Gemini 10° (May 31)

I was looking forward to a little alone time today and honesty, though the daily constitutionals have been fantastic, I lack the basic feeling of the suburban man, tooling around in his car, going to the bank, the post office, the hardware store. So I did that this morming for two hours; I could have done it for two days.

I got the bug in my ear do do some stuff like buy some paint and lighting and be all sort of proactive about my abode. I bought a whole bunch of colorful paints, in pints, and I’m going to thus experiment as I go. As a signpost I saw Tim of TimScapes who always calls me “power neutral” and i was wearing a light grey shirt with white jeans and charcoal grey sneakers so whatever but I was buying paints in the following colors: bright grass green, teaberry pink, navy blue. vivid lilac, as close to Hermes orange as I could muster (so it was more bright) and some chalkboard black!

What I gleaned from the meeting with Steve is that people generally get to the point of having a buisness plan like ours when they already have some money people lined up; so as we move the whole operation back another six months, we have to speed up our process of finding investment. We have to be clever an unapologetic about it and speak the truth in reaching out in this first friends and family round. As far as the next conversation went this is what I had to say about that:

I wanted to collect my thoughts and also I know you’re going to be driving when we speak so I thought I would type out the following off my head and then sort of read to/paraphrase for you on the phone. But this way you can have my side of the conversation in black and white in any case so you can digest at your leisure. Here goes:

We received a total of $6K from NEFA as a “planning/expedition” grant to indeed plan a tour throughout New England. It isn’t a ton of money and it must cover all aspects of planning, outreach, admin, travel to meet venues, promotion, marketing materials, media kits as well as pay the act something which, in this case is a big band/cast. (There is a separate grant one can apply for subsequently that we can actually use to the tour itself, defraying costs thereof, but that is likely to be even less than $6K.) And though this grant cannot be put toward “production” of the tour it can cover any work we put in on our end to present a “showcase” (air quotes are important here as you’ll see), which is what our conversation at hand is all about. I was truly inspired by our meeting at Endicott in terms of showcase (and what ancillary workshops might ensue) but also thinking larger picture which I’ll explain…

Afterglow can apply for this kind of “planning grant” for one New England artists per year—and for the subsequent “touring grant” once per year as well. (I’m not even sure if we can get the two grants simultaneously, we shall see. Anyway, in the example of Brian and the band, the venefit of the grant is self-evident. The benefit to Afterglow is that it provided us the motivation to start making inroads for presenting artists places other than Provincetown and at Oberon/ART in Cambridge. Afterglow would ultimately like to create a circuit of sorts—a kind of alternative, progressive neo-Vaudeville circuit—around New England in keeping with our brand. So yes in the immediate circumstance we are talking about a showcase for Brian and the band designed to proliferate their artistry and build them larger audiences via a would-tour AND I’m hoping this might also set a precedent for doing like-showcases in the future with Endicott for future recipients of this same grant, but I want to entertain the larger notion that this could be the start of a collaboration between Afterglow and Endicott which could be a key venue for us to present any and all of the seventy some artists we work with that strike your fancy. We could build a North Shore audience together (like I’ve done in Boston/Cambridge with ART) and Endicott could thereby develop its own reputation as an arts center that presents our artists who are more on the edge and are making waves in the performance industry if not headlines in the media.

So, lets imagine for argument sake as it’s helpful to do so: a futre where weare doing that ; and there are X many artists a year we produce at Endicott as one-offs or in a loose series or whatever, only one act/artist of which per year might be the recipient of this tiny planning grant and be presenting a “showcase”. For Brian and band and NEFA, yes, these September dates would constitute a “showcase”; but for Afterglow and Endicott and for the audiences we’re bringing in, the shows/dates should appear and function as any other show we might present there. So long as we slap on the logo and grant language on materials NEFA will be satisfied, and audiences wouldn’t much notice, nor should they.

When it comes to contracts and budgets, therefore, we should make a deal similar to deals youve made in the past with this or that artist and that we’ve made with venues in the past. (There is a slight difference with the “showcase” and I will get to that.) But basically the deal should be between Endicott and Afterglow with a split based on percentage of ticket sales. I don’t know what Endicott, given it’s budget to do this sort of thing has as their budget and what gets covered by that—venues differ slightly from my experience but not much. And what your standard percentage might be. That you’ll let me know. Afterglow would ask for a basic guarantee ( at least 80% of which is for the artist!) of say $1K against the guarantee with a single act/artists; for a bigger band like this one I would ask for $1500, say, total ticket sales going to the guarantee, but a) we typically don’t have acts of this size and b) in the case of the “showcase” here, Afterglow can actually “guarantee the guarantee”.

Let me explain that: In the grant “showcase” scenario what Afterglow can bring to the table here is the ability to keep some money aside as a buffer such that if we fall short of making the guarantee, Afterglow, not Endicott, will make up the difference (as again the guarantee in any and/or all scnearios mainly goes to the artists—here with the showcase it definitely all goes to the artist. Still, we should operate with the “showcase” here basically the way we would with any artist we are presenting

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days.

