update: august 8 - got word that the invitation is off. hard to hear the staffperson on the phone, need to call her back. phone line's busy. very disappointing, to say the least. which is all i wanna say at the moment..... : (
So, about a week or so ago, I got a call from a guy named Jose Reyes. Told me he was a volunteer coordinator for the MACC (Mexican American Cultural Center), which was about to be officially opened to the public. He wanted to inform me that I have been invited to be one of the 20 or so Latino/Chicano Texas artists who will perform for the "grand opening" on Saturday, September 15th. That's a pretty special honor, so I didn't want to say no. When Jose asked me if I would prefer to do a reading or solo performance, I told him that I am all up in a new project for the stage--an actual theater work with multiple cast members. He said that that would probably be do-able, but he wanted to find out what kind of money the MACC folks could offer and he told me that a contract would be forthcoming by email.
Well, I received another phone call from Dr. Lisa Cortez Walden, who is heading up the performance committee for the grand opening. She called late last week and we proceeded to play several intense rounds of phone tag, 'til she finally reached me by phone this morning. We talked again about money and schedule and our space needs. She was going to put us in a space called "performance studio", but we both figured out it would be too tight a fit for the bikes. Instead, Lisa has us earmarked for a space called the "multipurpose room" and this one seats 200 and is probably gonna be big enough for us to do our thing.
It looks like we'll be performing from 4pm to 4:45pm on Saturday, September 15th, at the MACC.
Contract is coming soon. Hopefully, everything on it will be acceptable to me/us.
I've already confirmed lodging (one night--Friday the 14th) at the home of my ultra-friends Dani and Julia Apodaca.
I've asked Dominique to see whether Carl might be willing to roadie our bikes (via his truck) to Austin.
Looks like the entire cast can make it to Austin, except for Maria and Richard. Haven't heard from Opalina.
For more info on the MACC, go here!
Tentative schedule for the grand opening at the MACC:
11am-1pm ribbon-cutting
Performances btwn. 2pm-6pm
(invited artists include: musics Native American/salsa/rap; continuous film screenings presented by Cine de las Americas;
headliner musician Flaco Jimenez; Teatro Vivo; Conejito Verde (Teatro de la Rosa - from Fort Worth!); the hilarious Latino Comedy Project; visual art curated by Benito Huerta; the San Antonio-based samba dance/music ensemble Urban-15; and actress Rubynelda Perez)
I just realized that I have been chewing my fingernails...time to shut down for the night.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Friday, August 10th - early evening session for "The Girls"
I am meeting with all the bicycle GIRLS on Friday, August 10th. Probably around 5:30pm.
Natalia, Dominique, Molly, Andrea, Jennet, Maria, Ariella (?).
We will gather and practice some of the group chants, sing-songy stuff--with MOVEMENT. I can bring my boombox to the park or wherever. Bikes are needed as well.
Outdoors. (Bring water, dress to sweat comfortably.) Trinity Park (enter across from Botanic Gardens entrance offa University).
Carlos is also invited to come listen in.
Natalia, Dominique, Molly, Andrea, Jennet, Maria, Ariella (?).
We will gather and practice some of the group chants, sing-songy stuff--with MOVEMENT. I can bring my boombox to the park or wherever. Bikes are needed as well.
Outdoors. (Bring water, dress to sweat comfortably.) Trinity Park (enter across from Botanic Gardens entrance offa University).
Carlos is also invited to come listen in.
Monday, August 6, 2007
doc video viewing + the critical mass bike ride august
We got on the critical mass this evening. by us, i mean cast-members Maria, Dominique, Ramsey, Richard, Cesar, Molly, Natalia. Andrea and Jacob had other commitment so couldn't be with us. New interested person, Janett, Jenet, Parker showed up for the ride and showed up at my house for the viewing of the doc video of our inaugural performance at the Undermain Theatre in Dallas on July 29th.
It was pretty fun to watch the doc video, after all the chaos and the big strug to try to get the audio segment hooked up via various means. I pulled Ramsey and Dominique to my computer to look at Fabian's poster design compositional suggestions, and got some good feedback from both of them.
Much work to do. It is obvious, once you screen the doc vid of our performance, exactly which people need to really pump up the volume. I really didn't need to say anything, though I did offer director's comments during the screening. It is good that folks know and realize what needs to be vocally amped, what needs to be visually tightened. Miguel, Cesar's friend, offered good comments as well.
I asked Dominique to meet with me on Wednesday day.
I asked Richard (Ken Sabe) to commit his major lines to memory, particularly his poem (Bigger Trucks) by this weekend.
He has had that script for at least 3 weeks now, and he should have at least that poem embedded somewhere in his memory.
Natalia knows now to wear a shorter skirt as IDA GONE.
I also think that ESA needs to look a tiny bit more "feminine" than she did in the Undermain show; we'll discuss that on Wednesday.
