A benefit concert is being held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ghar Sita Mutu - “House with a Heart” – a charity that offers a children’s home, a children’s learning center, a women’s training center, and a family outreach program to those living in extreme poverty in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Ghar Sita Mutu Benefit Concert

The Ghar Sita Mutu Benefit Concert is on Monday, November 14 at the Theatre for the New City. 155 First Ave, NYC.  8 pm – 11:30 pm. Suggested donation at the door is $15. There will be performances by musicians, actors, and comedians, including Anacoustic Mind, Khaled Dajani,  Michael Birch, John Grimaldi, Mike Milazzo, Mark Normand, Sharon Jane Smith, Lord Lorax, Cathryn Lynne, and Sagar Bhatt.

Ghar Sita Mutu

While on a trip in Nepal, NYC resident Beverly Bronson found two children, Krishna and Babu, aged five and two, huddled in front of a tin hut after being abandoned by their mother. Beverly tried to help the children find a home, and in doing so, was faced with an opportunity to help others in a very direct, immediate, and positive way.

Beverly Bronson

Nepal is a country struggling with poverty and political instability. The per capita income is just $322, and there is no government safety net for citizens. Few charitable groups operate where so many people are in need.  Ghar Sita Mutu was founded as a non-profit, NGO (Non-Governmental Organization)  by Beverly Bronson in 2001 to help the women and children of Nepal.

The status of women is low in the society, contributing to frequent abuse and abandonment of wives and children. Few employment opportunity exist for women and childcare is not available; sometimes babies are shut up in a room, left alone for long hours. It is not unusual to see children too young to even care for themselves left in charge of their younger siblings. Children as young as five are indentured.

Countless children live on the streets of the capital Kathmandu, having run away from indentured servitude or been abandoned by parents. Education is not compulsory and only families who can afford to do so send their children to school.

Programs at Ghar Sita Mutu

Children’s Home. Ghar Sita Mutu provides a safe, loving and enriching home for up to 20 children. The children attend a local school with the tuition paid for by sponsors. The home also provides employment for several local people, including a house manager, part-time gardener and watchman.

Children at Ghar Sita Mutu

The Children’s Learning Centre provides daily classes for children whose parents can’t afford to send them to school. Forty children are currently served in the program.

Women’s Training. Free sewing, knitting, felt making, and candle making classes are taught to local women, who in turn are making items that are marketed mainly in the U.S. Many women don’t have time to take the classes because they must earn a living, so a program has been started, where some women are paid to take classes five days per week with a goal of making the women self-sufficient.

Family Outreach Program. Ghar Sita Mutu provides emergency help to families in need, as well as more formal charity programs such as our Goat Project, which provides a goat to a family to raise and breed, helping them to raise their standard of living.

The Story of Baby Abhaya

by Beverly Bronson on Saturday, September 17, 2011

Today Dev Kala, one of our staff members, came rushing into the house saying ‘Mummy Mummy, come quickly. You must help!’ She took me to a small room where there was a two day old baby girl and mother with two older children sleeping on the floor in a tiny room. The mother gave birth in the room and has not seen a doctor. She planned to throw the baby away today and go back to her village.

Baby Abhaya

I have promised help but all she wants to do is throw/give away her baby. I am checking with my lawyer whether or not we can take her into our home. The state orphanage has stopped taking in new children. The baby needs to be seen by a doctor, but the mother refuses to take her to the hospital. Baby was naked, wrapped in a shawl. She has an eye infection and is not eating. Mother is trying to feed the baby cold milk with a spoon out of a cup. I insisted the mother put baby to breast for the colostrum telling her I would not take her if she didn’t. I bought some meat and milk for the mother, and eye medicine and bottle for the baby and promised to return tomorrow.

How can I take more kids when I am struggling to support the ones I have? How can I leave her there to be thrown on the rubbish pile on the mother’s way out of town …

Read Beverly’s account of the days and weeks following the dramatic rescue of Baby Abhaya here.

How you can help

If you would like to help Ghar Sita Mutu in their efforts to enrich the lives of the children and women in Kathmandu, Nepal, please visit the Ghar Sita Mutu website, where you can donate and purchase handmade gifts online.