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 9° (May 30)

It being Wednesday today is a big client day. It is in many ways the diaspora day as each of our clients today have Central American roots. I felt really empowered speaking with all of them. One of our clients who has been struggling in the attempting of some very big things seems mega balanced. Others are raw and others are ready. All are both. I’m slightly wondering if I’m testing the boundaries of client-counselor privilege. No I’m not! That is a total joke.

I actually like the blurred lines that exist between clients/friends. It doesn’t upset me in the least—au contraire—I’ve always been able to mix business with pleasure. But it’s funny I do feel like swooping in and making things happen in a big way for some of our clients. I know this has been on S.’s mind but we might ask for a good deal more in retainter and really dig into people’s businesses and visit them and go through their day with them and really deconstruct them. Ut oh. This is the TV show.

Been talking with the boys about their visit:Me: Didn’t we used to call weed beige

Tony: Mostly it was Beans  Beanage

Me: Beans yes i do remember that term especially before first period Art lol we sort of just slipped out a back door in the 500 wing and I think we created a lot of cigarette smoke (I did) to mask but you me and ken were baked most first periods

whatshis face hated me. ms. nelson and ms. serra loved me tho

it suddenly dawns on me that this is not my blog but a dialogue box …back to my Blague

 Oh, hi. I do have a family of regret. Want to hear it? I regret not having that ultimate preppy boyhood experience. I regret not being totally relaxed and having a father who was confident in his own skin and connected to his community. I was lucky I moved where I did as a kid, but I feel like I barely did. Like we found some nice suburb where we had good friends and perched ourselves in a newly built house in 1972 right on the highway so that it was easy for Him to travel to work and back. There was no safety to begin with. Not the kind of safety that is purchased through generations of staying put.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days.

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 8° (May 29)

Man crush: In love with Machine Dazzle.

I keep trying to add pictures from my voyages to the Blague but they don’t seem to want to play a part in their present format; I will go back and beautify these installments as the fancy strikes. Today being Tuesday post Memorial Day we had a great meeting and really got cooking on weekly minutes. It will take through the weekend probably to execute all we have put in motion but we are doing a-ok. I am currently on a pause from writing next year’s weekly horoscopes while topic number one today was putting this year’s books on sale since we are five months in already. That coupled with an announcement of our summer consultancy should make a nice mailer this week on the Starsky + Cox side of things.

Robert Duffy, Bryan Rafanelli, Marlo Fogelman, Heather Wells, Andrew Joseph are running through my mind. As are which magazine editors to contact, which bridges into Paris Consultancy.

I will never get to balancing my checkbook. Not this week, anyway. We had a lovely donation from the Nelson Trust whom I will have to thank on Monday. I am admittedly spread quite thin but I believe myself to be hitting all marks, as well as being preventative. I’ve let my writing slip a bit again but I’m already catching myself up. There are so many books to read and so much minutiae to dig through. And yet it’s getting to the point where the story is writing itself…and I am the story. It’s a place I’ve been wanting to get to. But I have to be careful not to become over elated.

I am looking back on words and pictures and seeing there was a rather specific time I felt at my happiest. I believe it might have been four years ago, the winter of 2014, when we were in L.A.. I think it was one of S.’s favorite times too. We were on a super health kick that I remember. In some ways I’m still there and in some ways I’ve lost it completely. I’m so tentative when I write here and yet I’m quite aware nobody is ever reading this—can you believe I do this everyday? Well I suppose there are others who do the same. As a matter of fact I know there are.

We have on client this afternoon so my mind is a bit divided, but we are getting our brains around consistent exercise and I’ve been tearing my way through clutter, getting all cylinders ungooked in preparation for some seriously determined and diligent dilletantism—my way of saying that letting myself be spread thin is often a choice whereby I prep each spoke of the wheel of my experience and then pull the mult-trigger all at once knocking several large projects out of the mark en meme temps. I’m so fortunate that I get to have Paris in my life whenever I want it; and someone there to help me navigate the residential aspect of the city. Next year Venice. That is one thing for sure.

When our clients listen to us they do tend to succeed. Does that sound like hubris on my part. Maybe. Oh right I had a dream about Ken Horgan owner of the Pilgrim House in Provincetown and also tennis pro. I’m going to visit upon him for various reasons.

Honestly that feels like enough for today.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days. 

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 7° (May 28)

Up and Comer!

I’m in love with Jodie Comer which means she’s probably pretty butch. Though I married a statuesque brunette, as a child I was continually attracted to blond tomboys. Jodie Foster was the basic model of all the girls to whom I was attracted, from Jennie Hoey as a young child growing up in Jersey City—she swung perilously on the swings and hung upside down on the monkey bars and did all sorts of fearless non femmy things. The there was a string of blonds, fourth grade: Martha Bader; fifth grade: Diane Arpert; sixth grade DeDe Bartley; Moo Quackenbush and Audrey Smith in high school; and that girl Lisa who played lacrosse, hackeysack, ultimate frisbee and the like at University.