Dina was the exemplary, stellar example of a performer who was 100% committed to performance of her lines. I think the other performers recognized that she set the bar....
Neither Dina nor Opalina were present for the bike ride tonight nor the doc vid screening. Forgiveable, acceptable, if you ask me.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS photographer shows up tomorrow (morning) at 12noon. I better go to sleep soon; my saggy baggy eyes don't flatter me at all if I don't get adequate sleep.
Blessings to all my cast & crew---hard workers all around...
Particular thanks and kudos to Cesar and Miguel who helped with video taping tonight at the Critical Mass ride on the downtown streets of FW. Molly was a trooper--she's not feeling 100% at this time.
Esa (Dom) and Ken (Richard) were diligent and cooperative doing multiple multiple takes of the "hand-clasping" taping tonight.
I love these people.
heart, big heart
It was pretty fun to watch the doc video, after all the chaos and the big strug to try to get the audio segment hooked up via various means. I pulled Ramsey and Dominique to my computer to look at Fabian's poster design compositional suggestions, and got some good feedback from both of them.
Much work to do. It is obvious, once you screen the doc vid of our performance, exactly which people need to really pump up the volume. I really didn't need to say anything, though I did offer director's comments during the screening. It is good that folks know and realize what needs to be vocally amped, what needs to be visually tightened. Miguel, Cesar's friend, offered good comments as well.
I asked Dominique to meet with me on Wednesday day.
I asked Richard (Ken Sabe) to commit his major lines to memory, particularly his poem (Bigger Trucks) by this weekend.
He has had that script for at least 3 weeks now, and he should have at least that poem embedded somewhere in his memory.
Natalia knows now to wear a shorter skirt as IDA GONE.
I also think that ESA needs to look a tiny bit more "feminine" than she did in the Undermain show; we'll discuss that on Wednesday.
Dina was the exemplary, stellar example of a performer who was 100% committed to performance of her lines. I think the other performers recognized that she set the bar....
Neither Dina nor Opalina were present for the bike ride tonight nor the doc vid screening. Forgiveable, acceptable, if you ask me.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS photographer shows up tomorrow (morning) at 12noon. I better go to sleep soon; my saggy baggy eyes don't flatter me at all if I don't get adequate sleep.
Blessings to all my cast & crew---hard workers all around...
Particular thanks and kudos to Cesar and Miguel who helped with video taping tonight at the Critical Mass ride on the downtown streets of FW. Molly was a trooper--she's not feeling 100% at this time.
Esa (Dom) and Ken (Richard) were diligent and cooperative doing multiple multiple takes of the "hand-clasping" taping tonight.
I love these people.
heart, big heart
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Be Your Own Pet video
I visited the BE YOUR OWN PET website once more, hoping to find some info about their tour dates or Nashville gigs. Nada in that department was available.
BUT--I did see their video (via the MEDIA link). I LOVE this video! It motorcycle gang-izes the band members, except that they are on bicycles. It's also done in the style of those b-grade movies of the 1950s and 1960s (b/w format) that were melodramatic chillers and thrillers for their time. You gotta check this out. I gotta tell Cesar about it.
Go to:
este lugar online. Click on MEDIA. Enjoy.
BUT--I did see their video (via the MEDIA link). I LOVE this video! It motorcycle gang-izes the band members, except that they are on bicycles. It's also done in the style of those b-grade movies of the 1950s and 1960s (b/w format) that were melodramatic chillers and thrillers for their time. You gotta check this out. I gotta tell Cesar about it.
Go to:
este lugar online. Click on MEDIA. Enjoy.
3 more designs from Fabian
After being offline for two solid days, I am eager to get to my email messages, blogs, and the like. Straight off, I see that Fabian has emailed me several large emails, containing new jpg images. I get excited, like a kid being offered a package to unwrap, and quickly download them and save them to my documents file. Fabian has now offered 4 different "signature image" design options to use in promoting the play and project. It pleases me to see that these are significantly different from one another, so he must be brainstorming visually.
I really need to sit down with him, in person, once he returns to the States.
Layne is back in FW, so we are gonna be moving on the website rapido.
I need some good sleep tonight, in preparation for a very full Monday tomorrow.
I really need to sit down with him, in person, once he returns to the States.
Layne is back in FW, so we are gonna be moving on the website rapido.
I need some good sleep tonight, in preparation for a very full Monday tomorrow.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Fabian *just* sent me the first jpg of the design he's conjured...
