News items posted to this page are edited versons of Member Mailings.
Four Winds News: 19 February 1999
FOUR WINDS LEAVES THE POSTGRADUATE CENTER
Hi everybody. Just wanted to catch up all you folk in our extended family. We are now out of Postgraduate Center and we met last Tuesday, February 9th at Miz Elspeth's. Bit of a thin night, but we got a little singing and some organizational work done. I just want to remind the general Membership that, "them what shows up sez what goez."
In other words, even though I tend to coordinate things and set guidelines, most major decisions are made by the Active Membership of the Chorus in circle and discussion. Your voice in this process is directly proportional to your level of participation. That said. Here's what's upÑ We have a schedule through March mostly, and we are trying to plan as far ahead as reasonable
We had a very nice and spirit-filled Farewell Bardic Circle Friday, January 29, two days before we were to "turn into pumpkins" at PGC. It was a fine way to bid farewell to the theatre and everybody was in good voice and we sang and prayed well and in a thoroughly sacred manner. We hope the sacred spirits that have been our companions and helpers will continue attend us as we go forth into the wider world.
We presented Mike Goodman and the Center a framed certificate version of the Charge of The Winds, with a appreciation inscription on behalf of the chorus and signed by as many of the Members as we could get a hold of over the two weeks prior. Many of the folk there were sad to see us leave and said that they enjoyed having us at Postgraduate Center and wished us luck in our wanderings. That was good to hear. So long and thanks for all the fish.
So here's what's next.
SEARCH FOR REHEARSAL SPACES
I spent most of the next two weeks calling various places and visiting a few of them. So far the only rehearsal spaces that meet our needs and schedule and was available in February is Musical Theatre Works, on Lafayette, south of Astor Place, Thursday the 18th at 7:00pm for $20/hr. However, at that price it is more expensive than I, and the rest of the Chorus are comfortable with, so it is not really a long-term solution. Then we have two dates at Cooperative Arts Project's CAP 21 Studio's in March @ $15/hour, thatÕs better... We're sniffing around for a $8-$10 spot downtown. Now, That's what I'M talkin' about! Hopefully ,they can accommodate us. For at least February and March, to pool our tithe money, we'll be doing our Tuesday meetings at Elspeth's.
We will also be back at Musical Theatre Works on April 13th for a Run-through prior to the April 17 Bardic Ritual & Teaching Circle at EnchantmentÕs.
I want to THANK AGAIN the folk who've been feeding us leads and ideas, you know who you are. LetÕs just say that it's making it all possible! Keep them coming, weÕre not finished looking and we also want to have other sites suitable for circles, rituals, ceremonies, teachings and performances and the recording project (see below). Choice is good.
Pilamaye!
COST CONTROL
As a cooperative, we have relied on Members making voluntary contributions to the operating costs of the Chorus. This combined with donations, and a little creative acquisition of xeroxing and highly informal subsidies has kept us going. Members have always been free to contribute as much or as little as they were comfortable with. We want to stick with that and still pay our way.
Our room rate at MTW is $20/hour. That means a standard rehearsal there would cost $40. For an average night of 8-10 Members, the contribution works out to 4 to 5 dollars a person. But a "thin" night with, for instance, five persons would make each personÕs share $8. ThatÕs a little stiff, and unfairly penalizing the more dedicated Members who showed up.
This would put us in the uncomfortable position of creating situations where Members might not feel up to dropping $5 on a rehearsal plus travel costs and skip the night, raising the tab for the Members that do show up, and encouraging more drop-out's as THEY get hammered. The other scenario is that Members would skip the rental night and only show up on the ÒfreeÓ night, which doesnÕt work for reasons both spiritual and artistic. Way uncool...
We have agreed to institute a guideline cap of a maximum individual Member Tithe of $5. Past that sum, do not feel obligated to donate more unless the greatness of your heart and depth of your pocket truly support it. Any gap in the rent will be paid out of our Standing Operating Fund. This will tend to avoid placing and undue financial obligation to "make the rent" on active Members, particularly on a slow night.
FOUR WINDS EARTH CHORUS
FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PROJECT!We are agreed that to begin working on a recording would be a fine and fun way to celebrate our success and survival. If suitable space/s can be secured, we will hopefully kick off the sessions beginning Friday, March 12 and/or Sunday March 14th with probably a rowdy Go-Feast afterward on the first day. WeÕll get out the details as soon as we nail them down. And that will just be the kick-off, we expect that this will probably take a few sessions. We wonÕt try to do it all at once. Well, this is the plan, anyway.
What we have in mind is something between a demo and a full fledged album.What we hope to create is something that will not only commemorate our work, but also help promote the Chorus and solicit gigs in addition to possibly assisting our financial health. And part of the plan is to keep things relatively informal and accessible to listeners, but maintaining a good level of craftsmanship.
We will try to record as much of our original material as we can perform well and than add other stuff that we like. Selection of pieces will tend to focus first on our material, than on pieces that we have made our own arrangements or put our own spin on. To have some choices, it will probably be a good idea to record more stuff than we actually need and select the best tracks. The goal is putting together a compilation of our overall sound and vision suitable for CD and cassette duplication with the volunteer assistance of Blair Ferrier and some of our in-house tech talent and connections.
