It was a fascinating day yesterday.

You never know who you are going to see or what the day will bring.

We began our morning at CUE Space in West Oakland filming Darkhia our Mongolian Hand Dancer for an artist profile series. Darkhia has a fascinating story we hope to bring to light through this interview and performance. She was raised in the country side of Mongolia and began learning traditional Mongolian Dance at the age of 8. In addition she has gymnastics training, was in the Mongolian Army, can butcher livestock for a meal and then rushed off to catch a plane to perform for kings and queens. She has performed Internationally on many acclaimed stages, festivals and won several international awards. When we are together I cannot help but to be drawn into her life story and it's continuing journey. I also met with a producer at CUE who is using the space and several of our artists for a commercial shoot who cast several of artist for a "ordinary people doing extraordinary things" though I have to admit there in nothing ordinary about a person that can fly through the air on a trapeze or that is training to break the Guinness Book of world records for the most back flips on jumping stilts.

We hurried back to San Francisco after the shoot to meet up with Gregangelo as we had an event last night. We walked into our home which was filled with an extraordinary candy display in the music room and shopping bags full of exotic nuts, fruits and confections. Gregangelo is preparing for a holiday gathering next week at our home and everything he does is art including serving guests and as so his attention to detail is unbelievable.

The event we participated in last night was the launch party for Emirate Airlines at the Herbst Pavillion. It was quite a beautiful event. We were part of the program which was the Salute to the Arts of San Francisco which include the San Francisco Symphony, Alonzo King's Lines Ballet, Velocity Circus and a speech by Mayor Gavin Newsom welcoming His Highness from the Emirates and the Emirate Airlines. In addition Sheryl Crow and Hillary Swank made stage appearances.

Gregangelo and I rushed out of the event after our performance to a private concert for a live recording of Vinsantos new CD. It was held in a gorgeous Victorian home in the Western Addition. The line-up included Vinsantos on vocals and piano, Featuring Kiddie ,Fauxnique, Suzanne Ramsey Uke and Piano, Ricky Furcoat drums and percussion,Kenny Girl Bass Guitar. It was quite a scene full of alternative artists, gays and female impersonators gathering to hear a remarkable only in San Francisco melodramatic sound infused with heart wrenching lyrics and a visual feast of eye candy. Check out Vinsantos site at http://www.vinsantosmusic.com/ I have heard about Vinsantos over the years but this was my first opportunity to see and hear him perform. I am certainly his newest fan!

We finished our night with a cocktail at the Midnight Sun in the Castro where we met a very recent transplant from Seattle "Queen Wilhemina". Wilhemina is a very bright and vibrant gay drag performer who moved through the crowd breaking smiles on the stoniest of faces and throwing fear to the wind literally danced through the crowd introducing himself and everyone to each other. He moved to San Francisco 4 days ago to pursue a career as a R&B/Gospel singer and belted out and sang along with the 70’s disco tunes the DJ was spinning and showing on the video tron.

You have to love this city and its arts, where a person can experience a Mongolian Hand Dancer, the Symphony, the Ballet, a Circus and a new underground sound and scene all in day all in San Francisco.

Jeffrey Ferns

It is Thursday morning and I woke up to a rerun of the 70's TV game show "The Newlyweds". I wonder if the couples on the show are still together? My body is a bit sore from an extensive bike ride yesterday morning, I rode down to the ocean at 7am and watched the waves beat against the rocks near the cliff house. Sometimes the body screams to release the mind from active duty and my good ole bicycle was in the right place to trip upon in the morning! Rather than scream at my pain, I had a big "AHA" this is how the day will begin!
Yesterday I called Hiromi our filmaker and told her not to come in. Gregangelo and I planned to leave early to take a break from the pace and drive to Marin for dinner and then a Doug Motel's one man show at a barn in Cotati. Wednesday's we try to relax a little and breathe deep. So much for plans, the phones began to ring, our electrican shows up to rewire the hallway for a new art instillation, Karen arrives, and before you know it it is 4:30pm. The previous day we were exhibiting at a MPI conference, which was a success and met a great group of planners and caught up with acquaintainces in the industry. Bettina Devin my associate in development was quite the attraction as you can see in the photo, and given the nature of the conference we thought we would brighten up our corner with the color orange.

Today is a promising day, there is a lot of inquiry coming in from the Arizona markets and a potential event where we can have our aritist scale off of a new building opening. It seems the Napa-Sonoma market is starting to move forward as well.