I’m a bit obsessed with Calabria right now, which is weird I know. It seems there are some fairly spectacular beaches there and I do trace my family from there so…for sure we are going to take a trip there next year, likely in keeping with our thirtieth wedding anniversary. Thirtieth, wow. We were meant to go to Venice on our honey moon—we actually might just make it this time. Anyway I’m going to keep researching the places and get a handle on what’s what. None to shabby to be able to get to Rome on a whim too. If I have to be in America then this part of the world is great. If I don’t have to be in America, there are so many places to discover and explore.

I had some thoughts on what to say to Endicott:

I wanted to collect my thoughts and also I know you’re going to be driving when we speak so I thought I would type out the following off my head and then sort of read to/paraphrase for you on the phone. But this way you can have my side of the conversation in black and white in any case so you can digest at your leisure. Here goes:

We received a total of $6K from NEFA as a “planning/expedition” grant to indeed plan a tour throughout New England. It isn’t a ton of money and it must cover all aspects of planning, outreach, admin, travel to meet venues, promotion, marketing materials, media kits as well as pay the act something which, in this case is a big band/cast. (There is a separate grant one can apply for subsequently that we can actually use to the tour itself, defraying costs thereof, but that is likely to be even less than $6K.) And though this grant cannot be put toward “production” of the tour it can cover any work we put in on our end to present a “showcase” (air quotes are important here as you’ll see), which is what our conversation at hand is all about. I was truly inspired by our meeting at Endicott in terms of showcase (and what ancillary workshops might ensue) but also thinking larger picture which I’ll explain…

Afterglow can apply for this kind of “planning grant” for one New England artists per year—and for the subsequent “touring grant” once per year as well. (I’m not even sure if we can get the two grants simultaneously, we shall see. Anyway, in the example of Brian and the band, the venefit of the grant is self-evident. The benefit to Afterglow is that it provided us the motivation to start making inroads for presenting artists places other than Provincetown and at Oberon/ART in Cambridge. Afterglow would ultimately like to create a circuit of sorts—a kind of alternative, progressive neo-Vaudeville circuit—around New England in keeping with our brand. So yes in the immediate circumstance we are talking about a showcase for Brian and the band designed to proliferate their artistry and build them larger audiences via a would-tour AND I’m hoping this might also set a precedent for doing like-showcases in the future with Endicott for future recipients of this same grant, but I want to entertain the larger notion that this could be the start of a collaboration between Afterglow and Endicott which could be a key venue for us to present any and all of the seventy some artists we work with that strike your fancy. We could build a North Shore audience together (like I’ve done in Boston/Cambridge with ART) and Endicott could thereby develop its own reputation as an arts center that presents our artists who are more on the edge and are making waves in the performance industry if not headlines in the media.

So, lets imagine for argument sake as it’s helpful to do so: a futre where weare doing that ; and there are X many artists a year we produce at Endicott as one-offs or in a loose series or whatever, only one act/artist of which per year might be the recipient of this tiny planning grant and be presenting a “showcase”. For Brian and band and NEFA, yes, these September dates would constitute a “showcase”; but for Afterglow and Endicott and for the audiences we’re bringing in, the shows/dates should appear and function as any other show we might present there. So long as we slap on the logo and grant language on materials NEFA will be satisfied, and audiences wouldn’t much notice, nor should they.

When it comes to contracts and budgets, therefore, we should make a deal similar to deals youve made in the past with this or that artist and that we’ve made with venues in the past. (There is a slight difference with the “showcase” and I will get to that.) But basically the deal should be between Endicott and Afterglow with a split based on percentage of ticket sales. I don’t know what Endicott, given it’s budget to do this sort of thing has as their budget and what gets covered by that—venues differ slightly from my experience but not much. And what your standard percentage might be. That you’ll let me know. Afterglow would ask for a basic guarantee ( at least 80% of which is for the artist!) of say $1K against the guarantee with a single act/artists; for a bigger band like this one I would ask for $1500, say, total ticket sales going to the guarantee, but a) we typically don’t have acts of this size and b) in the case of the “showcase” here, Afterglow can actually “guarantee the guarantee”.

Let me explain that: In the grant “showcase” scenario what Afterglow can bring to the table here is the ability to keep some money aside as a buffer such that if we fall short of making the guarantee, Afterglow, not Endicott, will make up the difference (as again the guarantee in any and/or all scnearios mainly goes to the artists—here with the showcase it definitely all goes to the artist. Still, we should operate with the “showcase” here basically the way we would with any artist we are presenting

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days.

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 6° (May 27)

I keep trying to add pictures to this but having trouble adding media.

