The Ballad of Cyclic Change

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On Saturday, I played a Juneteenth concert at the Ballad of Cyclic Change, a multimedia collaborative art project with interactive sculptures by Kathy Creutzburg, Mirabai Kwan Yin, Jake Elkin and Aya Harota.

Mirabai is an old friend of mine: her husband Ric Becker was my very first NYC/Mannes friend. Shortly after meeting, we formed my first NYC band, Just Puppets! Ric played trombone and percussion alongside me, Jess Tsang (another Mannes alum), and Jake Elkin, in a contemporary program of Braxton, Rzewski, and more. We got out there, especially on one of Jake’s compositions for electronics and spoken word. It was a wonderful and weird way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning in one of Manhattan’s many community gardens.

More on the installation from the artists:
Inspired by the biogeochemical cycles and how they mirror cycles in human lives, we built acoustic kinetic sculptures from upcycled everyday materials and created musical compositions using the sculptures as instruments. By connecting human stories of transition to nature’s cycles we encourage people to feel connected to their planet.

Songwriter's Orchestra

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I am participating in two great concerts Sunday and Monday with the Songwriter's Orchestra in collaboration with Herstory Writers Workshop. Chains Don't Rattle Themselves - Concert for Youth Justice is "an emotionally-charged concert that shares gripping stories about youth incarceration -- first as personal narratives presented by people directly affected by the issue, and then as raw, potent original songs adapted from the stories themselves. Chains Don’t Rattle Themselves seeks to break through barriers of judgment and mobilize audiences to take direct action supporting the Raise The Age NY campaign for youth criminal justice reform in New York State."

Grab tickets for the show in Long Island or Manhattan. Hope to see you there!