Thunder Stump at Donna Jean's

Another astounding performance by Thunder Stump at Donna Jean's Libations last Friday night. It may be one of their last shows for a while, as they go on hiatus to improve their style and grow from garage band to Punk Rock Super Stars.

Living in Phoenix Arizona is living in an ever changing gallery of emerging artists, performers, and musicians. I am always grateful to count among my friends and acquaintances, many of these creative people. Thunder Stump being top in the class and plans are they will only get better.

If you have not had the pleasure of hearing the "Punk. Comedy. Genius!" (- Thunder Stump Blog title and Myspace site) you are missing out on some of the geekiest, and we mean that in a good way, punk rock ever to be conceived. These nerds with instruments "that are embarrassed to be seen with them" (- TS Myspace profile), claim to be the "funniest comedic punk band in the 85014 zip code" (- TS Myspace Profile). They are not kidding around! Lead singer and lyricist Brenden Tuerff, with his brother Adam Tuerff, write about their love of video games, fears of zombie outbreaks, hopes for an apocalypse (to improve the pitiful state of the global economy), and all that connects with the soul of their geek fan base.

Reading the official Thunder Stump blog it looks like Keytarist, David Roberts will be moving to Bass Guitar when the band returns to the stage. No word, to my knowledge, who the new keytarist might be, but knowing the guys of TS he is sure to be the creme d' la creme of geek musical artists.

While on hiatus officially, the boys have assured me that they will appear at any Arizona Corsair or Ship Ecstasy event that Captain Blackstrap invites them to play, including the July Mud Wrestling event. So, big time TS fans, it may be time to go pirate. That does not mean pirate TS's recently released album, Punk. Comedy. Album. That you can buy at bandcamp.com.

Follow Thunder Stump:

http://www.Thunderstump.com

http://www.thunderstump.bandcamp.com

http://www.myspace.com/thunderstumpband

and on Facebook.

Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz

On my last bellydancing performance adventure as AdeebA Korsana with Dancers of DeNile I visited Ground Control Coffee Company in Goodyear, Arizona. Like most performances I get a little bit nervous prior to, during, and after being on stage. Unlike most dance locations, Ground Control serves a broad range of alcoholic courage elixirs.

I asked Shaun to grab me a glass of vino. Of course, with the array offered, he asked which one. Instead of going with an old standby or running the risk of choosing something nasty with a lovely name, I told him to ask for a moderately priced, sweet, dry, red. Something fun. He returned with a glass of a dark red that blew me away at first taste!

Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz is exactly as I asked for. It is a sweet, though not syrupy red from South Africa, with hints of all those delectable little berries that turn your fingers purple when picked. Blackberry, strawberry, a hint of raspberry and blueberry too. There is nothing overpowering about this wine. It does not leave that sticky film on the glass or your tongue when drinking. It goes down smooth with very little alcohol after taste, but it is not so candy-like in nature that you feel like you are drinking spiked soda pop.

I enjoyed the glass so much that I asked if we could buy a bottle to bring home. Imagine the thrill and joy brought by the nostalgic and quaint twist top bottle with picnic tablecloth print!

I adore this wine and at $9.00 - $12.00 per bottle, it is reasonable enough to have for any social occasion or just for personal inspiration now and again.

*Note: Drink very little, if at all, when performing and never when driving home after.

Rio Vista Session Four: Week One

Stunning work from the gals at Rio Vista Recreation Center in Peoria! I am always so proud after a class, of the students. So many levels, so many shapes and sizes and ages. These women astound me!

This session starts out with another packed class. Sixteen students. Wow! I always hope all of them stay on and continue until the next session.

This week the ladies learned the power of posture. As soon as they walk in the door of the classroom, no matter who they are in the rest of the world, they are belly dancers to me. Heads held high, tummies tucked, feet and arms light and body and soul lifted. They are ready to move. Though it is difficult to teach so many in a class we covered posture, windows, two important lessons every basics student should start with.

Rio Vista gals also learned the basic hip bump walk, a cross step, shoulder rolls, and chest pops. I hope they practice hard this week and are sore for all the right reasons by next Wednesday.

Thank you ladies! You make AdeebA proud!

Hell's Belles & Roses

Even though I do not have writing classes this session at Desert West or Sunnyslope, I am still using the time I would be teaching to tend to writing. Okay, mostly editing and blogging, but I know there is little excuse to slack off when the time was previously allotted to writing.

Roses needs nearly 20,000 words to be reasonably novel length. The first edit assured me that it needs massive reworking as well. There is a part of me who thinks it may work just as well as a short story or novella too. It would couple well with the other two Gothic Victorian period pieces. But first, to get all these pesky murders in order. Death is serious business.

