Virgo 26° (September 18)

Still really unsettled by the shark incident and I know I won’t get back to our beach before returning from NYC where we go in a couple of days. I was looking back on some writing from the past couple of years. And I wish to just repeat it here.

My mother used to tell me how she had to fight and, I think, ultimately, drink to silence her “impressions”, empathetic Pisces that she was. Sometimes I would catch her unawares sitting in a kitchen chair staring unblinkingly, only her gaze seemed to direct inward not out. I didn’t experience what she experienced as a child.

I do remember moving objects when I was very small, something I never repeated, though I’ve tried. And surely I did enter the fairy world, for lack of a better term, through duvet covers and sometimes even the odd pillow case. But there was nothing in my youth or teens of the psychic about my experience except so far as my mother was concerned. I would get a flash that she was about to phone me and I would suprise and entertain friends and roommates by saying the phone is about to ring and it would be my mother which it was. I chalked that up to her not me.

 In Rome in 1984 Stella and I met an old man who spoke in tongues whom we “understood” on a transmissionary level; in our Hoboken apartment in 1988 we saw plasmic scenes of partygoers from the 1920s superimposed upon the visual landscape of our interior. We had a ghost cat that visitors would also see and almost trip over. But it wasn’t until the early 1990s, living in New York’s West Village, where we did for a good long time, that my so-called gift emerge.

In clubs and in bars with a good buzz on was how it began. Inevitably the struck-up conversations with acquaintances or veritable strangers, I would start getting messages. People wouldn’t think I was crazy because I was eerily accurate in my verbalizations; in the moment I didn’t judge, while, next day, I chalked it up to quasi drunken stupidity. Now I know that drinks would relax the veil between me and it. I wasn’t a professional astrologer then, never mindsome form of metaphysician. These little episodes were foreshadowing. But, slowly, over time, I did begin to trust these impressions which  were being received increasingly in sober moments. I simply thought: cool, I have inherited something of my Celtic mother’s gift which might amount to a tiny party trick perhaps. No further expectation.

Year’s later as we began doing astrological readings for people, the sharp focus of doing so seemed to have the same effect as the fuzzying out that drinking enabled. Impressions were coming to me through the very opposite end of my mental spectrum—that of a concentrated openness to the symbolic patterning on a individual’s astrological chart. We were (and are) continually trained to read people’s charts, the result of which is already forever astonishing—the accuracy of a technical astrological reading will always remain inexplicable as to the why it works. But, more and more, there was something extra available to me. Training my mind technically, consciously, intellectually via the complexities and intricasies of one’s chart at hand seemed also to open a window somewhere in the back (or, to be accurate upper-left side) of said consciousness where these flashes, impressions, or rather, imperatives were asking to be articulated.

 I pick a Tarot card every morning. Doing so is never the same twice. Our minds are never exactly in the same state when we do some ritual behavior—they state always varies at least by tiny degrees. This morning I was shuffling absent-mindingly to the point that I forgot what I was doing, lost in some early morning daydream, the to-dos of the day yet to creep their way in. Suddenly I “heard” a pick me from one of the cards I remembered I was fondling. I did. It was the Magician. And its appearance immediately inspired the theme of today’s installment. In a way my so-called psychic ability, as transient as it can be, is the Universe’s ultimate Blage on me.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 25° (September 17)

Taking inventory of all the things I need to get done in the coming weeks and feeling overwhelmed at the thought. So I’m going to use today to put some things down and get things moving. We have a show at Joe’s Pub on December 19 and I am determined to bring what we do to a wider audience. I have confirmed Matt as our musical director; now I just have to put the other musicians into place. I need also to follow up on those folks who had pledged donations to the festival and now, fun, I have to chase them down. What is always looming is finishing up the year-ahead books, but that is just a matter of time and getting through the next several weeks. I must, too, now replace the act that has dropped out of our season at A.R.T. this year. I must also arrange for another couple years lease on the creative space we rent, which can truly be a fun thing to do. I have to get the word out for the workshop we are doing for Brian King (ten days from now); and outreach to venues that could make up the tour. Lady Rizo’s outfit owes me money so I have to chase that down now too. I need to schedule a time to work with Tim-Scapes and get that entire mechanism moving. And I have to map out real hours during which time I can get our Joe’s Pub show into works. The material for that show does dovetail with some of the creative ideas we are putting out there for these year-ahead books. I must also schedule time to get new VSB and other grants into works, because if I don’t put that stuff in the books it will never happen.

