DjerassiOctober 17- November 9 Djerassi

OK, so you can’t rate residencies because they are all awesome in different ways. Last year I was awarded a funded residency at Ucross in Wyoming. I had never had a residency before and until I playinggot there, I didnÂ’t understand how much can happen when given time/space. My time there was wonderful—walking the rolling prairie and rocky draws of the Powder River Basin, observing life on a working ranch, learning about coalbed methane, and hanging out with antelope. I read tons of bowl texts, chose parts I liked, outlined some tunes, played the piano, had my lunch brought to me at noon, rode my bike out to a fox den at dusk, biked down the highway in a thunderstorm,and listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin and Metallica. AnMarie came out to visit, and though we failed to buy a gun, we had a good time in and around Yellowstone.

 

landscapeDjerassi was a very different experience, starting with the landscape--redwood and live oak forests, golden hills, and mountain streams which lead to the cliffs over the sea. The culture is more collegial and interactive, which at first I found challenging but grew to really like. Mandatory formal presentations of our work moved the getting-to-know-you process along, as did the split into House and Barn People. It was a nice mix of disciplines and ages, and I really dug my work space there—a good place to learn about live processing, to set up effects and loops, and to play. I managed to write three Bowls songs and develop one more from the Ucross time, also working up tweaked versions of three Iraqi piyyutim. I spent a lot of time working on quarter-tones and they are bikingcoming along. Also at Djerassi I drank gallons of tea, made fires, ate Oreos, had a lot of late-night conversations about art, and saw my first bobcat and rattlesnake. AnMarie came down on the weekends and we spent days hiking and biking around the 500 acres looking at sculpture.

 

golem
Charming Hostess | San Francisco, CA
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