Temescal summer festival

For a lot of years I did street performances where I sat on street corners. It looked like I was panhandling. Panhandling was an aspect of those performances. But at the core, I was making myself available to any possibilities that the human waves would wash my way. Actually I have been doing this all my life… Sitting, waiting, ready to jam with anyone who came by, stopped, and got sucked in. Having a booth at these summer festivals has taken this to a whole new level! Six hours of human waves connecting, inspiring, opening up possibilities. It was non stop! I won’t try to go into detail [see below]. But it was pure core!

DA BOYZ:

We were all ready shortly before noon, but people were already checking out the scene by around 11 or so ... Our first visitors were these three kids, probably around 10-12 ... they were starting to load up on CDs, and we had to lay down the law! One per! They were really cute. They had a hard time deciding on which CDs they wanted to take. But the youngest, a girl, really liked the title of the one she got: "The Happy Turtle".

Then there was a scattering of visitors to the booth ... Sam Sheats from Savante Garde came by ... other musicians and artists ... Stefan came by ... we were soon starving for lunch! Jen went to get the fried chicken sandwiches from Bakesale Betty's, which Stefan had raved about, and we had heard all sorts of rave reviews of ... They were just "ok". We were talking about how we would make them!

Then finally you guys arrived, and Frank got right up in front behind the table, ready for action! The rest of the day was a steady flow of people to the colorful, fun booth that was like a magnet for people ... it was really neat the wide variety of people that were there at the Fair ... It was amazing also how many musicians, artists, bands showed up at the booth, and Frank's Shaman's Den schedule filled up! It is always fun to be with Frank, Linda & Mikee interacting with folks ... Frank always has the line! It was neat too how Frank was communicating to people that the Temescal Arts Center was threatened ... a lot of people knew about the Center. It has been a fixture there for years, and it seemed like most people get the dynamics at play ... a yuppie condo opening up across the street from an artists space ... It was also amazing to hear how inspiring, in a lot of different ways, that LUVeR and Frank are to people. How people "get it"! The young guy who came by and said that he tells his fellow artists/friends about Frank as an example of how they should not be discouraged from doing whatever they want to do ... the young black woman, an artist inspired by Frank's paintings ... There were so many moments like this that just piled one on top of the other ... overlapping! You could feel that the booth really filled a need. It wasn't trying to sell anyone anything ... Frank was just there to connect with people ... and you could walk away with a CD and other free stuff, and a sense of possibilities! Really really amazing ... And it was really fun how much kids loved the booth too ...

At the point when Linda turned to us and asked if we wanted to take a walk around and check out the other booths in the fair was right when we were starting to talk about needing some medicinal assistance to aid us in making it through the rest of the day. The nights of short sleep, and the firewood delivery were taking their toll!! Alexi mentioned the Scharfenberger dark chocolate mocha "freddo" "extra bold" that they had at Peet's, which seemed like it was just what the doctor ordered ... We made that our first stop, and then toured the fair. It was really fun to people watch, and there were a few neat booths ... but we wanted to get back to where the action was! We had heard a guy who stopped by from a local band mention that they had played at a space called Smokey's Tangle, which actually had a booth right down from ours, and so we stopped in and talked to them, found out that they are an art gallery, but also do music events ... Later, the guy from the Tangle came by the LUVeR booth, and had a good time discussing with Tomek how to handle the people in the condo who were making noise complaints about the Temescal Arts Center. Tomek suggested that they could be sedated daily!

One young guy stopped by and said that the booth was what he had been looking for all day at the Fair, and he finally found it! It felt like a lot of folks had that experience ... Altering reality!

It was hard to break it down, as always, at the end of the fair. We didn't really start until a quarter after 6, after the fair had officially ended, and only then really because there was a flood threatening all the stuff from the gutter! People were still coming by, and picking up fliers and talking to Frank ... And all day, people were sifting through the free boxes at the back side of the booth, where they also got to see the backside of Mikee's backdrop, where the farting naked lady was on full display. We heard comments throughout the day from back there!


JEN:

We got the tables set up and all the swag laid out. Decorations and t-shirts went up and the booth looked great! So fun and colourful. Corey set up the camera and we were all set. People had already been coming up and getting cds. We handed out a lot of luver flyers, and also told people about the weekly performance series, handing out those flyers as well. Stephan came by a couple of times. He raved about the fried chicken sandwiches at Bakesale Betty's. Also talked about how he got poison oak recently. He was having a good time. So were we! The people watching was so much fun! Telling people about the cds and everything.