I have about 8 things I must do before getting the little sleep I'll have before I have to be up again to go to San Anto in the a.m. But, I had an instinct to go online just one more time before doing the dishes and packing. And there it was, an emailed jpg from Fabian, the young artist who's working on a design for our promo materials (flyers, poster, whatever). It's kind of a cool, but long, story how I came to work with this cat, but suffice to say we've never met in person. All our (g-rated, mind you) contact has been online. I "discovered" him via some cool graphics design/art he had exhibited at the Arlington Museum of Art about 4 months ago. I really liked what I saw, wanted to encourage and give him a leg up--so to speak--so I trolled online to find him. And now here it is August, and he finally emailed me a jpg of an image concept for me to see. It's actually pretty good. I'm sure we'll end up with something stellar. And appropriate. Layne, our website designer, is in Maryland (i called her yesterday and she was walking the boardwalk in Ocean City!---i know exactly where she is, cuz i've been there before...) right now, but will be back in FW and dropping her head into html world by next Tuesday. I'm supposed to have most of the text to her by the end of next week. Whoa, I need to go to sleep now, while I can....
____________________ communiques w/ Fabian aka PERRO __________________________________
Fabian:
i like this, i like this.
maybe we don't need human faces/bodies in this. maybe the abstract approach is best.
i am liking very much what you have done to include color with the plain black bicycle.
the background shape makes me think of a house---my ESA character has arguments and painful history around her house so that is why she leaves to go bicycle around the city and in nature. she checks out from her pain and her past in order to be a balanced mujer.
i like the font for SHE: BIKE/SPOKE/LOVE. GOOD choice. i like the black banner/ribbon behind the words. reminds me of the Black Label Bicycle Club--underground,raw,edgy.
what else do you want to add to this?
does it need more?
i am kinda happy w/ it, and i am very happy with your sensibilities.
i don't think there is another play (obra de teatro) like this IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES. i mean, a play about
bicyclistas who also bicycle on the stage y tambien cantan and tocan musica.
this is gonna be hype!
===> i just sent some more photo files about an hour ago. of Dominique (ESA) and Ramz (EL SABE).
i wish we could meet in person, so i could explain this project better.
thanks, let's keep working w/ this one!
adelante,
Tammy
--- Fabian Alejandro Valdez Gomez wrote:
hey whats up!! amm do you have like pictures i dont know like profile pictures or somthing like that? i kinda did this thing but im not that convinced with it with the bycicle drawing tell me your opinion about it
the colors the fonts all the stuff tell what you got in mind please im a bit confused
---------------------------------
From: Tammy Gomez
To: Fabian Alejandro Valdez Gomez
Subject: RE: hello Fabian - here's the jpg
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 21:41:13 -0700 (PDT)
2 big jpgs.
Dominique and Ramz as ESA and EL SABE, two of my characters for the play.
hope all is well.
i'm in san antonio til sunday.
peace,
Tammy
Fabian Alejandro Valdez Gomez wrote:hey how are you? yes i received the picture! but its that it? just the bicycle?
and also if you could send some pictures of the actress pelase and if you more pictures of other stuff related to the play send it to me i immight use them too! i think i know what you want i got some ieas im working with the bycicle though but please send me the picture of the actress
---------------------------------
From: Tammy Gomez
To: favg2k@hotmail.com
Subject: hello Fabian - here's the jpg
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:40:22 -0700 (PDT)
>
>It's been crazy hectic around here, getting ready for our first "rough cut" sneak preview of the bike play
>SHE: BIKE/SPOKE/LOVE.
>
>And, we're also creating a new website for this project, so anything you might create for us could be uploaded onto our site forthcoming at: www.bikespokelove.com.
>
>I'm very excited abt. all of this.
>
>OKAY:
>
>The bikeloveimage.jpg (535k) file is the original image the artist created.
>
>Can you delete the text on the bottom "pink love courier" or whatever it says?
>
>Also, could you take away the "M" that seems to be on the bike frame?
>
>I would then ask you to include or add the show title:
>
>SHE: BIKE/SPOKE/LOVE
>
>or
>
>She: Bike/Spoke/Love
>
>to the design? Also contrasting color(s) would be great. If you take a look at the other file I attached (what i want.gif), that
>can give you an idea of the texture and use of color that appeals to me. Of course, you may have additional ideas, which I would love to hear about and/or see.
>
>I will be emailing you a photo file of the main actress in the play--a quite pretty woman. You might want to include her face in the design somehow. Maybe....
>
>Anyway, have fun checking this out & exploring ideas.
>
>My phone number is 817.-------.
>Myspace: myspace.com/sunlitdoorway.
>
>Lookin' forward to all this collaboration.