We were approached by Blair and Michelle Ferrier via e-mail back in January. They are pagan folk new to the East, and currently hailing from West Point. BlairÕs off-hours vocation is to support Pagan music by volunteering recording services. We put out a feeler and invited them to the Farewell Circle at PCG. Well, suffice to say, smiles and handshakes were at hand and theyÕre on board for the project. Always nice to make friends.
I want to invite ALL of our Inactive, Semi-active, Former and Irregular Members who have contributed to our sound, growth and vision over the years to participate in this project. You must show up and spend some time rehearsing with the Chorus prior to the start of the sessions to be allowed to participate. Since I was on vacation this week and away from the office and itsÕ laser printers and copiers, I had to scramble to get this into the current Member mailing so people would have some decent notice.
If you have schedule problems or special circumstances and want to participate, we need to know about it in advance. DonÕt show up on kickoff day and demand a place. It would be terribly unfair to the people whoÕve kept the faith and been working hard and coming to rehearsals. But in the meantime, please try to pass this along to our any former, irregular and inactive Members that you may be in contact with while we scurry to get our production logistics together.
There are a lot of details to be worked out, not the least of which is financial. In addition to the logistics of actually recording ourselves, is learning the skills and discipline of working in a studio style. Next up is CD and cassette duplication. Thankfully, we are in New York city, a major entertainment center, which has a lot of facilities and price ranges. At some point, weÕll tackle the small details of naming this thing and graphics.
We are also starting to solicit permissions from the authors and copyright holders to use some of their material on this project. First that come to mind are Abby Spinner & Magnus, the Various Arthens and other folk at EarthSpirit, Imani Buchannan, Issac Bonewitz, Lunacy, Reclaiming, and some of the CAW folk out West. While we have a fair amount of our own stuff now, there are things out there by other good folk that we like a whole lot, and have worked very effectively with over the years. House Mother Heather has some creative ideas on how to possibly encourage further contributions to the project in addition to our tithes. Also some suggestions on sane and fair marketing so that we donÕt get saddled with the "candy sale" model that makes people quit other fine organizations. You'll hear more about these ideas if you show up at meetings.
Even in the midst of all this, we are, of course, ALWAYS going to continue to accept and train new Members and welcome visitors. New folk will be able to train, and rehearse with us as usual. But you will probably have to skip this particular project and wait for the next event to perform.
If you have ANY questions, problems or difficulty or want to help out in any way, please email me at KHGriffith@worldnet.att.net please allow approx 24-48 hours for email replies.
STUFF ON THE HORIZON
We have other projects, gigs and events in the pipeline that weÕre working towards manifesting. A JesterÕs Concert, A Full Moon, African Unity Day, Workshops, Bardics. The core Membership in very aware that weÕre a lot healthier when we have goals to work towards.
What would have been Giveaway IV: Jesters, Fools and Coyote, would have been a performance for PGC scheduled near to April Fools Day, a date near and dear to my heart at least. We currently still want to do this event, but want to promote it in a good manner; and we need to find a new venue to stage it. I had made a formal inquiry to PCG, in writing, on real Four Winds letterhead about actually renting the theatre for an evening performance, but have received no reply. I guess our work there is truly done, at least as far as their administration is concerned.
Quite frankly weÕve been too busy to set up the Full Moon for New Moon NY. However, for June, we ought to have time enough to set that up.
If anybody had a project that they think might be good for Four Winds, weÕre all ears! Just let us know. Bear in mind that the more lead time we have, the more likely we will be able do the event, performance, circle, ritual or teaching.
While performance events and the Five Year Project are interesting, that is only a portion of our mission. Our basic mandate is the study and promotion of this music of the spirit. Towards that goal we also provide teaching circles and workshops. We create and manifest choral ritual, ceremony and earth celebrations. We also support othersÕ rituals and ceremonies through the bardic arts.
Of course, many of us sing, chant and drum for its own sake, just for joy and as part of our spiritual journeys. So when you think of what we do, donÕt limit yourselves of thinking only of Four Winds on stage. The most important part, is to drum, chant and sing, the music itself is the core of what Four Winds is.
We do have one very nice item on the horizon. Two of our newest Members, Alexandria and Robert are planning to Handfast in May, and have asked the Chorus to sing for the event. WeÕre honored, tickled pink and looking forward to being there!
ON THE WEBSITE
Our servers hosts, Imagecraft Creations, Inc. (check them out at http://www.imagecraft.com) run by our good friends Christina and Richard in Palo Alto, CA have become prosperous enough to move their web presence to a new ISP with more bandwidth and server room. All a plus for us, since our little nook currently weighs in at under 1 megabyte. ThatÕs less than a floppy disk! The net result is that our pages should download faster and we ought to have less downtime. We try to keep the latest information here on our website.
We invite many of you who were a part of our past who are able, to come forward and be a part of our never-a-dull-moment future!
Feel free to talk to us if you have any questions, ideas, problems or just want to gab. Rehearsals, bookings, gigs, songs, circles, teachings; you know weÕre interested!
Got News, Questions or problems? Send E-Mail to us at: khgriffith@worldnet.att.net
Mitaquye Oyasin * Blessed Be * Ashe * Shalom * A Salaam * Amen
Kurt Griffith/Talking Stone,
Choral Director
