Music composer, dance accompanist,  Jon Scoville  came into the KZSC radio station for Artists on Art on the last day of August, 2010.  Jon is a local artist and collaborator, partner, spouse, with our own internationally acclaimed choreographer, stage director, dancer, teacher, Tandy Beal.  The list goes on.

We talked about his latest theatrical performance musical contribution that will be opening Friday, September 10, 2010 at the new Cabrillo Crocker Theater, The HereAfterHere, A Self Guided Trip Through Eternity.  This is the second rendition of this piece that was first performed in October 2007 at the West End Studio Theatre.

Premieres September 10-12, 2010 at the Cabrillo Theater

HereAfterHere: a self-guided tour of eternity, directed by Tandy Beal, asks the perennial question: “What happens after we die?” Dante, Blake, The Bible, the Qu’ran, Milton—even the New Yorker cartoonists—all celebrate the human capacity to envision a place where no one has ever gone and then returned to tell all to Oprah or Letterman. So we proceed, imagining the unimaginable. This full-length work mixes the poetic, the comic, the mysterious and the chimerical. Tandy weaves together her skills in dance, theatre, circus and visual narrative with Jon Scoville’s original music. The show creates a rich mosaic of post-mortem maps, a network of ideas and images, a kinetic and conceptual palette of illusions and metaphors focused on life’s afterstages.

As a grand experiment in art and social engagement, Beal invites us to join, in several ways, a conversation about the question of an afterlife: the performance, the community’s participation in a website, video interviews of the audience’s reflections, a symposium, and a post-concert discussion. Some of the questions addressed are: Where is the hereafter located? Why is it so exclusionary? How do we get in? And what’s the price of admission?

Events for the HereAfterHere:
August 16: HereAfterHere: The Multi Media Experience—a panel with video artists Denise Gallant, Ben Jaffe, Bruce G. Lee, Nada Miljkovic and Tandy Beal at Digital Media Factory 7:30 FREE

August 24: Bookshop Santa Cruz book discussion on Sukie Miller’s Afterdeath and release of Jon Scoville’s new CD of HereAfterHere. 7:30 FREE

September 10-12: Opening of HereAfterHere: a self- guided tour of eternity. Cabrillo Crocker Theatre, Aptos, CA. Tickets Here

September 10: HereAfterHere Benefit tickets for Hospice of Santa Cruz County. Call 831-430-3082. 7:30. $50

September 11: Cultural Views of an Afterlife. Symposium with Lama Tharchin, Deacon Patrick Conway, Rabbi Paula Marcus, Nancy Abrams (author The View from the Center of the Universe) 3pm FREE

Participate in the HereAfterHere Project. View other people’s thoughts or tell us what you think happens after death.

Jon’s music available on Albert’s Bicycle Music.

Two recently released cds showcase Jon’s work in different settings: Pirouette Park, a high energy rhythm-driven album designed specifically for dance classes (or for cleaning up your house) and The Night of the Living Composers, a compilation of pieces written for Santa Cruz’s New Music Works. This album includes Jon’s score for the Man Ray film, Les Mystères du Château du Dé, a whimsical evocation of one of the surrealist artist’s choicest cinematic explorations.

Currently Jon is working on an album, Music for Circuses and Sideshows, a reprise of his work with Tandy and her circus adventures. An additional album is in the works which will be in collaboration with jazz piano wizard Art Lande. Titled Lullabies for Adults, it will be occupationally-insomniac-specific: sleepytime music for chess players, truck drivers, cowgirls, Presbyterians, milkmen (and milkwomen), tightrope walkers, and more. Stay tuned.

Below is a Twitvid we took right before the show:

I found Ann recently on the street, in an alley, Pearl Street Alley to be more exact.  It’s a beautiful pastoral scene called “A Peaceful Paws”.  I asked her what she was doing and she replied that the City had gotten some funds to touch up her mural.  The City began a mural program 15 years ago as a way to beautify the locale.  Ann was one of the first recipients and painted the mural 14 years ago.

At the beginning of the show, we talked about Ann’s art and the other times that she has been on the show to talk about her various exhibitions.

We then spoke with Crystal about the City Arts Program.  This program works with the Economic Development & Redevelopment.

