10/23/2021 #38
Work, Art, Kapé (coffee), Dia de Muertos Monarca, Urban Arts Collaborative, Gombak Hillbillies (again!), Aireene Espiritu, and Aki Kumar . . .
OUTPOST UPDATE
Hello, there. I’m making this issue brief. As much as I’d like to spend my days making art and writing poetry, they haven’t been paying my bills (especially during this pandemic year). “Retirement” is not an option for me; at 70, I need to work for a living. And I have several part-time jobs. Today, and for much of the last week, I’ve been wearing my copyeditor hat. I’ve got a deadline, so tonight I’ve copyedited until my eyes were bleary.
Nevertheless, I did manage to make some art over the last few days. These were “Bedtime Drawings.” I laid down a wash first and let it dry; then I finished the drawings in bed (more or less) with my ink pens.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I started drawing in bed at night, or upon waking, as a ploy to stop myself from scrolling through social media. It’s turned into a calming, meditative period just before, or after, sleep. I really enjoyed making the abstract drawings (with one asemic) below.
ART
LINKS
Meryenda: The Kapé issue. Few people in the US think of the Philippines as a coffee-growing region. The folks at Meryenda want to change that.
Mariposa Monarca el Día de Muertos en Michoacan (narrated by Will Smith):
We are having our own Dia de Muertos right in (Salinas) Chinatown, sponsored by Urban Arts Collaborative (from which I got this link). Here’s a video about the group, who are neighbors in the building where I work at the nonprofit Asian Cultural Experience:
SOUNDINGS
There’s a theme here, but I’ll let you figure it out:
It’s the Gombak Hillbillies (a Malaysian country-western group featuring Sheith Faikis) with a moving song about refugees, “Part of the World Gone Wrong”:
Aireene Espiritu, Filipina American country-western/blues singer, performing “Hey Lawdy Mama” (by Papa Harvey Hull & Long Cleve Reed) with Bob Welsh:
Aki Kumar with Aireene Espiritu and Kid Anderson (and other wonderful musicians), perform “Eena Meena Deeka” at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco:
Alrighty. I’m going to get some rest, then get back to my editing tasks early tomorrow.
Until next Saturday . . .