If you haven't heard "Swami Gone Bananas" or "The Rainmen" you are missing out!
Saturday at Club 29 on Lawrenceville Highway started slow. The bands kept waiting for more people. I wish more had been done during this wait to entertain the crowd, but it was all more than worth waiting for once it started. Swami Gone Bananas play un-embalmed covers of the 60s guitar greats. Grateful Dead, Hendrix, Duane, Carlos - their music all comes roaring alive out of your past, rocking hard and sweaty good. Both Swami and George Coates demonstrate quiet guitar mastery. The intensity on display with solos and jams in the style of the song was stunning. This was the concert part of the evening with a small but rapt audience.The Rainmen members have played with The Producers, Georgia Satellites, Dennis Yost and the Classics IV, and other name acts. DAVID FORD, JAMES FORD, VAN TEMPLE, LYLE BUFKIN, and DAVID MICHAELSON pulled off the music easily, but they got the harmonies, too! The Beatles "Girl", "You're gonna Lose That Girl", Badfinger, The Stones and more. The best music you rasrely hear covered band! The crowd got the pull of old. Almost everyone felt pulled to dance or just move about unselfconsciously to the music both on the dancefloor and not. A real party. That's what we would love to see - an atmosphere where everyone felt free to dance or move without needing to know the latest line dance or official steps, just joy in the music! Let your freak flag fly as you get on your groove, man, to mangle some phrases. I don't think I'm alone in that wish; I hope. Free to dance. I think there is a need for that in many age groups up to us old hippie "Aged of Aquarius" (hereby my copyright). My sons 19 yr. old friends surely listen to classic rock and would love to hear it live I bet. Anyone know of a big place to have an all age dance? These bands and find someone who can do liquid lights. Would any of you attend such?
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
The Strip project
Hello, Brothers and Sisters. Hope to see a lot of you groovin' and dancing with like-minded folks at Club 29 this Saturday the 22nd.
Hope to collect a lot of good stories to share.
Humankind - Be Both!
Hope to collect a lot of good stories to share.
Humankind - Be Both!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Constructivist Celebration @ NECC 2007
Last Sunday was a beautiful and inspiring day. Not just the glorius sunshine and natural beauty of the Atlanta Botanical gardens, but the intellectual stimulation for teachers attending the Constructivist Celebration @ NECC 2007.
The best known Constructivist teacher runs The Magic Schoolbus. "Make mistakes, get dirty, try!". Constructivist teachers are the ones on which other teachers comment, "Gets amazing results from all the kids. They just love to do the work in there and seem to learn so much!" In thirty-one years in public school teaching I NEVER saw as positive a response in learning as was elicited by LOGO. (One Special Ed kid exclaimed to me," I love LOGO. Even my mistakes are beautiful!" Kids explored and wondered fearlessly. The slow did amazing, satisfying art that inspired them to stretch their boundaries and try more; the already bright and adventurous soared in sharing their creations and helping the slower catch up. Old and young are on a common exploration and talk as equal comrades in arms. The sense of wonder and sharing hooked me and I have pushed for such programs, usually in futility.
Sunday Gary Stager did his usual job of revving up teachers to go challenge and change the world. Peter Reynolds of Fablevision talked of overcoming kids fear of failure by "The -ISh Concept". If you can't draw a circle, draw something circle-ish. All of these people talked of concerns for the education of kids other than in just their classroom, their school, their state, their country, they talked of inspiring learning and communicxation in the world the students WILL live in and inhabit. Lauren Elliott, who has already stimulated so much thinking with the Carmen Sandiego series, joined with Bob Barboza of SuperSchool University, talked about Kid's Talk Radio and the plan to get kids all over the world directly communicating by student created radio-shows. Using simple-to-use complex technology, the kids create how and what to say. We were all ready to go face down mandatory test teaching.
Demonstrations were made. We saw the latest LOGO Microworlds and the offerings from other companies using the same philosophy of encouraging kids to do and learn as they need so it sticks. I still get letters from college kids telling me how enjoyable Logo was in seventh grade and how the problem solving approach made it so easy to begin "thinking in" more complex computer languages they encountered. The whole suite of new programs by Tech4Learning extends this approach to encourage kids to write and draw and create web sites and slide shows to share their work.
Unlike other conferences, we were given all the new software we had heard about and were encouraged to create projects using the new stuff with experts available for advice and direction. Matt Merritt went to town with Microworlds and was impressing everone with his space themed pong game. The flowers of the Botanical Gardemns were photographed and used in clever and interesting ways.
Everyone was reluctant to leave and anxious to get back to trying to do more before the next day at NECC.
The best known Constructivist teacher runs The Magic Schoolbus. "Make mistakes, get dirty, try!". Constructivist teachers are the ones on which other teachers comment, "Gets amazing results from all the kids. They just love to do the work in there and seem to learn so much!" In thirty-one years in public school teaching I NEVER saw as positive a response in learning as was elicited by LOGO. (One Special Ed kid exclaimed to me," I love LOGO. Even my mistakes are beautiful!" Kids explored and wondered fearlessly. The slow did amazing, satisfying art that inspired them to stretch their boundaries and try more; the already bright and adventurous soared in sharing their creations and helping the slower catch up. Old and young are on a common exploration and talk as equal comrades in arms. The sense of wonder and sharing hooked me and I have pushed for such programs, usually in futility.
Sunday Gary Stager did his usual job of revving up teachers to go challenge and change the world. Peter Reynolds of Fablevision talked of overcoming kids fear of failure by "The -ISh Concept". If you can't draw a circle, draw something circle-ish. All of these people talked of concerns for the education of kids other than in just their classroom, their school, their state, their country, they talked of inspiring learning and communicxation in the world the students WILL live in and inhabit. Lauren Elliott, who has already stimulated so much thinking with the Carmen Sandiego series, joined with Bob Barboza of SuperSchool University, talked about Kid's Talk Radio and the plan to get kids all over the world directly communicating by student created radio-shows. Using simple-to-use complex technology, the kids create how and what to say. We were all ready to go face down mandatory test teaching.
Demonstrations were made. We saw the latest LOGO Microworlds and the offerings from other companies using the same philosophy of encouraging kids to do and learn as they need so it sticks. I still get letters from college kids telling me how enjoyable Logo was in seventh grade and how the problem solving approach made it so easy to begin "thinking in" more complex computer languages they encountered. The whole suite of new programs by Tech4Learning extends this approach to encourage kids to write and draw and create web sites and slide shows to share their work.
Unlike other conferences, we were given all the new software we had heard about and were encouraged to create projects using the new stuff with experts available for advice and direction. Matt Merritt went to town with Microworlds and was impressing everone with his space themed pong game. The flowers of the Botanical Gardemns were photographed and used in clever and interesting ways.
Everyone was reluctant to leave and anxious to get back to trying to do more before the next day at NECC.
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