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

Frosting, Sprinkles and Sparkles

Last Friday, I got my feet wet as a performer of Gregangelo and Velocity Arts. No, not literally wet. My black shoes were covered in pink faux fur . The occasion? The Christmas Tree Lighting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco. I was dressed as a pastry and had a puppet on hand that talked as much as I did.

To the joy of youth and seniors alike, Gregangelo and the Velocity crew greeted, entertained, and provided photo ops to hundreds of local and out-of-town holiday revelers. We had a BIG cake that shot foamy snow out its top. Gregangelo wore the shoes of King Candy, handing out sweets and inciting smiles. In the background, you could hear the SF Girls Chorus caroling.

The best part was seeing the spontaneous smiles and good-natured jokes from the seniors in the audience. -My, you look good enough to eat!

The hotel staff were also enthusiastic to see us there. While the hotel seemed to have scaled back a bit from previous years (cider and cookies absent), a good time was had as Gregangelo continued an ongoing relationship with the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

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.