The rest of Tenam 2024

It's January 2025, and once again, I am sharing what happened nearly a year ago. If you were there, you were there. If you weren't, here are the videos. I noticed a complimentary vibe with this poem I wrote some years ago, perhaps 2019 or 2021? May your dreams come through you. Take, for instance, the clam

Its mighty shell, a fortress

Shrouding to obscure

Goop enveloped pink oozing caverns

And one, mindless pearl

Ah! Here to be yanked.

Climb further, dear young monsieur 

Thine meaning beckons a dusty soul

To have for oneself made and to be made

Of anything worth worth’s worth

I shan’t return the same as I lie

Awake, on the earth, and to your face

Fearing that fear should hold ground

And reason doth bubble up and over-pour

I only yearn for a remembrance

Of the drum on animal skin

The shredded fibers upon which we may write

And a flawless, constructed specimen

Infinitely cast through time and space

Saturday February 10 2024

Title: “Leather and Wood” Feat Omar Lopez and Lexi Pulido

Instructions: Omar is leather. Lexi is to stretch him with sound and guiding touch. 

Why? Animal skins adorn the instruments of Omar Lopez’ studio, calling for tribute. 

Rehearsal Discoveries: When I, Lexi, went to Omar’s home studio, he offered me a sweet drink he said his mother used to make. We explored his recent recording work while playing with his rambunctious xolo dog who was growling at us in excitement. This, of course, emitted howls and growls from us humans, and we thought it might be right to include riling him as the performance act. Given the tantalizing and wildcard element of this idea, we nixed it the night before the show in favor of a more controlled environment. 

At some point, it was decided Omar would be leather and I, the sun. Omar is such a team player in offering to pack and bring all the leather and wood materials. He even left me with a rabbit skin that continues to sit upon the desk on which I write this nearly one year later. In the hour before the show, we cast his precious objects upon the stage and recognized a brilliant opportunity to hang one of his stringed instruments and create a inspired flotation.

Performance Write Up: The sun bleaches and warms. The sun is relentless to burn through layers of skin, yet softly dries leather under the right positioning and circumstance. My intention as sun was to more than stretch, but also provide warmth and healing touch and beautiful sounds. It was to be invitational to a state of sprawling. This is a worthy space to occupy.

View on Youtube-----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxRgScZ1RkE

Saturday March 30th 2024

Title: “TP Rolls" 

Instructions: Play with the TP. Loop Vox. Pin up the colorful, paper wrapping onto the curtain.

Why? Had to come up with something reverent last minute, since heavy rainfall would have overshadowed and made messy the "Shellcore" performance originally planned for that day.

Rehearsal Discoveries: I am writing this Jan 8 2025, and I don't remember much. I think the night before, I scrambles for in-studio supplies and found beauty in the color scheme of the toilet paper wrappers. 

Performance Write Up: I let the TP speak, and upon gazing into its tubular hole, it offered me some lines about being at "the center." The rain was howling down, and the road was a river. At some point, I gazed outward and noticed Justin Morrison pull up in his car with his window rolled down and a raincoat for both himself and his camera lens. What a guy.

View on Youtube-----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixyFNcAziEw

Saturday April 27 2024

Title: “Shellcore" Feat Paloma Louise Van Dyke

Instructions: Remove the shells you've overgrown. 

Why? All good shells serve their purpose to protect us. There comes a day when the hard exterior feels tight and limiting. 

This piece served as a "Soul Challenge," where it ritualistically symbolized a turning point in reality for both performers.

Rehearsal Discoveries: We got together in the studio and at Paloma's house to make cardboard shells, paint our body suits, and create a 15minute guide track corresponding to a bullet point list of instructions for what Paloma would be speaking. It was during the construction of the shells, I believe, when we decided I would speak with kazoo. I ended up doing the paper mache at home and finding,it's powdery, non painted look on the shell to be aesthetically pleasing, so we left them without paint. About a week prior to the piece, we met for the finishing touches and made this list

Sound

- [ ] Lexi has regular mic

- [ ] Paloma has headset mic

- [ ] Audio track plays off iPad 

- [ ] All plugs into mixer to speaker through door

Set

- [ ] Thursday night get sand and bring 

- [ ] Friday before bring truck with pool and decoration

- [ ] Paloma gives lexi ride home after Costco

- [ ] Paloma brings Sunglasses and cigarettes 

- [ ] Put cigarettes and reflector by pool

- [ ] Have car keys in costume

- [ ] Kazoo

Costumes

- [ ] pins for stuff

- [ ] Shells

The morning of, I got there to fill the tub by bringing the water hose directly through the studio from the back to the front where the truck was parked. 

Performance Write Up: I am doing this reflection nearly a year later, Jan 8 2025. Rewatching this piece has me endlessly cracking up. The final scene was nerve wracking for its safety and legality. Paloma is a comedic genius with a seriously convincing Australian accent. How on earth did this duo find one another? Where did our shell-less fragility carry us as people? Many little crabs just get eaten by birds in a lawless world of survival.

View on Youtube------> https://youtu.be/bYv8p_cqK94