Also, you are invited to attend Ghar Sita Mutu‘s upcoming events:

Ghar Sita Mutu Benefit Concert on MONDAY, NOV 14 at the Theatre for the New City. 155 First Ave, NYC.  8 pm – 11:30 pm. Suggested donation at the door is $15

Ghar Sita Mutu 10th Anniversary Party. SUNDAY, DEC 18 at Dixon Place. 161A Chrystie St (Between Rivington & Delancy), NYC. 5 pm – 10 pm

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Vocalist Champagne Pam, the Dog Walking Diva had the audience eating out of her palm last night at Don’t Tell Mama, New York’s legendary cabaret room.  With a song list that ranged from jazz to R&B to original songs, every note was a little drop of love for the clients she so adoringly tends to day after day … the dogs who depend on her, love her unconditionally and occasionally steal her heart.

Backed by a terrific pair of musicians: Donald Rebic on piano, and John Hurley on guitar, Champagne Pam’s voice is given free reign to seduce the audience note by note, song by song with her between-song-patter being kept at enough of a minimum to not turn this into a one-woman-show-with-tunes but rather keep this as it should be – a night of smoky chanteuse numbers that revolve around a theme.

The theme – which this Diva simply reworks to a finer and finer point as each new song is introduced – is, as her moniker might imply, dogs, dogs and more dogs.  Though animal lovers might find a kindred spirit on stage you need not be a member of PETA to find Pam’s tale of tails engaging, charming, alluring and yes, even touching.  Think back to the purity of Jimmy Stewart on the Johnny Carson show reading his poetry dedicated to his dog Beau and you’ll understand the underlying love that drives this show and makes every song a winner.  This is a gal who loves what she does and has allowed each little pooch to help redefine the daily ins and outs of her life.

As for the thing that makes or breaks a good cabaret act – the actual vocals – Pam delivers the goods, and how.  Her voice twists, turns, soars, belts to the rafters and coaxes from behind the sultry corners of her persona, all of it mixing up in a delightful frothy cocktail that had the audience falling in love.   Rebic’s fantastic piano and Hurley’s bluesy guitar are the perfect accessory to Pam’s smoky voice,  taking a back seat and letting her shine center stage.  However there are also moments when the wonderful arrangements and artistry of these musicians transform a song from just a simple ditty into a downright gem.

With old standards such as “Them There Eyes”, “Just In Time”, “Hurts So Bad”, “Tracks of My Tears” mixed in with some songs obviously written for the show, there isn’t a moment when Pam isn’t delighting the crowd.