The Belle sisters decided to speak up a bit this afternoon. Something about cruising around town in the 1972 GMC Sprint and smoking a Jucy Lucy that caught their attention, I think. I am still bummed that most of their comic book script was lost

A Weekend of Belly Dance

Monday, Monday. It is a day to decompress from the always busy weekends. This weekend was a big one. Qadesh Tribal hosted their monthly Belly dance event at Ground Control coffee house in Goodyear.

Ground Control is an interesting venue, a cross between an upscale coffee house, winery and local hangout. The writer in me adores this location. The belly dancer, she hates the miniscule stage area we are expected to perform on.

Qadesh always impresses me as a Tribal group. These women are beautiful, dedicated, and so sweet to be around. It is no wonder really, they are the product of Anaya Tribal, another stunning Tribal group in the East valley. On the Fusion edge of the spectrum, Jae and Vorpal Shimmy also impressed.

Of course, I cannot go without saying how stunning Dancers of DeNile performed. I am most proud of Majnouna and Sumomo for the beautiful work they did reloading Aiwa Aiwa and adding some hat tricks to the dance.

Certainly not least, I am bubbling with pride! Zafirah and Has’na, two of my favorite students, just blew me away with their stage presence.

Sunday, Sumomo and I took a drive out to Chandler to attend a Bollywood class with Kriti. We were both thrilled! So much joy and energy! I wish Kriti was not all the way out in Chandler.

Belly dance is work, fun work, no doubt, but it is work. With a show on Saturday and a free demo class at the Studio of Ocotillo in Chandler on Sunday, Monday is a welcome break.

Dance is key

I am proud to be a belly dance instructor. I am proud of my studio. I love seeing the smiles and hearing the giggles of mothers and daughters, of sisters, and of friends. What I want to teach and learn more than anything is how to move the spirit to joy, through dance. There are many instructors in the valley. I have met very few who I would consider poor instructors in the execution of of movement. How many touch the soul of the movement?

That is my goal. As with making wings, every person has something different inside that needs to escape in a visual way. Dance is the same. Writing is the same. This is what I love. I love giving people the key to allow their soul to escape.

Tapped

Bottled water. I have come to think of it as a standard need since living in the desert. Today, I realize that the little I have done to wean from the bottle is just not enough. Do I really need to have that plastic bottle at all times? Do I need to have plastic bottles on hand for my students and fellow dancers when they are in my studio? What about that giant plastic bottle that is available for studio attendees? Is that required?

A while back I purchased two stainless steel reusable water bottles and a pair of five gallon jugs for a water pot in the studio. I used this water method all summer long, then, as the cooler months crept in I tended to forget to grab a bottle on the way out the door or to refill the jug. I would then have to make a quick, painless stop to the corner store to buy a plastic bottle. One day at a time and here I am a bottle baby again.

Today, on a whim, I watched Tapped on Netflix.

Seasonal Blahs!

It is almost 11:00 PM! Where did the day go? Three hours of rehearsal is where some of it evaporated into, but the rest, I am so utterly lazy lately. I feel like I am spending most of the day waking up. My best guess for this lethargy, Seasonal Depression. The Winter Blahs. I really want to be outside. I want to work on the yard, start the garden up, so many things. I need to get out of the house.

Two of the four centers that I work at canceled classes due to lack of registration too. That is sort of a downer. I am making up for it with all of the private, home studio lessons that I am getting calls for, but it is still sort of depressing.

I really think the biggest issue is not having any deadlines or schedules or major projects to deal with though. I am a work-a-holic at heart. I like to be busy. At least the house is clean because of it. 2010 was so full of other peoples’ projects and ideas though that I am not used to having my own time to play with. I really hope that by next week, when Shaun returns to school and I have more time to myself I can get back into things. It is really difficult to work when I have to keep the house quiet so he can sleep in.

So, I am not really sure this is a well thought out, interesting, or amusing entry, but, it is better than nothing at all. I need to keep a practice of writing. Even if it looks like stream of consciousness garbage. Every word counts for something.

AdeebA Korsana

Those who read this blog might be curious to know a bit more about the personalities that run the show in this performance that is my life. And, because I have no idea what to write about. Here is a brief look into who, AdeebA Korsana is.

AdeebA (AdibA) is a female name of Arabic origin, it means literary, noble, proud woman. When I first began dancing with Lori Hunt (Badrea Talua) at Shirley’ Delhi (43^rd Ave & Cactus), she recommended that I choose a stage name. So many ideas ran through my head. I could take the easy way out, Easalle. It sounds exotic if not Middle Eastern, it was a name no one else shared. It spoke to me. But, Easalle did not dance. Czep was also pretty exotic, but not the look I was going for.

