AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Hello AMPers!

My name is Bekka. I am playing a gig in LA on Tuesday, November 7, 2006 opening for missFlag (http://www.myspace.com/missflag or http://www.missflag.com), another group from the AMP community, from Israel. Just me, my guitar, and a keyboard will open the show. It is missFlag's first time playing in the states and they are awesome! We go on at 11:00 pm.

I met missFlag on AMP, and Terri Anderson (AMP Director) and I are trying to make this into an AMP community event. I used AMP to book my successful Europe tour last July, and the site has grown exponentially since then- it now has over 1700 members from 55 countries around the world (including the newest, Iceland, Romania and Moldova...).

Can anyone recommend a coffee house or small cafe where one can play a solo performance in the Bay Area: San Francisco, Oakland, Berkley, Santa Cruz, etc.

Jeff Merchant performs tonight
with Multi-Instrumentalist Probyn Gregory

Acoustic Playhouse Show
Mon. 10/23/06 - Show time: 8pm - $8 cover
at Tangier Restaurant
2138 Hillhurst Ave, in Los Feliz 90027

http://www.acousticplayhouse.com

I saw this tonight in my local newpaper and thought what a great idea. It should encourage like events and artists all over the world that they only need a connection to showcase our works.

"A Norfolk musician is set to play a presigious festival in America - without ever leaving the comfort of his spare bedroom. Andy Butler will push the boundaries of technology when his 50-minute performance is streamed via the internet from his Norwich home to the appreciative audience at the 'Live Looping' Festival in Santa Cruz, California. And,asifthatwasnot enough of a feat, the guitarist will also have to sync with wind synthesizer player Ted Killian - who will be more than 5,000 miles away on stage at the festival."

Three new postings are up on this site for all you sickos sick of corporate crap out there.

Well, it has been a long dry creative spell since I last posted anything on this site but that's because so much has been happening!

First, the magazine is coming along with new writers and artists participating. Please check out the new issue of "Adventures for the Average Woman" at WWW.IDEAGEMS.COM where you can see funky art and read spooky stories. If you'd like a free "zine" in pdf, feel free to email me.

Second, I've been working on an online auction project for the MAINE TIME BANKS. So far, I've had wonderful contributions from UncleScam, Linda Kent, and Maddy Rosenberg. It's a great way to promote your artowrk and help a nonprofit with a great concept that's tight on par with AMP. You can learn more by going to WWW.TIMEBANKS.ORG

Today was one of those perfect moment in time type of days. I was with David (an amazing artist friend) who is the most wonderful support system I could ever hope for! I talked to him about my frustrations with art class and it felt so great to talk to someone that understood me ... seems there is rarely any person on this planet that ever understands me. He brought me to one of his art instructors gallery ... very inspirational! Then we went to the beach ... gosh I needed that and nothing could have been better then being in the ocean together!

David mentioned an *Artist Date*. A day in which we set time aside literally for art, in what ever way we need/want/desire. For our first Artist Date we'll probably do a photo safari and may be he'll draw me, but if not that day then someday he will ... OMG it will be off the hook! I can't begin to describe his talent ... there are no words except BEAUTIFUL, STUNNING & PASSIONATE to describe David as an artist.

Forgot to mention, I'll be performing alone this coming Wednesday 10/18/06, 6-10pm, at Oysters in Corona del Mar, a popular food and bev hangout that features jazz.

Dramaturge sought to fix "Life Death and Jazz," a theatrical jazz-cabaret.
Story line is good, and the music solid. Current dialogue-spoken-word could
use more sparkling wit and some additional shaping.

See the piece at http://www.jazcraft.net/LifeDeath&Jazz.html

This page also contains MP3 demos of the music.

Contact composer at gf@jazcraft.net

There are only 2 months left for The Painting Studio class but now I am seriously debating on not attending any more.

Part of the course outline stated: "One-on-one coaching and group interaction will assist students in resolving problems and finding the confidence to generate their own aesthetic voice.". That sounds good but I am finding this is not the case. The past few weeks in art class I have been struggling with a particular piece. I wanted to create (for myself) a tribute and personal inspirational piece of Beatrice Wood utilizing her amazing black and white pics from her book "Playing Chess With Heart: Beatrice Wood at 100". Initially I could easily envision the abstract background but as I continued to paint things went awry. Okay that's fine, this happens. So I painted 3 different abstracts but still I couldn't get the piece to work. Somewhere along the line I had lost my initial vision. I decided to paint the whole canvas (4' x 5') black and start over. As I was painting the canvas black my instructor came over to check out the situation. He knew from the start what my original intention of the piece was and he told me, "It's too literal. You could easily do an abstract and say it's a tribute to Beatrice, you don't have to put her pictures on the canvas. If you want to use her pics why don't you make a collage instead.". I didn't say a word but of course various thoughts ran through my head, mainly, "I thought you're here to be supportive and help a student when needed, not tell them their piece is stupid and they shouldn't be doing it. And if I wanted to make a collage I would have done that in the first place! UGH!! ". He didn't literally say my piece is stupid but I sure felt that way. I had ZERO support for what I wanted to create. He's an abstract painter as well but different from me but that doesn't mean that what I want to create isn't of value, it's valuable to ME and that's what matters.