When we got hungry I went to Bakesale Betty's to get us 3 of the chicken sandwiches. The line up was huge but moving quickly. They were really pumping out the sandwiches. When we ate them at the booth, they were ok but nothing spectacular. I walked back and saw some neat things, but nothing that really made me want to stop and take a closer look except for some colourful handmade hoodies. I saw our booth among all the others and it really stood out. The festival was packed and we were handing out a lot of flyers. Many of the cds were gone already. We had plenty of Bell the Cat, Happy Turtle and Sons of Skip left though. You guys arrived and Frank sat right up front.

The next few hours were really amazing with all the people that came up and saw what we were doing. Was cool to see what caught their eye on the tables. A lot of people were attracted to the sign. They would walk by slowly checking it out or stop and take a closer look, and then when Linda waved a flyer at them they came over! They really wanted to. When we told them Frank started the station 10 years ago they would smile at him and thank him. It was really great! Non stop. There were a lot of musicians who were possible Shaman's Den guests. One guy said that he was waiting for us, that this was what he wanted at the festival when up until now all he saw were clothes for sale. People loved getting the free stuff. One girl from Ohio said that she would spread the word because people there were hungry for this kind of thing. LUVeR is so great because anyone can tune in from anywhere, so even though we're local, people who are not local can still experience it when they get home! It is such a great channel. I love being a part of this, and this comes out of us being together. It is really incredible. And people get that. They feel that and they love it too. So many people thanked Frank for doing what he's doing. And he does a lot! There's luver, but then there's also the performances, the poetry, the writing, the painting, the Shaman's Den, the jams... Blows people's minds! We had a great time!!

Tomek had come by several times. Was great when he was there talking to another musician who we gave a performance flyer to. At the end of the day he talked to Frank and Linda about another performance that Frank could be a part of. Many people knew about the harassment Temescal Arts Center was getting with noise complaints from the condo, and a couple of those people said that they would bring it up to certain people or at certain meetings. Someone also said they heard about what was going on at BTV. We got a couple of cds from musicians already, and many others said that they would send their stuff in. Some djs were told about doing a show for Luver so it would be great if they followed up on that. Around 6 the crowds started to dwindle. It was time to pack up. Just in time too, as the drain in the sidewalk behind us started to drain water into our booth. We got everything down and put away.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

BERKELEY COMMUNITY PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNEL HIJACKED!

Hi! I want to invite David Jolliffe, Arielle Elizabeth, and the board members of Berkeley Community Media to be on a show I am doing. In general the show will be about the philosophy of public access and the current move in California to shut the public access down. But we will also explore the new rules at B-tv. When I know who is interested in being on the show, I will set up a time for us to get together to shoot it.

A main reason why I am doing the show is the new rules confuse and disturb me. Maybe I should outline my concerns about the new rules and my understanding of public access. I know that Berkeley Community Media has other duties and responsibilities associated with running /maintaining Channel 33, the governmental /educational channel. I am only talking about our public access channel, Channel 28.

As I understand it, a public access channel is for the residents of the city to have an uncensored and free channel that will air tapes that they make themselves or like to sponsor so that others of their fellow citizens can be exposed to the content. Such a channel is the residents’ artistic, cultural, and political outlet, their soap box. As I understand it, Berkeley Community Media is the “third party“ which the city of Berkeley has administer our community public access channel, providing equal and easy access for the residents of Berkeley. So the “community“ of the community public access channel is the residents of the city of Berkeley, not just the members of Berkeley Community Media. So it is confusing when the members of BCM get special treatment, such as the new policy of

BCM will prioritize the scheduling of series in the following order:

1.) Series that are locally produced using BCM facilities and equipment.

2.) Series that are locally produced that do not use BCM facilities and equipment.

3.) Series that are made outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. These will be considered “Import” Series.

This seems to violate the equal access for the residents of Berkeley as proclaimed in BCM’s mission statement on the BCM web site. It makes sense to put the local programs made by Berkeley residents ahead of “import“ series, especially if there is a surge of programs filling up the schedule. Is there such a surge at the present time? But it does not make sense to penalize residents who don’t use BCM’s studio or equipment to create their own programs. That is unequal access.

