Ava - Hurray!

I have now entered all 22 "immersions" of The Tarot Immersions album into the e-store on The Fiddleguy's Place website and they look and sound great. By sound I am referring to the sound "preview" that accompanies each one.

Reading the long description and viewing the card a particular "immersion" is amplifying - while listening to its preview - gives a visitor to the e-store a good insight into what's being offered.

Next to be entered into the e-store will be the pieces from the QUIETLY LOUD album by "the frenetic". This should be fun because I have to fabricate a little story to go with each one (hmmm...what is the story behind Porta Potty Party, one might well wonder??) and Pamela K. will be adding an evocative image that she feels suits each tune to make them even tastier.

It will be fascinating to see how this collection of sounds by "the frenetic", my little stories and Pamela K.'s images all connect with each other.

More to follow .....

Ava - Monday's Dungeon Report

Very good, very necessary but very tedious work was accomplished in the dungeon today. Namely, all the mp3 files for "QUIETLY LOUD" and "romantica" were resaved in a higher quality format and - at the same time -previews were created for each and every one of them.

Now, all these downloadable mp3's and their previews have to be renamed according to a strict standard taught to me by Wolfgang (that works very well from a "file management" point of view), uploaded to The Fiddleguy's Place website and, finally, added to the webstore - complete with sku numbers, short and long descriptions, and images.

At the same time, I am still struggling (by times) to complete this exact same process for "The Tarot Immersions" collection which, I suppose, is my teacher for all this work and so is the exact place where I am learning everything not to do and everything to double check, triple check and quadruple check.

I am very satisfied with the work I have done so far but OMG is it painstaking!

Step by step.

Ava - It's Like Scottish Country Dancing

Learning to Scottish Country Dance with a fair degree of competency allowed me to experience one of life's great simple pleasures - this being an opportunity to dance in unison (with a mutually sustained positive and focussed energy) with a "set" of 6-8 people .

A well executed, perfectly timed dance brings its dancers into a type of accord that is very, very satisfiying. In fact, I would say the feeling is ("small o") orgasmic.

Is it easy to learn? No. Well, not exactly. It's complex but it isn't hard once you know the steps.

Now, why am I bringing this up right now? Well, it's because when I was looking for an image to illustrate this blog (which is actually about creating and/or editing items in the eshop on The Fiddleguy's website) I found what I was looking for when I came across a picture from my Scottish Country Dancing days.

Is stocking a web store with worthwhile and enticing items easy to do? No. Well, not exactly. It's complex but it isn't hard once you know the steps.

And, luckily, in both cases I have had good instruction from accomplished teachers.

Ava - Dungeon Report, July 19, 2010

I'm in and out of the dungeon a day early this week because tomorrow - instead of being underground creating wild and wonderful musical/vocal stories as part of 'The Open Sesames" - I will be on the Outlet Beach (yes, the old time county residents still refer to it this way) with Diane, my very first best friend from my West Lake Road days, and with Bonnie, Diane's first cousin and my now Sister-Friend.

In the meantime, lots is happening down here. We have recorded two new pieces for our "Truth or Dare" collection and our first "Bed Time Story for Grown-Ups" that we will be offering as a TOS freebie on The Fiddleguy's Place website.

This first bed time story is a preamble leading into the body of work which will all be offered for free on the website - a new story each month.

How exciting!

Ava - I Am Also Hearing

Along with deepening and widening my appreciation for "The Tarot Immersions" (and opening my mind to ways that will best help it take wing and fly out into the world) my focussed, repeated listening to the 22 "Immersions" is helping me to realize something important about "The Open Sesames".

From the earlier released "romantica" to the newly released "The Tarot Immersions" we are creating a powerful, potent, original collective voice which we can use to tell many interesting stories.

I can't wait to see what The Open Sesames will apply their emerging, increasingly polished collective voice to next. We already have some ideas in the hopper so, again .....

Stay tuned.

Ava - Friday Night Musing

It's Friday night and I am home listening to (surprise, surprise) "The Tarot Immersions" on my headphones. Right now, it is all I listen to. Why? Well, sometimes I listen just for myself. At these times I am simply appreciating it as a major creative accomplishment for "The Open Sesames".

And sometimes I listen on behalf of others who have, or will, be exposed to the 22 "Immersions" on this 2 CD set. I try to imagine what they are hearing and, of course, I can't really know that, can I?

But, I do know a few things. I know what listeners are NOT hearing.

They are NOT hearing a body of work designed to lull them into a meditative state of mind - even though some of the pieces will do just that when listened to with an open, relaxed, and accepting attitude. Instead, what really happens is the 22 "Immersions" on "The Tarot Immersions" takes the listener on a journey which, by times, is rousing, calming, provocative, evocative and even, in one particular instance, comical.

Stated simply: Each "Immersion" is the voice of the tarot card it represents and each card represents a stopping place on a top/down, human journey in which the newly emerged divine spark (0-The Fool) descends down, down, down to become at home in the world (XXI-The World).