Additionally I need to step up the Afterglow sponsorship contacts through social media during the course of the winter and spring; and to have some kind of early summer event like I did in the past where people can gve in advance. I need to put together a pitch to larger corporate entities in Boston in particular to start funding the larger, moveable Glow fest. I would like to get all the press in order and to figure out the new wording needed for next VSB grant. Likewise, I should like to get a newsletter out in the coming weeks. Also mus schedule sitting down and going over the song list for the December show.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 24° (September 16)

Last night was the last night of the festival; and on this day I’m pretty well pooped. I was looking back on some writing I did and figured I would just let that be my entry today. I was really put off by one of the performers this year in particular as said artist was the most high maintenance of characters we’ve ever encountered. Every week for months there was some drama. This artist alienated the entire creative team weeks before they ever met. On the eve of this artists arrival, while I’m between shows of other artists (a thought that would never occur to this person) I was having dinner and this artist called and started off crying and saying “I have a really bad feeling about coming”. Now, as I said, I had preemtively addressed every issue, and there were many, that this artist could have had, and here this person was about to say that they weren’t coming—I just knew that’s what was going to be said. So what did I do? I’m not proud, but I pretended we had a bad connection and hung up and then texted them to say all sorts of positive reassuring words and inviting them to come to the shows if they got into town. But I was resolved right then and there that I was done with this person. Anyway their show was last night and I couldn’t enjoy it in the least, despite the great talent this person possesses. As I’ve said talent is not enough.

Yesterday had this pall of sadness too, as that poor boy got fatally attacked by a shark on our beach. The whole thing has me spooked.Anyway, I was looking back on some writing I did and figured I would just let that be my entry today It’s from a year ago spring, or thereabouts:

Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, would be the legitimate pretender to the French throne, who would be Louis XX.

Aries is the sign of the Self. But this is not to be confused with selfishness. It’s more like putting the oxygen mask on first before you can help others. But help others you might.

As I watch the mostly older white men on the right shuffling in and out of meetings in D.C. all I can think is that they couldn’t be more divorced from the concept of helping or serving others. They don’t even pretend anymore like they might have done forty years ago. Reporters are seen as an annoyance. It’s like these lawmakers are part of some royal family. Meanwhile, the British royal family, for instance, is suffused with the understanding that they are born to serve the people, despite their trappings of wealth—and really they’re not ostentatious.

I was reading Edmund White’s  The Flaneur recently, one of a thousand books Stella has put in front of me knowing I half-jokingly admit “I don’t read.” But it was a thin book and it was about Paris and I could knock it off in a morning. There is a bit about a loyalist bar on the rue de Rivoli. And how the crowd there wants to bring back the French royal family, such as it is. The notion seems absurd at first. Until you realize that the royalists’ argument is that a royal family would do more for the people than those elected. It’s starting to make more sense to me.

Just because the people in power didn’t get there by divine right doesn’t mean they don’t act like it.  Perhaps its not a divine right endowed upon them by a god but rather a lobby but they still act like they are appointed as if on by high. And they tolerate the rest of us whom they seek to oppress. Noblesse oblige now seems more modern a concept than what is passing these days for democracy wherein those who have don’t feel obliged to provide to those less fortunate. No. Even the income-based Affordable Care Act (that’s the name of it) where the rich pay a little more to cover those who have not is too much to ask from these entitled assholes.

Not that Britain is any great shakes these days but, despite the fact they have a royal family, they are way more (social-)democratic than we are—their health care and education system is a testament to that. Remember the Age of Enlightenment? The Social Contract? Reason? (All Apollonian/Libran terms in my astrological view). How about the Declaration of Independence? The founding fathers took a page from the royalists’ book: They were going to play the role of father to the nation and thus take care of and provide for others as an outcropping of their own inalienable fullfillment of selfhood.