They are just about to launch our new Downtown Public Art website at Santa Cruz Public Art Program.  This website was put together to showcase the wonderful murals already around. Ann’s wonderful mural, Peaceful Paws, downtown can be found at the site. Here is the Santa Cruz City Matching Grant Mural Program for more information.

Also, we discussed upcoming Santa Cruz City Arts events  such as the opening reception for our newest mural project – Kathleen Crocetti’s mural at 1111 Soquel Avenue – which was completed in collaboration with more than 3000 local school children.

The City of Santa Cruz Art Program has a Facebook page for the socially networked.

Here’s the twitvid from last night’s show:

He is a third generation choral director and educator  who has produced over 300 songs per year while working in Nashville, Tennessee. He has a wide range of musical interests from pop, rock, folk, gospel singing and world choral music. A full list of all his work can be found at his music publishing and production company, Rock Arbor Music.  He formed this company in 1981.

Stephen L Bigger is organizing a brand spanking new choir is happening in town and it’s called the Santa Cruz World Choir & Orchestra. He is motivated to take on this huge endeavor, getting a choir and orchestra together when the economy is tough and toughest on the arts, because of the decline of music education in our public schools. The SCWCO’s repertoire includes a wide range of music from around the world, from traditional to modern, ranging from Gregorian to Gaelic to Gospel.

Stephen has plans to build the choir to 60 voices. An ensemble of initially 12 to 20 musicians will accompany the choir for performances. Music teachers or skilled performers on traditional instruments such as strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, and instruments from around the world will work alongside students. The orchestra will eventually grow to full symphonic instrumentation. “My vision is to be part of a thriving community of collaborative performance ensembles that provide the opportunity for people to create wonderful music with others and to enrich the lives of audiences,” said Bigger.

To build this choir there will be a series of informational open houses for interested singers and musicians to meet Bigger and members of the choir, learn about the repertoire, rehearsal and performance schedule, and view videos of Stephen’s past choral groups and music projects. The open houses will be held on sequential Tuesdays, August 24 & 31 and September 7, from 7 pm to 9 pm at the Soquel Congregational Church Fellowship Hall, 4951 Soquel Drive, Soquel.  For more information go to Santa Cruz World Choir or call 831-521-3470.

Here’s a little Twitvid taken right before the show:

Half way through the show, Vanessa Yearsly (soprano), Grace Crandall (alto), Judd DiSalvo (tenor) and Jacob NIchols (bass) sang a live performance of a Mongolian “happy that we’re together” song entitled Dorven Dalai. Since moving to Santa Cruz and between 2008-2010, Stephen was Choral Director and Theater Technical Director at Aptos High School.  This is how this group of singers got together and are going to continue singing together in the new Santa Cruz World Choir and Orchestra.

We also talked about Stephen’s involvement with the choral singing that took place for President Obama’s inauguration. This is a video of this event, “Shake this World”:

Below is the full recording of our live broadcast.

Camille  has a fine arts background (graduate of San Francisco Art Academy) and continues studying painting and sculture. Her media is oil, acrylic, resin,  on  canvas and ink on live flesh. A lot of her paintings are women nudes. She does skin fine!

I met Camille at the opening of her art show, on August 6th, at her studio, the Chimera Tattoo Studio, on the Westside at Faire Street and Ingalls Street. Her opening was a lot of fun with live music, libations and great art.

Her paintings are impressive of varying sizes (some large, some small), very vibrant color and full of emotion. She uses different techniques playing with digital negatives and special finishes that create uniqueness and a feeling of modernity.

Some of the paintings, both in content and form, beg to be touched, with permission, of course.

The opening featured Camille’s latest work called the “Ophelia” Series.  We talked about the psychology of Ophelia, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, that involves her unrequited love and lack of familial support that leads to insanity and suicide.  This was the place of imagination, for Camille, that gave her the space to create art objects that evoke feelings of craziness and love of oneself and nature.

The figures in the paintings are set outdoors. Ophelia is wise and beguiling, a mysterious contradiction. She has got a glint in the eye that is tempting, a little frightening and yet hopeful.

