. With no one around it didn't matter and I recorded it for fun.

I then went to the course and discovered my access to intuition. I was read and I read.
There was transformation and new connections.

And now I'm back here and there is a beautiful beautiful silence in my mind.
I can finally hear my soul again.

Thank goodness I took flight!

Here is what I recorded on the piano with some added words. Listen with gentle non-critical ears please! :)

Singing was a course of its own in non-self-judgement and letting whatever wanted to arise, arise.

x

oh and I also made an elephant.

[current mood] Health Smoothies & The Movie 'Once'.

Thanks for the music

Someone just posted me some music to return me into the present day.

I decided to thank them by showing them my interaction with it.

Rainy Sundays inside with the need to blog and no shame.. that's what you get to see!

Me Dancing and Me Playing Saxophone. FOR DP. xo

Please note: I am not stripping although it appears I start that way. And I haven't played the sax in over ten years...

[current mood] Mashups & Vegetarian

Backstage at Splendour In The Grass 2010

I was brought in at the last minute to hang at the Splendour Festival last weekend.
I joined the triple J team to film backstage interviews and take photos of punters!

Here are some of those video pieces.

Washington sitting on the grass

Cloud Control on a buggy

Scissor Sister's wardrobe

And a couple of artist's with a black balloon totem pole 'endurance piece'.

JJJ did craft with bands. This is Miike Snow's pipe cleaner art.

It's always a thrill to stroll around with a backstage pass and get access to the sweet spots at a festival, however I really appreciated that the best fun is to be had in the sea of punters with a friend by your side, interpretative dancing and singing badly. Backstage was a mix of media madness, blonde PR chickies, folks getting tattoos and celebs stroking each others egos. I enjoyed it most when I was in my element taking photographs and operating the camera.

[current mood] Dancing in a Teepee & Roasted Parsnip

Marimba - can you taste it?

Start by turning up your volume.

Then press play:

This was Pete and I playing Marimba whilst it poured outside. I'm on the bass beat-keeping.

There is a crew of Crystal Waters people who practice Marimba every Thursday.

Pete warmed me up by teaching me a few tunes on his Marimba at home.

It's made from piping, rope and plastic bags.

You could probably take your Marimba camping and turn it into a tent using the various elements.

Pete gets his over to the neighbours in a wheelbarrow.

This is Pete expressing love and laughter with a fellow Marimba player. Note the deep bass Marimba in made of serious plumbing pipe.

I loved this angle of Sara. She had a bag of curious percussion.

And if I had a marimba, this is what it would look like.

And it would sound something like:

Blue blue blue, yellow yellow
Green Green, Green Green, purple.

[current mood] Paw Paw Salad & Aussie Pub Singalong Classics