Now we have to look at Paul Ryan’s smug mug. Or that giant orange pig face which, I’m sorry, shows signs of constant drug abuse. We have to stomach the chinless droolings of Mitch McConnell, the ignoramity of Rick Perry, the impatient, “tolerating”, violent insouciance of pretty much the entire GOP. We’re sorry to bother you we’re just trying not to starve, be enslaved and die. Sorry. We know you’re busy being paid healthcare on our taxes and getting lobbyist kickbacks and book deals and industrial contracts. Our mistake. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 23° (September 15)

Last night was Anne Stott and The Illustrious Blacks in festival—talk about one extreme to another. We could tell without being told that David Drake directed Anne’s show—it had all his markings. I would like to perform Tru at the theater in town, and I’ve said so, now, twice; still I don’t suspect I’ll get much, if any, of a response. The Illustrious Blacks were very good but their show was to short; and the evening ended with them dropping a bombshell on us as regards their commitment to perform at A.R.T. this year. Weird that Emma from A.R.T. was there to share the brunt of this announcement with me otherwise I don’t know if I would have handled it as well as I might. It was late night. It was day five of festival. And I was pretty well exhausted at this point. Weird the dream I had about Emma recently. Some things can’t even make it into a blog that nobody reads.

I was revisiting some thoughts recently:

I’m a big believer in self-reliance. Believe me I have tried to not be but for some reason it doesn’t tend to work out all that great. Which is strange because people are constantly asking favors of me. When others do, I tend to comply, feeling it an opportunity to help pave the way or speed the trip of people in want. But I’ve got to say, I don’t typically get the same all-in reaction in return. Don’t get me wrong—it doesn’t make me bitter nor have a come to change my ways and withhold my help when asked. It’s just that, objectively speaking, I don’t meet many people like myself. That sounds egotistical in some twisted way but so be it.

Anywig, I tend not to ask for help (which can be it’s own “issue). And I will admit that I have waxed martyry in my day, but mostly not. I just find it so much easier to d.i.y.. Also desired positive results tend to taste all the sweeter. The man who wrote philosophically on this subject, most notably, is a Gemini not an Aries (I’ll let you guess who that is). But energetically speaking the notion is Arien. Self-reliance is most selfless. Just imagine if we embodied this principle. Nobody would have to pick up after your tweets.

If you want something done right…I’m tempted to finish that sentence with….hire a millenial. They seem to know how to do things quickly and easily, and now they do it with stickers, but I’m not sure they do it right. Am I self-reliant or am I a control freak. Am I hardworking or am I carrying some cross around. Uh-oh. I do know I tend to take on more than my fair share. Back in the days I waited tables I used to hope no other servers would show up so I could work the whole restaurant myself. I had recurring dreams of waiting tables as many servers do. But for me they were good dreams. How many Quinn Cox’s does it take to screw in a light bulb? One. No joke there.

Being self-reliant is a nightmare under this particular government administration. People with whom I have zero in common elected this baboon-bafoon to disempower the individual and create oppression on a scale we haven’t ever seen in this country. The marches and protests seem to have died down. Everyone is back to their distractions? Every day I spin the globe in my mind to alight on some place in the world I can feel as free as possible. I don’t think it’s here anymore. At least not for awhile. And I am self-reliant enough that I haven’t worked for anybody else for the last few decades unless it was as a freelancer who could walk at will.

So what is self-reliance at this particular instant in history? It’s hard to say. I suppose it’s not letting the government oppress you or the news of the oppression of the government depress you. But self-reliance isn’t escapism either (not even the good Pisces brand of seeking soul-asylum). Self-reliance is being a warrior in keeping with Aries’ martial archetypes. Self-reliance is health and fitness and personal well-being. Self-reliance is taking just what you need and no more as to create a deficit for others. Self-reliance is, in fact, taking a stand for those who can’t do so for themselves. Never do we have so strong a sense of self as when we are warriors for the freedom and happiness of all sentient beings.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 22° (September 14)

Last night we presented Dan Fishback and Carol Lipnik and it was the more singer-songwriter-y night of festival. So far they have been the most relaxed characters to be around and I truly enjoy their energy and their talent. It reminded me of vintage Afterglow to be around them. I miss those early years but now those performers are too big for us, some for reals and some in their own imagination. The first crop of performers were my “friends” who were in this with me and who have either gone on to bigger successes or the need to thread through their former ones to make some bank. The second crop of folks who were younger were different; from them the “downtown” platform was one from which they sought to launch into the mainstream—in short, unlike the John Kellys and Penny Arcades and Justin Vivian Bonds and Taylor Macs of the world, this new crop viewed themselves as made-for-TV.

I was thinking more astrological thoughts meanwhile:

The first sign of Aries is all about form (Taurus, which follows Aries, is about content). You can’t have the latter without the former. Form, former. Oh never mind.