Though her stint at Don’t Tell Mama is brief, catch this show while you can.  You’ve got one more night to toast with Champagne Pam.

~~~
Don’t Tell Mama

343 West 46th Street, NYC
Champagne Pam is The Dog-Walking Diva

Donald Rebic, piano, and John Hurley, guitar – 3 night run
Thursday – Saturday November 3rd, 4th & 5th *7:30 shows

$20 + 2 drink minimum – CASH ONLY
Click Here to reserve your ticket or make reservations by phone: (212) 757-0788

$5 off for MAC & Cabaret Hotline Online Members
Find out more at www.champagnepam.com

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To celebrate a decade of songwriting and playing music, Joe Yoga has put together a Retrospective NYC Tour – five venues, seven days, ten years of songs. Each show in the tour is centered around a different theme, signifying the stops and signposts along his journey over the past ten years.

Joe Yoga

As a singer/songwriter Joe Yoga regularly plays venues all over NYC. He released his most recent album, Life Out East, in September 2010. Joe’s album of earlier recordings collected from now-unavailable releases, The Dreamless Sea, is available for free download at bandcamp.com.

On November 1^st, the tour began at the Sidewalk Café with songs from The Dreamless Sea. The intimate setting was a perfect compliment for this collection of songs. On stage, Joe Yoga stood alone with his acoustic guitar, delivering a performance that was powerful, honest, and captivating. Raw emotion, heartbreak, frustration, and sudden joy broke through these songs, as Joe shared music from the dreamless sea, revealing poetic lyrics, sincere melodies, and the landscape of his heart.

Find out why Joe Yoga is one of NYC’s beloved musicians as he continues the rest of his retrospective tour, taking the audience through his own evolution as an artist over the past decade. You do not want to miss the rest of these shows!

Joe Yoga Retrospective NYC Tour dates:

Tuesday Nov 1 @ Sidewalk Café. 10pm – THE DREAMLESS SEA

Thursday Nov 3 @ Gizzi’s 7-9pm – RARITIES / B-Sides / Never-Before-Played (with special guests Marlon ‘Marbar’ Kaltenborn and Brooke McGowan)

Thursday Nov 3 @ God Tastes Like Chicken. 10:30pm – WILD CARD

Saturday Nov 5 @ Underground Asylum – LIFE OUT EAST

Monday Nov 7 @ Niagara – ALL NEW SONGS

More about Joe Yoga …

In addition to his solo work, Joe Yoga plays regularly in NYC with his band Downward Dogs.  He is also part of the performance-art comedy mock rock supergroup Kill the Band and plays in the greatest rock and roll band in the world, Coach, his side project with Andrea Tarka.

As a stage performer, he was featured in Natalie Underwood’s Buckle Up, in Kill the Band (Audience Choice Award Winner, 2010 Frigid Festival) and in Ramblings of a Gentleman Scumbag (Imperial Award / Donor’s Choice, 2010 Frigid Festival).

Joe Yoga is a regularly featured performer at John Murdock’s God Tastes Like Chicken. He also writes poetry and schedules spoken word performances and readings of his work at various venues in Manhattan and the NYC area.

Joe produced “Grudge Match: Music vs. Comedy”, which featured the best up and coming musicians and comedians in the NYC. He also produces the annual Christmas spectacular, “A Very Yoga Christmas”, a holiday staple in the NYC arts scene, which will be celebrating its 4th year in 2011.

Visit Joe Yoga’s website at www.mrjoeyoga.com for a full calendar of his events, shows and performances, and “like” his page on facebook to keep up to date with Joe’s various projects!

Life Out East can be purchased from iTunes or amazon.

The Dreamless Sea is available as a free download at bandcamp.

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Champagne Pam is The Dog Walking Diva!

Vocalist “Champagne Pam” returns to Don’t Tell Mama’s in her cabaret show  The Dog-Walking Diva. Bubbling with a spectrum of sound from contemporary music to jazz, this show is intended to pop with the cabaret devotee as well as dog lovers everywhere!

Donald Rebic, piano, and John Hurley, guitar – 3 night run

Thursday – Saturday November 3rd, 4th & 5th *7:30 shows

at Legendary Cabaret Room – Don’t Tell Mama – 343 West 46th Street, NYC

$20 + 2 drink minimum – CASH ONLY

Click Here to reserve your ticket or make reservations by phone: (212) 757-0788

$5 off for MAC & Cabaret Hotline Online Members

Find out more at www.champagnepam.com

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• Friends Of Dorothy – An Oz Cabaret (Fringe Festival 2010)

Champagne Pam is The Dog Walking Diva!

Vocalist “Champagne Pam” returns to Don’t Tell Mama’s in her cabaret show  The Dog-Walking Diva. Bubbling with a spectrum of sound from contemporary music to jazz, this show is intended to pop with the cabaret devotee as well as dog lovers everywhere!

Donald Rebic, piano, and John Hurley, guitar – 3 night run

Thursday – Saturday November 3rd, 4th & 5th *7:30 shows

at Legendary Cabaret Room – Don’t Tell Mama – 343 West 46th Street, NYC

$20 + 2 drink minimum – CASH ONLY

Click Here to reserve your ticket or make reservations by phone: (212) 757-0788

$5 off for MAC & Cabaret Hotline Online Members

Find out more at www.champagnepam.com

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• Bold, Brave, Bawdy – BUSTED
• Fate, Fury and Musical Theatre: A Kind of Cabaret – That Would Be My Kind (FRIGID New York 2011)
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interview done by Karen + Stephen Tortora-Lee

Mike Milazzo – The Show from Mads Jeppesen on Vimeo.