Lori offered a book of approved dance names. Some of the names in her pamphlet sized book had little stars beside them, to indicate another of her students had taken the name already. I looked into the meaning of my given name and the possible angles I could take on that. Nothing jumped out at me. Lori suggested Mish Mish. At my age though I was looking for something a bit more mature, something I could grow into, not out of.

At the same time, I was getting more and more into the social side of writing, meeting with other female would-be authors at the Fresh Start Women’s Center in Phoenix. I realized I had two separate lives that needed connection. I needed a name to reflect that. I began looking for names that meant poet, writer, words, anything that could coincide with my being a writer and a dancer.

I also needed a name that was visually appealing. Words have a beauty to them, and much like Anne of Green Gables, who demanded an “e” at the end of her name, I wanted people to see the name and find beauty in it. AdeebA had balance. Libras like balance.

AdeebA was perfect, and, it wasn’t taken. Then the pirates came.

One year into playing pirate with the Arizona Corsairs told me I would not be rid of the pirate portion of my personality any time soon. Here was a third slice of the pie that is my life that needed to be added into the name.

Korsana is the feminine for pirate in Arabic. I considered changing the name altogether. Drop AdeebA, go full pirate. I was, and always will be a woman of words first though and AdeebA was just too fitting. I asked Badrea what the rule for having two names was, if any. Blessedly, it is all up to the dancer. I do find it suiting though that Badrea, being the instructor of troupe Dancers of DeNile, and I, with the aspirations to teach one day, both took two names.

Shirley’s Delhi is closed, Badrea Talua recently retired, but the name stuck, the dancer grew, AdeebA Korsana is teaching, and I think she is here to stay. Even if this body stops shimmying, AdeebA Korsana will continue in fiction. She did find a place in the story line of Captain Blackstrap. It is not quite the same as the true story.

There is another part to the name, recently surfaced, due to a need to conjure a name for the students AdeebA Korsana is gathering – bint Hazine. Daughters of Treasure. On the surface, it adds to the pirate side of the name, The noble pirate woman, daughter of treasure. But, there is a back story too. Hazine was the name of my first Arizona belly dance instructor. When I was awkward, chubby, and shy, the Fresh Start Women’s Center, in downtown Phoenix, that played host to the writing group also held a weekly belly dance class. If anyone knows what happen to Hazine, please, let me know. I have since lost all track of her. I would like to tell her where I am now.

All of this brings me to want to discuss the origins of other members of Dancers of DeNile and their names. That is better suited for the troupe page. The name Mish Mish did not go away completely.

First Post of 2011

Here it is first post of 2011. The rule, update, everyday, with something well thought out, interesting, thought provoking, etc.. I should make a word count goal for each post too, something reasonable like 500. Much will depend on what I intend to write about though.

Today, rather boring. Dumping the office. It is best to start a new year fresh, clear, open to possibilities, meaning, out with the old! 2011 is the year of returning to writing. The only overload will be on words. And, maybe finalizing the ton of other projects on my to do list. Maybe, only if I can write about it.

The ten-gallon tub of fabric, ribbon, tassels, scraps, and sewing what-not. Gone. Mostly. I did discover a half finished skirt made entirely of men's ties. Had to keep that. Found a few old t-shirts that would make cute pillows or tote bags. A gal can never have too many tote bags.

I finally have an amazing shipping area for my 80sixed stores too. All organized, and clean, and we shall see how long that lasts, right. Gotta think positive! Clean. Everyday! Clean.

I really did not want my first entry to be completely dull, but really all I am doing is prepping for Monday. Being stuck in weekend mode is not so bad for the refocus, step back from the craziness, rule of 2011.

We had a few people over for a little New Year’s Day BBQ too. Shaun ordered some Omaha Steaks, but not just steaks, chicken, pork loin, burgers, hotdogs, fish, the whole spread. Not as impressive as all the hype. Not that any of the food was poor in quality or even bad tasting. It just was not astounding enough to continue ordering. Sprouts is just up the road. The quality of their deli is equivalent and does not need to be shipped direct. Omaha Steaks and the like, seems to me a bit like flying a private jet versus taking public transport. It is even more wasteful. I could be completely misinterpreting the whole direct foods shipment process. If anyone has an in on this, please, let me know. My curiosity is piqued. This does indeed call for more research. Bug me about this if anyone else is curious and would like me to post more information, and ask some crazy questions, about the food home delivery system.

Finally, on the note of curiosity, the invitations that Kimm hand made for the Wonderland Party look stunning. Returning to analogue for parties and small events is going to be much more amusing because of her amazing skills!

I close this post with the promise that tomorrow will be much better and more thought out. This new blog goal may be like getting my ’72 Sprint started on a cold morning. It takes a bit to warm up.

And now, a game of Ninja with Jess.