Try to Remember….

Just returned from magical production of The Fantasticks and UT’s Golden Anniversary Celebration honoring Fine Arts Alums, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. So many white haired people there like me. And as I looked out at the sea of well dressed elders, I was struck by the fact that all of us were young in the 60s, and the 60s had shaped many of us in so many ways. We think of the 60s as a time of protests, change, hippies, flower children, the Beatles, the Stones, getting stoned, Vietnam, Civil Rights — and the shock of assassinations in front of us all:  JFK, RFK, MLK, Kent State. (Never realized they all had Ks in their names.) And then there was that Democratic president from Texas who “moved all his chips” to getting Civil Rights legislation passed after King’s assassination, and when it got passed, prophetically pronounced that he had just delivered the South to the Republican party for the next three generations.  Try to remember…

But Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt took  a more human tack.  What struck me so tonight is how many audiences they must have touched with their oh-so-deft humanness these fifty years — audiences the world over. What a gift to have so gently stirred the feelings of  first love once again, the craziness of parenting, the inevitability of having to learn the hard lessons in life for oneself — and the deeper warmth for our own humanity that this little musical awakens in us all. What a gift two gentle souls from Texas brought to the world through the delightful and real expression of their talents — their gifts. Not to mention the added gifts they shared — the joy of working together, a love of theater, art, music — and a lovely sense of humor. They remind us of our humanity and they touch that place in ourselves that perhaps we should listen to more often…. Ah yes, try to remember.

Tonight was also an extra special treat for me. My first husband was a graduate of the UT Department of Theatre and Dance and was Tom Jones’ roommate way back then when they both first went to to New York. Tom came to our apartment in the Village one night to read a play he had just finished. They were going to do a backer’s audition, and he wanted my husband’s 0pinion. So he sat in our flat and read the The Fantasticks. He read all the parts, and sang some of the songs. We thought it was so exquisitely daring to have a major song in a musical about staging a rape!  He was especially good as the old actor, and I remember his saying that the part of the old actor was inspired by Dr. B. Iden Payne .  Who would have thought that 50 years later I’d be in Austin working with a company that gives out B. Iden Payne Awards in honor of outstanding work in theater!  I got to meet with Tom again tonight, and I will pass on his good wishes to my ex.  What I didn’t know, that Tom told me tonight, is that back then they had wanted my ex to direct The Fantasticks. But he couldn’t as he had another project at the time.  Ahhh try to remember….

Earthsong for a Grebe

Many years ago, when I was still  a Myerson and not a Taormina, I lived in Bolinas, California – a small town in Marin county on the coast. There was a big oil spill in San Franciso Bay in 1971, and it afffected our town, our beaches, and all the many shore birds that had a haven there.  I became involved in cleaning many of the birds caught in the spill, and later wrote about my experience for a little Subud journal published out of UK.  (which is why there are some  British spellings in the piece.) But watching what is happening in the Gulf, brought it all back.  Felt like sharing it with all of you — with love.

Earthsong pdf

Whose woods are these?

I see this tree every day when I go to work, when I leave work. And every time I see it I want to cry. It’s a pecan tree and, before it’s middle got hacked out to make room for the wires plunging down the street, it must have been oh so elegant.  Is elegance not permitted here? Here on Tillery Street? Here on the East side where the bus comes from Mexico and the church on the corner has a hearse in front of it almost every week. Where I live, not so far from the Arboretum, the wires are underground, and the trees are free to dance in the wind.  How would it be for the people on Tillery if their trees could dance in the wind?  Must the wires always have the right of way? Or could the trees be trimmed with love?  Is it a question of ‘ownership?’ But then, whose woods are these? Or is it ever thus? And is that what fuels our art?

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformed, and some scare see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself”

— William Blake, 1799, The Letters.

There Are Cowboys in the Castle!

That’s what Nancy’s little boy said when he saw Dale Watson and all those Texas two steppers from the Broken Spoke and Rusty Spurs on the Capitol steps getting ready to kick off the 2010 Fusebox Festival. Forklift Danceworks Artistic Director, Allison Orr, and Golden Hornet’s Maestro, Graham Reynolds conceived this Lonestar tribute to art.

We sat on the grass, on the curb, under the trees — all around the “castle.” We munched on barbecue sandwiches from Stubbs, clapped, laughed, took pictures of each other, and delighted in the warm glow of the moment.

I looked at the children staring in awe, the moms and dads delighted to be sharing something magical — couples dancing in the sunshine — and all so easy, friendly and free.  Theater. Music. Dance, Fun. Food. Play. Art. Life.

And as I looked at the audience for this event, I saw us:  families, kids, artists, friends, neighbors. We were young, old, and we came in all sizes and colors.

Hats off to Ron Berry and his vision that lets us all enjoy Fusebox on so many levels.

And then I wondered how this one particular two-stepping event would have fared had it applied for funding with the caveats the hotel motel people are now lobbying to put into the guidelines of our cultural arts funding. Would these lobbyists have funded what gave such wonder to this little child?  Should our art only count when tourists come? To be sure, the full Fusebox Festival IS a tourist attraction. But it’s also a most wonderful gift to our city that shows in living color what happens when we trust the creative energy and vision of our creative community.

Please urge council and all Austinites to give our artists and creative community the full support they need. Don’t rein them in with foolish restrictions.  We need to grow and nourish our arts — all our arts —  if Austin is to become a global center of creativity and innovation.

Let the future for our children be as awesome as the now.

And then go out and enjoy Fusebox. It’s all around you…. quick quick slow slow…..quick quick slow slow…..

We Love Rocco!

Hello Austin Creatives!

Have just returned from participating in Arts Advocacy Day (organized by Americans for the Arts) in Washington DC. Spent a day with our very active Texans for the Arts members getting briefed on what we want Congress to support since these are issues that affect all of us.  See below for details on that.  But the hit of the day was our dynamic NEA Chair, Rocco Landesman!  If you have not already been following all he is doing, visit the NEA site, and be sure to check out his ART WORKS campaign.