18. Hanging from Sunroot Vines
You find yourself tangled in monster-sized plants almost right-side-up.
Kelp-like tubes of massive sunroots form a suspension system — dangling off rocky cliffs jutting vertical. Somehow, their pulpy braids anchor into smooth stone in a way your fingers and feet won’t grapple.
A thicket of netting offers straphangers and stirrups, step after step: a tunnel for clambering through with ease. The heavy strands barely move in response to your commotion, but sections of scaffold sway on ocean breezes that corkscrew their way up the mountainside.
One kilometer up from the sea isn’t how you envisioned this day to go.
[ On second thought, today’s peculiar alarm-clock tune may have foreshadowed this precise moment ] —
A teal dragonfly swerves past your ear in a quick whooom.
You turn your head to follow its flight path:
. . . up — past an accessible ledge covered in the baby sprouts of sunroots — toward fast-moving clouds above.
Is there really a castle on this island? You’ll spot it better from higher elevation, or maybe it’s right above you.
// Side B //
Thank you for tuning in! The music for this issue features a crossfade of two clips:
• piano solo excerpt from 2022 03 26, clip 25, 0:51 to 4:15
• piano solo excerpt from 2022 09 29, clip 1, 4:38 to 7:39
. . . both jazz standards, based on reader curiosity1. Does anyone recognize the two tunes explored here?
Travel Poems . Chapter 3 . There is no path back
The Travel Poems trilogy is complete! At September’s end, the album Chapter 3 . There is no path back releases not only with a concert with band and surprise guest musicians — but also, an exhibition with 5 artists across multi-sensory artforms over a weeklong residency.
More announcements to come about the grand event. Travel Poems has been my artist debut (Chapter 1 came out in 2020; “you, too, can escape quarantine immediately!”) and it’s a true labor of love, in tribute to things I treasure: taking audiences on imagination-adventures through music, soundscapes, live storytelling, and on and on.
This newsletter wouldn’t exist without the portal opened by Travel Poems.
If you haven’t yet heard the jazz & found-sound journeys of Travel Poems, I’d love to introduce them to you. Here are links to Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 for streaming and Bandcamp digital + CD (handpainted covers!) purchases — with many discount options for Campfire Sparks readers:
Pledge a paid subscription here and receive the trilogy for free
Pre-order Travel Poems . Chapter 3 . There is no path back and be sent the album now, far in advance of the release (shh!)
Use coupon “bonfire” on any Bandcamp purchase for 50% off, good until June 1
If you can’t afford to purchase but would like a copy, reply to this email and I’ll hook you up!
Your support and listenership means everything 💛🌖
I can’t think of anything cooler than making something together with people I admire
Imagine holding in your hands an orange cassette tape brimming with catchy songs, pop art, and a cheeky zine with liner notes 🍊
The intrepid Ryan Stubbs has, once again, gathered the formidable talents of Substack movers and shakers — this time into a physical, 3D, hurts you if it bounces off your skull, object.
But there’s no need to be (only) a cave-dweller about it. Pop the tape into your nearest boombox or walkman.
This marvelous mixtape emits enigmatic emissaries all upon the press of one physical button! Culminating fully three episodes of Ryan’s hit TV show SALON DU MONDE, FREMONT, it’s as if the joint soundtrack gathered enough electro-plasma to escape the confines of screens the world over, leaping into reality, a force-blob unable to be contained:
Pick up a copy of the Salon Du Monde, Fremont soundtrack today (ships in June), and peep this extraordinary cast of co-conspirators:
Contributing Artists:
// // // // // // // // // Red Pants //Designers:
// // //Contributors:
// // // // //Release:
//Cohort One and Done
The 1st cohort of Piano Liberation Workshop is a wrap! This majestic adventure taught me oodles of lessons about running a group class, especially how to tailor the unlimited subject of piano improvisation to all levels and musical styles, all at once.
Looking back on the topics covered, I’m happy with our focus on the body as a grounding tool — through dance, through the voice — which reflects how I like to teach one-on-one . . . and I’m brimming with ideas how to further refine the syllabus.
The topics we covered over 10 classes:
The next cohort begins Fall 2024. Sign up for the Piano Liberation waitlist if you’re interested — all levels of expertise welcome!
Every Day I Sing the Dues
My daily publishing of music + photography presses on undaunted. Here are some of my favorites since last issue’s round-up. Apr 19’s “knee-deep in the sea currents” —
Day 115’s “never the same hour”2 —
Day 116’s “one trillion waves vibrating in concert”3 —
Day 123’s “the sweep, and grandeur, of you”4 —
The next step for Proof of Play is making an online “open studio” space where they can be viewed as a collection, browsed easily, heard and sampled, etc. For now, feel free to check out the youtube playlist where I’m a month behind daily uploads, gradually catching up, the clockwork of round pebbles dropped into an infinity pool.
Have a lovely week!
🎆
From a listener: “[as a jazz student] myself, I find the composing you are doing extremely inspiring … I’m wondering if you ever still work on standards too?” The answer is: all the time 🎉
Full log about the superpower we all have: https://x.com/pandelic/status/1783265344624173374
Full log, on “master project lists”: https://x.com/pandelic/status/1783656390822605078
This work is brilliant.
Is the opening text in this series inspired by those old text RPGs like Zork?
"This is part of a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. A skeleton, probably the remains of a luckless adventurer, lies here.
Beside the skeleton is a rusty knife.
The deceased adventurer's useless lantern is here.
There is a skeleton key here.
An old leather bag, bulging with coins, is here."