Camille lives her art, literally.  She’s at the Tannery Arts Center, the local affordable live/work space and artist community here in  Santa Cruz.  It’s pretty unique residency situation here in the United States where artists are given affordable housing and a place to work that supports the different Arts. We talked about her ability to have live drawing sessions with her neighbors  and paint in her home that has full length windows facing the San Lorenzo River next to a Redwood Forest.

As a tattoo body artist, Camille’s uses ink on live moving skin. She works on each piece in collaboration with the person that is going to be wearing that tattoo for the rest of their lives.  She spends a lot of time with her clients.  The process of piercing the skin that is painful, yet not too painful, opens a space for intimacy and can lead to a lifetime connection.  She may never see the art again, this art that was co-created by the person walking out the door.

With her paintings, she is alone in her studio imagining figures in a stream in a forest.  She likes working both ways.

At the bottom of this post is the entire capture of our interview for your listening pleasure. You can hear Camille talk about their upcoming party, on September 18 from 3pm-9pm,  for the year anniversary of the opening of Chimera Tattoo Studio. If it’s anything like the last party, this will surely be a great party with live music and all kinds of fun. You won’t want to miss it.

Her paintings will be on display until the end of September.  The Chimera Tattoo Studio is open everyday except Sundays from 12pm-8pm. She has associates in the space that do other body art such as piercings and henna. Way Body Arts is the piercing aspect of their business, owned by Samantha Robles and Mateo Mitchell.

Right below is a “twitvid” of Camille in her Chimera Tattoo Studio right before we went up on campus to do the radio show.

Pam at the 'The Four of Us' Opening Night Part

Guest artist, New York-based, 2010 Obie Award winning and recent Lortel nominanee, director, Pam MacKinnon was on the Artists on Art show for August 3, 2010. She has directed many plays, mostly contemporary. At the end of this year, Ms MacKinnon will be directing Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for the Steppenwolf Theater.  She is a Drama League and Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab alumna and an Affiliated Artist with the New York downtown company, Clubbed Thumb.

Pam came up to the KZSC studio to discuss directing the upcoming Shakespeare Santa Cruz theatrical production of Othello. Opening night was Tuesday, August 3 running through August 29, 2010.  This is third play to open for this Santa Cruz Shakespeare season. This is Pam’s first full Shakespeare production.

Pam brings a very different approach to Othello from the contemporary feel of the play, downplaying the jealousy and amplifying Desdemona while staying true to Shakespeare’s intent.  We discussed how Othello is similar to contemporary theater plays through the simple use of language as compared to the nuanced poetic language of his other works.  Also, there is a lot of two characters talking. When a third character enters the scene, someone leaves.

We discussed the themes of jealousy and love built on fantasy.  She explained that jealousy is an internal feeling and not the action of the play.  As a director, she helped show how that is expressed through the acting.  She spoke of her take on the play being about infection. Iago plants the seeds of doubt in Othello’s belief in Desdemona’s fidelity.  The action for Othello is the spread of the infection the results in the worst of actions, murder.  Iago was able to do this successfully because Othello and Desdemona’s marriage was brand-spanking new and based on romantic fantastical notions.  Othello says that he fell in love with Desdemona when she cried at hearing his tales of battle. They didn’t get the time to solidify their marriage.

Lastly, we discussed the “boys behaving badly” theme of Othello. I think it is wonderful that a woman directs this play and gives a different take. For example, Pam reinforces Desdemona’s agency and downplaying her victimization. This is certainly a unique and valuable perspective brought to a play that has too often been played with a softening Desdemona’s role.

Below are pictures from the play.  The last picture is Pam directing.

Please click on the audio player below to hear our entire broadcast.

Rocky has done a lot of different things in his life from  Manhattan and Tahoe Restaurateur to action sports athlete to filmmaker  to creating a production company that makes action sports movies and award winning short documentaries and online community with Keep Tahoe Real.

We had a great conversation on how Rocky got started as a filmmaker after receiving his education in business management at UC Berkeley, doing the corporate project management work in Oakland, moving to to Tahoe and becoming an action sports athlete, a world cup level snowboard coach, and a world-class raft guide.