If you’ve ever seen Mike Milazzo play the guitar then you already know what an amazing experience it is to watch him – his fingers fly effortlessly over the strings producing almost unbelievably complex sounds that are not only beautiful and powerful but raw and real.  As a songwriter Mike has the ability to find the core of what connects us all and finesse it into thoughtful words and haunting melodies.  As a singer, Mike’s voice is earnest and true; evocative and filled with emotion.  He takes you on a journey with every line he sings, and it’s not until he’s strummed his last note that you’re able to break the hypnotic spell which his music has cast over you. You only have to sit through one of Mike’s performances to know that he is one of the best musicians around.

For those not lucky enough to be able to see Mike perform in person, he’s working on getting a new album out called “The Show”.   Mike Milazzo took some time in between gigs to chat with us about what inspired him to write these songs, what the differences are between collaborating and going solo, and he finally solves the mystery of who, exactly, “Mr. Barry” is.  Read on …

You’ve got an album coming out called “The Show”. Tell us a little bit about the songs that you chose to be on that album. What do they mean to you?

MM: All these songs came out of the Manhattan experience of being at Under St. Marks and hanging out with the open mic crowd.  A lot of the songs were developed at Penny’s Open Mic.  A couple of the songs besides “The Show” (which is really the core of this album) that I like a lot are “Love is A Cage” and “Angels”.

“Angels” started out as a song about how friends of mine were having some problems and struggling with their singing voices, but how they could start finding their confidence. The rest of the song veered off into my own spirituality, and my spirituality, as if angels were singing to me, representing the angels in my life. But my songs are about a lot of different things, and mean different things to different people. I think songs should be like that.

The title of the album is very evocative … it can mean The Show as in “The performance”, or The Show as in … “the big reveal”. What does “The Show” mean to you?

It means a little of both. Yes a performance, but on another level Life itself  is The Big Show.  The most important message of the album is “just make it happen“.  It’s the lesson I’ve gotten from working at Penny’s – that if you have an idea you should start out with what you have and build on it … the more you work on it the better it becomes.

A lot of people ask me what some of the lyrics of “The Show” mean.  For instance, there is a line in”The Show” about Mr. Barry, that everyone ask me about.   “Mr. Barry” as a phrase just rolled off the tongue well. He’s really the composite of a lot of people in my life. So “Mr. Bary” is really whoever you want him to be. It originally was from Barry Manilow but “Mr. Manilow” just didn’t roll off the tongue as well. When people listen to the song I imagine them adding their own layers of meaning and experiences for their own versions – their own “Mr. Barry”s of what they see in the song.

How long has The Show been in the works?

I’ve been putting it together from a lot of pieces since the last album (The World Outside) came out.  So for a couple of years now.

The few songs that I’ve heard from that album are amazingly complex as well as deeply thoughtful. Where does your inspiration come from?

In general most of my songs are from my relationships, with women, girlfriends, but also relationships in general. Many of the new songs on this album came from me workshopping and performing in front of people. For example, the song “The Show” is about my experiences with those performing at Penny’s Open Mic. I like story songs, songs about characters and people, which helps me to get out of the relationship box. I tend to write about relationships, I just take a slice of life and tell a story about it and it’s those stories that people seem to be able to relate to.

You’ve got a solo career as well as a collaborative career. How do you find yourself working differently alone than with other people?

I get a lot out of working alone, I can definitely go deeper when I’m working on a solo project, but sometimes it’s hard examining your own emotions so intently all the time for months and months and months without taking a break. When I collaborate I can get out of myself and go in a different direction than I would on a single project. It keeps me from getting too self absorbed and keeps me fresh.  I have more breakthroughs while playing in my other bands (Broken Arrow, Cutleri, Kill The Band, The Boardlords, Anacoustic Mind) and come back to my own material refreshed.

With The Boardlords, I get to satisfy my lead guitar jones, playing lead guitar in a punk band. With Kill the Band, I get to express my comedic side, playing a character, and its more of a cabaret act. With Cutleri and Anacoustic Mind, I get to play mandolin, which is an instrument I don’t get to play a lot. I love using different instruments, and playing different styles of music.

I get a chance to do things I wouldn’t normally do all on my own. I can move into a direction musically which I wouldn’t move in by myself and so it helps expand my range as an artist. I feel like I began to be a part of a lot of bands because I’m inherently lazy, but I’ve discovered by balancing my collaborative work with my solo work its really helped me become more of a storytelling songwriter. Now I have a lot more range from all the work I do and it shows in the songs I write.

