at the beginning of the month the world lost two people that deeply touched my life: my dearest laurie frank, who brought me into her magic web and under her colorful wings. there will never be another.
and the beloved norman lear who led culture in the deepest of ways.
(*of course we lost countless other, and too many precious children!)
we are so lucky...this morning i baked alone for hours while both my kids were at school (something that has been a rarity in this autumn of health scares). i made my annual rosemary shortbread, the perfect ginger snaps, biscotti with homemade orange peel, and a persimmon bread (no raisins of course...if you know me i'm actually afraid of raisins). while i bake i need music. i have a really hard time listening to podcasts (actually i can only really listen to them when i drive). i played lots of elvis which i sang to sy when he was in an incubator, sad eyed lady which my college boyfriend introduced to me as we drove through the breathtaking landscape of sonoma county, i played benny and the jets which we cued up the moment we got home with benny from the nicu, into my arms which i embroidered into a hankie... leaning into the songs that punctuate the "moments." can you send me your recommendations for tunes while i sift, mix, and pour.
wanted to share this week we were supposed to launch the store but taking one more week to finesse the tweaks. you'll get a special notice about next week!
so, as you know i work with spp and there is a mind blowing rolodex of artists that mentor and teach with me. one of them is M**F*** DANIEL ALEXANDER JONES!!!! humbled always in his presence and listening to the gorgeous way he strings words together. so without further ado...
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Unpredictable & unbound, Daniel Alexander Jones cultivates a wildflower body of artistic work. He is recognized by a wide range of communities. Jones roots in Black & Queer lineages of performance, music, literature, pedagogy, and civic practice. 2023 marks Jones’s 30th year as a professional artist. Previous projects include BLACK LIGHT (Public Theater, Greenwich House Theatre); DUAT (Soho Rep); RADIATE (Soho Rep & national tour) and PHOENIX FABRIK (Pillsbury House Theatre). As "altar-ego" Jomama Jones, named “a true theatrical original” by Backstage Magazine, Daniel has released six albums of original music and toured to critical acclaim. Recent work includes Daniel’s album AQUARIUS; MAY AS WELL BE A RAINBOW, a performance honoring Toni Morrison & her archive; & ALTAR NO. 3: I CHOOSE TO REMEMBER US WHOLE, an installation at The Henry Gallery in Seattle & public processional produced by The Meany Center at UW. Jones’s evolving ALTAREDSTATES initiative explores the power of mysticism in performance. It is housed at CalArts’ Center for New Performance where Jones is a Producing Artist. Described from the 1990s by American Theatre Magazine as an “interdisciplinarian” Daniel Alexander Jones went on to become a TED Fellow, a Doris Duke Artist Award recipient, a Guggenheim Fellow, a USA Artists Fellow, a two time Art Matters Grantee, a five time MAP Fund recipient, an inaugural Creative Capital Grantee, an Alpert Award in the Arts Awardee, and has received the PEN/America Laura Pels Award in Theatre and the IDEA Award in Theatre. A collection of his plays and performance texts, LOVE LIKE LIGHT, is available from 53rd State Press alongside a connected volume of conversation with Alexis Pauline Gumbs entitled PARTICLE & WAVE. Jones apprenticed with legendary artists Robbie McCauley, Laurie Carlos, Jessica Hagedorn, Rebecca Rice, and Aishah Rahman. He is considered an innovator for his own contributions to the field, and a mentor to dozens of young artists. He is on the board of the Jerome Foundation. He lives in Los Angeles.
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what kind of life do you want to live?
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The older I get, the more I seek to live in accordance with the light of my family and community of origin in Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1970s-80s. I want to live a life where love and genuine connection are centered and humility is valued. As I’ve lost so many elders from my day to day life, especially in these last few years, I am more keenly aware of the gift of their example. In this pic, I’m on the far left. These are some of my people.
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Collecting Daniel Alexander Jones's plays and performance texts Bel Canto, Black Light, Blood:Shock:Boogie, clayangels, Duat, Phoenix Fabrik, and The Book of Daniel, Love Like Light offers a panoramic view of Jones's shifting, glimmering, transformational body of work. Each play a provocation to the possibility of a more just world with love as civic practice at its center, Jones's writing moves with lithe and associative grace through histories personal, political, cosmological, and sublime.
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Both my parents were readers and they were fervent believers in public libraries as vital centers of our society. So, in honor of them (Mom died in 2020 and Dad last year) I’d suggest a literacy org and also urge folks to use their local libraries.
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daniel's film of the week
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Where Is The Friend's House? Trailer | Khane-ye doust kodjast? | Abbas Kiarostami
I went back to this incredible movie recently. Each time I see it, it teaches my soul.
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daniel's song of the week
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I have been at work on my memoir project for several years. One of the things I’ve been writing about is the pantheon of musical artists who were my guiding lights. One of them was the late Phyllis Hyman. I think a lot about how she, and many others I loved, walked with such prodigious artistic gifts within an industry that steadfastly refused to honor her appropriately. These artists transmuted many poisons to make valuable medicine for all of our souls.
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daniel's article of the week
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I still feel a weight around the recent loss of Sinead O’Connor. This piece was among the most capacious I read in response to her life. What a blade edge visionary artists walk: seeing futures they are punished for sharing; sharing futures they are punished for seeing; yet somehow committed to see and share til they can no longer. What gifts she offered us all along the way, and what a glorious storyteller she was.
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daniel's food of the week
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Okra. My friend brought me a basket of okra and I cooked it up the other day and remembered how much I love okra. I cook it one of two ways, either stewed whole with onion and tomatoes and sometimes fresh corn–or–sauteed bhindi masala style. I did the latter this time and-yo!-that was the way! With some rice and some fresh chilis?
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Sunflower. A flower whose seeds are bread of a sort.
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and a few picks from push...
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For any firstborn children out there, this article on the Atlantic delves deep into the psychology of the eldest daughter.
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i've got a thing for both baseball caps and great substacks. this is a great holiday gift that includes both!
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MOLD always has the best pieces--this one is about how to design cities for informal food systems.
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having a real cranberries moment!
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we hope you are staying warm and that you enjoyed another installment of push picks. as always, if you like what you read, forward it to someone or encourage them to sign up. it would mean the world to us 🌎
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