We talked about his first ski and snowboard video Gapers Gone Wild in 2003.  You can see this cult classic by clicking on the link.

In 2006, he founded  The Go Big Project production company that specializes in action sports films, videos, events, photography, music, athletes and brand development. He then helped create the grass roots online community  KeepTahoeReal.com where you can find a lot of information about Rocky and his crew and  that features the best of action sports, film, art, music, photography and culture from around the world.  The tagline at Keep Tahoe Real is to Respect Earth and Life.  Their mission is to support and promote the growth of the action sports industry and community.

We talked about his production company’s movie, “Ride A Wave”, that won the audience award for best short at this year’s Santa Cruz Film Festival.  The picture on the right is a still from the beginning of the movie.   Ride a Wave is a local organization that provides a day surfing and boogie boarding for kids with special needs. The movie shows kids that can’t even walk catching waves at Cowells. It really pulls at your heart strings.

During the show, we played the music that is featured in  the “Ride A Wave” movie that was created by the Lead Editor/Production Manager of the Go Big Project, Rob Armenti.  You can find Rob’s music at his page on myspace.

Lastly, we talked about the newest movie, “Stealing Cars” to be released this fall by the Go Big Project.  Below is the trailer for  Stealing Cars and the movie short Ride a Wave.

“Stealing Cars” Official Teaser from The Go Big Project on Vimeo.

Ride a Wave from The Go Big Project on Vimeo.

If you would like to hear a recording of our live broadcast, click on the play button below.

The two talked about Noga’s life’s work and art practice that involves singing, dancing, acting, life-coaching, and teaching.  All of these forms of artistic expression which can be related to in terms of elevating vibrations.

Noga is also well known about town as Noga Love Bites.  She has been sending emails to people signed up through her website NogaLovesMe.  People are very happy to receive these surprises that can be affirmations, pictures, movies, all kinds of media with content that help make the day a little better.

Noga began acting with her friend and filmmaker Bella Shing (creator of  Sweeter Media) a Los Angeles transplant who now calls Santa Cruz home. Shing and Vilozny became friends after Vilozny attended a “Manifesting Your Beloved” seminar. The two began collaborating artistically last August when they created two commercials that have been submitted to Cannes.  They can be viewed at Noga’s website in the tab Photos.

The two also worked on a movie called Noga & the Love Seminar. Vilozny wrote the screenplay with director Bella Shing,  Santa Cruz resident Penny Dufour plays the supporting role.

The story is about a young woman, Noga, who had some traumatic love experiences. Her friend, Melissa, drags Noga to a seminar about love. The film follows Noga’s experiences in the seminar as she discovers whether it will help erase her marred past and bring her the love she desires.

Image by Kyer Wiltshire

Vilozny’s singing experience is put to use in the film, as she lends her vocals to several songs throughout the story. Local salsa band Flor De Caña performed all of the music for the short.

Here’s the trailer for Noga & the Love Seminar:

Nada and Noga talked about Noga’s singing and dancing particularly Flamenco. Noga sang several songs during the course of the show.  They also spoke of how Noga began helping people organize their homes.

Photo by Reija Bolwell

Please click on the link below to hear the entire broadcast.

Al at Burning Man

On June 29, 2010, I had the great pleasure to speak with longtime Santa Cruzian artist, videographer, journalist, futurist, techno-wizard,  Allan Lundell.

Allan has done so many things in his long and illustrious career making media that it was challenging  to know where to start the conversation.

We first spoke of Allan’s beginnings as a videographer while a student at Antioch University in Baltimore in 1972 at the very beginning of this new media form, video, using the Sony PortaPac.  His job through the school was to record video of government experiments on the biggest drug users in the world doing drugs.  He explained his recording people sitting in a circle each holding a joint and being told to smoke it all together to it’s cherry stub.

After graduating from college, Allan began working in Silicon Valley in the latter 1970s working as a journalist specializing in new technology working for magazines such as  BYTE, and  Mondo 2000. He is the author of the 1989 book Virus! The Secret World of Computer Invaders That Breed and Destroy.

For years, he has been living in the San Lorenzo Valley. He co-founded Future Peak home of Virtual World Studio.  This may be one of the only off-the grid-media company’s in the world. He is co-founder of the DigiBarn Computer Museum in Boulder Creek with fellow forward thinker Bruce Damer created in 2001. In 2009, he co-founded Awake Media.

