This Is My Bloomington

rumblerumblerumblerumble*

Luci — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:46:04 +0000

We’re starting to hear a rumble (and tweets!) in Bloomington … excitement about TEDxBloomington is building!

Though I’m delighted to have more people visiting my blog, my luci@tedxbloomington.com e-mail is now running, so if you have questions specific to TEDxB, it may be best to catch me at that address.

I’m coordinating much of my local efforts with the event curator, Christian Long, who’s in the process of moving his family from Texas to the Midwest, closing out a school year with his students, travelling across the country speaking about education, and generally being a busy, busy dad, so if you’ve left me a message and I haven’t responded yet, please know that I’ll be in touch with you as soon as I can, or Christian will.

And, more news as it becomes available!

How could I have not known this?

Luci — Sat, 15 May 2010 02:02:40 +0000

There’s a Cirque du Soleil performer living in Bloomington!

TEDxBloomington is coming along!

Luci — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:44:26 +0000

I’ve been talking to more and more movers-and-shakers in Bloomington about the upcoming TEDxBloomington in May 2011, doing more research about how other TEDx events work on a logistical level, thinking about who and what and how to make this “Wisdom of Play” event (or series of events!) fabulous … and getting more and more excited with every conversation!

I’m especially grateful to Christian Long, curator for the event, for letting me insert myself into his team and for being so willing to share the wealth of play and creation — my favorite things!

I’m also loving brainstorming with Michael Shermis, Kevin Makice, Debby Herbenick, Peter Lopilato, Malcolm Dalglish, Mia Dalglish, Claire Arbogast and Kalynn Brower (more links to come) — my latest and greatest resources for more energy, more inventive ideas, more contacts, and more productive creation. I know a LOT of people in this city, but I’m so grateful to have these opportunities to meet even more excellent Bloomingtonians.

I started this blog and the podcast because in the last 20+ years I’ve become convinced that Bloomington is an astonishingly rich place filled with amazing people, and even though I have been distracted from writing here and producing podcasts, now that I’ve become involved in the TEDxBloomington process, I’m feeling reinvigorated, so I think this blog will reflect aspects of both these branches of my Bloomington love.

And in the context of getting more people to “play” with Christian and me this year, I present this three-minute video that I saw courtesy of the TEDxDU webcast yesterday, about leadership and “first followers.” If you’re reading this, I sincerely hope you’ll actively become some of our “first followers” and help begin to build TEDxBloomington into an event we can all be thoroughly proud of!

TED.com is coming to town! Sort of.

Luci — Tue, 04 May 2010 02:01:20 +0000

If you don’t already know about TED.com (TED = Technology + Entertainment + Design + a whole lot more), then after reading this post, go directly there and prepare to spend many minutes and up to many, many hours watching all the videos there. You will be inspired! But first, read this:
I have been a big fan of TED for several years now: I go there when I’m feeling disheartened about the state of the country and the world, and I always leave feeling much, much better. There are so many brilliant people who are doing great things to help, and they want us to do great things, too, and they’ll point the way … or, at least, they’ll point some of the ways, and invite us to find our own.

So I was DELIGHTED to learn that, after 25 years of Ideas Worth Sharing at TED, they decided to share even more ideas by letting folks use the good TED.com name to have smaller events everywhere, branded “TEDx(Whatever).” And then I was SUPER excited to learn that there was already planning in the works for a TEDxBloomington event. And then my enthusiasm increased exponentially after I started conversing with Christian Long, the curator for the Bloomington event, about my myriad ideas for local involvement and venues, and he named me the Local Lead and Champion! Fabulous!

So. Check out the TEDxBloomington site, and if you’re interested in being more involved, contact me and we’ll talk about it. For the moment, it’d be best if you contacted me here or at my TIMB e-mail address, since my TEDxB e-mail isn’tyet set up.

And in the meantime, I’m also feeling reinvigorated about this site and the podcast again, so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading!

Lotus 2009 — music available on eMusic.com! For free, if you’re new there!

Luci — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:58:39 +0000

Once again, the Lotus Festival has announced the artists they expect to perform, and once again, I’ve made a list of what’s available at eMusic. 19 out of 26 acts, people! And if you’re new to eMusic, you can download 50 songs for free by following my link. (Actually, you can get them without following my link, but I would appreciate the referral so I can get a few extra free downloads myself).

My list of who’s available on eMusic from the 2009 Lotus lineup can be found here.

And of course I would be remiss if I did not remind folks to check the official Lotus website itself. By the time I’ve posted this and you’ve read it, the artist lineup may have changed: such is the way with tentative listings. If this happens, please leave me a comment so I can change things to match.

More later, friends!

It’s been a helluva year. But it’s a new season, and that’s good.

