Met tonight with ten friends and acquaintances at an unusual event in a beautiful space. Ten people spent 3+ hours exploring creative methods for one of the ten who happens to be unemployed to 'think outside the resume' and find meaningful work. The event began with stories and histories by the person searching. Then the invitees took turns examining who and what they see and know with the goal of discovering a new, perhaps better way to find work and/or Work.
The event was, on the outside, a social event -- but it was 100x more satisfying than the normal 'social' events (ex. drinking w/ pals) I've been to over the past few years because, underneath the socialization, there was a real and practical problem to solve, and a willing team of friends working together to explore means of solving it.
Even if, in the short term, it leads nowhere for the job seeker, it brought a small group closer together in a process of meeting a real need. This was time well spent.
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Evening reading: "Free Play: Improvisation in Live and Art"
"Every moment is precious, precisely because it is ephemeral and cannot be duplicated, retrieved, or captured. We think of precious things as those to be horded or preserved. In the performing arts we want to record the beautiful, unexpected performance, so we schedule a rematch for the camera. Indeed, many great performances have been recorded, and we are glad to have them. But I think the greatest performances always elude the camera, the tape recorder, the pen. They happen in the middle of the night when the musician plays for oone specia friend under the moonlight, they happen in the dress rehearsal just before the play opens. The fact that improvisation vanishes makes us appreciated that every moment of the life is unique -- a kiss, a sunset, a dance, a joke. None will ever recur in quite the same way. Each happens only once in the history of the universe."
Or perhaps every Saturday night this fall at the Seattle Guitar Circle weekly performance in our own facility.
"Nine weeks: Nine Lives."
I wonder if I could get nine players to commit their lives to such a project? And what might happen if ProTools were running quietly in the background at each half improvised, half all-new music, show?
Hmmm.. and you thought a 3 CD box set was a ton of music for one new release.
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