Well it has been quite a week. Lots of movement in the air and the Earth, yesterday there was a lunar eclipse and today a 6.3 earthquake near Elko Nevada. Gregangelo and I pulled a 16 hour day yesterday, no regrets, it was full of art, artists, laughter and magical moments, we interviewed Milan who is interested in a summer internship, she is currently attending Cincinatti U, in fashion design and was up on the roof with us last night trying to catch the eclipse. I turned to this courageous young artist and welcomed her to San Francisco as we stood on the roof under the stars, looking for the moon. She has something quite special about her, I know her path will be full of adventure and success. As is the norm after an eclipse and earthquake the phones were wringing off the hook, so I saged the house, said a few prayers and listened closely to the calls and questions coming in. I have been following the primaries closely and have decided to back off, as it is getting ugly and the disappointment in human behavior is too much to add to my plate. I did find time to bake a pumpkin pie and a savory pide in between contracts and phone calls. When I bake, I can think about what is on my plate and desk carefully, the baking allows me to step away and contemplate the business and moving it forward. The previous evening I attending a reception hosted by the San Francisco Symphony for the Director of Cultural Affairs for the City of San Francisco. His name is Luis R. Cancel. There were quite a few Arts Task Force members present. Public Policy and the Arts can bring together an interesting collection of people. Hiromi is in high creative and her eye is right on the mark as she edits the footage from our recent Heliopolis show. The image attached to this blog is from the death scene of Heliopolis. This video is an edit that Hiromi created from the show.


Until later, keep creative and never forget~ art and social change are congruous!
Jeffrey

Oh boy....there's a pasty-type thing baking in the oven and filling the house with a good smell. There's miso boiling on the stove top. Jeffrey is next to me and it sounds like he is (calmly) dealing with a very irritated caller, who just found out that the person planning her event changed her request from a few acts to a thirty-minute show, without asking the producer first. Oh my. A timer on his desk is tick-tick-ticking (to let him know when to pull his food out of the oven, I imagine). Tension....
But it has come after a somewhat relaxing week. We are taking care of details, preparing for the oncoming storm of business in the next few months.
Gregangelo and Henry Holloway (our master stilt-jumper and stuntman of V Troupe) have been out on the city streets all week in blue, shiny body suits and masks on roller skates, shouting at the monkey-suited public, for a guerilla-advertising job that a new company hired us for.
VTroupe is preparing to fly to Cincinnatti for a performance in early March.
We are hosting our monthly showcase next Sunday, the 24th, which will feature slapstick dance, acrobatic dance, aerial performance, film, and very likely some magic and opera as well!
For me (and I think for many artists), this time of year is ideal for holing up on rainy days and dreaming up the next creative ventures. There's little or no temptation to go outside when it's rainy and cold, so one has the opportunity to look within and dream up the future. I'm dreaming up performance pieces about ancient celtic tales. The circus is dreaming up new shows, and big business for all of our artists.
The picture above is of Gregangelo (blue) and Henry (green). The jesus guy has nothing to do with the circus.

We had a great rehearsal yesterday with our V-Troupe, the clowns were preparing for their very serious roles for the following show-
Heliopolis is a story of a woman's life lived in joy, love and freedom. It will come to an end unless she assumes and conforms to the cloaks of a community. The story was inspired by a article by Asef Bayat titled "Islamism and the politics of fun" this article deals with the systematic and legislative suppressions of fun and joy. This suppression has plagued communities and cultures throughout history in all regions of the world and in our story of Heliopolis. In this tale of myths our heroine retells the magic of her beloved Heliopolis a place of music, poetry, dance, mystery, love and wonder as she barters for her life.

Above Photo of Gregangelo by Andy Freeberg


AN EXCERPT FROM ISLAMISM AND THE POLITICS OF FUN: "Arts and music have not been spared from piestic wrath. Protestant puritans replaced the Church as the medium of salvation, resorting to piestic practices such as hard work and 'avoiding cards, dancing, theatre-going, and essentially every action which could be seen as a concession to ''the world'' . According to this logic, art, sexuality, and by extension fun had the potential to disrupt the influence of reason on human conduct or divert humans from full attention to the transcendental."

Gregangelo Herrera, a third-generation San Franciscan of Lebanese and Mexican descent, was exposed to a rich array of arts at an early age. He is a graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts, and he has extensive training in dance, music, and circus arts. Gregangelo is an accomplished multi- media artist his signature act, the Whirling Circus Dervish, has gained international recognition from a spectrum of audiences.

This production is a culmination of his passion for art, world cultures, the extraordinary artists of his company, and his ancestry .
Influenced by his recent trip to Turkey, combined with years of travel throughout Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, he began to reflect on his grandparents' immigration to San Francisco in the United States in the early 1900's from Batroun, Lebanon. This reflection brought up the current state of the arts in these travels, its sometimes difficult struggle to exist, and his family's ability and dedication to maintaining a rich and multi- generational participation in the arts. His uncle, Stan Beainy recalls: "When I was a child, I experienced all of the traditions of the Old Country here in San Francisco such as the food, music, dancing and storytelling. My mother and father both played the Oud as well as the trimbucka. Families always got together on weekends. The women would cook and men would tell the stories of the old country. After the meals everyone would sing, dance and play musical instruments and each year there would be something called a Marhajan where the Lebanese and Syrian communities in the San Francisco Bay Area would come together for celebration of music, food, dancing, plays and storytelling. During get togethers, everyone used to do a 'line dance' called the "Debka". My father was usually on the end of the line waving his handkerchief during the dance and Julia Farrah would usually sing Arabic songs at these affairs. She had a fabulous voice. " Gregangelo reflected on these traditions and how they still play a major part of his and his family's lives. Gregangelo began his first art class at the de Young Museum at the age 5. At the age of 15 he began performing with The Aswan Dancers a Middle Eastern Dance troupe under the artistic direction on Amina Goodyear , where he developed his Whirling Dervish act. During this time he was also part of a contemporary Middle Eastern percussion ensemble called the Cairo Cats. Following his passion for Circus Arts he began his Velocity Circus company in the 90's and then grew his business, Gregangelo & Velocity Arts & Entertainment , into the multi-media and layered arts organization that it is today.
"Heliopolis" combines all of these traditional elements into a rich production of East meets West. "Only in San Francisco" could this cultural richness develop, grow and become an aesthetic of its own. In turn, this allows Gregangelo to pass on this richness of music, dance, art, joy and fun which he knows to be indigineous to the human spirit.
Please join us on February 11, 2008 as the Marin Theatre Company Presents "Heliopolis". Sincerely, Jeffrey Ferns