Luci — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:52:24 +0000

If I knew more about WordPress, I’d delete the dates from previous posts so you wouldn’t see the enormous gap(-s). But it’s been a helluva year. Most notably, I spent seven months helping my good friend and fairy godmother, Colleen Cleary, as she went through treatment for metastasized brain cancer and then made her big transition to The Promised Land in March. Those of you who listened to Episode 1 heard her voice in the bit about lunching at the Turkuaz. The day we made that recording she complained of a headache and joked about a brain tumor: if I’d known then that she was even partly serious, I would have dropped everything and dragged her to the doctor.

Scratch that: I would have *attempted* to do so. Knowing my headstrong friend, I wouldn’t have gotten out the door with her.

Anyway, I’m back, and once my kids are settled back in their school-year routine, I intend to pick up the pieces here and start again. If you’re reading this and I interviewed you last year but didn’t actually produce a podcast, I think I’ll probably ask for another bit of your time to re-record as I have different production plans now.

And if you’re reading this and I did *not* record you last year but you’d like to join in, please leave a comment or send an e-mail to host@thisismybloomington.com and we’ll talk!

2008 Lotus Festival artists announced!

Luci — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:33:22 +0000

I’m not sure if they’ve posted them on the Lotus Festival website yet (although if they haven’t, they must be having technical difficulties there because it’s past the deadline they said at the concert), but here’s a tentative list of the artists appearing this October in Bloomington.

detektivbyrån ~ analogue electronic waltz from Sweden
Sogbety Diomande’s West African Drum and Dance Company ~ Cote d’Ivoire (sorry, I can’t figure out how to make the little angle over the o)
Etran Finatawa ~ African tribal fusion music from Niger
Etugen Ensemble ~ Mongolian folk music
Julie Fowlis ~ Scottish Gaelic folk song
Frigg ~ String folk music from Norway & Finland
Bill Harney & Paul Taylor ~ Australian storytelling and didjeridoo
Gaida Hinnawi ~ Arabic song from Syria
Little Cow ~ Ska/rock/funk/Gypsy fusion from Hungary
Lo Cor de la Plana ~ Polyphonic song from Occitan/southern France
March Fourth Marching Band ~ Absolute crowd favorite marching band (I describe them as “Drum Corps Without Adult Supervision”!)
La Musgaña ~ Traditional music of Central Spain
Pistolera ~ Latin Alt-Folklorico
Reelroad ~ Modern Russian folk music
Son de Madera ~ Traditional music & dance from Veracruz
Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko: Africa to Appalachia ~ Appalachia/Mali fusion
Vieux Farka Touré ~ Desert blues from Mali
Waltz With Me: Annbjørg Lien, Bruce Molsky, Christine Hanson, Mats Eden ~ International folk music string quartet
The Wilders ~ Old-time country (but I think they’re much more fun than this description, myself.)
And as they say … “With more surprises to come!” The LotusFest website is supposed to have updates throughout the summer, and they note that the artist roster is subject to change.

I’m back. Or on my way back, at least.

Luci — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:36:41 +0000

So it’s summertime and my kids have been off school for a month and a half, with me pretty much 24/7. It’s been near-impossible to find moments of quiet here (except for the hours when we’re all asleep … or my insomniac nights when I dare not make noise that might wake anyone else in the house). And surely it’s clear to you that I haven’t gotten anything done on the podcast lately.

But this past Friday and Saturday nights were the Summer Night(-s) of Lotus, and once again, the Lotus has inspired me, reminded me of my great love not only for the music that the organization brings to town, but for the people of this small city: I love the activity of attending these events, of people-watching, of seeing folks in a different context and finding new ways to enjoy them and myself. I especially loved bringing my new friend Pat out for the Saturday night concert, introducing her to a few friends, and watching her delight at the music, too. Since she’s new to town and from the culture-rich city of New Orleans, I’m always particularly delighted when I can help her love her new home a little more.

So because of this weekend, I’m inspired and invigorated to bring my attention back to this languishing blog and podcast, to return to this craft, nevermind the gap between what I imagine it to be and what it is, currently. (I’ve been too busy paying attention to the gap to stay focused on the dream. I’m now publicly stating my intention to return to the dream, to get aligned with the good vibe and each time I stray from it, to purposefully refocus. It’ll take practice to overcome years of negative thinking, but I’m committing — again, today, now — to doing exactly that.)

Serendipitously, I came across a YouTube video this morning of Ira Glass speaking to exactly the monkey-thoughts in my head that I’ve allowed to stop me from working on the podcast. Ira Glass, as many of you know, is the host of This American Life, a public radio hit that 1.7 million people listen to each week. And in this video, he shares with you what he wishes someone would have told him, early in his career. It’s exactly what *I* needed to hear, and will likely need to hear repeatedly through the next few weeks/months/years. Geez, I hope it won’t take me years, but that’s what he says to expect. We’ll see. But the main message is, it’ll take a lot longer if I don’t actually Just.Keep.Working.

Enough of me talking about what Ira says better. Have a listen.

Reward for your patience: Sugar Mama, by Orquesta Son

Luci — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:57:20 +0000

I’ve written and rewritten the opening to this blog post, composed apologies and offered excuses, and now I’m deleting all of that to start again.