So what is the formation of your day. Never mind what is the formation of yourself. We talked about Aries being the framework the other day, now we go a bit further. Take a look at your life. What form does your experience take. How is your experience constructed. Do you have room for what you want—literally and figuratively?

Every so often (and I know I’m not alone in this) I get the urge to create a curriculum for myself. As children we didn’t have much say in how our experience was structured. In grade school we were ushered through different subjects with no say; in high school we were herded from room to room with practically no say. After school sports or piano lessons we didn’t know we wanted or not, for the most part.

In college we had choice but learned that if we didn’t now self-impose these types of structuring we would likely fail. I pretty much got all straight As in college but my one year study abroad—a first year program that wasn’t set up properly coupled with the fact I never went to class but instead traveled around the whole time—I failed Cubism, okay?—completely tanked my four-year average to the point, now, that I feel applying to grad schools would be a rough road to hoe. All these years later!

Form. Structure. The simplest ones work best. First comes the hard wood of the tree then the blossoms then the fruits. I think of Aries as the hard wood. Also as the hardware on which all the other signs run as software. This is why the sign rules the physical body. Your body must be fit and healthy to be an instrument for all the other aspects of self that the ensuing signs express. So it’s the same with circumstance. The physical body of our experience must be fit, sound and simple. The form of our life must be akin to the well-toned body of a warrior. We can not lead a flabby l ife and expect to be happy.

Look at the Aries people around you. (People of a sign are the best “living” examples we have of any sign’s energy.) Those born under the sign of the Ram are ascetic by nature. They don’t have a lot of aptly named stuff. Even if they have every material want, they try to keep it real. Many an Aries person, especially those with a big bank roll, tend to espouse Eastern philosophies or disciplines that stress the fact that materiality is fleeting. Unlike other signs, Aries people tend to struggle with too much fat in their diet, metaphorically speaking of lifestyle.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 21° (September 13)

I love Joey Arias but he is a pain in the ass. He performed last evening as did Tammy Faye Starlite. What I’m seeing emerge as a theme this year is how artists no longer see other artists shows like they did in the past. This is something I aim to change moving forward. I loved both Tammy and Joey’s shows. They really were excelllent. But I awoke this morning to Joey having missed his ferry and his somehow blaming it on me for not reminding him. Again, the same relationship dynamic I come up against—I am so easily targeted for blame and recrimination. Well not really because I told him to sort it out himself that I was not available to this sort of dysfunctional hand-holding. Talent is not enough in this world. People need to have a certain level of character for me to work with them again. Those are the people to whom I’ll be gravitating from this point forward.

I was musing on the sign of Aries recently:

From a classical standpoint the first-born children of the gods are the archetypes of the first sign of Aries—both war gods, Ares and Athena (Roman: Mars and Minerva), these front-liners are two sides of the offensive/defensive warrior coin. Life being foremost a battle for it, we send these toughies forth.

The biblical archetypes are Adam and Lilith (the first wife of Adam) who was too like him—they battled for the top sexual position—and no compliant, though ultimately more dangerous, Eve. The symbol for Athena and Lilith is the same, a delta/triangle about a crossed staff. Athena despised her warlike brother Ares, familiarity in nature breed contempt, perhaps.

Anyway, all of these figures are alphas, as Aries people tend to be. Alphas being what they are, they tend to operate solo as a rule, not being the best team players on the planet. And like the first born gods they energetically draw upon, they approach life with a certain carte blanche. (White, along with red, is the Aries color. ) Full license, a blank slate. Think of Adam going around naming everything as if he was the only person on the planet. Ahem. Aries people (again, people of any sign are the most vivid example we have of that sign’s energy) tend to act this way. They don’t ask for permission, and rarely for forgiveness. 

If you were the only person on the planet how would you act? Well I find that this time of year is a good time to contemplate that thought. Consider the indvidual shoots fighting their way through the soil, feeling the pain of being born—we are all of us, for the whole of our lives, like those bursts of life. Our attention needn’t be likewise undivided. We are the only ones. You are the only one. You are free of comparison. There is nobody with a better job, more famous friends, a more successful business, a more touted podcast, more hits on their websites, more likes on their posts. Life is hard enough to embody with singularity. And, as such, it can be the simplest of things.