When we asked about this, Arielle responded: “As Programming Coordinator, I personally feel that it is important that all producers should be treated equally. The new policies were written specifically to give all of us (including myself) guidelines on how programming will be scheduled. These policies are designed to promote fairness and equity among the entire membership. Nobody will get special treatment from now on.”

I assumed she meant all producers who belong to BCM will be treated equally and fairly. But the BCM members who use BCM’s studio and equipment will get special treatment. Again the community in the community public access channel is the residents of Berkeley, not the BCM membership. But even the BCM members who don’t use BCM’s studio and equipment will not be treated equally. Why penalize those of us who don’t use BCM’s studio or equipment? Granted, the running and maintaining of the studio and equipment is a big service that BCM provides. And requiring those who will use the studio and equipment to be members, to get trained, to volunteer to be on others’ crews, etc. makes sense. But in the world of camcorders, home computers, YOUTUBE, etc., it doesn’t make sense to penalize residents who create their shows outside of BCM’s studio on their own equipment. It doesn’t make sense to put blocks in the way of the residents to their channel. By encouraging people to create shows with their own equipment and computers it would open BCM’s studio and equipment to those who need the facilities to create their shows. It seems, if we do the math, it is not possible to produce enough shows to fill the 24/7 time slots in a studio that is only open a portion of the day. But encouraging residents who can create their own programs outside BCM’s studio would open b-tv up to the whole community. The whole community would be b-tv’s studio! This would make what happened in Los Angeles much harder to happen in Berkeley. In Los Angeles they shut down the public access by shutting down their studios.

I’m one of those residents who have created programs for b-tv for many years outside of BCM’s studio system, creating a platform for a wide range of community voices. I have donated to BCM over the years because I value BCM… I value public access. But I did not join BCM because I don’t use BCM’s facilities… And I am not a joiner. But when the new rules were leaked out and it was clear it was definitely a disadvantage in terms of keeping my time slots if I was not a BCM member, I became a member. Then it turned out it doesn’t matter because I don’t use BCM’s facilities. Obviously this is a case of different basic philosophies of community public access. I am eager to look at and explore the differences.

But it gets worse! According to the new policy outline:

“- All series producers will be required to have an active membership on file at Berkeley Community Media.”

This excludes at least ninety eight percent of the Berkeley residents. This hijacks our community channel. It turns our community channel into a private club… A members –only club. This is the exact opposite of what public access should be! The function of the Berkeley Community Media is to provide equal, free, and easy access for the residents of Berkeley to OUR community television channel. It is not its role to put blocks and fences between the residents and full access to our community channel. This is extremely disturbing and legally questionable. It creates a “have to belong to be played” reality… If not a pay-to-play proposition. If I hadn’t become a member, I would have lost my series… And more importantly I would have lost my right to have or sponsor a series on b-tv. This is not right, fair, or equal. This is not public access. And it raises all kinds of legal questions.

Moreover, as I understand it, legally the content of the shows that play on the public access channel is the sole responsibility of the resident who created/submitted/sponsored the shows. The courts have consistently ruled that the city and the body, be it the cable company or an organization such as BCM, that runs the public access channel may not restrict the contents of public access shows. This is a basic principle of public access. The city can decide not to have a public access channel. But if it decides to have one, it can’t restrict the content. The totality of this legal fire wall surprised even me! During my research for this, I went to the FCC’s official web site and found this:

“Federal law permitted a cable operator to prohibit the use of a PEG channel for programming which contained obscene material, sexually explicit conduct, indecency, nudity, or material soliciting or promoting unlawful conduct. However, The U.S. Supreme Court determined that this law was unconstitutional. Therefore, cable operators may not control the content of programming on public access channels with the exception that the cable operator may refuse to transmit a public access program, or a portion of the program, which the cable operator reasonably believes contains obscenity.”

from http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/pegfacts.html

So, with the exception of obscene material as defined by law, there is not room for restriction of content of public access shows. “Indecent“ shows must be aired between 10P.M. and 6A.M. Personally I always have felt more comfortable in the freedom of late night slots, even when most of the time, the content of the shows does not require late night slots. What is troublesome about the new rules is they appear to invade the content control of the resident producer /sponsor. Such invasion would be illegal, as I understand it. These invasions are not sexy. They are not focused on nudity, eroticism, or profanity. But they do appear to be designed to shape and control the content of the shows. For example, the new structure creates a two-tier system of kinds of series available.

