Hummingbird Building Her Nest

This is adorable footage of an over-wintering Anna's humming bird building her nest in Victoria BC using spider webs, lichen, seed fluff, feathers, etc. It takes patience to watch, but their are some lovely details, such as when she carries small feathers from other birds in her beak which look enormous next to her body. This is thanks to BUG GIRL's blog.

Also, take this opportunity to see how you can help the Audubon Society study hummingbird migration!

"You can participate at any level – from reporting a single sighting to documenting hummingbird activity in your community throughout the life of the project. Help scientists document the hummingbirds journey and direct change in the future to ensure these incredible birds do not disappear."

Convergence and Divergence

This past week I found myself drawn to the self-help section of The Terry Salman Library. This doesn't happen very often, honest! I chose a book called The Chairs are Where the People Go by  Sheila Heti and Misha Glouberman. (Elegant website, btw.) Heti transcribed Glouberman's ruminations on a variety of topics, many which are actually dear to my heart, such as how chairs are set up for a performance or reading. (As a performer, this kind of thing makes me crazy--a poorly set up room serves as an echo chamber for social anxiety.) Anyhow, it's a fun, easy-to read-book, kind of like walking alongside an interesting friend who's in a talkative mood. As a Canadian, he's not forceful about his ideas and isn't trying to convince you they will change or save your life--which is refreshing in a self-help book section.

So turns out monsieur Glouberman does workshops in vocal improvisation and he has in fact changed my life, or he will have once I try this experience with my students. The group starts on the same sound and then slowly begins to diverge into chaos until they are reigned in again and slowly begin to merge into one sound again. Brilliant!

The Slo-femist (Un)fashion Show

Some ideas for the Slo-femist (Un)fashion Show:

People in the audience are actually knitting, crocheting, mending clothes as the show is going on. The slow fashion on display is remade, recycled, mended and re-fashioned--the more times the better. If it becomes an annual show, the challenge is to show the same remodeled pieces from the year before, and so on.

The people who narrate the show are also the people wearing and creating the clothes--the division of labor among seamstress, designer and model are not hierarchical.

Artists bring the scraps they can not use to be shared and/or composted (if they are very wee).

Artists also display unique patches, mending techniques, natural dye methods.

One part of the space could be a clothing swap depot.

There would be no division between haute couture and ready-to-wear.

Some slo-femist uniforms could be conceived and devised, for slo-femist activities such as pruning, weeding, composting, beekeeping, feeding the chickens, victory gardening, etc.
 

Tum balalaika

I learned this song when I was a very young girl (in English) and I would like us to sing this in the Starling Cloud Choir, so please learn the chorus and practice some harmony if you can. I want to change the last few syllables because the English lyrics I sung were awkward. Any better suggestions would be appreciated!

This video is a moving performance of the song in Yiddish by pupils at the Lycée La Fontaine in Paris.


Tumbala tumbala tum balalaika
Tumbala tumbala tum balalaika
Tum balalaika, play balalaika
Tum balalaika, happy you'll be.


 

The Starling Cloud Choir Starts this Saturday!!!!!!!!

Hey Folks!

The Starling Cloud Choir Experiment starts this Saturday at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden at 2 pm!!!!!!!!!

I have a couple of quick notes:

First of all you do not have to go to every workshop to sing at the performance on March 16. So, please feel free to choose your workshops or best of all, come to all three!

Second, the performance is gonna be FUN but if you are leaving town for spring break or just can't make the performance, you can still come to the workshops!

Check the announcement again for the times and dates and please invite your friends and spread the invite via your social networks. Regretfully, I am not an FB or Twitter extrovert, so I'm relying on you mes amis formidable.

Finally, I have been blogging about the process, so if you click on the Starling Cloud Choir subject link, all will be revealed. (Note: This is optional. There will not be a test.)

I also want you to know that the other fabulous Second Site Artists will be available at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden during our Rain Lab to reveal part of the process of creating their installations. Check out the website for the full calendar.

Love and Peace!

Lori

The Starling Cloud Choir with Lori Weidenhammer is a family-friendly workshop series and performance where you will use your voice to sing and make sound poetry in a piece inspired by rain and birdsong. Bring your family and friends! No experience necessary. (Presented as part of The Rain Gatherers site-specific art installation by Second Site: www.secondsitecollective.net)

@The Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden, 578 Carrall Street

Workshop 1: Saturday March 9, 2 to 3:30 pm

Workshop 2: Sunday March 10, 2 to 3:30 pm

Drop in RAIN Lab: Tues March 12, 1:30 to 3 pm

Record your bird and rain sounds with

DJ Don Chow:

Performance: Saturday March 16 at 3 pm (performers please arrive at 2:30 pm to warm up)

Cost to participate: *FREE IF YOU REGISTER by sending Lori an e-mail at beespeaker(at)gmail(dot)com or sign in at the door.

For more information, follow along the creative process on Lori Weidenhammer's blog: www.beespeakersaijiki.blogspot.com. Lori Weidenhammer is a performance-based artist who likes to collaborate with birds, bees, and humans.

If you can't join us for the workshops, please come to the opening and check out

The Rain Gatherers art installations by Second Site artists

Robin Ripley, Peter Courtemanche, Diana Burgoyne and Matt Smith.

The choir will be performing at 3 pm and the audience will be invited to participate!

The Dark Side of Starlings

 In this NPR podcast on bringing Purple Martins back to Chicago, Zhana Yemnikov talks about the darker side of starling and why they can be an invasive species.

Don't miss this charming podcast called My Hummingbird Summer, about caring for baby hummingbirds.

This NPR podcast talks about how the gift of mimicry can save a cuckoo's life.

Here's another incredibly beautiful mimic: The Lyrebird Steps up to the Microphone. I love the story of how David Stewart gets his recording.

These are all safe for school listening.

These podcasts are also from a CD I took out of the library called NPR Sound Treks: Spellbinding tales of flight, feather, and song. . . .

Introducing Slo-femism!

 

Introducing Slo-femism:

Slow, sustainable feminist revolution.

Sofamists--Women who sing solfege and sit around on sofas fomenting dissent.

Slothfemists--an extreme faction of the slowfemists.

Stay tuned for Slo-femist manifestos and more, coming in its own time.