 Without compare, we can focus on what our singular purpose might be. Without consideration, we have license to “name” everything we see and encounter and experience. We can call a spade a spade. There is no competion. There is no contest. There is no race. (Insert double-ententre inference here). There is no rushing. There is no deadline to doing the one singular thing you were born to do: Become yourself. This is the true meaning of the sign of Aries’ rule over “birth” and “selfhood”. We must imagine what life would be like if we were the only one on the planet. What would we do then? Who would we be if there were no second opinions or outside influences? How would we dance if nobody were looking? Surely, we would embody our birthright. It would be second nature. There would be no clock ticking. We would simply be. The Aries motto is “I am”. We would go at our own pace. Again, life would be simple and though it mightn’t be always easy, there would be nobody stopping us from making it so, as best we might.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 20° (September 12)

Last night John Jarboe delivered an excellent show and I’m thrilled he’s going to be part of our series this year at American Rep. And of course Martha Graham Cracker was her usual powerhouse self and knocked it out of the park. Having her in the beginning of the week precluded us from a big turn-out which will be a theme. But never mind, I am determined to look on the bright side. We had a nice little sushi party after the show. Funny how out-of-sight-out-of-mind we are with certain sponsors who no longer need to leverage us and the people we bring to their businesses as they pull up stakes here. Everything is done for money. I guess this brings up a larger issue for me.

I am determined to do less and be more. That is one of the tricks of our trade, and what we tell clients at the most relevant times. I do long for a time when I can get back into all my books and such. I think I will celebrate this birthday as a turning point. I have really been living in so much hurt these last four years and I am determined that it will push me into a much more zen and vibrant place. I have not always kept my side of the street clean and that is the truth. But what is also true is that, due to my upbringing, I can have very bad taste in people. When you spend your entire childhood trying to get affectionate blood from stoney so-called loved ones…stoney is the wrong word: Mean people is more correct; when you try to be liked as well as loved, in effect, you cut and paste this dynamic on other relationships moving forward. It’s a terrible burden.

As a young adult I went deep into spiritual reading as a way to find an even deeper connection than the ones that were rejecting me. It reminded me of something I’ve written before:
Sometimes you spend all your days and nights thinking of other people. And the cosmic joke is those are the same people who take you most for granted. I wonder sometimes if I removed myself from friend/family dynamics if others would feel the miss. I doubt it though they should. Then again they might be relieved not to have to deal with me. Apparently, I’m not easy. I think I’m super easy. And very nurturing indeed. Others differ on that score.

The Vitametavegiman episode of I Love Lucy was on this morning at the ungodly hour at which I awoke. Lucy was my babysitter. Before I could talk or read I was imprinted upon her. I used to think her name was Lucy O’Ball because I hadn’t yet learned that Lucille was a word. But she is part Scottish so that’s cool. I don’t think I’m long for the past world. I’ve been milking it forever and it no longer serves. I would watch Lucy and think I will always watch Lucy but something about me says I can’t watch it any more. It’s too far in the past.

 And when you’re suddenly old, as old people are, the past no longer holds the same appeal. It’s not cute or comforting. It seems vividly archaic and scary. One must get away. And so one must. TV in general is a problem. But for the fact you can see great things. The grand irony. I watched Louis C.K. last night flirt with bisexuality. He wasn’t stealing my act because I don’t have one. But it was fantastic and amazing to see him delve into territory—all the while keeping his straight safety line—that I’ve, in my own small way treated.

 He does this bit about being knee high at a football game where the “urinal” is a trough. As the son of a father who had season’s tickets to the Giants games where, yes, the urinal was a giant communal affair and, when you’re eleven (that crucial age) when you pee, dicks are too close to eye level. Unlike Louis C.K. I didn’t glance side to side. But I was aware of some “power”.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 19° (September 11)

Last evening the party at Baie was really fun though not as well attended as I’d hoped it would be. But never mind. As Chef Raina said the vibe was amazing and it was. The room was filled with really loving folk and everybody got along. And that too me was wonderful. It was a long walk back to the hotel and something about the concrete on our feet left us feeling sor this morning. I gave out a bunch of passes which is probably right. We have a precious few sponsors in town this year and we might as well get some extra audience. I know I’m challenged because this year features six to eight artists who noone here has ever or barely heard of; only one is returning from last year; and one is something of an icon. I imagine it will be a squeaker making ends meet.

 Now that festival is upon us I am really pleased that we won’t be staying in a hotel. It is an unncessary expense in the end and simply not worth the ease. Besides, I will get strung out this week as it is, so any extra grounded will thus be appreciated. We have some friends coming to Boston and they were interested in knowing what to do and see while there so I thought I’d draft a little bit of suggested itinerary for them.

I don’t know if you know where you’re staying yet but our Boston home away from home is the Eliot Hotel which is in Boston (not Cambridge) but it is situated at the corner of Massachusetts and Commonwealth avenues. The hotel is all suites but the sitting room has a fold out; or you can probably get adjacent suites/rooms. Anyway, if you do decide to contact them ask for the manager Lisa and feel free to mention my name William Leone, 617-267-1607. It’s very private and old-world and there is a restaurant called Uni downstairs which is “reassuringly expensive” sushi and Asian “street food.” This is the Back Bay Boston area and you are a block away from the top of Newbury Street, which is very shoppy. You can walk down it or down Commonwealth Avenue to the Public Garden which is very beautiful but small by London standards for a park. There are more ritzy shops on the parallel bit of Newbury near the Garden. You might enjoy the Taj too which is right on the Garden on Arlington Street (the side streets from Garden to “Mass Ave” run alphabetically…Berekely, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester and Hereford). If you want to stay in Cambridge you might check out the Charles Hotel in Harvard square. Mass Ave runs from the Eliot, across the Charles River, to Cambridge and the MIT Campus then continues on through Central Square to Harvard Square.

Other areas to walk around in Boston are: down again, perhaps along Marlborough Street (also parallel to Commonwealth Ave) diagonally through the Boston Garden over the Charles Street and up and around Beacon Hill. Another area to go would be a short walk south from Back Bay over to the South End where there are good restaurants like B&G Oyster, a decent tapaps called Barcelona, Coppa (Italian small plates) and Myers + Chang, a less expensive more fun and funkier (than Uni) and very delicious modern Chinese; it’s one of our favorites—here, when you book, you would say visiting friends of Stella Starsky; and shops and cafés like the Buttery—crossing Columbus and Tremont over to Washington Streets—stroll through Union Park which is a lovely street. You might also like the Seaport area around the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) which is very cool museum. Ming Tsai has a restaurant in this area called Blue Dragon which is fun and pubby; and Mario Batali’s Babbo is nearby too. On the museum front we really recommend the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum which is truly special and the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) of course. These are in the Fenway area (Fenway Stadium where Red Sox play) which is along Huntington Avenue, again very central, in another direction from The Eliot. Raul the main doorman will always get your a car—the Harvard Club is right next door and cars are usually lurking.

Now as you’ll be at Harvard, Brandeis and Tufts you will likely be stationed in Cambridge if not staying there. It can be fun to walk around Harvard Square although it is quite commercial now. Still one restuarant you MUST go to is called Alden & Harlow which is only open for dinner. Here too you might say Stella Starsky recommended.You will have to book a table and you will want to request a table at the far end of the large, main room, passed the kitchen, which is open. They have a famous burger that sells out early in the evening soif you go early you can even tell waiter on sitting down you want to make sure you get one. Just a short stroll along Brattle STreet from there is the beautiful Loeb Theater and the American Repertory Theater and if you’ve a mind for theater that can be fun. Actually if you want to see anything there let me know—directors Diane Paulus and Diane Borger were among your invited guests to opening of Cursed Child and if they have house seats I know they’d be happy to offer them to you. The Black Clown is currently playing. (I present a series at their second stage, on Arrow Street called Oberon which also has great stuff there….unfortunatlely you will have missed the show I have on there October 11). Alden & Harlow has a fishy sister restaurant right near Oberon called Waypoint.

You might like the Freedom Trail though we’ve never done it. We suggest avoiding the North End even if people insist you have to go there. It isn’t what it used to be and the Italian restuarants are mainly tourists traps.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 18° (September 10)

To clean up my lil black book even more: It will sound similar: But, today activate Marthe. Promote the Glitter Passes. Read more about Bearded Ladies. Work individuals against the businesses. The week started off fairly normally. We got the place tidied up and packed the car and headed to the Ptown Inn. Dropped wine off at Baie for the event. But in retrospect I felt the juice was already going out of it all. One just gets a vibe about these things. But instead of getting totally down on creation, I’m going to make major lemonade from this situation. The answer is always to confide in myself (a.k.a. confidence); and I know that the only things that work for me are of the self-starting sort. That’s always been the way. And, specifically, writing is my therapy, which is why I’m doing this presently. The festival will not have made the money it seriously needed to; but I am hoping that grant money in the coming year might pick up the slack. I have to ask Brian, or tell him, or both:

Grants

So I think we should start off reviewing together all the paramaters of the existing planning grant and specifically what needs to happen on our end to get us to a place where we can ask for the remainder of the money. Also we want to know when we can apply for the second phase of this NEFA grant for Gravitational Fool. Likewise, I want to apply for a tour-planning grant for the next New England artists which will be Stella and her work with the American Baroness as it also has an educational angle, though different from yours of course. I need to know if I can always have a part one and part two of these grant equations working for us, in turn, for New England-based artists.

We definitely also want to look at what we can ask for in regard to the MCC. There is that $2500 grant that we wanted to go for but didn’t have bandwidth to pursue in the end. And we want to look at the NEA grant we nearly applied for recently. In the receipt of any such grants that you help with beyond the one(s) that apply directly to you, you would be remunerated for the work you did on that score. My goal moving forward is to get Afterglow in Provincetown into a place where it was fully funded and where we could give tickets away at a lower price, or maybe for free. This year we made a major step in offering Sparlker donors pairs instead of single tickets at half price for any show. This is a step in that direction.

The Glow Festival

It is under this new aegis that we will present/produce Gravitational Fool and any other New England artists/pieces/acts that are granted by NEFA. Once we get answers to questions regarding the overlap of artists we A. plan and B. tour under this grant, it would still be no more than two artists in either phase of the grant at a time. As Gravitational Fool is the spearhead project for this grant mechanism, and, more expansively, the “moveable festival itself” the grant money does help offset the amount of time it is taking and shall continue to take to introduce the piece to venues throughout New England—we need only schedule three New England locations to fulfill the requirements of the grant but we plan to put together a much larger tour for Gravitational Fool that will loop New England but also into other regions too. The amount of work that will go into this could never be remunerated by this small grant alone—there is much that goes into dealing with just one venue alone—but because it also incentivizes the larger Glow Festival itself, the bulk of my hours working on spearheading a tour for Gravitational Fool will be sweat equity in the larger picture. Because I have this ongoing partnership with ART (and of course the original motor of Afterglow in Provincetown), it makes it more appealing to other venues to discuss the possibility of a similar collaboration with me. That is to say I feel that Gravitational Fool will benefit, in the booking/tour process, from the fact we already have successful series/relationships with ART and great press in the Boston Globe and other publications and with WGBH’s Open Studio with Jared Bowen. If I were simply trying to book Gravitational Fool on its own without the proven, documented, lauded power of Afterglow and Oberon behind us, I suspect we wouldn’t be as successful as we shall approve to be, now, in the coming months, when my work will be making relationships with venues under this new aegis and putting these deals and dates for you into place. A 20% booking cut for the Glow will also help defray the non-profits cost as we chug along. Some venues might be interested in one-offs with Gravitational Fool, but I think more still will be interested in bottling the kind of relationship I have with ART and therefore might want to book Gravitational Fool as part of a series of programming we are in a position to deliver them. This is how I feel the synergy between this grant for individual New England artists, and our larger “moveable festival” concept, can work together to your benefit, specifically, as Gravitational Fool becomes the primary focus for us to book for you as far and wide as we can do for you in the coming years without having to do any of the heavy lifting yourself.

Gravitational Fool

As you have said on numerous occasions, people in your band have lives and careers and families and WTIIMF is at a place in its history where, if it wants to jump to a next level, it needs some form of management. Let us imagine it’s two year’s hence and we have successfully created and even completed a tour of Gravitational Fool. The plan would be to return to each and every one of those venues again with subsequent works. Sometimes it could be simply more musical and concert like; but I think it will make sense for the band to create new “musical pieces” yearly or every couple of years (say if you’re touring Gravitational Fool through the UK and Europe or to Australia), ideally, with which the band can return tour to places you’ve already presented GF. For your part, as the band leader and writer/creator of pieces like Gravitational Fool, I imagine you would want to be making enough money as an artist, touring (and I dare say supplementing this income on commissions on government or private/corporate grants you can help bring in!) that you wouldn’t have to have a day job; and when you weren’t performing you were writing. I think as you are a songwriter as well that you might make it part of a two-year goal to be selling songs to other artists as well. Not all our performers have this talent. Funnily enough Stella and I had an impromptu meeting with Paul Williams in New York. Beyond being a songwriting legend, he is the president of ASCAP.