Types of Series

1. Three Airs Per Week Series - A three airs per week series is available to producers who are consistently creating new content. This type of series airs no more than three times a week. Producers must submit at least six (6) new episodes of their program each season to be considered a three airs per week series. Producers must submit at least two (2) new episodes of their program at the beginning of each season in order to qualify as a weekly series.

2. One Air Per Week Series - A one air per week series is available to producers who sporadically create new content. This type of series airs no more than once a week. Producers must submit at least one (1) new episode of their program each season to be considered a one air per week series. Producers must submit at least three (3) old episodes of their program that they wish to replay throughout the season in order to qualify as a one air per week series.

As if this is not a clear enough attempt to control and shape the content of the shows, the new rules go on to define what new is new enough!

-- New episodes for three airs per week series must be submitted every 45 days. A new episode is defined as a program that, in whole or in substantial part (75%), has not previously aired on Channel 28.

-- A series will be cancelled if new episodes are not submitted in a timely manner.

-- False identification of an episode as “new” will result in immediate cancellation of a series.

All of which is a very clear breach of the legal fire wall around the sole responsibility of the resident producer /sponsor for the content of her shows. Moreover the threat of immediate cancellation sets up a very disturbing power structure. The reason for this new, and probably illegal, rule is not at all clear. And this dreadful rule is being applied to residents who consistently are in fact creating programs for b-tv. So let us explore the reasons for, and the legality, of this rule.

There is a lot more we can explore on the show. So I will end. So when would be a good time for you guys to come over to tape the show? I am also sending this letter to the local newspapers because I believe that this warrants a deep community discussion. After all, b-tv is OUR community channel… Or at least it is supposed to be!

In Freedom,

Frank Moore

6/5/2009

Fred Hatt spring 2009 update

Dear friends

A well-illustrated ten-page article about my drawing work, written by John A. Parks, is currently on the newsstands in the Spring 2009 issue of Drawing Magazine, an American Artist publication. That's my portrait of Anna Marie on the cover.

The American Artist website has a supplementary gallery of images here: http://forums.myamericanartist.com/blogs/gallery/archive/2009/05/01/fred-hatt-gallery.aspx

And there's another selection by Claudia on the great art model's blog, "Museworthy": http://artmodel.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/profile-in-artistry/

Please check out my own blog, "Drawing Life", for my drawings, photography, reviews, and discussions of the creative process: http://fredhatt.com/blog

"Drawing Life" has been online since March and now has 26 posts, most of them abundantly illustrated. Coming this summer: an online store for prints and DVDs.

Fred

* * * * *

pretty impressive, Fred!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Fw: June flier for Reality Playings!

(from Micaela of the Temescal Arts Center:)

Please know that I'm going through heat with the City of Oakland and my landlord regarding noise complaints (wah!). It's really important that the neighbors are not disturbed by any activity at TAC and we cannot legally use any amplification there. Please be extra considerate- the citations we're threatened with are no joke! I'm meeting with City people soon and hope to understand more just what IS allowed. Meantime, chill is the word!

Thanks
Micaela

* * * * *

and the war on art, music, culture, and people getting together continues! The Temescal is facing a $1,000 fine if it gets one more complaint. Yuppies have moved into the neighborhood! There is a pizza joint next door which is much louder... But...

So come to the series while you still can!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Re: great!

They should be arriving next week. Cant wait to hear the MRR shows. How many do you have?

Take care,
Mike

* * * * *

We have around ninety hour MAXIMUM ROCK 'N'ROLL shows. And when we first played them, Dirksen would call me each week to tape special intros and outros. We have all of them! We will use this go around to digitize them!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

* * * * *

Wow that's a whole lot of shows. Looking forward to hearing them. So were you ever involved with MRR at any point?

Take care,
Mike

* * * * *

no, not with MRR the radio show nor the zine. But I did THE OUTRAGEOUS BEAUTY REVUE, which was the early show at the Mabuhay every Saturday night [and often Thursday night] from '78 to '80. So I opened for all of those bands. Later I performed at Tim's club, THE GILMAN STREET PROJECT. So I was in the scene.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Re: an intimate jam!

Hi Linda,

Just read allllll the material you gave mom! I have so much deep appreciation and respect for how much you guys have contributed to dreaming the dream and not buying into consensual reality! Wow! I've been doing so much that I still haven't gotten to one of the Temescal performances so please let me know when they happen. I'll get to one yet!