Was a wonderfully lazy day. I lay in bed and watched a pretty bad movie, Game Night. Formulaic. And anyway, in the midst of Jason Bateman backlash, his schtick is wearing a bit thin. I do love me some Rachel McAdams though I must say. Anyway, I was wondering how the Jersey boys would feel today and it seems everyone is still up for it; even though I imagined the whole thing unraveling. But for now it is still on which is cool. My mind starts to race about whether or not I’ll be judged by folks for my lifestyle or for my house which is really weird because in the end I could live in a cave and it would still end up exhibiting an enviable aesthetic. I am sort of recovering today. It is a holiday weekend and I know I’ll end up working tomorrow; so for now I’m just doing lists in my head, really.

I need to schedule day to scan all our press to date and start getting rid of hard copies we don’t need. I drafted a letter of agreement for Brian which I need to finalize. I need, in the coming days, to focus on an artist or two per day getting all their materials sorted and onto the website and such. And I have to update the sponsor bit on website too as I bring in funds. I want to contact Preservation hall and speak to David Drake about our tour. Also the cotuit Art Center. I had a thought about Sandra Bernhard and asking Mitch for her contact in a way that wasn’t cringey but I’ll hve to re-remember it. It was a similar formula to dealing with Andy Cohen I think.

I’m glad Diane Borger was able to come see Fauxnique. I tried to wipe a little bit of slate clean but I wasn’t convinced it happened, if yo kow what I man. But I will write to all the A.R.T. folks and let them know they are invited to Afterglow. I just need ten columns of ten people to make up a hundred hundred dollar sponsors. I do still need to get a good letter going to venues. And it was funny looking at the Czars site how so many PR are looking for writers; I need to know what that means exactly. I should really make it a focus of mine to work the mens magazine angle.

This is a letter of agreement between Afterglow and Brian King (& What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?) as concerns the piece “Gravitational Fool”, in the execution of a NEFA planning grant and showcase, and subsequent tour, with or without the receipt of a subsequent NEFA grant. Afterglow will pay a total guarantee of $1500 to Brian King and company as “artist fee” for their rehearsal time and performance of the showcase; and keep an additional $1500 in reserve from which Brian King and company can draw for the purposes of reimbursement for work conducted or expenses incurred by Brian King and company, as per Brian King’s discretion. Invoices and/or receipts will be provided for reimbursement…..

 That’s a start anyway.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days.

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 5° (May 26)

The thing about being confronted with a rage addict or to use the more colloquial term, and the perp’s own words, hothead, is that you second guess your own role in what goes down. Did I do something to make so and so so angry? He showed up and it was tense; and then he desperately apologized which was such a relief; he was holding a large tool box in one hand and buckets in another so he couldn’t prevent my hugging him, something I’m sure he had never experienced with a man before, probably not even his own son. He also apologized to S. and pressed the issue…you’re sure you accept my apology. Absoultely yes.

I was writing and sitting outside in the haze and was chatting simultaneously with high school friends Mike and Tony. I was musing about a boys weekend here on the Cape when S. came to announce she’s going to Toronto for several days at the end of June; so I impulsively swung that information into my conversations with these guys and they were like let’s do it—so they’ll come, along with two other friends, Dave and Ken, hopefully while she’s in Canada. Fun.

It felt like a day off though more of a derailing as, even though we were now okay, the run-in with the rageful really shook out some things. I think because I didn’t react it pressed a reset button on what would be my typical (outmoded) behavior in situations like this a/k/a father and/or authority issues. I feel different. I feel tired and sad and vulnerable but also real and unapologetic and strangely free.

After more than ones fair share of wine this Saturday night, what else to do but sing aroun the piano. I was deep into Baracuda and some other songs I’ve not sung before. I’m wistful about so much and yet I don’t feel at all as if the rug has been pulled out from under me. Typically this sensation is more bitter than sweet for me but not today and not this evening.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days.

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 4° (May 25)

Sandra Bernhard is no longer performing at the Crown & Anchor but has also moved to the Pilgrim House

The day was already pretty cranky but fine. And then, as I was cooking, I looked out and thought I should snip some lilacs. Then I remembered I needed also to prune some wild rose along the driveway the thorns of which were scratching the car. I have such a long relationship with wild Cape Cod roses—I’ll tell you about it some day. So I headed to the basement and lo and behold we had sprung a major leak. I called J and turned off the water—he was just setting up a tent in Nickerson as his whole family was gathering, but he came back W and was not in a great mood. Very defensive, conversation jumping ahead, kind of belligerent, blew up and left. I couldn’t eat and just was sick about it. So it is fitting that day two of the other drama going on in my mind is being put into words in case I need them later down the line…

With the VSB board members still presumably bcc’d he sent me a treacle message, praising the festival as “a great adjunct to the summer season”; I realize this seems “nice” on the surface but I am asking people to put themselves in my position. I just spent the last six months in a panic try to save my festival from destruction at the hands of this individual, and now he’s acting sweet in front of other people, attempting to get me to, what?, trot before some kangaroo tribunal over which he presides? That was never going to happen. Then it gets worse: In January of this year Mr. Murray left me voice messages on my cellphone telling me to call him. Then he began texting me. I responded by text that he should email me. He said “ok”. Then the following day he texts me again saying he only wishes to “speak” for fear of his emails being “misinterpreted” or “misread.” At this point I am feeling harassed by Mr. Murray. I responded that anything that couldn’t be put into a professional email was likely something I didn’t want to hear; and I reiterated that he should email me and cc Brad Carlson as well.