As far as collaboratively, I know you’re doing a lot of work with Killy Dwyer and Kill The Band. That’s got to be a lot of fun for you. Tell me about that experience.

Yeah, that experience really helped pull me into this whole scene.  Joe Yoga and I went from just being sort of backup for Killy to being a part of this comedic cabaret with Killy as this mock rock icon battling against the boardrooms of America.  It’s really a lot of fun, and Kill the Band has become one of my regular gigs.   My work with them has given me a lot of breakthroughs that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t been part of that experience.

You’ve got an IndieGoGo campaign going right now that’s got around a week left.  I know how important it is for a solo artist to gain support form the community. How can people learn more about you and support your upcoming album?

This campaign is something I learned from being part of this community of artists over the last few years.  It’s about not only making art, but making art the way you want to.  With so many people in this scene having the same sort of goal, it just seems like IndieGoGo or KickStarter is now the smart way of doing these sort of projects.  It becomes sort of a “pay it forward” sort of thing. Mads Jeppesen From Finland is using IndieGoGo for his film Somewhere In The Dark and it’s a great example of how these things can work to take artists’ concepts to a whole other level with this method of making projects happen on a bigger scale than they could have before things like KickStarter and IndiGoGo existed.

I felt it was really important to do it for myself, and also do it for my other friends. I’ve contributed to a lot of projects and being part of these communities it just make sense to pitch in a little where you can to make it happen or find people outside of the community and see if they can help.  Sometimes it just becomes a problem of finding a patron. Other times patrons are looking for people they want to support and IndieGoGo and other campaigns are a great way to build awareness with new people who might not have heard of us before.

Bonus Question! You can tell me anything you want. Tell me a joke, give me your favorite quote or lyrics … or recipe … promote a cause … tell me something else about The Show that I may have not asked … anything! The mic is yours …

Through Horse Trade Theater Group, Under St. Marks Theater, and Penny’s Open Mic, a community opened up that I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I’d never have known them without them creating this space for artists to come together.

So many good groups of musicians and performers got their start at Under St. Marks Theater. It’s a great place for a lot of networking with supportive people. Right now, it is in risk because the building is for sale. There’s a campaign for Horse Trade to save the theater from being another venue destroyed in NYC. I Just wanted to get that message out again because it’s a really good thing that has really changed my life.

Mike!  Such a pleasure to learn more about the man behind the music.

For those of you who want to help this amazing man get his album realized you can go to his Indie GoGo page  … for a donation of just 25 bucks you can get a copy of his first album “The World Outside” and you’ll also get that warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that you helped the amazing Mike Milazzo get his next album out there for the world to enjoy.  In a world of Britneys couldn’t we all use a little more Mike Milazzo?  So go there now!

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I like nothing better than being naughty at the Opera.  Neophytes might consider this akin to making out in the last pew of church but, actually, it’s not.  I mean, really.  Generally, no matter which opera you’re attending there’s all this drama unfolding in front of you … all this intense emotion, this deep passion, this hear break, this “I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN” melodrama.  How could it not inspire you to get a little frisky during intermission?

Well, okay, usually it’s kinda impossible to get frisky, but a gal can dream.  But wait – hold the phone.  What’s this? Morningside Opera is actually encouraging frisky behavior with their latest opera, The Judgment of Paris. Just look at that poster!  It’s hotter than a Russ Meyer film.   I, of course, will be there.   Let’s not forget these are the folks who supplied the fabulous burlesque performer Medianoche to do a strip tease during their Diva Search Karaoke – so you know they’re serious when it comes to sizzle. I chatted with Amber Youell who is a performing in  Judgment of Paris, while also serving on Moringside Opera’s board of directors.  Listen as she tells me how they intend to push the boundaries and seduce their audience loud and clear.

Morningside Opera definitely stretches the boundaries of what people typically think of as Opera – in a good way! Tell me a little bit about this latest production and what audiences can expect.

Amber Youell

We’ve done a couple things to play with the genre in this production. The origin of this opera is a musical contest: four composers (John Eccles, John Weldon, Daniel Purcell, and Godfrey Finger) were to set a libretto by William Congreve. Weldon’s won the original contest, though Eccles won in a restaging in the 1990s. In our version, we’ve mixed and matched our favorite numbers from the various settings. However, our staging is where we really push the boundaries. First, we’re performing in a very intimate pub location (Jimmy’s No. 43)–we encourage the audience to eat and drink heartily through the performance! Second, we’ve refigured this beauty pageant between the three goddess as a strip-show, with a couple of other surprises thrown in.