He’s made tons of videos that can be found on Youtube and Vimeo,  One of the most fascinating aspects to Allan’s work is he has been recording anything that is interesting in his life since 1987 when Sony launched the 4 mm DAT or Digital Audio Tape as a new digital format.  He’s been recording in Hi Definition since 2005 and tapeless since 2008.

He has over 20 years of parties, events, get-togethers with really incredible talented artistic people.  If you’ve partied with Allan over the last two decades, there’s a pretty good chance you’re in his archive.   Having always been an incredible social networker in the physical, Allan has embraced social media both as a practitioner as well as educator. 

Al began his interest in radio in high school when he began making them and broadcasting in the 60s. Most recently, he is the host of the Dr. Future show (entertaining all positive possibilities for the future) which airs Tuesdays at 2 pm on local family-owned AM radio station, KSCO 1080 AM radio.

To hear the entire broadcast, please click on the triangle below.

Two years ago, Andrew moved to Santa Cruz via Hayward and originally from Connecticut.  He has been an artist his entire life.  You can find some of his paintings at following link: Fine Art America.

When he began painting, the themes were apolitical, until recently.  A few years back, he was inspired by his work in real estate and watching the big banks going bankrupt.  Also, the CEO of Lehman is from his home town Greenwich, Connecticut.  This hit home personally.

Unbridled Enthusiasm

This research led him to paint, Unbridled Enthusiasm, an acrylic on canvas depiction of the all the aspects that played a role in the Housing Market’s Collapse.  The painting encapsulates his idea of corporate greed.

Profits of War

After which, his research led him to questioning the role of politics and the oil industry in the new painting titled “Profits of War“.  This painting has been transferred to t-shirts and available  in Santa Cruz at Graffix Pleasure and Streetlight Records.

Andrew spoke of using social networks and platforms to activate people to not only think about our nation’s dependence on oil and also make changes in their behavior.  The Pickens Plan intends to break the US addiction to foreign oil.  As an example, Andrew put his Pickens Plan Painting on YouTube to reach a greater audience.  Andrew is using his own Facebook page in connection to the Pickens Plan Facebook page.

If you missed the live broadcast, you can listen to our show in entirety by clicking on the triangle below. .

Are signs propaganda?

It was great talking to him because as a member of NextSpace I am surrounded by his bold artwork every working day.

The following pictures of his work were taken at NextSpace.

During the show, we spoke of how Steve got into this art form. His career in art and sign making began when he was working as a waiter at the Chart House in Los Gatos and the owner asked that he make a parking sign.  He did and the owner loved it.  

Hence began  a new career in Pleasure Point where he was already making stained glass windows.

In 1984 his neighbor, Harry Stokes, retired and Steve took over the business, Stokes Signs at the Sash Mill where business still resides.  Through hard work and a lot of lessons learned, since then, Steve has built a successful and prolific business.  His signs are all over Santa Cruz.

Five years ago, Steve began making poster art as a way to continue revenue on his work.  Signs generally are a one time fee and payment.

To date, he has created over 40 local paintings, including Elkhorn Slough, the Boardwalk’s ferris wheel, the Santa Cruz wharf and Bonny Doon, to name just a few. He credits two German artists as his inspiration — Ludwig Hohlwein and Lucien Bernhard.

For more information about about Steve Hosmer’s work and Stokes Signs, please go to  stokessigns.com.

If  you want to see his studio and witness  the process, you’re in luck.  Steve partakes in Open Studios.  This year the event will take place the first three weekends in October.  This year is particularly special because it is the will be the 25th  year of Open Studios put on by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County.

If you missed the live broadcast, you can listen to our show in entirety by clicking on the triangle below. .

The following is a twitvid we took before the show:

More art by guest, Steve Hosmer.

Hike California is a series  of posters being designed for
The State of California Santa Cruz.

Photo Credits:  Seabright lighthouse , Both  and Westside rainbow from Seabright Beach

My daughter, Justine, is the model on the bike for this years and last years  logo for the Tour of California.