Mr. Murray then went to the absolute other extreme and said  “you won’t be hearing from me again” which, given his position as VSB chair, made me uneasy. That seemed as much a threat as anything else. And it is my view that Mr. Murray operates on revenge.  I responded to Mr. Murray that “I shall officially request that you recuse yourself from any VSB involvement or decisions regarding Afterglow.” And I immediately reached out to the VSB Bureau. I wrote Radu in January and didn’t hear back, not realizing he left. I then wrote him on FB and he said he left and to contact Mr. Fuccillo. I emailed Mr. Fuccillo in February. Then again in March. Then again in April. Though I didn’t allude to the issue in writing in the email, it was my understanding that the VSB Bureau acted as a liaison between non-profits such as the Afterglow Festival  (and others) and the VSB Board, and it was hope to meet with Mr. Fuccillo in person. Since I was seeking to express concern and receive guidance regarding the now VSB Chair, I thought that was the right place to start. 

On April 6, Mr. Fuccillo did finally return the email I sent in April, first stating that he never received the other emails. He later said that he did in fact receive them. I found this odd. Before I was even able to communicate the matter at hand as concerned Mr. Murray, Mr. Fuccillo made it known to me that  we were to receive $5K but that “the VSB agreed to not provide advance disbursement of the grant and asked us to not bring the request forward to them.” This was new and seemed strange to me. Mr. Fuccillo now reiterated that “the VSB would still like you to attend a meeting.” He also introduced me to Nina McCormack, newly arrived in the VSB office, who related that Afterglow was the only recipient to receive the “advance funding” the VSB offered us over the past six years, but now that was being rescinded. This led me to feel that Afterglow was herein being singled out. I expressed to both Ms. McCormack and Mr. Fuccillo that I felt this way and I felt that it was due to the larger issue regarding Mr. Murray  I had needed to discuss with them. I expressed that I was alarmed.

Mr. Fuccillo wrote me separately then, not including Ms. McCormack on the email, aimed at reassuring me that there was no need for alarm. But I assured Mr. Fuccillo that there was more, in our view, here, at Afterglow, that we felt was coming to bear. And, despite another insistence we trot before the VSB and Mr. Murray, I made it clear that we were unavailable to that. It is my view that the rescinding of the VSB’s longstanding offer of “advance funding”, which is a factor in our applying for the grant in the first place, and this constant insistence that we “come before the VSB chair” were both mandates of Mr. Murray, specifically, and that, even though, by his own admission that it “is not mandatory” and Mr. Fucillo’s and Ms. McCormack’s suggestion that we are the only entity that receives “advance funding” and, thus, that we are bing singled out, is a clear expression of bias and intimidation. Our view is supported by Mr. Murray’s behavior and attitude toward the Afterglow Festival; and the harassing messages we received over the winter.

Though it is my opinion that Mr. Murray, a venue owner with personal profit at stake in events that are staged in Provincetown, should be wholesale removed from the VSB board, that is not my mandate here. My only request and requirement moving forward is that Mr. Murray have nothing to do with any decision-making power of any kind in regard to the Afterglow Festival. Meanwhile, you can imagine my frustration in having to now process and defend this new information about “advance funding” and what was now an insistence we “appear before the board” without the benefit of discussing with Mr. Fuccillo the full breadth of my history with Mr. Murray over the last year. I told Mr. Fuccillo that my alarm about this added information was inspiring me to reach out to town hall. Despite trying to dissuade me from doing so, when he next emailed  me, cc’ing David Panagore and Brad Carlson, Mr. Fuccillo stated  he would only interact with Mr. Carlson, not myself, moving forward. This was seven weeks ago.

 Over the course of these seven weeks, I phoned and emailed David Panagore, who had been abruptly inserted into this ongoing conversation; I initially spoke with Elisabeth Verde, also seven weeks ago, to set up a time to meet in the Town Manager’s office. All these seven weeks I never had a single response to a call or email from the Town Manager’s office until, just last Thursday, I intimated that I would need to seek out a higher authority, still, to which to appeal. This prompted a response and an offer of a 1PM meeting just this past Wednesday. I wrote back immediately to say i could do 10am that day or any other time. Neither Ms. Verde nor Mr. Panagore wrote me back with an alternate time and come Wednesday morning I wrote them for the last time, making it clear I was going to take this matter even further. And this is where I am.