You play Juno. Tell me about a favorite moment in the production for you involving your character.
I love playing Juno because, like her, I’m a mom and I have a pretty bad temper. Although I’ve played Juno before, in this production I get to reveal her really bad-ass side. My favorite part is when I get to unleash this on Paris (who is played by my real-life partner) during a very surprising, edgy, minor-key aria.

Opera plots, traditionally, have always been rife with sex — but to the outsider opera is considered stuffy and uptight. It looks like Morningside is working to get the casual audience member to understand something that’s always existed in the medium. Is that true?
Opera is always a sensual art-form, but The Judgment of Paris almost begs for raunchy retelling. At a pivotal point Paris sings “When each is undress’d, I’ll judge of the best, for ’tis not a face that will carry the prize.” Of course the original singers wouldn’t have literally unrobed, but their subsequent arias are an aural translation of the visual seduction of striptease–whether through florid melismas, delicately seductive melodies, or bombastic fanfares. Centuries of theorists have discussed opera’s “seduction of the ear.” You’re absolutely right in that we’re trying to get this message across loud and clear. I think this production would be a great intro to the world of opera because of its short length (45 minutes), casual setting, and hilarious staging.

Give me one word that does NOT describe The Judgement of Paris.
CAN’T THINK OF ONE, YOU PICK! appropriate uptight reverent.

You know, I like all three of those words – so I don’t want to pick either!  Thanks, Amber, for giving us a little taste of what’s to come on August 3oth.

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Ages 18 and up.

Tickets $12 in advance/$15 at the door

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All I can ever be to you,

Is a darkness that we knew, And this regret I’ve grown accustom to.

– “Tears Dry On Their Own” / Amy Winehouse

There’s always a little bit of “what if” and “why didn’t someone” and “stop demonizing / vilifying / glorifying them now just because they’re dead” that goes on right after a controversial celebrity dies suddenly (although never quite unexpectedly).  And today is no different, as I watch my friends debate Amy Winehouse some saying  ”What a tragedy” and others saying “I’m surprised she lasted this long”.  Meanwhile, the ones who like to hear themselves talk, are gratuitously pointing out that she died as she lived and had no one to blame but herself.  Yes.  We’re all aware of who Amy Winehouse was publicly.  The talent.  The trainwreck.  And ultimately, the tragedy.

I’m not really here to ruminate on her death.  I’m just here to memorialize someone who broke my heart.

Ultimately, I think, the biggest shock is not that Amy Winehouse died, but that she didn’t rebound strong enough to have a comeback before she did.   We all hoped for it the way we hope Lindsey Lohan will  straighten up and have that Meryl Streepesque career we know she’s capable of (or at least a Reese Witherspoon one).  Aww, come on – isn’t there a small part of you that believes … truly believes – the way you still believe you may win the lottery every time you scratch that ticket – that Lindsey will be Parent-Trap great again?  And so it was with Winehouse.  I know I was waiting for Amy to get back on the ball and wow me again with another round of Back To Black-esque songs.  Who else was going to champion my dark side the way she did?  But more on that later.

The Entertainment Industry is reminiscent of  a New York club – with a Maximum Capacity sign posted right outside the door and a VIP rope (and some yellow caution tape) barring entrance.  The line outside the door is filled with – crammed with – talented people who all have their “something”, who all can sing, dance, act, make people laugh, make people cry, write plays, make films, sometimes all of the above. So when someone catches the eye of the guy holding the rope and they get to go through that sacred doorway into that hallowed Fame Room with its candy bowls overflowing with iPads, Lamborghinis  and (depends on whom you talk to) illegal substances we expect them to have the time of their lives in there.  We DON’T find it acceptable that they’re taking up room, and then instead of keeping up the talent that got them through the door, they slink to the side of the room and shoot it up, drink it down, or otherwise just fall apart.  That makes us mad.  That breaks our hearts.

ONE: because we would like to think they can do better. TWO: because we know if they’re not gonna bother to do better, they should come back out and free up some space for our guitar playing sister, our witty brother in law, our long-suffering selves.   Still – it’s not like Amy Winehouse didn’t contribute anything while she was in the hallowed room.

“Such a waste”

Well, yes and no. I mean – it’s more of a waste for those who have the same talent yet do absolutely nothing with it. To have at least gotten it out … shared it … changed moments in peoples lives … coated people’s memories with her music – that’s not a waste. To have it end at 27?  Others have died younger and their vibrations are still in our lives.