Read CCA "At A Glance" Article on Gregangelo

good morning everyone
today is just a continuation of my monthly internship which is getting to a close. But in the mean time i still have a lot of work to do so i can't be worrying about that. i've got much editing to do, which i am a little nervous about because i've said so much about how much i want to do this and that, i now it's finally happening and i hope i can stnad up to my own hype.
Now, what i've been seeing is a lot of the process of how they work an event. i've seen the begining where it starts off as just a phone call, then the negotiating of the venue, artists, price etc.... i've seen and been helping out to the drawing of the contracts. One step i haven't seen is the rehersing of the acts. But i've seen the making of the extravigant incredible costumes. I've had to help out with the set up of the events, not physically helping out with the setting up but, i'vemaking sure the artists are going to be there at the right place at the right time. That was a task i didn't like so much, i don't like being on the phone with strangers....i don't know why. but it's a skill i have to get accustomed with whether i like it or not. And then the final step, the actual event. Of which i have not yet seen, but i have seen pictures. I will very soon come to an event and be able to see the seting up of the venue and the show itself. Gregangelo and Velocity Circus are having an exhibition at the DeYoung museum in San Francisco on Friday 17th of August (2007). I've heard the bustling excitment among the artists as well as the costume designers, costume makers, the artists not even involved and of course the managers of the whole thing. Should be very exciting.
I'm actually going to film the event which, again, makes me nervous. as far as i know, i'm the only one filming this event, so it's all on me...exciting.
well anyway, till tomrrow.
actually tomrrow's my day of so till thursday.


By:Tara Bayat

Hello Everyone
My first week of work is coming to a close. But i'm not to shaken up about it because my 2nd week will begin soon after that. Yesterday, the main project of the day, for us in our little nook of the house, was creating and building up a myspace page. (Speakig of which, myspace.com/velocitycircus). And suprisingly enough, that did take quite a while. At least for me anyway, considering i don't have a myspace page and i'm not well aquainted with it. anyway, if you're reading this and you do have a myspace account look us up and be our "friend"!
So, enough of myspace. I just got an assignment that i am very excited about. over the next 3 weeks, i am to make a short film (around 8 minutes) about my experience here at Velocity Circus, and also my time here in San Francisco. So i got a cammera (but no crew) and i'm to start filming right away. i'm actually a little nervous, i've never made a film before, even though i go on and on and on about movies and ideas, i haven't actually made a film yet. That in large part has to do with the fact that i don't own a cammera, but i am getting one this summer so, no more excuses. But i am going to have guidance for this, when i'm done filming, i'm going to be working with Velocity Circus's film and media person, and she'll be helping me put it all together.
I'm about to make a plan/outline for this little project of mine, so if you are interested i suggest you read my next blog which comes out the 23rd.

By Tara Bayat

My summer with Velocity Circus started on Monday 16th of July. A late start to a summer internship, but i had only arrived in San Francisco on the 10th and i thought a week would be a good length to get settled in.
My first taste of my work space was from the outside of the house. Two small sphinx sat at both sides of the steps. i walked up to the door where a watered budah sat next to me. i rang the door bell and was greeted by my two new bosses, Gregangelo and Jeffrey Ferns. Walking into the house, i was in sensory overload with all the rich colours and the ancient Egyptian/Persian feel of the room. I've never seen any room more alive and vibrant than each room in this house. Every room has been carefully thought of and has been taken care of. It's obvious just from walking in that house that the people who live here live and breathe what they do, and then transfer it to their walls.
It was a releif to know that i'd be working in an enviorment that's alive and i'd be around people that are passionate about that they do. My first task was to read the artists contract to understand what restrictions and obligations they have. i was sitting next to Hiromi Yoshida, a japanese film maker who handles Velocity's film and media department. just from sitting next to her i was able to see the process of cutting together some film (more plainly known as editing). The purpose of my first day was to understand the motions of how people work at Velocity Circus and how i'd be able to get caught in it too.
Looking forward to what Jeffrey has in store for me today

To be continued.......

By Tara Bayat