Further to this - and just as important - "The Tarot Immersions" is a really neat listening experience. The music is GREAT and the vocals are layered and textured in very intriguing ways. In fact my vocals sound like my visual work looks. How cool and reassuring is that? I recognize the vocal aspects of this body of work as something I was 100% involved in because I recognize myself in it.

But, this is only one place where I have parked my mind for the evening. I am also getting more and more familiar with "The Tarot Immersions" - by encountering all 22 "Immersions", over time, and from every angle - so I can see how best to give it wings. Now that it has arrived I find, through my listening, that I truly believe it deserves to fly out into the big, wide world.

Thinking about ways to propel "The Tarot Immersions" upward and outward is an entirely new mind-set and thought process for me.

Stay tuned.

Ava - A Small Victory (I Hope)

Okay ... it goes like this:

check

double-check

triple check

upload files to wolf

read wolf's response

apologize for stupidity

change everything

check

double-check

triple check

upload files to wolf

read wolf's response

apologize for further stupidity

change everything

check

double check

triple check

upload files to wolf

wait to hear back

HOPE it's right this time (i think it might be)

nope

wrong again

but only partially

i HOPE

Ava - Looking Good

Ava - What came down ...

It's ironic ...

That which was originally created to describe a process of descending (the major arcana of the tarot) and that which was created out of this descent (The Tarot Immersions) now has to ascend (to its proper place in The Fiddleguy's Place website store) - which, could be as far away as the moon for all the effort it feels to require.

Ava - OHHHHHH My!

Now that "The Tarot Immersions" project is completed (along with "Romantica" and "QUIETLY LOUD" by the frenetic) - and The Fiddleguy's Place website is up and running and lookin' damn fine (thanks to Flying Wolf) - the real "fun" begins. By this, of course, I mean the real work begins.

Getting the music, the videos and the art work by Pam K. prepared to be uploaded to the website makes my head go ... well, you can see exactly how it makes my head go.

It feels like a huge mountain to climb and not with giant strides but with tiny, intricate steps - each one perfect and each one necessary. Just getting my head around these steps makes my head go ... well, you can see exactly how it makes my head go.

On the other hand, what an achievement it will be to reach the top of this mountain - especially considering all the tiny, intricate steps it took to do it. And, further to this (I say to encourage myself), think how super great will it feel to make our first sale from the website store.

Ohhhhhhhhh! Joy!

Ava - Celebrate!

As of yesterday afternoon, "The Tarot Immersions" project is completed, labelled, packaged and already starting to let itself be known to new listeners.

Speaking for "The Open Sesames" we are thrilled and satisfied with what we have created and with how well we worked together to create it.

Although there were, of course, birthing pains they were only those that suited the magnitude and the originality of what we had taken on when we agreed to do a musical interpretation of the major cards of the arcana (based on the classic Rider-Waite deck).

Was great effort required? Yes.

Did we collectively have what it takes to meet the challenge? Hell, YES!

Ava - More about "The Tarot Immersions" Project

With extreme gratitude and with mounting excitement I am pleased to find "The Open Sesames" are ready to create their last "Immersion" piece tomorrow.

It has been a long journey but one the "Sesames" have, in truth, negotiated handily and in a timely fashion. In fact, how well we have handled creating something this original amazes me and bodes well for our future conceptual projects (and I already have some inspiring "source material" to begin immersing myself in for the next one).

We possess something so precious in terms of our creative connection and our respect for each other as co-creators. I'm so thankful I have lived long enough to know all I could ever dream of (without even knowing it was the work of "The Open Sesames" I was dreaming of and preparing myself for) is achievable.

Identical to our last "Immersion" piece, XXI-The World, I really have come home to the world through my involvement in the work of "The Open Sesames".

Ava - "The Tarot Immersion" - XXI-The World

"At last I am here
At last I am here
At last I am here in the world.
Now my new life begins
Now my new life begins
Now my new life begins to unfurl."

- chorus from "XXI-The World"

Ava - Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day one and all from near and far.

I had planned on visiting Bonnie and Jon on the farm for the afternoon - with the possibility of going to Bath in the evening for their fireworks display - but it turns out The Montreal Jazz festival taxed both of these good people to the max (and happily so) and they are resting today on their own.

So ... what to do?

Well, I am reading an awfully good murder mystery right now so there's that to pursue in luxurious moments spent in the sun on my new deck surrounded by things growing and things kitsch.

More importantly, there is the last set of lyrics to write for "The Tarot Immersions" project which, once written, I can record on Monday when I am next scheduled to work in The Dungeon with Garrick (and also, by times, with Stuart and Dan). I have selected the piece of music I am going to set them to and it is a beautiful piece for what needs to be a very beautiful and satisfying ending to the work and, most importantly, to the tarot journey that has been successfully made from 0-The Fool to XXI- The World.

Beyond that, I have no plans because that's the very best, most soul-satisfying part of a holiday - having one's time completely at one's own disposal. Yes?