 I have reached out for counsel while making myself perfectly clear that the Afterglow Festival expects no glitches in the approval of the grant we’ve been rewarded. We expect the VSB’s standing offfer of advance payment to be extended to us, as per all the previous six years we’ve been granted a VSB award. If the VSB wishes to change the rules (which again they laid out) in this then we understand that they will put that stipulation into next year’s grant, allowing us the opportunity to either plan ahead or forgo application for the grant. Likewise, we want, in writing, an assurance that no member of the Afterglow Festival organization need trot before any tribunal—again, if the VSB wishes to make this a stipulation of the grant application process, then I suggest that word that into the actual grant so that would-be recipients can make an informed decision in the application process. The grant application is very clear in its wording of what is required of a would-be recipient and this has never been stipulated. Furthermore, the Afterglow Festival is determined, and we can’t overstate this enough, that Mr. Murray have no involvement with our organization or any decision made in relationship to our non-profit. 

 The Afterglow Festival requests an apology from Mr. Fuccillo for being vague and/or mendacious regarding the receipt of the emails we sent over the course of three months; and for not making the VSB office available to our organization, to consult us on very our real concerns; while constantly pressing us with mandates arbitrarily and late-breaking-ly imposed by the VSB chair. The Afterglow Festival requests an apology, too, from Mr. Panagore for not making himself available, subsequently, to heed these concerns, when it has been clear this was a serious matter for us, these past seven weeks, since Mr. Fuccillo cut off communication. And though I know there is a better chance of hell freezing over, Mr. Murray should dig down deep and find some shred of remorse and likewise apologize to us for attempting to sabotage the Afterglow Festival last year in retaliation for the suggestion that a single sentence be inserted into our contract to prevent him from any future poaching of artists we’ve nurtured with support of sponsors to our non-profit. It is my sad opinion that Mr. Murray fails to realize that doing so would raise, not diminish, the esteem others might afford him.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days.

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 3° (May 24)

Miss Ritchfield has moved from the Crown & Anchor to the Plgirm House for 2018

The morning had some wonderful highlights. I had written to Mass MoCA and heard back immediately and the number two guy there suggestively complimented Afterglow which was very nice indeed. I then went down a bit of a rabbit hole on would-be letter for RM and the VSB and Town Hall individuals (which I would never send…however I would send another version of this to everyone but RM. Anyway here was my brain a brewing:

First let me state, in full disclosure, that everyone included on this email, including Brad Carlson who works with us at the Afterglow Festival,  was originally brought into conversation with us by either Mr. Fuccillo or Rick Murray, but for Elisabeth Verde, in the Town Manager’s office, whom I have added You will see, below this email, one dated April 18 from me to Mr. Fuccillo, continuing to seek clarity in what has emerged as a quagmire of confusion and disinformation. (As has become his practice, Mr. Fuccillo did not respond to that email).  With this preamble out of the way, I will illumine my purpose in writing to you today, which is to set to right an ongoing issue for which we at Afterglow have yet to achieve support or closure. 

 As we today mark the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, and the unofficial start to the 2018 summer season, the Afterglow Festival enters its eighth season in Provincetown. On Tuesday, May 29, the Select Board is set to approve the VSB Budget of which $5K has been granted to the Afterglow Festival. For the last six years, Afterglow has received relatively the same amount or less which, as our applications always meticulously detail, will be used to help fund the creation of our graphic arts material, website design and maintenance, public relations, marketing and printing. We have for the last six years requested additional funds so to create an advertising budget, but have never been granted additional funds. 

 Beginning with our first year applying for the grant, for the 2012 season, we questioned the timing of the grant as we were allotting it for work that happens in the months leading up to the festival in September; we were offered what was termed by the VSB office “advance funding” which reassured us in the process that we wouldn’t be out of pocket for too long in in executing work specifically covered by the VSB grant. This offer of “advance payment” was the assurance we needed to initiate graphic design, website management, PR campaigns and so forth; and since the summer of 2012 through the summer of 2017, we were directed to request this “advance payment” as we have, each spring, around this time, once the final approval was given by the Select Board, as we expect it will, again, on Tuesday.

 Now I must insert another unfortunate story in our history that informs the larger situation at hand in which Afterglow finds itself. From 2012 through 2016 the Afterglow Festival was staged at the Crown & Anchor, which is owned by Mr. Murray. In winter of 2017 it came to our attention that Mr. Murray planned to present (at both the Crown & Anchor and at the Provincetown Theater) a performer that we had brought to Provincetown (on non-profit funds we raised) the previous summer and whom we had planned to bring back again, as is our custom, building audiences, year on year, for artists through our own metaphoric blood and real sweat. It is an unspoken rule in this business, especially in Provincetown, that producers not poach artists from each other; if anything they ask permission to do so (not forgiveness for faites accomplis). It is simply not done; especially when it would result in profiting off the work of a non-profit  that cultivated that audience.

 Fortunately for Afterglow this is all documented in black and white by an email thread that included Rick Reynolds: Representing Afterglow’s larger interests, I took the high road when faced with this news that Mr. Murray had poached one of his artists. I realized, however, that I couldn’t rely on Mr. Murray to follow unspoken rules of ethics in this regard and politely asked for a sentence to be inserted in future contracts between us that would stipulate that Afterglow be asked, as a courtesy, for permission, in future, to present an artist we have previously paid, traveled, lodged, promoted (I might add, with VSB funds) and for whom we have cultivated an audience. As both Mr. Murray and Mr. Reynolds will honestly admit, Mr. Murray wrote, and I quote, “You know what I don’t need this bullshit ! Don’t ever tell me what I should or shouldn’t do I don’t need your permission. I’m done.”