Personally, I loved Amy Winehouse. I loved her music, I loved her look, I loved her despair. I loved that when I was at the end of my rope and scraping bottom there was someone I could connect to musically who was taking loneliness, confusion, and hardcore jadedness and smearing it across the musical scales, unfiltered. She sang about men I had loved, affairs I had barely survived, empty days and lonely nights that were in my past and probably on my horizon.  She knew me.  I hated how well she knew me – but that didn’t change how much she did.

Both Sides Now

She was my behind-closed-doors persona. Because out in the world we all have to be put together, buttoned up, motivated, and actualizing our potential. But in the safe haven of our own four walls we get to fall apart a little – drink too much, smoke too much, cry too much, isolate, ruminate, stare into space and wonder over and over again when things will get better.

Truth of the matter is, we all have our demons, and we all have our Goliaths we’re struggling to slay.  When we see someone felled by them, it’s a victory for their dark side, and therefore a highlight of our own. And when our dark sides swallow up a fellow traveler, it makes us all feel that less safe.  You don’t have any demons you say?  Nothing you’re addicted to, obsessed with, or enslaved by?  Here’s a little illumination for you.  Everyone’s addicted to something – even if it’s the act of looking on the bright side or living clean or helping others.   Whether it’s meditating, baseball, or theatre, if you need it, you’re addicted to it.  Everyone has that one thing inside them they have to do every single day – publicly or privately – that makes them who they are.  And when we see someone succumb to the thing that gripped them because it turned too dark and too powerful, at that moment the ties that bind us together as a species are threatened.  Think your addiction isn’t as bad?  There’s a way to abuse anything if you’re self destructive enough.  Hobbies turn into passions, passions turn into obsessions, obsessions turn into destruction.  What seems benign to you – I guarantee you – may seem crazy and destructive to someone else.  Hell, Heidi Montag’s plastic surgeon was so addicted to Twitter that he careened off the road just so he could tweet something about his dog.  ANYTHING can kill you if you can’t stop doing it.  Give it time.

Can’t Call It A Comeback

But the real tragedy is – to get back to my point- that there will never be another Amy Winehouse album.  There won’t be a comeback.  There won’t be those forgiving fans, standing five deep, eager to pardon her and embracing the new, cleaned-up Amy who controlled her demons not completely – but just enough to come back to us.  And we wouldn’t have wanted her to control them completely, becuase they formed her, and in turn they formed our love for her.  But without a comeback there won’t be the endless tracks of Amy Winehouse songs to pick from in order to soundtrack the next break up, the next nosedive, the next speedbump of life.  There will just be the songs we know, the legacy she left, and the heartbreak  we feel.

He can only hold her for so long

The lights are on but no one’s home

She’s so vacant – her soul is taken

He thinks, “What’s she running from?”

How can he have her heart

When it got stole

So he tries to pacify her

Cause what’s inside her never dies

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I’m always happy when I have an excuse to talk to Eric Sanders – he’s one of the most talented people I’ve run across and I love that doing what I do allows me to periodically get him to update me on what he’s doing.  A quick brush up: I first met Eric when he was re-imaging Algernon Blackwood’s The Wendigo (which scared the heck out of me) and then got to see his punchier side during Fight Fest with his crowd favorite: Last Life which was resurrected more times than (wait … I think I made this joke already.  Cher’s career?  Well, it writes itself so you fill in the blank).

Now, Eric Sanders has teamed up with Dave Nuss to bring forth Original Innocence – a Rock Opera and they’re hosting a “Symposium on Creation Mythology” on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 7 PM at the Anthroposophical Society of New York (138 West 15th Street btwn. 6th/7th Ave.).

This symposium will feature practitioners and scholars from an array of religious traditions discussing how the creation mythology of a religion creates or reflects the context for its ethical structure.

Several songs from the show will be performed, and food from the Holy Land will be served. BYOB.

Admission will be on a sliding scale (‘pay what you wish’) from $5-$50. All proceeds from the Symposium will go towards the first workshop presentation of “Original Innocence” on Friday, March 25, 2011 at 8 PM at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn.

• RSVP to the Symposium on Facebook.
• If you do not use Facebook, please RSVP via e-mail to christandsatan@gmail.com.
• Add the Symposium to your Google Calendar or iCal/Outlook Calendar.
• If you cannot make it to the Symposium and would like to help support “Original Innocence,” please visit the Kickstarter page.

I asked Eric a few questions to find out a little more about what I (and you) can expect from this symposium.

You’ve put together a really great program to promote your upcoming musical! How did you get all these great minds** together?

