Troubadour Trixter: The Tale of the Red or Blue Hat

Dear friends, it has been an emotionally challenging week (oh, let’s face it month, year, decade, life) and it is going to be a very rocky ride ahead as well. So seek your supports and find nourishment to continue.

Now more than ever we must balance between being diligently informed and socially consciousness (a job in itself sorting through all the misinformation) while providing ample opportunities to care for self, environment, and others. Personally the sharing of my voice, art, heart, and soul seems like one duty among countless others I cannot neglect.

So for a start I posted a simple little video on youtube that I hope you’ll watch:




I’m starting a new channel under the name Troubadour Trickster, a rebegin for my artistic branding. I’ve been toying with doing it since 2011, but finally moving toward that calling.

To be honest, making these types of videos and requests makes me quite uncomfortable. Surprising I know, but even while being a performance artist, there is something unsettling to me about eternal everywhere video over the forgiving charms of the ephemeral stage and my inner critic is never quite pleased with the result. But nevertheless this is an era where we have to get over our various discomforts and stay engaged. The time is now or else! And my passion is to share meaningful stories, songs, poems, and commentary that endeavors to be as illuminating and entertaining as possible to nourish us on the long, twisted journey ahead.

I’d love to hear what you think. And forgive me if I make multiple postings - one just has no clue what actually reaches people these days. Please check out the Troubadour Trixter channel on youtube. The first video there is my retelling of an old African folktale that is, unfortunately, quite relevant today.
I am grateful to be capable of channeling my emotions into the shameless expression my inner-child. Oh, and after the past week, in spite of yearnings to move out of the country, I love California more than ever.

Special thanks to Paul Manchester for illustrating the Troubadour Trixter logo for me. You’ll see variations of the it in the future, as the creative evolution progresses. But the logo will usually contain a type of hat, because I wear many of them, and it represents the mind as well as something constructed by humans. It will have a feather for it represents the animal world, movement, and aiming for the heights. It will have some type of flower, representing the plant kingdom, growth, blossoming creativity, pollinating ideas and the Flower of Life.

Thank you for gifting me your attention. Blissings!

Harold Norse Centennial Preparation @ Planet Queer's Rainbow Revolution

Performing Harold Norse @ Planet Queer - photo by Geronimo Quitoriano

Monday night Planet Queer released a Rainbow Revolution of love into the universe to counteract the hate, honor the dead, and dance with the fragile fleeting magic of life. I was honored to once again be a part of the monthly performance art evening co-hosted by Ian MacKinnon & Travis Wood, presenting a couple of poems by Harold Norse in preparation for the various upcoming centennial celebrations happening in San Francisco and Venice Beach/Los Angeles.

Video documentation of the preview performance below created by Robert Patrick Playwright. Special thanks to Zak Pence for his wonderful job with my make-up.






I'm enjoying the process of diving into Harold's work and finding ways in which to share his words fused with my queer spirit. There is such relevance to the events of our modern world and I hope that more people are turned on to Harold's poetry as a result of Todd Swindell's hard work in keeping his legacy going.

If you haven't heard of Harold Norse before, you're not alone. While unknown to the general public, he was respected by his peers in the Beat generation poets, like Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Bukowski, and James Broughton (whom I did a series of performances about in celebration of his centennial two years ago). Norse didn't promote his own work, so unfortunately got overlooked, but hopefull that is going to change with the upcoming celebrations on July 6 & 9 in SF and July 23 in Venice Beach. (click on poster for larger image)

I look forward to sharing more of the process in the weeks to come, but for now, enjoy the video and photographs of the piece in development.

photo by Steven Reigns

photo by Geronimo Quitoriano 

photo by Geronimo Quitoriano

photo by Geronimo Quitoriano

TOURing Once Again with Stuart Timmons!

It is my pleasure to announce that I will once again be producing and directing the Stuart Timmons' City of West Hollywood LGBTQ History Mobile Tour thanks to a grant from The One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival on Saturday, June 4!

You can check out more information at www.StuartTimmons.com 

I am thrilled to present this production once again for the public. It was a highlight of my 2015 and one of the most fun projects to be involved with. I learned and continue to learn so much about the history of Los Angeles & West Hollywood, gaining even greater respect for all the challenges the LGBTQ community has faced throughout the ages and still to this day.

We aim to have a fun time while sharing the history with audiences and hope you'll join us on the adventure!

Celebrating Spirit Studio and 4 Fab Years!

Oh this month is bringing a lot of ch...ch...ch...changes. I am still reeling from the news of one of my creative heroes David Bowie passing on. I admired his versatility and constant outpouring of new material. And this month also serves to mark a major change in my personal life. For the past 4 years I have been blessed with a wonderful venue called Spirit Studio in which to produce and create performance art, but the doors must close this month as the owner of the building want to build a sushi bar instead!

The episcopal church group Holy Spirit - LA have been wonderful hosts of Spirit Studio and allowed many local artists a low-cost venue in which to independently produce their original works. I was the first show to hit the stage in January of 2012 and I'll be helping to produce several of the last. And then, just as Spirit Studio will be moving to a new location (but uncertain of just when it will reopen), I am making a huge leap across town by moving from East Hollywood/Silver Lake to live in South Bay closer to my day job as Operations Director at Holonyne Corporation (a multimedia video post production company). A lot is happening, but I've been feeling the need for some changes for quite some time.

So, please join me to honor Spirit Studio and share in the talents of many of the artists who have graced the stage over the years.

Robert Patrick Playwright will present 3 more shows of his delightful NEW SONGS FOR OLD MOVIES.

Three encore shows:
Saturday, January 16 at 8pm
Sunday, January 17 at 6pm
Sunday, January 24 at 4pm

For less than the price of a night out at the movies, you’ll get real live entertainment! Just $10 Tickets available at the door or http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2482979

Friday January 22 at 8:30pm (doors open 8pm - special slow dancing follows show)
$10 cover in advance / $15 at the door
http://spiritstudioallgoodthings.bpt.me/ - COMING SOON

Selected performances from past shows and new creations by:
April Hava Shenkman
Ian MacKinnon
Juan Martin Matamoros
Themegoman
Devan M.
Strawberry
Jane Cantillon
Odious Ari
Princess PoodlePoo
Queer David Lawrence
Jason Jenn
Robert Patrick Playwright

& a favorite feature of many events over the years - the Maverick Mystic will be on hand to read your Tarot cards for tips

After the show - join us for mingling and spend some splendid time connecting with your fellow human for some SLOW DANCING hosted byTimothy Power

Jason Jenn presents SONGS & STORIES FOR OUR DAYS on Saturday, Jan 30 at 8pm

Join the trickster troubadour Jason Jenn in a special intimate, candlelight performance to honor the closing and eventual reopening of Spirit Studio in a new space.

It's a provocative and uplifting evening of words and original a cappella music exploring both the joys and challenges of living in such a complex modern world where dog fights are nothing compared to devastating dogma wars. The aim is to alchemically stir the soul and journey from chaos towards bliss by painting sublime images in the mind's eye through the power of words and melodies over theatrical artifice and illusion.

Jason presented the piece as the first show at the then new venue in January of 2012 and will give all proceeds from this final show towards the future space of Spirit Studio.

Tickets available at the door - suggested $5-20 donation