 And I never heard from him again until the autumn of 2017. Please realize what this means: It means that Mr. Murray knowingly left Afterglow in a lurch, in the midst of its planning its 2017 season, without a venue. And he did this without remorse or seemingly even the slightest care. He poached an artist we had just brought to Provincetown for the first time; and when I responded to this knowledge with these exact words—“please do not make offers to my artists without first checking with me. golden rule. this is the courtesy i extend to you. let’s put it in contract to avoid this conversation in future.”—he responded as he did and cut off all communication. It is our position at Afterglow that Mr. Murray would assume we would have no way to find another venue for our 2017 season as venues have pretty much booked their seasons by this point in the year. I’ll go one further: It is my personal belief that Mr. Murray derived pleasure at the thought that he derailed, nay destroyed, the Afterglow Festival at this point. All for our asking for a preventative written measure in contracts moving forward.

 Left to scramble, in the midst of fundraising and preparing the 2017 season, under incredible stress,  by some miraculous stroke of what I perceive to be part divine intervention and real compassionate human kindness (as ere the ’twain shall meet), the Art House came to our rescue. They managed to convince an artist, already booked for the 2017 season, wrap up their run a week early, to make way for the Afterglow Festival to have a new home and continue its good works. Though the theaters in the venue were smaller than what we were used to, and our run was comprised a fewer days, we enjoyed our most successful season ever, percentage-wise, and we are so grateful for our new venue, and thus weirdly thankful to Mr. Murray for helping us to find a better home, despite what we imagine were his own ill intentions. For my part, I thought I was free of Mr. Murray and was happy to put that relationship behind me. But…no…

 With a successful festival immediately behind us, we received an October email, with the VSB board supposedly bcc’d (which is why you are now all openly cc’d here) “as per the VSB Chair’s instructions” that “strongly encouraged” me to attend a meeting run by who I learned was aforementioned board chair, Mr. Murray. Though I saw from the attached thread that Mr. Murray had told Radu and Mr. Fuccillo that “I realize that it is not mandatory for them to appear”, the words “strongly encouraged” gave me pause. I honestly responded that we were leaving the country for a couple of months, and I hoped that would be the end of it. To be perfectly clear, I had no intention then, nor do I have any intention now of knowingly entering any room in any building in any town or city in any country in the world where I would physically encounter Mr. Murray. He is, to my mind, not merely a bully but, metaphorically speaking: an assassin.

You gotta admit: This is some pretty juicy stuff….
to be continued tomorrow….

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days. 

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*

Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 2° (May 23)

Drove back yesterday and we were a bit shagged but we went to Whole Foods in Hyannis and got some this and that. We had a nice meeting just the two of us this morning. Two appointments today, one favorite client returning. Fun digging into the old magic sometimes; and it’s such a lovely time of year, and we’re doing our daily constitutionals, it’s just feeling all very flowy at this juncture.

I’ve just about got the festival cast too and have softly announced it. What happens next is that I’ve got to build the website. I’ve got more than my fair share of to-do lists going. And so it should start to become a flow. Needing to get our graphic machinery in line as well. And there is still the lingering question of the VSB and treatment we’ve received this year. It really isn’t good enough.

I really have this sick, burning desire to start auditioning for some plays and beginning to write that story, honestly. Just put the two Broadway on my resume and also my film with Ang Lee and the Toxic Avenger.

Has performed original solo and tandem theatrical, musical and performance act at various venues including Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, Ars Nova and Zipper Factory in New York City; and at Oberon/American Repertory Theater in Cambridge. Founder of the Afterglow Festival in Provincetown and Afterglow-at-Oberon at A.R.T.

That would be kind of funny if that were all I did. With some headshot from Ric Ide. I will talk to David Drake and I will probably go and see that show tomorrow which is annoying to think of but we could find a spot in the east end and walk around and grab a small bit somewhere like Baie and go to the play—it wouldn’t be impossible.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days. 

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Gemini 1° (May 22)

Bought it at Haus Witch yesterday and can’t wait to crack it!

Awoke at the Merchant in Salem, dreaming some demon was trying to have sex with me. Actually a little something might have gone down, but I definitely woke myself up before full possession ensued. I think. We’ll see. But it was a spooky house in a spooky town. Remind me to tell you the story about my first trip to Salem, freshman year. We sat on the terrace but there were windows which were people’s rooms and we can actually sense them shuffling around so we went downstairs and there was a breakfasty type thing like a frittata and yoghurt and it was nice. Coffee was eh but coffee is always eh and I love the place. But I was buzzing about yesterday’s meeting and wanted to get some thoughts down and here they are…

Great to see you yesterday as always and I think that it was all in all a productive meeting. I trust that, should we come to terms with Endicott, it can tick some boxes in the planning process for the tour itself. I am going to raise some red flags here in this note but don’t be afraid LOL. It is all designed to be preventative, efficient and to keep this train on track.