If anyone is interested in helping me get this podcast up and running in a more timely manner, particularly if you’ve got experience with Garage Band software (or Audacity), I would love to hear from you.

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Today I had lunch with a dear old friend, Pam MacLaughlin, a wonderful local musician and writer (and now, nursing student). She said something that I expect others of you have already said, but somehow I heard it more clearly: this little “audio magazine” that I’ve had in my mind and been struggling to bring to fruition? I need to remember that an actual PHYSICAL magazine has dozens if not hundreds of workers to get it done — writers and photographers and designers and ad salespeople, not to mention printers and distributors! — and I am trying to do this relatively complex podcast on my own in an unreasonable timeframe, while continuing to parent my children and have a life! She suggested (as many of you have already) that I post individual pieces, which is more managable in terms of time, and that I can still wrap together a series into a larger whole, if I want to, after the fact.

I think I finally get the point. Thank you to all who’ve already offered me this advice.

So today, taking this advice and with permission, today I offer you a song written by Pam’s husband, Joe Donnelly, and performed by Joe, Pam, and their group, Orquesta Son. The song is entitled Sugar Mama and comes from their Sí Quíero disc, copyright 2000. (Click on the link to download the song to your computer.)

“Son” in the name of their group, rhymes with “phone” and refers to the Cuban-style salsa music the group performs, along with mambo, rhumba, son-montuno, and songo styles. The group specializes in the merengue of the Dominican Republic and the cumbia of Columbia. Although most of the music on their Sí Quíero disc is new, dancers can do the traditional steps to the carefully arranged rhythms.

Enjoy! (And thanks again to Pam, Joe, and the rest of Orquesta Son!)

More interviews and more music to come, in smaller chunks and (I hope) a more timely basis. Thank you for listening … and for your patience!

Podcast Episode 001 — The Lotus Festival + Turkuaz Cafe

Luci — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:25:39 +0000

Here’s the link to the NEW show. You can listen to it in your web browser by simply clicking the link or you can right-click (or on a Mac, click-and-hold, then select “save”) to download it to your computer and then move it to iTunes (or whatever) and listen to it on an mp3 player. This episode is nearly 50 minutes long, featuring quite a LOT of music as well as an interview with the director of The Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, and a quick review of The Turkuaz Café, my favorite ethnic restaurant in town.

Show notes for EP001:

These first two links will always stay in the left column, but for clarity’s sake, here they are with the first episode that’s relevant to them:

The Lotus World Music & Arts Festival That’s the basic link where you can learn lots more than what I was able to include in this episode (more episodes on the Lotus to come!). You can also find lists of all artists who’ve performed at the Lotus over the years at this page on their site.

eMusic.com is not an official sponsor (right now), but if you click through here to there and sign up, you will get 50 free song downloads and I will earn some extra downloads for myself. For your free selections, you might want to check out:

Balkan Beat Box at eMusic
Seu Jorge at eMusic
Lisa Germano at eMusic

or maybe you’d care to sample other musicians who played at that first Lotus festival back in 1994 while you’ve got a chance to grab some of them for free. (I regret that I couldn’t get permission OR have enough time to let you hear all of them on this week’s episode!)

Guardabarranco at eMusic (Nicaraguan pop/folk musicians. I love their music, but couldn’t reach them to ask permission to use the songs.)

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill at eMusic (Clare-style Irish fiddle music)

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band at eMusic (R&B, Traditional, Gospel amazing music in classic New Orleans style!)

Ingrid Karklins at eMusic (Latvian style music from an American woman)

Featured musicians’ websites:

Balkan Beat Box is … well, if you ever get a chance to see and hear them live, take my advice and GO! Their music is wonderful on disk or mp3, but there’s nothing that can replace the excitement of standing or dancing in their audience.

The Dorkestra is not playing together anymore, but you can read and hear more at their website.

Sabá is also not playing together anymore, but Shahyar’s current group, The Silk Road Ensemble, has a website.

Lotus Dickey website has info and materials for old-time musicians as well as enthusiasts.

Seu Jorge can be found in many places on the Internet, and I had a very hard time deciding which song to include in the podcast. I very nearly used his version of David Bowie’s Life On Mars (the link is to Jorge’s performance of this song on YouTube. And yeah, I like Jorge’s version much better than Bowie’s.)

Lisa Germano also has a rich diversity in her music, making it difficult to choose a specific cut for the podcast. Fortunately, she’s also given me permission to use more of her music in later episodes, so stay tuned!

Lunch this week came from The Turkuaz Café – 333-7908, 301 East Third Street.

Photos of musicians and Lotus events courtesy of Kevin Atkins and Michael Valliant.
Thanks, once again, to all the artists who gave me permission to use their work, to Lee Williams and everyone at the Lotus, to Kevin Atkins, Dmitri Vietze and Grey Larson.

And listeners/readers, please, if you have any suggestions or comments, please post them here or e-mail me at host@thisismybloomington.com. Thanks for listening!