Blessings, Carol (Swann)

* * * * *

shucks, Carol! THANKS FOR THE KIND WORDS! Ain't a part of the job of being an artist creating /inducing dreams outside of the normal boxes?

Next performance is


Friday, June 26, 2009
8pm

TEMESCAL ARTS CENTER
511 48th Street
Oakland, CA 94609-2058


Love to dance with you outside of the normal boxes!

Btw, we will have a table at the Temescal festival this Saturday!


In Freedom,
Frank Moore

an intimate jam!

Ah! I loved jamming in the early morning in a hip club in Paris live and having people around the world see and hear us… And we did not even have to leave our house in Berkeley Ca.! We were asked to be a part of a worldwide online live streaming musical Marathon, THE NON STOP MUSIC PLANET. This Marathon was a 24 hour journey around the world, streaming musical performances back to Paris. It turns out we were one of just four acts from the United States. The other performances were in Europe, South America, etc. So our piece was an hour jam, The Global Erotic Warming. In Paris, they were fast cutting back and forth among various acts… Until we came on. Then they stayed with us for 45 minutes! They even got a better player for projecting us on the big screens. We also streamed the jam on LUVER. Funny, in the room here, it was intimate and cozy. Most of us have played together for years. And the new player, Ava, melted right in and played within the trance. But it was then injected into what I imagine was a very hip scene. Funny where we pop up!


DA BOYZ;
We were checking out the Non Stop Music Planet website, which was really neat, watching them flip between different musical acts in progress in different areas of the world ... Mumbai, India, to Italy, to Poland ...

Soon the jam was starting ... NSMP was trying to tune us in ... really neat to watch the whole process unfolding. The jam was really neat, and seemed to just get more and more trance/dreamlike ... we imagined that it was just the perfect thing to listen to/watch in Paris at 5 in the morning after almost 20 hours of nonstop music ... Beautiful camshots of everyone!

Meanwhile we ate, and the sauce cooked away ... NSMP kept the jam tuned in for 45 minutes straight ... and the jam went on ... it felt like it didn't want to stop after Linda named the band members!

Alexi continued on the sauce, and Corey sent camshots, handed back the stream ... soon we were coming down to break down the set ... a fun conversation going on in the mac room ... histories and long friendships and Ava Bird's first jam! What a fun night!


JEN:
I got dressed real quick and came down. Lob and Yvette were there, along with Tomek. Soon Ava showed up too, the poet from the People's Park Anniversary. I got the toy instruments out and showed them to her, and then we were off on our musical journey.

Frank was working the piano and chimes, Tomek was playing rhythms on the electronic keyboard, and also the roto-toms, accordion and clarinet. Lob was on bass, and Ava and I had the toy instruments and did vocals with Frank as well. It was amazing!! It felt like we were all loose and exploring, and then something would take hold and we would be in the groove together, so much at times we were really trancing out. The rhythms and the intricate sounds all flowing in and out of each other. It was a lot of fun and sounded really great. Mikee mixed and Linda was exploring everything with the video camera. Yvette took pictures and watched and listened. We all had such a great time playing!

The music surged through all different stages, slow and floating to grinding and pumping, creating landscapes in that cozy space. When we got to the end there was a final ta-da! Really neat that this was being put on the internet live to a gallery in Paris! Tomek and Ava asked to see the video, so Mikee set it up in the Mac room. Really fun to watch and hear because it is so different than experiencing it from within. We heard that the gallery in Paris showed it for 45 minutes straight once they got a good feed. Really cool! We could now also hear Mikee's awesome mixing, playing with the layers of sound and effects. Everyone wanted a copy.

Then Lob and Frank talked about how they met during the earliest years of the internet. Even before that on Bulleting Board Systems! Really amazing to hear how far the web has come in such a short time. Also fun to hear how Lob met Frank doing the same things, emailing everyone they knew about every event that was happening. Then Lob and Yvette left to drive back to Sacramento. We talked with Tomek and Ava about the last Temescal performance and how the performances affect people. How they take people out of their boxes and show them what's possible, and how this makes some people really uncomfortable. But some people, like Kene-J and Tomek, like this uncertainty, the unexpected. It is where they feel most comfortable. Ava has just moved up here and said that she was in a band like this back in L.A., so she was really glad to have met us and be a part of this too. Frank invited her to the next Temescal performance, and also just to come and talk with him.


In Freedom,
Frank Moore