Performance Ideas – Ideasmyth

Naomi Pitcairn

Chalkupy: Obstructing Public Access

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This entry is part 3 of 18 in the series Jubilation

Chalkupy began after Occupy Oakland was forcibly removed from Oscar Grant Plaza. The final thing to go was the word “OCCUPY”

Naomi Pitcairn

Fresh Juice and Omelettes

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This entry is part 1 of 18 in the series Jubilation

This entry is part 1 of 18 in the series […]

PILGRIMAGES: Ashe Vernon, “Ashe’s Purple Shoes” (6/6)

Slam poet Ashe Vernon shares a performance of her poem, “Ashe’s Purple Shoes.” Performance originally published by Sole Sisters Film Shorts, a media project whose…

PILGRIMAGES: Ashe Vernon, “Rewind” (1/6)

Ashe Vernon‘s poetry first came to my attention a couple […]

PILGRIMAGES: Julia Douglass, “No Questions Asked” (6/6)

I had the lyrics for this song laying around for a long time. I wanted to write the saddest song in the world. To me, teenage car crashes are the saddest things in the world.

PILGRIMAGES: Julia Douglass, “My Boyfriend Is A Genius” (5/6)

I originally wrote “My Boyfriend Is A Genius” because a charming, brilliant cad I briefly dated at music school had implied that I was not smart enough for him, which was…

PILGRIMAGES: Julia Douglass, “Metaphorical Pilgrimage” (4/6)

During my four years in Minneapolis I went back to my musical roots, as well. I was a classical musician, I played the French horn for many years–I think around twenty or so…

DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “Sinatra’s Century” (2/6)

On May 14, 1998, I phoned David [Lehman] just as he learned of Frank Sinatra’s death. “I can’t talk now,” he said. “Sinatra has…

DISCOVERIES: Julie Flanders, “The Book of Rounds” (6/6)

Musical rounds create hypnotic effects that are good for the brain. The lyrical phrases in the rounds create a mantra-effect or positive fugue of messages. I wrote these 21 Rounds…

DISCOVERIES: Julie Flanders, “Bury My Lovely” (5/6)

Today, I offer the song “Bury My Lovely,” for which I wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the video treatment with director Josh Taft. Emil Adler composed the music.

INTERDEPENDENCE: Cynthia Kaplan, “We Were the Donner Party” (6/6)

Sometimes the best way to get people to hear your music is to give them something to watch. I played this new song at gigs all winter, and I knew that if I didn’t make…

INTERDEPENDENCE: Cynthia Kaplan, “Hold Up” (4/6)

I’ve written exactly one feature length movie and co-written two shorts. The feature, Pipe Dream, starred Mary Louise Parker and Martin Donovan and had a very…

INTERDEPENDENCE: Cynthia Kaplan, “A Squirrel Stores His Nuts” (3/6)

Some ideas are songs. That’s just the way it is. I wrote an essay for Organic Style Magazine about sex after childbirth. Not immediately after, but, you know, at…

INTERDEPENDENCE: Cynthia Kaplan, “Better Safer Warmer” (2/6)

There was a time when humor pieces appeared on the Times Op-Ed, page. Over the span of a couple of years, I wrote about things like President Clinton’s puppy…