More, More, More!

Our largest turnout yet for the Creative Arts Group! Word's getting out and our meetings are growing.

Funny how birds of a feather flock together. Drums are dominating our musicians corner! Phil joined the percussionists this week to add some tambourine, block and shakers along with his D'jembe. It's really interesting to see and hear how three different drummers can have such unique styles and sounds with such similar instruments. With the size, high ceilings and glass of our meeting room, the acoustics are outstanding! When we get more musicians to add some guitar, flute, whistles, keyboards, etc..... we'll be echoing thru the halls of Dondero! Spread the word.

Donnie brought his pencils (and erasers) and worked "live" on his current comic art -- completing a new stance for his heroine before a battle scene. Hoping to get him to let me borrow it to scan and post in the next week or so for the Artist Spotlight.

Several of us read thru a few of Terences writings (poems and essays) and discussed the emotions and thoughts they brought up. From "Oh, wow, that's so true!".... to.... "Man is that ever Sad!"

I also discovered that I need to eat dinner before our meetings every other Friday --I ended up sick as a dog from way too little food, way too much coffee and way too many Tootsie Rolls. Note to self: Pizza BEFORE Creative Arts Group! Urgh

Xhedo's Cafe

Went down to Xhedo's Cafe in Ferndale last night to support another showing of Marquis White's short flick "O.B.E." Terence had shown the movie at our Creative Arts Group -- but last night a few more of the stars of the film were there to view it with their friends.

Xhedo's has a movie showing every Wednesday. They use the stage area for the screenings. You can actually see the movie from the street thru the huge glass windows on 9 Mile Road.

We'd never been there before. Cool set up. Lots of individual tables for people to get some alone time with their laptops, or couches and chairs to mingle and socialize. There are photos for sale on the walls. Local city-scapes from Detroit, Royal Oak, Ferndale, etc. They also have live bands playing regularly.

There's raw jazz music blasting thru the place with the great smells of Hazelnut coffee and Earl Gray Tea in the air. Very cool atmosphere. We'll have to get back down there for another movie night soon!

Xhedo's Cafe:
http://www.xhedos.com/

NETWORKING!

We've featured Donnie in our Artist Spotlight in the past. He does incredible penciling (scroll down to March to see his stuff). He now has some of his art displayed on another site. Check out the link below to see some more of his work:

http://www.abelsrealm.com/ArtistJamesKelly.html

Emma's a "spur-of-the-moment" type of photographer.

She rarely plans out a shot -- just sees something extraordinary and grabs the camera. She's got a great eye for nature.

Emma is able to see a beautiful shot in a scene that most of us just pass by in our casual view.

Movie Night

We had a new exhibit of photography (black & whites) this past Friday. Emma enjoys shooting scenery and wildlife pictures and she captures some great images that many of us see -- but never REALLY see. Black and white photographs can make a very dramatic statement -- as Emma's pictures show. We'll have some of her work in the Artists Spotlight later this week.

Our drummers, Rob & Chris are ready to hit the streets of Royal Oak for some summer nights of music. Keep your eyes and ears open for the African/Indian sounds in downtown Royal Oak as the weather warms up!

Terence showed another film at this past meeting. This one was written and shot by another film-maker (Marquis White). Terence is one of the actors in the featurette and also did the editing work -- which is his ultimate goal -- editing & producing films. The short was called "Outer Body Experience". At about 10 minutes long, it's meant to be a pre-cursor to a full length film that they hope to produce at a later date.

Here's the URL to Terence's movie that he showed several weeks ago. http://www.undergroundfilm.org/films/detail.tcl?wid=1022328
He wrote, stars in, and edited/produced this one. In case you don't recall me mentioning this in an earlier post -- Terence has a very "dark" tone to his writing and film making -- and it's very obvious in "An Exercise in Narcissism" -- his film. Being a very strong Christian (& Republican) myself, this film is not something I would choose to represent my own thoughts -- but Terence is aware of that and I've offered to post his link out of respect to our friendship.

Whoops!

So we had a little scare with tonight's meeting. We showed up at our regular time to set up -- and the school was locked -- nobody anywhere to be found. We tried every door around the entire perimeter -- no luck. We ended up leaving -- then coming back at 7:00 to put up a sign that the Group was cancelled -- and ta da............. there was the custodian to open the doors for us! YESSSSSSSSSS

The whole situation was very humbling actually. Helped me to realize that I really need to work on getting my temper under control and stop trying to "force" things into my own mold. The evening worked out fine.

It turned out to be a GREAT meeting. More music. Another film showing. More connections. More networking.

Details later.

Caribou Coffee

Xavier and Rob played an amazing set at Caribou Coffee in Royal Oak last night. Xavier plays guitar and sings all of his own -- original -- songs. Rob's drums mesh beautifully with Xavier's guitar -- as if they were an extension of each other. Usually there are other musicians that show up (a keyboard player, another guitar and a flutist), but last night's gig was simple and raw with just the two of them jamming.

It was an honor to listen and enjoy their talents -- and hey -- you can't beat great music accompanied by flavored teas, scones, muffins and COFFEE!! Priorities........... don't ya love 'em?

They play every 2nd Wednesday of the month at Caribou. Keep it in mind for May 10!

Xavier : www.xaviermooremusic.com
Rob: www.gigmasters.com/Percussion/RobSchneider
Rob email: themusicmessengers@yahoo.com

Jerry's "Junk Art"

The top sculpture has a centurion personality. He stands at least two feet tall. His snarl of metal and razor hands warn you to keep your distance from whatever it is he's guarding!

The little guy in the middle is more approachable being made of wood and flexible wire. It's also much smaller than it's "big brother" -- this one is about six inches tall.

The cross is a twisting of stiff rod covered in different colors of electical cord. VERY cool wall-hanging!

Jerry uses drills, wire cutters, snips and other common tools to create his projects.

Jerry's work is a perfect example of one man's "junk" being another man's treasure -- in this case -- a treasure of art.

THANX!

Wanted to put a thank you out there to Don, our Blog tech guru. Thanx for all the help in getting this site moving and looking good!

Don's attended the last couple of meetings and has been a big contributor in some pretty deep discussions. Like we've mentioned before..... this group is about networking, relationships and RESPECT! Differing opinions can lead to some great discussions as long as that respect is kept in tact.

JOIN US.

Leah's pottery pieces were part of her art classes at school. The mask is of her own face -- students had to pair up and trust each other to encase their faces in plaster. Don't know if that was a lesson in art -- or relationship building between students -- but it turned into a very cool piece!

Leah usually results with a very different end product from what her mind had pictured when she starts a piece. The vase is an example of that -- it evolved into a totally different piece than what she had originally thought of. Leah also has a talent for drawing and creating things with paper mache'.

Rain Chant

Chris and Rob made great use of the sound system last night! Using the microphone to emphasize the deeper drum gave their playing a different dimension. I attempted to join in by keeping the beat with a maraca-type shaker -- very cool mix of African and Indian sounds. It was resembling a pretty cool rain-chant -- although I'd hate to think that tornado-ish weather last night was on our account.

Let's get other instruments to add more flavor to the pot!

Jerry brought a few of his pieces of artwork. He refers to them as "Junk Art" because that's what they're made from -- scraps and parts of left-over metal, wire and rods -- to result in sculptures.

As Donnie mentioned, Jerry's work is especially cool because he takes the time to actually create the thing that we all might see in a scrap of metal... "Hey, that hunk looks like a hand!"... Well, Jerry actually finds a way to MAKE that hunk into a hand. "Junk Art" Very cool! Pix to come soon..........