Dave Nuss (who wrote all the music and lyrics) and I wanted to find speakers who would be comfortable discussing a wide range of creation mythologies: Dave does Yoga regularly and knows John Campbell, who is a Yoga expert and teacher as well as a Columbia Religion professor, through those circles. Dave and I are both members of the Rubin Museum, and I met Harry Einhorn on a tour there about a year ago; he offered great insights into the classical Buddhist artwork on display, and we wanted to invite him to speak about the (mostly) lack of creation myths in Buddhism. Royce Froehlich is a Jungian Analyst whom Dave studied with at Columbia (Dave has a MA from Union Theological Seminary), and Dave thought it would be great to have him talk about creation myths from an ‘archetypal’ perspective. We are also adding a fourth speaker — top secret! But the hint is it might either be a female minister or a physicist.

This Symposium on The Creation Mythology will discuss “how the creation mythology of a religion creates or reflects the context for its ethical structure”. That’s a lot of topic there. Kinda like “what’s the meaning of life”. How much do you think you’ll be able to cover in one night?

The goal is for each speaker to present for about ten minutes and then begin a Q&A session which will evolve into a broader conversation amongst the attendees and participants, since we’ll have food for everyone and the event is BYOB! It should be a really fun, relaxed environment. Dave and I are really interested in fostering these conversations and helping to remove the stigma from talking about religion and mythology. We certainly don’t pretend to have any answers (yet)!

Plenty of people are interested in this type of thing. So you’ve already sold them. Give me a pitch on what to tell our readers who may be hardcore-anti “anything that smacks of religion”. What will they find appealing about this symposium?

Great question. But I will have to answer this with a question to that theoretical reader: Why are you so “hardcore-anti ‘anything that smacks of religion’”? Please come tell us! We promise not to bite, or convert you to anything you don’t already want to be converted to.

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** More Information

John Campbell, Ph.D, started practicing Ashtanga Yoga in India nineteen years ago with the late Shri K. Pattabhi Jois. He began teaching in 1995 at the first center in New York City devoted to this traditional practice, and was honored in 2003 to become one the few Certified teachers of Ashtanga Yoga worldwide. In 2009 he received a Ph.D. from Columbia University for his research on Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Tantra. John is a visiting professor in the Departments of Religion at Columbia University and Seton Hall University, and he also teaches Yoga and Sanskrit at Pure Yoga in New York City where he lives with his wife and their three children.

Harry Einhorn, BA, Northwestern University, is an educator at the Rubin Museum of Art where he leads tours and training sessions for diverse groups of people. He is also a performer, director, and composer; his chamber piece “Heart Sutra,” co-written with Philippe Treuille, has been performed several times throughout the city. A student in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, he recently returned from his second trip to Bodhgaya, India, the seat of Buddha’s enlightenment, where he was practicing meditation and studying dharma.

Royce Froehlich, LCSW-R, MA, MDiv, is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in NYC, having trainied at the CG Jung institute of NY. He is a faculty member of the CG Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology and is writing his doctorate on the effect of communications technology on the human psyche at the European Graduate School. His graduate degrees are from Columbia University, The New School for Social Research, and Union theological Seminary.

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About the Show

“Original Innocence” is a rock opera conceived by Dave Nuss and Eric Sanders. A traveling troupe of performers from a new religious sect dramatically depict their theology in a tent-meeting style ‘passion play’ about the creation of the world. While their tale includes familiar characters from the Biblical narrative — Adam, Eva, Lucifer, and Satan — their myth explores more ‘Eastern’ spiritual concepts of liberation and enlightenment, redefining humanity not as corrupted by but born from ‘original sin.’ The narrative tells of the pre-historical mythology of our world, offering a tale of Adam and Eva’s ‘first love’ in which their ‘sin’ ultimately leads to our ‘salvation’: the beginning of our human existence and ability to love.

Related Posts:

• A Creation Story: An Interview With Eric Sanders And Dave Nuss – The Team Behind “Original Innocence”
• Last Life Just Won’t Die – And That’s A Good Thing
• “Last Life” Gets In Two More Shots
• Fight Fest: Wham, Bam, Thank You “Last Life”
• An Interview With Fight Fest Curator Timothy Haskell

You may remember Morningside Opera from the Opera Karaoke which I covered in December. They are a NYC-based opera collective, and they will present the world premiere of a new Handel opera entitled Atra, ossia, l’amore ricordato (Atra, or the remembered love) this Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5 at 8PM in the Ailey Citigroup Theater, New York City.

Friends of The Happiest Medium are welcome to use the discount code AMICI2011 when purchasing tickets via this link (click here) so be sure to take advantage of this offer!

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