>
>peace,
>
>Tammy
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
><< bikeloveimage.jpg >>
><<
whatIwant.gif >>
____________________ communiques w/ Fabian aka PERRO __________________________________
Fabian:
i like this, i like this.
maybe we don't need human faces/bodies in this. maybe the abstract approach is best.
i am liking very much what you have done to include color with the plain black bicycle.
the background shape makes me think of a house---my ESA character has arguments and painful history around her house so that is why she leaves to go bicycle around the city and in nature. she checks out from her pain and her past in order to be a balanced mujer.
i like the font for SHE: BIKE/SPOKE/LOVE. GOOD choice. i like the black banner/ribbon behind the words. reminds me of the Black Label Bicycle Club--underground,raw,edgy.
what else do you want to add to this?
does it need more?
i am kinda happy w/ it, and i am very happy with your sensibilities.
i don't think there is another play (obra de teatro) like this IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES. i mean, a play about
bicyclistas who also bicycle on the stage y tambien cantan and tocan musica.
this is gonna be hype!
===> i just sent some more photo files about an hour ago. of Dominique (ESA) and Ramz (EL SABE).
i wish we could meet in person, so i could explain this project better.
thanks, let's keep working w/ this one!
adelante,
Tammy
--- Fabian Alejandro Valdez Gomez
hey whats up!! amm do you have like pictures i dont know like profile pictures or somthing like that? i kinda did this thing but im not that convinced with it with the bycicle drawing tell me your opinion about it
the colors the fonts all the stuff tell what you got in mind please im a bit confused
---------------------------------
From: Tammy Gomez
To: Fabian Alejandro Valdez Gomez
Subject: RE: hello Fabian - here's the jpg
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 21:41:13 -0700 (PDT)
2 big jpgs.
Dominique and Ramz as ESA and EL SABE, two of my characters for the play.
hope all is well.
i'm in san antonio til sunday.
peace,
Tammy
Fabian Alejandro Valdez Gomez
and also if you could send some pictures of the actress pelase and if you more pictures of other stuff related to the play send it to me i immight use them too! i think i know what you want i got some ieas im working with the bycicle though but please send me the picture of the actress
---------------------------------
From: Tammy Gomez
To: favg2k@hotmail.com
Subject: hello Fabian - here's the jpg
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:40:22 -0700 (PDT)
>
>It's been crazy hectic around here, getting ready for our first "rough cut" sneak preview of the bike play
>SHE: BIKE/SPOKE/LOVE.
>
>And, we're also creating a new website for this project, so anything you might create for us could be uploaded onto our site forthcoming at: www.bikespokelove.com.
>
>I'm very excited abt. all of this.
>
>OKAY:
>
>The bikeloveimage.jpg (535k) file is the original image the artist created.
>
>Can you delete the text on the bottom "pink love courier" or whatever it says?
>
>Also, could you take away the "M" that seems to be on the bike frame?
>
>I would then ask you to include or add the show title:
>
>SHE: BIKE/SPOKE/LOVE
>
>or
>
>She: Bike/Spoke/Love
>
>to the design? Also contrasting color(s) would be great. If you take a look at the other file I attached (what i want.gif), that
>can give you an idea of the texture and use of color that appeals to me. Of course, you may have additional ideas, which I would love to hear about and/or see.
>
>I will be emailing you a photo file of the main actress in the play--a quite pretty woman. You might want to include her face in the design somehow. Maybe....
>
>Anyway, have fun checking this out & exploring ideas.
>
>My phone number is 817.-------.
>Myspace: myspace.com/sunlitdoorway.
>
>Lookin' forward to all this collaboration.
>
>peace,
>
>Tammy
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
><< bikeloveimage.jpg >>
><<
whatIwant.gif >>
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Next meet-up: MONDAY, August 6th @ 6pm
Monday, August 6th, is the date for the next "Critical Mass" group bike ride, which is a monthly tradition of getting together on our bicycles and wheeling through and around downtown FW. Folks, at times, come in from as far away as Dallas and Denton to participate in this fun event.
Since our characters are (mostly) bicyclists, I would like for us to meet with the "Critical Mass" crowd on Monday and ride together w/ them for a little while. I've invited Cesar, videographer, to come out & shoot some tape that evening as well. Hopefully, this unpredictable weather we're having will favor our ride and not unleash any flash floods or lightning.
It might be easier for folks to get to the ITC (Intermodal Transportation Center) by car--park on Jones Street (the metered spaces will be free as of 6pm). Everyone converges there btwn. 6pm and 6:30pm, with a push-off time of 6:30pm.
Of course, myspace, email, or call me for details that aren't available here on the blog.
Since our characters are (mostly) bicyclists, I would like for us to meet with the "Critical Mass" crowd on Monday and ride together w/ them for a little while. I've invited Cesar, videographer, to come out & shoot some tape that evening as well. Hopefully, this unpredictable weather we're having will favor our ride and not unleash any flash floods or lightning.
It might be easier for folks to get to the ITC (Intermodal Transportation Center) by car--park on Jones Street (the metered spaces will be free as of 6pm). Everyone converges there btwn. 6pm and 6:30pm, with a push-off time of 6:30pm.
Of course, myspace, email, or call me for details that aren't available here on the blog.
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