 This grant of 6K is for the planning of a tour to include at least three New England venues. One has the option of presenting a showcase in the planning as part of the process but the showcase shouldn’t be overstated for a number of reasons. Ideally, it is designed to be something to which one can invite venues that would be part of the tour. And of course in most cases it would be the first iteration of a piece—not the case with Gravitational Fool—so we shall continue to hone our own unique reasons for doing this, some of which we’ve already unearthed.

 Though in the presentation of a showcase we are open to ancillary elements (workshops, talk-backs) we must be very careful that the showcase be part of speeding our process and not become a cul de sac wherein we waste time and energy. We must remain efficient and precise and preservation of time and energy which both equal money. You said upon parting yesterday that you need to check that “presenting at schools” isn’t frowned upon by NEFA. Do that straight away!

 Several red flags inevitably went up for me yesterday all on the theme of what we all can do for E.C. and what is a suggestively a disaffected student body; also, and this is because B is N’s boss, the meeting ended with him directing us to immediately jump through hoops to get stuff to Becca. Whoa Nelly. Cart Before Horse. I am sensitive to her being his boss, and I also see my way through that for Afterglow. First, WE must be clear: This showcase is about furthering GF’s development and, yes, in so doing, we are happy to interface with students, etc. But that can’t be our primary focus, even if it is Endicott’s. And I dare say that this sort of thing will need to be funded by them. 

The showcase itself will need to be ticketed in any case and we must go into it as a means of extending the lifeblood of the planning process, and I will work that out. Though we are not bound by the “artist fee” as per Adrienne: As mentioned, I am still keeping that amount earmarked as such: as remuneration for the artists in the “production” of a showcase. The rest of the money, which is NOT a lot (we have to keep reminding ourselves of that) will go to Afterglow’s planning of the tour and the administration, meetings, travel, promotion thereof. Every moment Afterglow puts into this is on the clock; so we want to be preventative of how long conversations are, how much time is spent on things that are not germane to this particular process which must be streamlined to work for us.

Remember, at risk of sounding like a broken record, Afterglow doesn’t spend time writing grants because we don’t have the bandwidth. Likewise, the work needed to be done in the execution of a grant received must also be afforded by said grant. That’s why ticketing will be important, we realize, in so far as AF’s take will continue to allow us to keep this process going until it takes off and becomes both artistically and financially fertile.

Again, not being alarmist but in the spirit of being surgical in this process, this is how we propose we proceed.  (Consider this my own workshop in Arts Administration entitled Horse Before Cart!

SHOWCASE

• Afterglow/me will reach out to E.C./B (initially cc’ing you, N, S) to thank everybody and then propose a pow-wow to discuss contracts and money. I will be clear that money allotted by Afterglow’s grant money is in effect spoken for and that we are in no way going to pay to play there. Rather, if anything it would be the other way around. Upshot being we need to come up with a split that is written into a contract which would also outline ancillary activities (workshops, etc to be signed off by you). Should we quickly and easily come to terms which I expect we shall THEN and only then will we….

• Put together promotional materials for Endicott. This process should begin now in any case because…

TOUR PLANNING

• Promotional Materials are needed to be gathered/created now so that I can send these to venues we target for the tour. Also we should be inviting these target venues to the showcase even knowing most won’t come. We will speak about the show itself, but also speak to the elements in the grant we know are important to NEFA and those they frown upon (which you are now checking)

• Introductory letter will be written by me from Afterglow and sent first as initial outreach (to be followed up by a clear package of the above promotional materials)

• Culling of Venue list needs to start now, foremost targeting “the big three”. From my experience venues are planned. My 2018/19 Oberon contracts are all in and done. Signed, sealed, delivered.

• General outreach I need to fit into my schedule thinking months ahead. With my own career and the festival and the ART series I want to make sure that I have a big-picture view of my own time and energy to do the best by GF which I know we can produce, develop and grow into something greater than it already is. We need to be surgical here too. Nancy Bauer case in point.

• Showcase from AF’s point of view: Working with E will also serve as a model for Afterglow in the arts admin process of speaking with all venues moving forward. Which brings us back full circle. AF needs to hone it’s own understanding of how much work goes into each leg of a tour and clearly define its own role in the process and, by rights, use its time and energy efficiently in so doing. So learning curve for us too!

Okay, I think I’ve covered much of what my brain needed to process overnight since yesterday’s meeting. Let us run a tight ship and be “yare” (nautical term) in so doing!

Look for the letter I send to B later today!

Ok, well, sorry you had to see that. But that’s all the writing I had energy to do on this day so give me a break. Consider it Post Modern in that you’re gaining insight into the character of the narrator (me). Go away!

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree of the Sabian Symbol may be higher than the one listed here  as the symbols culminate in the next degree. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 days. 

Typos happen—I don’t have time or an intern to edit.*
Copyright 2017 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox