Latest news with #TheArtist'sWay
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Column: Jazz singer Elaine Dame takes a new road with ‘Reminiscing'
The singer Elaine Dame has had an interesting life, so far. She was telling me about its latest chapter earlier this month. It was a few days before her performance at Winter's Jazz Club and she said, 'There will be songs that I have performed for years, but also a great deal of material from my new CD. It's called 'Reminiscing' and, well, it's something different.' Before we get to that, know that Dame grew up in Stevensville, Michigan, where she was introduced to music by her parents, especially her mother, who was a flutist and singer. Her grandparents were also influential, with one grandmother often taking her to concerts and plays and a grandfather who was a Protestant minister. She took piano and flute lessons and was so talented that she earned a scholarship to Pepperdine University in California, where she studied classical flute, singing and theater. She moved to nearby California State University to participate in the school's inaugural theater repertory program and then spent nearly a decade attempting to craft a life and career in theater in Los Angeles, which, I've heard, doesn't have much of a theater scene. And so she came home in 1992. The Chicago theater scene proved kinder and livelier than that of LA but after a few years she began feeling unfulfilled. And then she read a book titled 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron, who was once married to film director Martin Scorsese but also once wrote articles for the Tribune, before the unlikely success of her book — first distributed as photocopies in stores before selling millions in book form — took her to self-help superstardom. Some of the book's lessons and advice on 'recovering your creative self' and unleashing 'your own inner artist' convinced Dame it was music and not theater that was her calling. 'Her book is very powerful and put me in such a positive mood,' Dame says. She dove boldly into music again and the local scene, finding, she says, 'A very nurturing place and one filled with understanding people. The members of the jazz community support one another because we know how hard it is out there.' She started working with a pianist, refining her skills and, in time, success began at a steady pace. She performed at jazz festivals, at New York City's Rainbow Room and Michael Feinstein's 54 Below, at most of the city's clubs and others across the country. She recorded two acclaimed CDs, 'Comes Love' (2005) and 'You're My Thrill' (2014). Like many artists, notably musicians, she also taught, in her case classical flute, piano and singing at her home in the East Lakeview neighborhood, saying, 'There are some students who have been with me for more than 10 years and they have run in age from 7 to 72.' One of the advantages of the internet is that it enables one to view and listen to performers, though I feel it is always preferable to see them in person. You can hear some of her music at and also read what critics have had to say. Few have written more about Dame than local critic Neil Tesser. He has written the liner notes for all of Dame's CDs, and here is a bit of what he has written in the past: 'The Dame stands straight up at a microphone, like she owns it — or rather, like she co-owns it with her onstage collaborators. She sings with confidence and craft, letting her upper register swell open with a cocky confidence, but she doesn't overdo it; same thing with that vibrato, now slight, now thrilling, perched between jazz and Broadway — between Ella Fitzgerald and Ethel Merman.' And now, comes Dame's new chapter, featuring 'Reminiscing.' It took some time to get here, tragically delayed by the death of her parents and the pains of the pandemic. But, released in February, it is a flat-out delight. 'It was not just my desire to do something new but, as much as my first two CDs are devoted to the American Songbook tradition, I love '70s music and this is it,' she said. It is a gathering of nine songs, arranged by Dame and saxophonist Chris Madsen. Here's Tesser again: 'On 'Reminiscing,' Elaine does more than just cover her teenage soundtrack; with a blend of nostalgia and adventure, she claims these songs as her own and adds them to the ever-expanding American Songbook. She isn't the first to do this, but on Reminiscing, she shows she's among the best. And she comes at them with the perspective of a woman artist in an era of change.' It is now, then, time for you to have a listen. rkogan@ 7 p.m. May 30 at CityGate Grille, 2020 Calamos Court, Naperville; Then 6 p.m. June 5 at The Chicago Firehouse, 1401 S. Michigan Ave.;
Chicago Tribune
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Jazz singer Elaine Dame takes a new road with ‘Reminiscing'
The singer Elaine Dame has had an interesting life, so far. She was telling me about its latest chapter earlier this month. It was a few days before her performance at Winter's Jazz Club and she said, 'There will be songs that I have performed for years, but also a great deal of material from my new CD. It's called 'Reminiscing' and, well, it's something different.' Before we get to that, know that Dame grew up in Stevensville, Michigan, where she was introduced to music by her parents, especially her mother, who was a flutist and singer. Her grandparents were also influential, with one grandmother often taking her to concerts and plays and a grandfather who was a Protestant minister. She took piano and flute lessons and was so talented that she earned a scholarship to Pepperdine University in California, where she studied classical flute, singing and theater. She moved to nearby California State University to participate in the school's inaugural theater repertory program and then spent nearly a decade attempting to craft a life and career in theater in Los Angeles, which, I've heard, doesn't have much of a theater scene. And so she came home in 1992. The Chicago theater scene proved kinder and livelier than that of LA but after a few years she began feeling unfulfilled. And then she read a book titled 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron, who was once married to film director Martin Scorsese but also once wrote articles for the Tribune, before the unlikely success of her book — first distributed as photocopies in stores before selling millions in book form — took her to self-help superstardom. Some of the book's lessons and advice on 'recovering your creative self' and unleashing 'your own inner artist' convinced Dame it was music and not theater that was her calling. 'Her book is very powerful and put me in such a positive mood,' Dame says. She dove boldly into music again and the local scene, finding, she says, 'A very nurturing place and one filled with understanding people. The members of the jazz community support one another because we know how hard it is out there.' She started working with a pianist, refining her skills and, in time, success began at a steady pace. She performed at jazz festivals, at New York City's Rainbow Room and Michael Feinstein's 54 Below, at most of the city's clubs and others across the country. She recorded two acclaimed CDs, 'Comes Love' (2005) and 'You're My Thrill' (2014). Like many artists, notably musicians, she also taught, in her case classical flute, piano and singing at her home in the East Lakeview neighborhood, saying, 'There are some students who have been with me for more than 10 years and they have run in age from 7 to 72.' One of the advantages of the internet is that it enables one to view and listen to performers, though I feel it is always preferable to see them in person. You can hear some of her music at and also read what critics have had to say. Few have written more about Dame than local critic Neil Tesser. He has written the liner notes for all of Dame's CDs, and here is a bit of what he has written in the past: 'The Dame stands straight up at a microphone, like she owns it — or rather, like she co-owns it with her onstage collaborators. She sings with confidence and craft, letting her upper register swell open with a cocky confidence, but she doesn't overdo it; same thing with that vibrato, now slight, now thrilling, perched between jazz and Broadway — between Ella Fitzgerald and Ethel Merman.' And now, comes Dame's new chapter, featuring 'Reminiscing.' It took some time to get here, tragically delayed by the death of her parents and the pains of the pandemic. But, released in February, it is a flat-out delight. 'It was not just my desire to do something new but, as much as my first two CDs are devoted to the American Songbook tradition, I love '70s music and this is it,' she said. It is a gathering of nine songs, arranged by Dame and saxophonist Chris Madsen. Here's Tesser again: 'On 'Reminiscing,' Elaine does more than just cover her teenage soundtrack; with a blend of nostalgia and adventure, she claims these songs as her own and adds them to the ever-expanding American Songbook. She isn't the first to do this, but on Reminiscing, she shows she's among the best. And she comes at them with the perspective of a woman artist in an era of change.' It is now, then, time for you to have a listen.
Irish Independent
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Sophie White: Have you discovered the joy of dating yourself? There's very little that can't be improved by not involving others
Whenever you so much as scratch the surface of marital advice, nine times out of 10 you will probably immediately be advised to schedule more date nights. It seems to be the number one prescription for improved harmony in a couple. I would argue that dates are equally important when it comes to trying to have a bit of harmony in your own head. I am convinced that we all need to go on more dates with ourselves. I wasn't a self-dater all my life, I was only introduced to the concept when, a few years ago, I started The Artist's Way, which is a course devised by Julia Cameron to help you become more attuned to your creativity through reading, writing 'morning pages' which are a kind of journalling and, once a week, going on what she calls an 'artist date'. This, according to Cameron, can be almost anything — going to an exhibition, taking a pottery class, drawing a picture — you just have to do it on your own and protect the time from other distractions like your phone.
The Spinoff
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Event noticeboard: Bread sculptures, celebrity choirs and camembert
The Spinoff's top picks of events from around the motu. When I read that Alex Casey turns to self-help book The Artist's Way when she feels herself Animorphing into that monstrous 3D modelled remote worker, I knew I needed it – office life is no less monstrous. On Saturday the book was ready for me to pick up at my local library. Squinting through my baggy tired eyes each night, I have just made it to the explanation of the artist's date. Julia Cameron wrote that to create, we draw from an 'inner well'. Ideally the well is a reservoir stocked full of trout. Some of the fish are big, fat and ready to eat, while others are babies that need more time. But the well needs upkeep – if we don't give it attention it becomes depleted, stagnant or blocked. There are no more fish. The main tool to nourish the well is the artist date, a two-hour commitment each week to to go somewhere alone (she is strict on solitude). It could be a walk, a visit to the best dump shop in town or any of the following events. Performance and visual art: Having it all, all, all Gus Fisher Gallery, 74 Shortland Street, Auckland Central 10am-5pm Tuesday through Friday, 10am-4pm Saturday until May 10 Performance: 1-2pm Saturday, May 10 Free Saturday is your last chance to see an artwork by one of my very favourite artists, Eva Mendieta. The film on show is from her famous Silueta series, where she carved the shape of her body into natural landscapes and filled it with organic matter like moss, sticks, flowers or grass. She often activated the works with fire, water or blood. There's a modesty to the five-minute video, with its grain and flickers, that adds to the intimacy of the work. Mendieta is one of nine international artists in the exhibition, bought together because their work was pivotal in the re-evaluation of female subjectivity in art between the 1960s and 1990s. Other key works are Cut Piece by Yoko Ono, Semiotics of the Kitchen by Martha Rosler, So help me Hannah by Hannah Wilke and Ever is Over All by Pipilotti Rist. It's not all serious – the installation of the works is big, bold and colourful, and many of them are tongue-in-cheek. On Saturday, local artist Prairie Hatchard-McGill will be staging a one-hour performance called Bread – she will make sculptures out of soft, white loaves! Northland Scenic Hotel, 58 Seaview Road, Paihia 10am Saturday, May 10 Kingsgate Hotel Autolodge, 104 Marsden Road, Paihia 1pm Sunday, May 11 At songwriters in the round events, musicians take turns performing songs, usually acoustic, and sharing the stories behind them. Visual Art: Sculpture Northland Whangārei Quarry Gardens, 37A Russell Road, Kensington, Whangārei 9am-5pm until Sunday, May 11 $5 – $10 Over 100 sculptures in lush subtropical gardens. Auckland Music: Can't Even, album release show, BUB Neck of the Woods, 155B Karangahape Road, Auckland Central 8pm Thursday, May 8 $20 – $30 Singer-songwriter-comedian-karaoke icon Priya Sami is celebrating the release of an 'emotionally unstable, classic hits debut'. She will be joined by a full band, a 'celebrity choir' and supported by She's So Rad. A gameshow like no other, Bonetown is hosted by Spinoff fave Brynley Stent. Each night five comedians will join her to battle wits. Poets Craig Foltz, Alison Glenny and Richard von Sturmer will be accompanied by music from Robert Sly. Waihī Muse, 5 Havelock Road, Havelock North, Hawkes Bay 10am-4.30pm Monday – Friday, 10am-3pm Saturday until May 29 Free Big, celestial paintings that give way to abstract layers of paint up close. New Plymouth You simply must go to see and hear the country's biggest heart-throb. Wellington War Memorial Library, 2 Queens Dr, Hutt Central, Lower Hutt 2pm Saturday, May 10 Free A chat between Michael Brown and Lower Hutt-born musician Luke Rowell (Eyeliner/Disasteradio) will be followed by a performance from Eyeliner! Nelson Music: Imani-J Elma Turner Library, 27 Halifax Street, Nelson City 2pm Saturday, May 10 Free Imani-J sings in English, Te Reo Māori and French, plays guitar, keys and swings between RnB, Neo-Soul and Afro Beat. Ōtautahi Music: Brouhaha With Keelty's, Polson, Toronja 'A brand-new free jazz group formed in Ōtautahi that offers ecstatic, burning, tangled webs of improvised sound complete with howling saxophone and guitar effects over a volcanic bass & drums team.' Ōtepoti Orokonui Ecosanctuary, 600 Blueskin Road, Dunedin 5pm Saturday, May 10 $60 The sun will be setting, the birds will be flitting around the protected forest, and the strings will be playing powerful, haunting, raw, emotional and sweeping music. Southland Film: The Big Bike Film Night St James Theatre, 61 Irk St, Gore 6.30pm Monday, May 12 SIT Centrestage Theatre, 33 Don St, Invercargill 7pm Tuesday, May 13 $13.50 – $28 Two and a half hours of action, drama, humour and inspiration in the form of short cycling films from around the world. This week, make a commitment to nourish your well. Ban your boyfriend from coming along and from calling you. See you on the other side.
The Onion
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Onion
National Endowment For The Arts Lays Off 30,000 Muses
WASHINGTON—In a move the Trump administration claims will reduce government waste and remove redundancies from federally funded programs, the National Endowment for the Arts announced a sweeping round of layoffs Wednesday that terminated the employment of roughly 30,000 muses. 'An independent audit of the NEA revealed a significant glut of unnecessary sources of inspiration, all of which are reliant on taxpayer funding,' read a statement from the White House addressing the cuts, which are said to include an additional 35% reduction in the ingenues, figure drawing models, and strikingly beautiful baristas currently providing full-time inspiration to the agency. 'This unchecked creativity has gone on for far too long, and our independent audit of the agency found that the NEA can easily make do with a mere dozen muses. Under this new budget, American taxpayers will no longer be forced to foot the bill for the inflated levels of inspiration formerly enjoyed by lazy poets, novelists, and painters.' The statement went on to advocate for additional budget cuts that would eliminate the agency's 10,000 superfluous copies of The Artist's Way .