So, down to nuts and bolts: I will bring with me to the October 12 meeting (place TBD) what is a developing list of venues and contacts we want to secure as venues for Gravitational Fool. From relationships I see emerging I will be visiting New Haven and Providence and Hartford and Portsmouth and Portland and Bennington and North Adams in the coming months and will be adding on to those trips, thinking geographically. I’m also going to be in Montreal in November and (though it is outside the parameter of grant-land) I am for sure going to explore the opportunity of bringing Gravitational Fool there. Meanwhile, you mention places like Lowell (there is a new festival on there next month that is just music and fine art I think I saw Walter Sickert is involved in). For me this part of the process—booking that is—is like any other kind of sales (and brings me back to my days selling designer menswear, oddly) in that you keep culling lists and making contact and giving them all a schpiel. Of course this is where materials come in handy and we need to very soon (like next week) already have some kind of tiny media kit to send people, as a follow up to the release they’ve all been sent initially. Even venues we’ve yet to discover will get word of our having done the showcase, so it has power on the back end of the process too. Cull, contact, schpiel, strike and cement. That’s what I will be doing for the coming months in setting up your tour and perhaps some similar arrangements as I have with Oberon with you as the premier attraction. I am thus now all about the Excel program for this project!!

Ancillary bookings

As mentioned vis a vis City Winery, I am also happy to make bookings for WTIIMF that aren’t Gravitiational Fool (or other performance pieces). I don’t think it should be the focus, but I am happy to do it. This would be under an “Afterglow Presents” aegis separate from (but of course related to) the Glow Fest. I think with this we should think within a perimeter of 100 miles, probably, and no more. I think it can be an audience building tool that could help with the larger pieces. So you can think about and we can discuss your thoughts on that!

My one big question is: As you have often said the other bandmates have lives, loves, work, kids, responsibilities, etc.: Do you expect any difficulty in their being able to do the kind of tours we are hoping to achieve with all this? Would be interested in thoughts on all that!

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Virgo 17° (September 9)

Got a haircut yesterday. My barber is the best and well into his eighties. I may have spoken of him before as he peoples my world. It’s a very odd place but I love it and he does the best cut and I tip him like no joke 45% and still it only costs me $25 per cut. The only draw back is he takes his sweet time and the place can be jammed—he’s open from 7:30 to 11 am. But guys get there at 7 as they’d rather wait in their car before he opens then in the shop for triple the amount once he does. I always bring blank notebooks and make lists of things I have to do. Yesterday’s experience, where I didn’t actually have so long to wait, nonetheless gave me the opportunity to really get a comprehensive handle on all what’s happening:

I need to add a third element for the Brian King package, and get that whole tour concept cooking, immediately on the heels of this. Putting Tori Scott in touch with journalists. Starting to send out final Sparkler pleas to people near and also, now, far. Getting my book intro righting back on track. Picking up Glow passes and wine for the evening Repast at Baie. Getting the wine and sparkling water. Empowering Marthe Svenjördt, getting her in the mix. Working the Blague into a more bits direction, moving forward. Starting to read through various other parts to get working on [sic.] Contacting hotels and realtors both, just by going down a list. Finish up the tech bible and field all the questions. Get that Taja contract signed and sent. Booked ferry for Emma. Dropped off what I needed to box office. Picked up some wine. I sorted through and decided which for which event. We got the go-ahead to have sushi delivered to the theater on Tuesday, which is great. Must coordinate with Brad to pick that up.

I spent the morning divinding people along their usual lines, by category of sponsorship, and at which level I should be hitting them what category I should be hitting. When I awake tomorrow I will strike through these above bits and I’m sure, more below like: I must keep, now, going after people individually, to urge them to give on the Sparkler level! What? That’s so terrible? I went to a thrift shop and made a make-shift holder for our festival postcards which also double as the calendar. I need to wash some clothes maybe. And other banal thoughts crowd ones mind when launching something, anything; this time around for me it is different; my plan is to play it super cool and stay rested and hydrated and just get into a zone, a groove.

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 cluminate 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 2018 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2018 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox